4B - Thursday, March 15, 2012

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

48 -Thusday Mach 1, 212 Te Mchign Dily mihigadaiyco

THE WRITING ON THE SCREEN
Campus compares
Exploring the pros book is enormously important, And I think that's abig loss."
and the physicality and format- University students who have
and cons of the ting are lost in e-readers. This used e-readers in classes have
loss of formatting translates into also noted differences in their
tablet transition a difference in the meaning of scholastic experiences.
the text. LSA sophomore Audrey Easter-
By ALICIA ADAMCZYK "If you look at any children's wood said that while e-readers are
DailyArts Writer book, the writer has deployed more convenient, there are some
the physicality of the book in drawbacks to the new technology.
The act of reading the hard order to get meaning across," "I always prefer (and) am
copy of a book is an experience he said. "That's wiped out in all more comfortable reading from
not easy to improve upon or digital readers. The screen is the a real book," Easterwood said.
replace. One need only look to same size, same shape and the "I enjoy it more, and it is easier
the endless supply of love let- same luminosity all the time." to read from a real book than a
ters written by legions of authors "(E-reading) destroys the screen. After a while, it hurts my
and poets lauding the innumer- visual and physical reality of a eyes to keep staring at a screen."
able qualities books possess (or, codex," Rabkin added. Paul Conway, an associate pro-
if time is scarce, a Google search Rabkin related reading a book fessor in the School of Informa-
of famous book-related quotes electronically to viewing a movie tion, said he has some concerns
will suffice) to get a sense of how in a theater and compared read- about the quality of the page
important books are to so many ing traditionally to watching a images and graphic content of
people. movie on DVD at home. He said e-readers.
But if you look around in class- that while neither one is inherent- "As for quality, we are learning
es or lectures, chances are that ly better than the other, the two in our research at Michigan that
at least one of your classmates experiences are not the same. online books vary tremendously
is using an e-reader in place of "The act of reading digitally in terms of their readability as
a normal textbook. As tuition is, in fact, a completely differ- well as in the type and severity
continues to rise, e-readers are ent medium," he said. "So even of error," Conway said. "Low-
an increasingly popular way for though what we're doing is look- quality books are less likely to be
University students to save at ing at those words, the fact that accepted and used by readers."
least some money on their text- it is a different medium makes a Conway said that as long as
book costs. radical change." e-textbook publishers are deter-
With more and more students According to Rabkin, this mined to present content in a
using e-readers and tablets in change in medium leaves some- way that's wedded to the tradi-
class and the recent closings thing to be desired. tional notion of a textbook, there
of many local bookstores, Ann "If you're reading a book, and would be many problems in con-
Arbor seems to be in the midst of you have this sense of 'How close tent delivery, which will result in
a transition from print to digital. am I to the end; is this a step along frustration for e-book users.
While the benefits of e-readers the way? Or am I at the climax "Ultimately, what is needed is
cannot be denied, what does an then the Kindle destroys that a complete rethinking of the idea
increase in their use mean for physical sense of your relationship of a textbook to take advantage
traditional books? with the temporality of the plot," of interactive Internet access,
English Prof. Eric Rabkin said Rabkin said. "And that's true for the easy delivery of text and
the physical manifestation of a all digital reading experiences ... images from databases, and the

books to e-readers

deconstruction of textbooks into
teachable units," Conway said.
"All of these issues are subjects
of intense research."
Though there are plenty of
issues surrounding e-readers,
their convenience and cost effi-
ciency has driven the University
libraries to begin developing an
e-library.
According to the MLibrary
Textbook Services and Initia-
tives website, the University
has acquired multiple e-book
collections that include text-
books required by some Univer-
sity classes. In fact, there is the
potential for an entire online
textbook initiative. And given
the widespread use of tools such
as CTools and Wolverine Access,
it's obvious that the University is
no stranger to online homework
and resources.
Conway said that despite the
problems e-readers present, he is
supportive of the library's efforts
to get involved in the e-book
business.
"In many regards, I believe
that e-readers are the future
of reading. Portability, flexibil-
ity and easy access to millions
of books are just three currently
obvious reasons," Conway said.
"As books change from being
static objects produced and con-
trolled by publishers to flexible,
interactive creations remixed by
users, the advantages of e-read-
ers become even greater."
Conway's prediction that
e-readers are the future of
reading may be correct. The

announced closing of Michigan
Book & Supply earlier this week
and the noticeable absence of
Borders on East Liberty suggest
that students are slowly moving
away from buying traditional
textbooks.
Kevin Hawkins, MLibrary's
head of digital-publishing pro-
duction, said this slow progres-
sion from physical book usage to
e-readers is comparable to the
progression of the music industry.
"Students are growing
increasingly comfortable buying
and consuming digital media,
and textbook publishers, which
have been sticking with print
to protect their revenue model,
are shifting to digital distribu-
tion now that the e-reader ven-
dors have set up sales channels
that make it easy for consumers
to acquire the books legally,"
Hawkins said. "It's similar to
music: While some people still
buy music on vinyl or CD, for
most consumers, a digital ver-
sion is more convenient, despite
its drawbacks."
Though Easterwood prefers
traditional books, she noted that
her Kindle makes reading for
classes much easier when she's on
the go.
"I use my Kindle when I have
to carry a lot of books and don't
want my bag to be too heavy,"
she explained. "For instance, it is
convenient when traveling."
LSA junior Wisam Berry is a
strong advocate of e-reader usage
at the college level. Berry, who has
used an e-reader in place of actu-

ally purchasing textbooks, said it
was much more convenient and
practical for all of his readings.
He said he would prefer to use an
e-reader in all of his classes.
"It would be all in one place
and easily accessible from any-
where and not just if I carry the
book around with me," Berry
said.
LSA junior Sandhya Rajagopal,
who has also used an e-reader in
place of a textbook, said e-readers
are more than just a convenience
because they are easier to use than
traditional textbooks.
"They are also helpful in that
they allow you to quickly search
(or) look up specific topics or
keywords," she said.
While the ability to easily look
up unfamiliar terms or literary
allusions is an appealing pros-
pect for many people, Rabkin
said "easier" isn't always better.
"Ease is probably a good thing
for most people. We don't like
to make life difficult," he said.
"(But) if you want to make that
reading part of you, then whatev-
er kind of resistance the author
has built into the text needs to be
there. And the e-reader, in fact,
undercuts that."
So will University students
soon be relying solely on elec-
tronic resources for their home-
work needs? While there's no
definitive answer just yet, it's
certainly a prospect worth con-
sidering, especially to the stu-
dents at the University, who will
be directly affected by its out-
come.

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