One might expect that the best target audience for an e-book would be children or teens. Going on the assumption that this demographic group has the most potential to be competent with this technology, publishers have attempted to create e-books of popular novels. One example is the third book in Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries series, “Princess in Love”. Available through Amazon and other online vendors, “Princess in Love” is available in various ebook formats for as low at $5.95 U.S. (see http://www.ebookmall.com/ebook/130612-ebook.htm) with free downloading of the ebook reader, Palm Reader. Amazon.com offers “Princess in Love” for $5.95 U.S. as well, and offers a free download of Microsoft Reader.
Has it been successful? Quite simply, the answer is no. The reasons are varied.
One of reasons is because of the complexity of the technology. Readers need to be downloaded and system requirements are strict as to what can be downloaded where. E-books as a rule are encrypted by the publisher to disallow printing. So the only place for a purchaser to view their e-book is on the computer.
But the main reason why e-books haven’t been hugely popular among the younger set is the same reason why adults haven’t been quick to embrace e-books: it is still easier and more convenient to read a book in print than on the computer. As librarian Cindi Carey, Lacey Branch, Timberland Regional Library, WA. stated in a Library Journal article from 2003, “people want the tactile experience of reading a book."
There is growing concern as well for the amount of time that children already spend on the computer, and the physical effects of this activity on the still-maturing eyes of a child. But that concern could apply to all computer users regardless of age. Even high resolution computers cannot provide a 3-dimensional experience that a book does. The computer screen does not bend and fold nor can you as easily adjust distance between the words and your eyes as you can with a book. Tactile and emotional experiences aside, a book on a computer is quite simply a more physically demanding experience on the eyes, body, and even the brain.
There is even a syndrome coined for excessive computer use – computer vision syndrome. The statistics are already high for the number of children who need corrective lenses because – experts believe – of eye strain due to extensive computer use. This may significantly slow the promotion of e-books to children.
So who is the real market for e-books? Despite the physical concerns, some see children younger than grade three as the most promising audience for e-books. Together with read-alouds, animations, and shorter texts, the picture e-book industry may offer a larger experience for children than the print format.
Have you made use of any child-related e-book technologies?
Second question: Are you aware of any children or teens who have downloaded and read an e-book? Can you see youth being interested in this technology?
18 Comments:
Downloading ebooks
Hi Norene,
Interesting question. I'll come at it from another angle. My husband and I are currently on what I am calling our BIG TRIP. This morning, we are in Phoenix--tonight in Tucson, tomorrow in Dallas and on it goes.
I get up early and sign on via motel wireless and download the previous day's postings.
My husband downloads radio programs onto his i-pod and we listen as we drive.
I have just yesterday on the road finished the last "required" book as we travelled. I could hold the book, etc. For an e-book, I would have to have enough battery power on my computer. We have even purchased an "adapter / charger" so that I can use my computer as we travel. But in the 'electricity' of things, I can recharge with my computer shut down but we could not find an adapter that took the volts, watts, etc, in a big enough format to be able to open and run the computer while charging! So, once it is recharged, I can read again. This would be a tedious project with an ebook.
When we travelled with our kids, books and audio cassettes were life-savers - especially across deserts!
Muriel
Muriel,
How lucky you are to be travelling! I love Tucson & Phoenix.
You have provided great perspective on how cumbersome e-books still are. You should check out the Sony Reader link on my blog and see if you think the new technology will make it much easier to travel with an e-book.
Norene.
Hi Noreen and Muriel, I have read some kids picture books online when I was taking an English class about children's literature but I don't think that counts. I haven't used any child-related e-book technology and don't know any kids who have or would either. They would be turned off by trying to figure out the technology. Arlene
Arlene,
Most kids it seems are very unintimidated by technology, and willing to try anything new, don't you think? My seven year old can work her way around the latest "Roller Coaster Tycoon" and Neopets sites while MSN-ing her friends better than I could ever hope to do. I don't think any technology is out of their intellectual grasp, and they may even think it's pretty cool to read a book on one of these readers. What do you think?
Norene.
I teach an online creative writing course and have given my students the chance to read one of the required novels online or get it out of the library. They all prefer to read the book and complain that reading online is not comfortable.
For crying out loud!! Why can I not remember to put my name at the end!! Double aaarrrgg. Shannon
Hi Norene,
I just finished writing a paper for one of my other classes on the "International Children's Digital Library." This library offers over 900 free fulltext children's books. Here's the link:
http://www.icdlbooks.org/
I was very impressed with the International Children's Digital Library. The books are in a multitude of different languages and the search interface is even geared towards children. For example, children can choose to search for books with blue covers, or books that are "happy."
I found that reading the books on this website was actually quite pleasant. They have five different ways for children to view the books. The Spiral Reader was my particular favorite!
Julie
Julie,
Thank you for that great website suggestion!
Muriel - you won't believe it but the featured book is written in Kinyarwanda (a language I heard about only 10 minutes ago on your posting!). It's called Kageni. Check it out.
Norene.
Thanks Julie and Norene
Will get to this! :)
Muriel
Hi Norene et al: I really have not tried getting children to read ebooks and in class yesterday I asked if anyone had tried it, but of coures the class I am speaking of is a class for students who are not the most interested readers in general and their answer was "why?". The few avid readers said they preferred to read a real book, so they could take it from class to class and read whenever a chance came up. I also see them reading in the halls at lunch, etc., so ebooks are not catching on at my secondary school.
Hi Norene,
I have never used or tried to access any type of ebook. I could see someone who started young with ebooks being comfortable using them, but until they come in a form as portable and durable as books -- or even more so --, I think most people will continue to prefer books.
I personally have not made use of e-book sites where I work but I did check out a few of the web sites mentioned on your e-book power point handout. I personally enjoyed the Screen Actor's Guild sponsored site (storylineonline.net) over the book only versions. It was more like a movie I suppose but I found it easier on the eyes fading back and forth from the pages to the actor (or maybe it was the actor that was easy on the eyes?).
I haven't come across any students who read e-books yet. Maybe I'll do a poll next time the grade 6's come to the library.
RoseAnn
Right now I don't know of any kids who have read e-books. I'll have to do some asking around among friends.
I tried some of the links you gave us in class. Those that present a page at a time just seems like a facsimile of reading to me. It's so static to have to wait for the page to load. The books at the Rosetta project have neat old illustration styles but didn't fit on the screen so you had to scroll up and down. ICDL is better (I liked the comic book view on single page) but still feels very artificial to me.
The Tumblebooks are enjoyable in automatic mode where they read to you and pan the pictures, but then they're more like a video. They remind me of Reading Rainbow on TV.
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I'd only choose these e-books if I only had access to a computer and couldn't get my hands on a real book.
Marilyn
I have two teenagers at home and neither of them have ever read downloaded e-books.
They do read and write on fanfiction.net (does this count?)
I tried the sites from our class and thought that they were neat. My son who is seven was not interested in listening to the stories. I think this is because he is learning to read and the reader's pace didn't match his, so he could'nt keep up.
I also tried a web site with my 17 month old niece, it could'nt hold her interest either. She was probably too young, but the sounds and colours didn't do anything for her. When I read a book to her I can change how I read to bring her attention back.
I think we all prefer "real" books.
Judy
No, I have not used any child-related e-books
No I don't know any childern or teens who read e-books. Yes I think that e-books will be more appealing to teens because of newer technologies.
Heidi Reed
I am currently struggling through an e-book for the reading log assignment, and I find it very tedious. I can't take it anywhere with me, and I am rarely near my computer for more than an hour at a time, so it is difficult to finish the book. (The book itself is boring and long-winded, and that just adds to my frustration about staring at a computer screen, burning holes in my eyes.)
I don't know of any child/teen that has accessed the e-book format, and I can understand how some feel that the younger generation would be quick to embrace the technology as they have with everything else, but I fear that e-books will only contribute to the "computer vision syndrome" epidemic. My parents always told me to sit back from the T.V., though, so I think that if parents limited the daily time their children spent sitting in front of the computer screen, this problem would be drastically reduced. But we aren't getting into the parenting discussion here ;)
If ebooks really were "the future" like so many people are claiming, don't you think we'd see more of them? I rarely see a child now without a cell phone, an MP3 player, or some other form of new technology, but I have never seen one with an ebook.
Hi Noreen!
When my kids were a lot younger and having a computer was new in our house, I purchased a few Winnie-the-Pooh CD's. These were stories that the kids could watch on the computer and hear the story. The could also follow the honey pot as it bounced from word to word. When they got old enough to read, the CD's were passed on to cousins so they could enjoy the stories. We never seemed to get past those stories and move on to more in-depth ones. My kids prefer a book. We use the library quite often and when they have read a book that they enjoyed, we are off to the book store to purchase it.
When they have readings to do on-line, I would say that 90% of the time, they print it out and read it.
I have not heard of anyone who have downloaded and read any e-books. I am definitely going to ask Celine's team mates this evening to see (the age group is from Grade 10 to first year University). I may be in for a pleasant surprise.
I am not sure whether youth would be interested in this type of technology. I would think it depends on how many computers are in the house. I would think that most families have one computer and may have to take turns using it. This may cause problems if you want to sit in front of it and read a lengthy novel. If children are fortunate and have a parent in the IT industry, they may have their own computer and therefore access would not be an issue. However, it is still difficult to read when you away from home. My girls love to read and usually cart their current book around where ever we go. I would be broke if I had to buy them laptops so they could read their e-books on the road. Heaven forbid if they had to share a laptop and read the same book - a war would errupt!
I would think that reading may die down amongst teens if they were required to read e-books, especially if they did not have access to a computer or if they did, they were only allowed a minimum of time. I know my girls would be extremely frustrated. If e-books were available in a more convenient form (such as the size of a Nintendo DS), then I could see it being more popular amonst the teens, especially if you could play games as well as read!
Chantal
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