Severe Resistance to EBooks.
I spoke to about 10 people in the last week that I personally know. The aged are hesitant to stay long infront of the Computer due to eye strain etc., Those who go to school etc., are busy with their studies. In general society still hasn't got comfortable with the idea of EBooks. It is something that they will read if they have to or have no other choice it appears. Even I myself started liking EBooks only like a month ago. Hence, PG may have a bumpy growth as and when more people get comfortable with using EBooks. These people by the way are not familar with ebook readers as well and the advantages that they offer. Share your comments/experiences in this regard. Regards, Vijay _______________________________________________ No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding. Make My Way your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com
On Tue, 17 May 2005, rvijay07 wrote:
I spoke to about 10 people in the last week that I personally know. The aged are hesitant to stay long infront of the Computer due to eye strain etc.,
I spend a lot of time reading at the computer, but it is NOT my favorite reading mode. I read e-books on a PDA. It works fine for me, because I'm extremely near-sighted. I just take off my glasses, hold the PDA a few inches from my nose, and scroll away. Many people do read on PDAs. If you carry one anyway, why not add a few dozen novels to read if you're stuck in line somewhere? Of course, PDAs aren't the final answer. The screen is too small and low-resolution for many. A tablet computer might work -- the Simputer? If I had the money, I'd buy a Librie and use free software hacks to get it to display English, or get a Cybook. -- Karen Lofstrom
In general society still hasn't got comfortable with the idea of EBooks. It is something that they will read if they have to >or have no other choice it appears.
Don't worry, I have nearly perfected my 'hologram reader'. You close your eyes, think of the ebook title and the words start scrolling on the inside of your eyelids as a hologram. Now if I can only get the data transfer perfected! I make ebooks so that they will be there whenever there is a breakthrough in technology. Whatever the technology, it seems that we will always need the basic etext as a starting point. Since Michael Hart started it all we now have:-- html images tei xml mp3 human voice ebook readers pda hologram reader (maybe next week) etc. etc Of course, we always need to build on the digital text files. That is why I like making them. Col Choat
On Tue, May 17, 2005 at 06:00:41PM -0400, rvijay07 wrote:
I spoke to about 10 people in the last week that I personally know. The aged are hesitant to stay long infront of the Computer due to eye strain etc.,
Those who go to school etc., are busy with their studies.
In general society still hasn't got comfortable with the idea of EBooks. It is something that they will read if they have to or have no other choice it appears.
Even I myself started liking EBooks only like a month ago. Hence, PG may have a bumpy growth as and when more people get comfortable with using EBooks. These people by the way are not familar with ebook readers as well and the advantages that they offer.
I question whether this is resistance to eBooks, or just a combination of (a) not liking to read much, or to read older literature; and (b) lack of technical facility or equipment. For (a), I admit that most of my pleasure reading is in contemporary stuff. If I could get all the titles I'd like for my EBookWise reader, I would...but instead I purchase dead trees, mostly via mail order. But I do read through several PG eBooks per month, and skim several more per week. Here, we're all (presumably) interested in reading. But there are lots of people who only read one or a few books per year, if that. In the US, the advertised literacy rate of 97% always seemed a little generous to me, given how few people seem to spend any significant quantity of time with a book. For (b), I sit in front of one of my 1600x1200 20.1" LCD displays (one at home, identical one at work)....or the screen on my rather expensive 17" Powerbook. When I need to use someone else's ~14" laptop, or an older smaller CRT, I get eye strain almost immediately. Between my chair, my desk, my monitor, my keyboard, etc., plus high-speed Internet all around, I've got a pretty darned satisfactory environment for reading stuff on computers. I use ad blockers in my Web browsers, and know how to use them to zoom in, download to a file for later reading, etc. Where does all this put me? Pretty average for our high-end volunteers and readers, I'd imagine. But for folks on a modem, with a small monitor, poor ergonomics, and (most importantly) little ability to really take control of their computers, I can see where just doing email would be miserable... (And often is!! Who doesn't know people who change email addresses periodically, just to escape the spam they can't deal with anymore?) Between (a) and (b), I'm not surprised that many people have little interest in reading eBooks on their computers. Add to that the difficulty of finding one -- or even knowing if the book you want is out there -- and even those predisposed to read eBooks on their computers might not realize they're out there (and, at PG, free!). -- Greg PS: This isn't to say that eBooks aren't the Last Great Hope to save Civilization, and all that good stuff!! I'm still in this to help empower people through literacy. But I see how eBooks still have a ways to go before their role challenges their dead trees counterparts for vast numbers of the world's population. We just need to keep a'workin.
I had a Palm Tungsten E that I did a lot of ebook reading on (those PDAs are perfect for reading ebooks because they're the size of a paperback book) but I was really irresponsible and left it at school once :( Haven't seen it since. I have a bad habit of leaving stuff around, even something as expensive as that Palm Tungsten. I do agree with the fact that ebooks are more of a novelty right now, partly due to the fact that handhelds (and some ebook readers) are nOT CHEAP. Plus, people like to have devices that can do several things, and PDAs do that. They just cost a pretty penny for most models. My Tungsten cost me nearly 200 dollars. Jared Greg Newby wrote on 5/17/2005, 10:40 PM:
On Tue, May 17, 2005 at 06:00:41PM -0400, rvijay07 wrote:
I spoke to about 10 people in the last week that I personally know.
The aged are hesitant to stay long infront of the Computer due to eye strain etc.,
Those who go to school etc., are busy with their studies.
In general society still hasn't got comfortable with the idea of
EBooks. It is something that they will read if they have to or have no other choice it appears.
Even I myself started liking EBooks only like a month ago. Hence, PG
may have a bumpy growth as and when more people get comfortable with using EBooks. These people by the way are not familar with ebook readers as well and the advantages that they offer.
I question whether this is resistance to eBooks, or just a combination of (a) not liking to read much, or to read older literature; and (b) lack of technical facility or equipment.
For (a), I admit that most of my pleasure reading is in contemporary stuff. If I could get all the titles I'd like for my EBookWise reader, I would...but instead I purchase dead trees, mostly via mail order. But I do read through several PG eBooks per month, and skim several more per week.
Here, we're all (presumably) interested in reading. But there are lots of people who only read one or a few books per year, if that. In the US, the advertised literacy rate of 97% always seemed a little generous to me, given how few people seem to spend any significant quantity of time with a book.
For (b), I sit in front of one of my 1600x1200 20.1" LCD displays (one at home, identical one at work)....or the screen on my rather expensive 17" Powerbook. When I need to use someone else's ~14" laptop, or an older smaller CRT, I get eye strain almost immediately. Between my chair, my desk, my monitor, my keyboard, etc., plus high-speed Internet all around, I've got a pretty darned satisfactory environment for reading stuff on computers.
I use ad blockers in my Web browsers, and know how to use them to zoom in, download to a file for later reading, etc. Where does all this put me? Pretty average for our high-end volunteers and readers, I'd imagine.
But for folks on a modem, with a small monitor, poor ergonomics, and (most importantly) little ability to really take control of their computers, I can see where just doing email would be miserable... (And often is!! Who doesn't know people who change email addresses periodically, just to escape the spam they can't deal with anymore?)
Between (a) and (b), I'm not surprised that many people have little interest in reading eBooks on their computers. Add to that the difficulty of finding one -- or even knowing if the book you want is out there -- and even those predisposed to read eBooks on their computers might not realize they're out there (and, at PG, free!). -- Greg
PS: This isn't to say that eBooks aren't the Last Great Hope to save Civilization, and all that good stuff!! I'm still in this to help empower people through literacy. But I see how eBooks still have a ways to go before their role challenges their dead trees counterparts for vast numbers of the world's population. We just need to keep a'workin.
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On 17 May 2005, at 22:40, Greg Newby wrote:
On Tue, May 17, 2005 at 06:00:41PM -0400, rvijay07 wrote:
I spoke to about 10 people in the last week that I personally know. [snip] I question whether this is resistance to eBooks, or just a combination of (a) not liking to read much, or to read older literature; and (b) lack of technical facility or equipment.
I think annecdotal evidence is no evidence at all. It is useless to discuss the growing or lessening popularity of ebooks in general based on a few of Vijay's personal observations. Those personal observations can be fun to talk about in their own right, but they are not evidence of a trend. -- branko collin collin@xs4all.nl
On Tue, May 17, 2005 at 06:00:41PM -0400, rvijay07 wrote:
I spoke to about 10 people in the last week that I personally know. The aged are hesitant to stay long infront of the Computer due to eye strain etc.,
That's just the opposite of the comments I get from from those with aging eyesight. . .they tell me it is MUCH easier to read when they get to choose the font and size.
Those who go to school etc., are busy with their studies.
Schools here are moving more and more to eBooks, see New York Times article referenced in today's PT1 Newsletter that just went out.
In general society still hasn't got comfortable with the idea of EBooks. It is something that they will read if they have to or have no other choice it appears.
With the price of books going through the roof, and the price of computers so unbelievably low, the cost/benefit ratio alone will be enough. However, I think a LOT of this has to do with a generation gap thing, that will become more and more obvious as time goes on. The next generations will look at screens more than paper, not that they aren't doing that already.
Even I myself started liking EBooks only like a month ago. Hence, PG may have a bumpy growth as and when more people get comfortable with using EBooks. These people by the way are not familar with ebook readers as well and the advantages that they offer.
I don't think most people are familiar with eBook readers at all. More than twice as many people seem to read from PDAs as eBook readers, and about the same read from PPC's as eBook readers, not to mention those who use desktops and laptops. The percentages will continue to grow, esp. as schools required iBooks, laptops, etc. Michael
participants (7)
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Branko Collin -
Col Choat -
Greg Newby -
Jared Buck -
Karen Lofstrom -
Michael Hart -
rvijay07