Newsletter No. 80
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Free Pint
"Helping 34,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
ISSN 1460-7239 1st February 2001 No.80
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Andrew Denny
FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"An adventure in ADSL: the Superhighway finally becomes 'super'?"
By Duncan Parry
BOOKSHELF
"Done Deals - Venture Capitalists Tell Their Stories"
Reviewed by Drosten Fisher
FEATURE ARTICLE
"E-Books"
By Andrew Cox and Heba Mohammed
EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/010201.htm
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***** WANTED! FREELANCE INDEXERS FOR LEADING INTERNET PORTAL *****
http://www.portalb.com
Data Downlink are currently recruiting information professionals and
students with access to the Internet to index Web sites from home for
the rapidly expanding Portal B service. Applicants must be fluent in
French, German, Italian or Spanish. Full training will be provided.
To apply with CV, or for more information please contact Helen Whyte.
hwhyte@xls.com
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>>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<<
Free Pint is a community of business professionals who use the Web for
their research. Members receive this free newsletter every two weeks
packed with tips on finding quality and reliable business information
on the Internet. Signing up at <http://www.freepint.co.uk/> provides
free access to the substantial archive of articles, book reviews,
industry news and events, with answers to your research questions and
networking at the "Free Pint Bar" and "Student Bar". This newsletter
is best read when printed out and viewed in a Courier font.
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EDITORIAL
I raised the important issue of commericialisation of our community in
the last issue and asked Free Pinters to "give us your feedback on
whether you believe we are acting appropriately". The response from
members was overwhelming, both at the Bar and directly by email, and
here are some of the typical messages ...
"I am sure it is very cosy to feel that a site and service such as
Free Pint should be 'preserved' free of nasty commercialism for the
greater good of our community, however I did not notice in the
comments that have been made previously an offer to pay what I can
safely assume would have to be a large subscription fee to
compensate for all the other forms of income." KR
"Continued success to Free Pint and its partners, is all I can say.
Cyberspace would be much poorer (and I would be lost) without it!"
LR
"Those people who are unhappy with the changes to Free Pint are
probably the same people I knew at university who couldn't wait to
accuse a band of 'selling out' as soon as they enjoyed a little
commercial success. " LL
"I just wanted to say I for one thank you very much for your service
and understand that you need the economics to keep going so - do
what you have to do - so long as you keep going!" JMK
"We are surely all relatively intelligent and logical, and can make
up our own minds whether to use ICC or not (according to our purses,
or the purses of those we work for!). Perhaps we should take issue
with your correspondent for insulting your tipplers by implying that
we will be misled by subliminal advertising! I enjoyed Simon's
spirited defence and heartily concur." MS
We are delighted with the amount of support you have given us on this
difficult issue, and I will continue to keep you informed of all
improvements to our offerings, commercial or otherwise.
On the subject of hot topics, today we bring you an overview of ADSL
(an "always on" connection to the Internet) and a tremendous look at
the latest developments in eBooks. We've also packed in the regular
mix of site reviews and the latest happenings at the Bar.
My appearance on the BBC's "Bare Necessities" survival programme is a
week away (8th Feb). You'll soon find out the food our team of
'librarians' encountered in the Arizona desert (haven't some of the
programmes so far been a bit gruesome?!) and whether we won the
escape to a luxury hotel.
I hope you enjoy today's edition and won't hesitate to give us your
feedback on any aspect of what we do. It would be great too if you
could introduce others to Free Pint.
Cheers
William
William Hann BSc MIInfSc
Founder and Managing Editor, Free Pint
e: william@freepint.co.uk
t: +44 (0)1784 455435
f: +44 (0)1784 455436
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***SAVE ON ATTENDANCE AT EUROPE'S LEADING KM FORUM*** The KM
Conference & Exhibition, London, April 3 - 4 2001 is the only event
where knowledge leaders and workers can find out all about the
practices and tools that are shaping KM today. The Conference includes
a debate on the future of KM Consultancy by Dave Snowden of IBM and
Edward Truch of Henley Management College, plus presentations by Leif
Edvinsson, Marc Auckland of the BT Academy and more. BOOK BY 19th
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>>> RESEARCH A UK COMPANY FOR FREE <<<
http://www.freepint.co.uk/icc/
Research any UK company - a supplier, customer or competitor
View basic details for free, purchase detailed reports as needed
Pay by card, invoice or cheque, without setup fees or subscription
http://www.freepint.co.uk/icc/
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MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Andrew Denny
* Epinions - An essential stop whenever I want second opinions
before I buy.
* Google is my engine of choice, and I rarely need another.
<http://www.google.com/>
* Britainexpress - I make it my business to know as much about the
British Isles as possible, especially to advise tourists.
Britainexpress, an American site, is useful for this.
<http://www.britainexpress.com/>
* Jy-muggeridge - I love wordplay and this site is a superb British
site to explore for that.
<http://www.jy-muggeridge.freeserve.co.uk/>
* Spaceref - This is a great starting point for anyone obsessed by
the extra-terrestrial. <http://www.spaceref.com/>
Andrew Denny is PR writer and researcher for The Publicity Works, a
business-to-business PR and advertising agency in Norfolk. He dreams
idly of developing a waterways tourism guide based around his canal
boat Granny Buttons.
Tell us about your top five favourite Web sites. See the guidelines at
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/author.htm> or email <simon@freepint.co.uk>
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*** WWW.FACTIVA.COM/INFOPRO ***
The next chapter of 'Trouble at Risk-eGames' will be published
soon. In the meantime, read the latest Advisor, our newsletter
for information professionals on www.factiva.com/infopro and
join the InfoPro Alliance to receive regular updates.
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>>> ONE MILLION EXPOSURES FOR A LOW MONTHLY FEE <<<
Advertise with Free Pint for a year and
receive over a million exposures.
23% discount, fixed prices and monthly billing.
Find out more at http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm
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FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/010201.htm#bar
Free Pint Bar - http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
[Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in
the address <http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar/read.php?i=XXXX> or enter
the number in the "Jump To" box on the Bar homepage]
Technical and Web mastering questions have been hot this past couple
of weeks taking in Web hosting issues (6868), mailing lists (6870),
personal organisers (6879), security (6907), site search (6909),
mobiles (7154), ISDN (7135) and various types of software (6916, 6941,
6969, 6984, 7012, 7076).
We had several unanswered questions about security market statistics
(6880), Internet usage statistics (7035), a free map of the UK (6944),
credit card insurance (7030), salary comparisons (7096), online
financial calculators (7140) and email disclaimers (7176).
As usual, I covered quite a range of resources in my daily Tipples,
including spam (6924), fonts (6967, 6985), change management (6990),
Robert Burns (7061) and measurement terms (7109). We are still trying
to find academic sites on the 1960s (7024), art buying resources
(7118) and the history of bank sort codes (7172).
While we had responses to queries about the British cinema industry
(7129) and publishing (6902), we could do with some help with
adhesives (6928), accountancy in Ireland (6936), information service
supply contracts (6997), insurance (7054) and advertising space
(7015).
More general business questions have been raised about business
biographies (6972), starting a business (6991), historic share prices
(7091), business administration research (6896) and computer training
for the UK voluntary sector (6919). But we're stuck on mobile
commerce sites (6960), a database of credit managers (7119) and
virtual companies.
More miscellaneous questions were raised about the value of the German
Mark in the 1930s (7149), freelance work (6956), garden bird feeders
(7100), European animal feed suppliers (7161) and mailing lists for
Eastern Europe (7005). And then there was the Data Protection Act
(6930), domain name ownership (7048) and copyright (6987).
Free Pint Student Bar - http://www.freepint.co.uk/student
[Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in
the address <http://www.freepint.co.uk/student/read.php?i=XXXX>]
A range of topics arose at the Student Bar of interest for those
studying for an information degree around the world.
There were announcements for the "International Summer School on the
Digital Library" in Tilburg, the Netherlands or Florence, Italy (1122)
and the "International Grad Summer School in LIS" at Aberystwyth
(1166). The ARLIS Students and Trainees Event "Working in Art
Libraries" takes place in March in London (1125).
Help has been requested with dissertations. Can you suggest Web sites
which look at how UK companies can protect their intellectual property
on the Web or do you work for an SME that can complete a survey on
this topic (1121)? Can you help find reading material on the topic of
using Web sites as communication tools, especially for professional
practice (1114)?
Would you know of sources of funding for a medical student who wants
to work in Japan (1124)? Or where to find university rankings for
industrial psychology (1119) or Finance (1115)? The request for
rankings of UK MBAs has already received some useful responses (1117).
Simon Collery, Content Developer <simon@freepint.co.uk>
If you have a tricky research question or can help other Free Pinters
then do post a message at the Bar <http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar> or
the Student Bar <http://www.freepint.co.uk/student>.
Visit daily for "Today's Tipple" - a different Web site reviewed every
working day at the Bar. Every Tuesday there is the "Pub Crawl", a look
at full text articles from a range of information and Internet
publications. Access the archive of Tipples and Pub Crawls at
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/portal/content/tipple.php3>.
To have the latest Free Pint Bar postings sent to you every other day,
send a blank email to <digest@freepint.co.uk>. For the Student Bar
Digest send an email to <studentdigest@freepint.co.uk>.
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Announcing 2 New Internet courses at the British Library.
How to set up a web site for e-business, 6 March. Learn from scratch
how to create a web site integrating e-commerce and ensure a high
volume of traffic through attractive content and efficient navigation.
The best of business information on the Internet, 26 March 2001.
Keep up to date in this fast moving area. Expert speakers include
Sheila Webber and Phil Bradley. For further info
www.bl.uk/services/stb/courses.html or t:020 7412 7978.
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>>> PUBLISH AN EMAIL NEWSLETTER? <<<
Is your database of subscribers becoming unwieldy?
Move to an experienced host who will handle all subscription requests,
distribute your newsletter and give drill-down reports on progress.
Find out about list hosting from Free Pint ...
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bulk/
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/010201.htm#tips
"An adventure in ADSL: the Superhighway finally becomes 'super'?"
By Duncan Parry
British Telecom first signalled its intention to introduce high speed
Internet access via ADSL in November 1998, and finally began providing
details of the service at their ADSL web site, BT Openworld
<http://www.btopenworld.com/> in the Summer of 2000. ADSL is now
available from BT starting at UK pounds 39.99 per month, with an
installation fee of UK pounds 150.
What does ADSL offer?
---------------------
ADSL offers a much quicker - more than ten times faster in fact -
Internet connection in your home or office using your existing
telephone line. This connection does not require you to dial up an
ISP when you want to go online - it provides an always on, always
available connection which in effect gives you a direct line to the
local exchange. This means you do not pay telephone call charges for
connecting to the Internet. In addition, with one phone line you can
view web pages, send e-mail and make telephones calls, all at the same
time - assuming you have enough hands! You'll be able to share
connections between computers, too.
How it works
------------
ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) works by using the existing
copper telephone wires and the modern digital 'core' of the telephone
network to offer more bandwidth along a normal telephone line - so web
sites and files are accessible at quicker speeds. Without going into
a lot of technical detail, a traditional analogue phone line can only
receive data at 56 kbit/s; ADSL enabled lines (as available in the UK
from BT) can allow data to be received at up to 2 Mbit/s and sent at
256 kbit/s. Not only does this make sites and downloads quicker, but
it opens up the market for video on demand and other entertainment
services.
Video on Demand, Content-rich sites and Broadband
-------------------------------------------------
Broadband Internet connections means that services such as video on
demand (similar to the service available from Sky Box Office and
several Cable TV operators) and higher quality streaming media and web
casts can become a reality on your computer (and you can in theory buy
them from outside the UK, so a situation may arise where you can watch
US video releases several months before their release in the UK).
BT is hoping to exploit the potential of ADSL, forming partnerships
for their Openworld site which include MTV, PeopleSound.com, Reuters,
FT.com, BBC News, ZDNetUK and the Cartoon Network. The pop band
Travis have also been signed up to play exclusive gigs for the site,
and more groups are sure to follow, as these sorts of web casts can
boost album and merchandise sales dramatically (the recent Madonna
concert received some 9 million hits, and merchandise and albums were
for sale at the site). BT are developing separate portals for home
and business users to deliver the content these companies offer -
which means that over time BT may begin competing with traditional
broadcasters, as their activities begin to converge with the Internet
(NTL and OnDigital are both offering TV Internet services, for
example).
Getting Connected
-----------------
Unfortunately ADSL isn't available everywhere, and the roll out of the
technology by BT has been slower than many would have liked. Matters
are complicated by BT's reluctance to provide rival companies with
access to it's network so that they can offer ADSL services -
something OFTEL has instructed BT to do, and exchanges are being made
available. BBC News Online featured a story earlier this year stating
that the number of companies requesting access to some of BT's
exchanges was so high that they are using a voting system to allocate
space - and will throw a dice to decide the winner if any ties take
place!
The best way to find out if ADSL is available in your area is to check
your telephone number at their site <http://www.btopenworld.com/> or
to interrogate your local BT engineer. The site also contains a
useful demo comparing the speed web pages, e-mail, videos, sound and
downloads appear over phone lines, ISDN and ADSL - quite convincing if
this is what BT delivers with Openworld. A map of planned
availability for March 2001 can be found here at BT
<http://www.broadband.bt.com/> in the 'Rollout' section (this seems to
be aimed at the press).
Generally, exchanges in the bigger cities and the South East are being
upgraded first (to my surprise this includes my local exchange - I'm
just switching to ADSL , all being well). Several of the big name
ISPs are offering details of their ADSL services from their sites -
including Demon <http://www.demon.net/> Claranet
<http://www.claranet.co.uk/adsl/> and Pipex <http://www.pipex.net/>.
One South West of England ISP, <http://www.eclipse.net.uk/>, is
campaigning for BT to convert more exchanges in the South West, as
well as offering their own ADSL service.
The Cost
--------
The ADSL package you pay for depends on your needs - the slowest (500
kbit/s from the Internet to your computer, compared to 56 kbit/s on a
normal dial up modem) attracts a connection fee from BT of UK pounds
150, with a subscription of UK pounds 39.99 per month for a minimum of
12 months. This is aimed at the home and small business markets. The
most expensive package, aimed squarely at business, offers 2000 kbit/s
for a connection fee of UK pounds 260 and a monthly fee of UK pounds
479.97. It's interesting to note that ADSL.com states that ADSL can
offer up to 8 Mbit/s, compared to BT's top speed of 2 Mbit/s. However
8 Mbit/s is the potential of the technology, and in the U.S., where
the ADSL market began in late 1998, 1.5 Mbit/s is viewed as a good
connection speed.
The business packages allow connections to be shared via networked
computers, either PCs or Macs - although full support for the Mac and
Windows ME is not available at the time of writing. Minimum
specifications for a PC are a Pentium II, 32 megabytes of RAM and a
USB port for the ADSL modem, which BT supply. To connect you, they
replace your existing telephone socket with a slightly larger,
'splitter' box which enables ADSL into your building.
Other options for Broadband
---------------------------
But ADSL is not the only broadband type of Internet access available.
Cable modems, offering Internet access over the networks of Cable TV
companies, are being offered by NTL, Telewest and other operators.
These potentially offer even faster access - up to 10Mbit/s.
Satellite and wireless networks are also being developed. It seems
that the best option for any one building will depend on the amount of
Internet usage expected, it's location and which services are
available in that area. Broadly speaking, cable connections will
become increasingly common in urban areas, as will ADSL (which is only
viable up to a certain distance from the local exchange) and more
rural areas may have to rely on satellite/telephone line
combinations (the Satellite providing fast downloading of web pages,
the telephone line for sending requests for them, transmitting files
and e-mails).
The new 'post code lottery'? / Old hat to the U.S.
---------------------------------------------------
It seems the health service 'post code lottery' in the UK may well be
joined by the 'connectivity' post code lottery, at least in the short
term. It's also important to know that computers connected to the
Internet via 'always on' connections are often easier to find and
attack maliciously (hack etc) - so it's a good idea to keep your anti
virus software up to date and use a firewall (you can get a free one
from <http://www.zonealarm.com/>) to protect yourself.
Of course, for any American Free Pint reader this is all old hat;
ADSL (DSL as it is commonly known in the US) is common, and some ISPs
even offer 'free' DSL services. The reliability of these services,
though, seems to be as questionable as that of some of the 'free' ISPs
in the UK. So maybe the Internet isn't quite 'super' yet (it's
definitely not free) but it can be quicker for most of us via ADSL and
other technologies.
Useful Links
------------
For a FAQ on ADSL and technical info try <http://www.adsl.com/>
The BT ADSL site, <http://www.btopenworld.com/> provides details of
the service, availability and a description of how the technology
works. Further technical details can be found here at BT -
<http://www.bt.com/innovation/exhibition/adsl/index.htm>.
A good explanation of ADSL and other forms of access can be found on
the US site <http://www.howstuffworks.com/> - under a search for DSL.
A list of ADSL ISPs can be found here on Lycos UK -
<http://www.lycos.co.uk/dir/Telecommunications_and_Internet/
Commercial_Services/Internet_Service_Providers/>.
Another list, which also covers some Cable Modem and Satellite
providers, can be found on ISP Review
<http://www.ispreview.co.uk/new/broadband.shtml>.
A search of BBC News Online will reveal more info about the rollout of
ADSL - <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news>.
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Duncan Parry is a category editor for the directory of sites at Lycos
UK <http://www.lycos.co.uk/> covering Computers, Technology, Internet
and Telecommunications. He is also developing a new site, RailFind
<http://www.railfind.co.uk/> which is a guide to UK railways online,
covering travel, industry, model railways and railway heritage. He
undertakes web site design work <http://www.digitalstrike.co.uk/>, and
is currently studying with the Open University.
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Related Free Pint links:
* "Computer Industry" links, articles and news in the Free Pint Portal
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/portal/industry/industry.php3?category_id=27>
* Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/010201.htm#tips>
* Post a message to the author now at the Free Pint Bar
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar>
* Access the entire archive of Free Pint content
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/portal/content/>
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>>> FREE PINT FACT <<<
I mentioned in the last issue that the Free Pint Bar is a fun place to
be. It's also rather busy, and becoming increasingly so. In fact,
January was the busiest month ever with 603 postings made on 258
different topics.
Aha, I hear you say, but these are just the same people making many
postings. Actually these postings were made by 498 different people,
and last Friday was the busiest day ever with 44 messages. For those
too busy themselves to visit the Bar regularly there's the Bar Digest
which is sent three times a week. This is now received by over 10% of
our membership and you can sign up by sending a blank email to
<digest@freepint.co.uk> or modifying your account online.
William Hann, Managing Editor <william@freepint.co.uk>
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In need of web development or database solutions?
Then talk to Mike Adams for some fresh perspectives on how
Global Gold can deliver database-specific solutions for your web
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and grow your business TODAY!
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf
"Done Deals - Venture Capitalists Tell Their Stories"
Reviewed by Drosten Fisher
This book is an interesting summary of the world of US venture
capital, told from the viewpoint of individuals in the industry. It
is informative, but not entirely satisfactory as it does not explore
the theory and scope of venture capital as an industry and what makes
it tick. Rather, it looks at individuals' stories and gives a
personal look at their and their companies' investment strategies and
the subsequent successes and failures.
The book is organised into five sections chronologically and also
geographically, each section focusing on a major theme in the US
venture capital industry.
The first section explores the industry's beginnings in business
investments by wealthy families. The second section focuses on the
current industry boom, which has been fuelled by the demand for tech
stocks. The next two sections look at East Coast and West Coast firms
and highlight the key differences between them. And the final section
looks at what the future of the industry might hold.
The technique used is that of a series of interviews with some of the
most influential current players in the US venture capital industry,
in most of the major firms and looks at some of the most successful
technology deals such as Yahoo! and Amazon.com.
For the novice looking for an overview of what the venture capital
industry is and how it functions, the book will be a disappointment.
For the industry insider, looking for insight into the minds of the
most successful US venture capitalists, it should be a fascinating
read.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Drosten Fisher works as a Research Associate for Impact Plus plc.
Founded in 1990, Impact Plus is one of the fastest growing management
consultancies in the UK and Ireland. It is Impact Plus' mission to
make a positive impact on the business of our clients. We have an
enviable reputation for delivering independent, practical, value-for-
money advice. Impact Plus has offices in London, Edinburgh, Manchester
and Dublin and has delivered in virtually every market sector. Impact
Plus is also a principal member of E-I Consulting Group, with access
to 1,800 consultants in 75 offices worldwide.
http://www.impactplus.co.uk
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Related Free Pint links:
* "Finance" links, articles and news in the Free Pint Portal
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/portal/industry/industry.php3?category_id=50>
* Find out more about this book online at the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/donedeals.htm>
* Read about other Internet strategy books on the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/strategy.htm>
* Read customer comments and buy this book at Amazon.co.uk
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0875849385/freepint0c>
or Amazon.com
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0875849385/freepint00>
* Details: ISBN 0875849385 published by Harvard Business School Press
and edited by Udayan Gupta
* Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf>
To propose an information-related book for review, send details
to <bookshelf@freepint.co.uk>.
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>>> BROWSE ALL FREE PINT CONTENT BY SUBJECT OR YEAR <<<
Use the Free Pint Portal as your springboard
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FEATURE ARTICLE
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/010201.htm#feature
"E-Books"
By Andrew Cox and Heba Mohammed
Definitions
-----------
If you like formal definitions, an E-Book has been defined as 'a term
used to describe a text analogous to a book that is in digital form to
be displayed on a computer screen.' (International Encyclopedia of
Information and Library science/ edited by: John Feather and Paul
Sturges. 1997). Of course a CD-ROM of an encyclopaedia is really an
electronic book, and there are a few books available on the Web - so
E-Books have been around for ages. What is new is the maturing of
dedicated E-Book reader technology and the emergence of some large-
scale distributors of electronic texts to be read on the PC, e.g.
netLibrary, ebrary and Questia. These companies are planning to make
electronic texts available on a vast scale. By 2003, Questia aim to
have 250,000 texts suitable for US undergraduates in the liberal arts
available online. Even the Russians are getting in on the act
<http://www.elibron.com/english/>! Several commentators have suggested
that it will be in the delivery of textbooks that E-Books will really
take off; leisure sales won't be as successful.
So the E-Book experience could be:
* Reading electronic texts on a dedicated machine, such as the
GemStar eBook.
* Reading electronic texts on a PC, laptop or palmtop. This could
mean downloading the whole text and then reading it through a
special software reader, or it could mean reading texts online in
your browser. In Questia's system pages are served up to the user
one by one, so that precise usage can be tracked; and potential
breaches of intellectual property rights (IPR) avoided. netLibrary
offer the best of both worlds in that you can read a work online
through a browser - or download it and read it on your machine.
There are also some newer technologies developing which will be worth
watching: such as electronic paper, which is much like paper, except
that the text can be changed, and talking books in MP3 format. For
more on this see Roxane Farmanfarmaian, "Beyond E-Books: Glimpses of
the future"
<http://www.publishersweekly.com/articles/20010101_93736.asp>.
What is the point of E-Books?
-----------------------------
We all love printed books, it's a mature technology: familiar,
portable and without realising, most of us have spent a lot of time
mastering how to use books effectively. So why should we bother with
electronic books? Here's our list in order of importance:
* Portability - a large number of e-titles can be carried around at
once (either in memory, though most dedicated readers seem to have
quite small memories - or parked on a personal virtual bookshelf on
the network). From the library perspective this translates to
saving on shelf space.
* Instant access to titles (clearly a lot quicker than traditional
library acquisitions) - and the online shop is open 24 hours a day.
* Accessibility - it should be easier to get spoken output for blind
readers.
* Searchability - however good a book's index is, it has to be more
effective to search the full text.
* Annotation - you can probably make large annotations on an E-Book,
then extract them later for a final essay.
* Linking - e.g. so that you can highlight a word and jump to the
dictionary definition.
* Multimedia possibilities (though as with ejournals there is little
sign of anyone exploiting this potential)
* Breaking down barriers - it's possible some groups of readers (e.g.
children) might have different or more open attitudes to books on a
computer than they do towards printed ones.
* Environmental - saves on material and environmental cost of
printing on paper.
* Self-publishing - may make it easier for authors to publish
directly (e.g. through Fatbrain or Heron).
Problems with E-Books
---------------------
So if E-Books are so great, why isn't everyone using them? Some of the
problems with E-Books read on dedicated machines or software are:
* Expense - the dedicated readers are expensive.
* Technological change - there is a risk of buying a soon-to-be-
defunct reader (the Betamax syndrome).
* Screen resolutions - typical screen resolutions on handhelds and
PCs probably aren't good enough for extended screen reading
* Limited availability of titles - at the moment there are a limited
number of titles available. There are few titles exclusively available
electronically.
* Availability - the dedicated readers aren't widely available in the
UK.
* Complex systems - purchasing a book can be a rather involuted
process (see Ian Austen, "Rebooted any good books lately?" New York
Times on the Web, January 4th 2001).
* Cost - the more recent E-Book titles tend to cost more than a
printed book. However the price is probably based on US prices - so
a lot of the time this can seem quite cheap.
* Compatibility - there is not (yet) compatibility across different
hardware/software. So if you buy a title for your dedicated reader
you probably won't be able to read it on your PC (see
<http://www.E-Book.org> for standards work).
* Bibliographic data - (a problem for libraries) - there is rarely
sufficient bibliographic data about available titles. Cataloguing
titles raises all the cataloguing problems of parallel publication
of ejournals.
* Licensing - the vendors mostly don't seem to understand library
needs or have suitable licences.
* Printing - may not be able to print.
* Limited rights - your rights of resale etc. are different from when
a book is purchased. These are familiar issues that have arisen
from e-journals, e.g. licences versus sales.
* Preservation issues raised if we get into true publishing of
E-Books.
The issues for the new wave of large-scale distributors are somewhat
different. They need:
* To hit on a business model that works - if they can make a profit
at a level of subscription/charging that users find acceptable.
* To reassure publishers about their IPR by providing a very
controlled user interface, without making it too cumbersome and
unwieldy for users. Electronic Copyright Management Systems has
experienced that if the user environment is very tortuous, users
simply don't use the system. But this experience might not be
repeated if the content is sufficiently massive.
* To have reliable, speedy access.
* To have the right books.
* To persuade academics to recommend using a service to their
students.
The provision of online key texts to students in higher education (HE)
and further education (FE) is gaining pace with projects such as HERON
<http://www.heron.ac.uk/> which currently, in its project phase,
offers copyright clearance of such texts to academic staff wishing to
provide online study packs. A full HERON service may include a
repository of HE authored texts suitable for inclusion in course
materials.
A key issue for publishers is the protection of their IPR. If you are
interested in the technicalities of what is effectively an Electronic
Copyright Management System, look at the Electronic Book Exchange
System (EBX) white paper at <http://www.ebxwg.org/pdfs/spec.pdf>. The
interesting bit is where the authors set out the needs of each party
in E-Book publishing. Important to note though that they make the
assumption that consumers will want to read off-line.
Road test
---------
If you want to get a taste of the E-Books experience the simplest way
is to download a free reader and play a bit. Here are our own short
reviews of some of what is available. Note: we haven't looked at the
dedicated E-Book readers.
Microsoft Reader - <http://www.microsoft.com/reader/>
The Microsoft reader for PCs, laptops and the latest Pocket PCs can be
downloaded from <http://www.microsoft.com/reader/> (Note: you have to
have Internet Explorer installed and correctly configured).
Installation is simple and the reader is free.
Look on <http://www.cewindows.net/reader/reader.htm> to see what texts
are available (we plumped for the free stuff from Blackmask for the
demo) and there are some utilities to convert from other formats, or
self publish in the Reader format. The Reader has some quite nice
features - such as how it remembers the last page you were reading.
The right mouse button calls up tools such as to bookmark a page, to
make a drawn or textual annotation (doodle all over the book if you
like!) and to search. The Reader builds an index of your annotations
so you can find them quickly. If this were a key textbook we think
this would be invaluable for note taking. You can copy and paste text
but not print directly from the reader. On my PC the reader looked
good - very elegantly designed - and for a computer screen texts were
fairly readable.
MobiPocket Reader -<http://www.mobipocket.com/>
We also tried out the free MobiPocket reader on a Phenom Express
pocket PC. The screen resolution of the machine itself is low, so not
surprisingly the experience is less satisfactory. Bookmarks can be
added, but not annotations. The range of texts immediately available
is not very inspiring. Mobipocket offered about 200 titles for free,
but from the list one would guess that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the
cornerstone of English Literature. The top reference work for sale
appeared to be "250 Chat up lines". However, the convenience of
carrying many books makes it worthwhile to hunt down some decent
books.
24x7 Web site - <http://www.books24x7.com>
24x7 offer guest access to selected chapters of books in their library
of business and computing books. The experience here is basically the
usual web experience, everything is read in a browser. Sections are
delivered bit by bit - so it would be difficult to print everything
out - or save the book for reuse.
Imagination - <http://www.the-office.com/lunchbook/overview.htm>
Somewhat different are SummerWood Partnership's various electronic
book applications. The book is embodied in a downloadable executable,
so you simply download the file and run it. It is Windows, Adobe etc.
independent. From their site you can download their Inventor story.
The software is aimed at allowing the creation of a number of
attractive children's books, even with low-resolution screens.
netLibrary - <http://www.netlibrary.com>
netLibrary E-Books can be accessed both through a web site - and on a
free-for-download reader, on your PC. There are a few free books on
their site, and you can register to use these free of charge. I must
say though I found the web site a bit slow when I have tried to
access it; and downloading books doesn't work smoothly. I wouldn't
want to come to firm conclusions on the basis of a few trials though.
So do try it yourself. This is one of the more promising services,
which it's important to explore properly. In the netLibrary system you
download a book and check it out to use it. After you have used it
once you don't have to download it again, but you do have to check it
out.
The two reading experiences, online and on your PC, are different. On
the Web you have two text areas, one with the book itself, the other
with tools such as a dictionary look up, and search facilities.
Searching is good. In some of the other E-Books a search jumps to the
first occurrence of the search term, then the next and so on - the
netLibrary screen gives you the number of hits - so you have a feel
for the frequency of a word in your book. The display also shows a
table of contents listing with the number of hits in each section.
These features make the search facility a simple textual analysis
helper.
The netLibrary eBook Reader software is a typical Windows-style
application - unlike the more stylish MS Reader. It is about as
readable as any word document, though the ability to easily zoom in
and out is nice. There are three windows to view: the book itself, the
table of contents and your own notes and annotations. The toolbars
offer the typical E-Book functions, such as bookmarking, note making
and annotation. You can search both through the E-Book you are reading
and any you have installed. A citation for a work or section can be
created and made available to copy into a document, which is nice as
long as you want the citations as they are presented, in MLA style.
Questia - <http://www.questia.com/>
Questia's academic service was launched on 22nd January. There is
free registration for a 48-hour pass. After initial problems of
registering - the system was tolerably responsive (before 10 am - what
it would be like when America wakes up is another matter).
There are three main book finding options: quick search, power search,
explore (i.e. browse). Search - gives you results nicely displayed,
you have sort options (e.g. by author not default of
relevancy/descending); You can click on SH to go to all items with
that particular subject heading or choose the 'more like this option'
which prompts you for what part of the record you want more like. In
Explore you go to a list of topics. We chose history (9955 items) then
Geographical Europe (2077 items) then West Europe (1655). It's
difficult to assess whether this is a serious number of titles, but
many looked quite old. You can't search within one of these areas.
(though you can search within a set of hits on a search). Titles are
just listed by title - no structure within this to browse (not very
scalable). I suppose you could see this as a reasonable but not great
Webpac - but with the advantage that you can download the full text.
To read works, your browser will ask you if you want to permit Questia
to use Java/Javascript functionality. We can see this being blocked in
some institutions for security reasons. No doubt the problem could be
solved though.
The book being read is displayed in a largish text area, which
contains the equivalent of perhaps half the text on a typical textbook
but with scroll bars (so you can't evade their controls by print
screen). You can zoom in to make the text larger. I would think this
would slow reading speeds significantly; but one suspects all E-Book
reading will require a new style of reading. There are the usual
E-Book features such as highlighting, making bookmarks, and margin
notes. Citations can be downloaded in multiple citation styles - and
pasted into Word (with embedded links to the item cited).
Other tools such as Roget's Thesaurus, a dictionary and Encyclopaedia
can be called up. There is also a community feature - in which there
will be interactive forums with experts in a particular field.
Conclusion
----------
This is just a brief taste of what's out there - and it's a rapidly
changing scene - we encourage Free Pint readers to explore
themselves - and let's meet up in the Bar to discuss what place
E-Books might have in the library of the future!
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Andrew Cox <coxam@sbu.ac.uk> is Senior Researcher at LITC, South Bank
University <http://www.sbu.ac.uk/litc/>. LITC are organizing
E-Books2001, March 20th 2001, London. The event is sponsored by South
Bank by JISC and Dawson books <http://litc.sbu.ac.uk/ebooks2001/>.
Heba Mohamed <heba_13@hotmail.com> is an Egyptian student working on
a masters dissertation on "Printed and Electronic Books: A Comparative
Study in their Usage in some of the children's libraries in the
greater Metropolitan area of Cairo". She works for the Integrated Care
Society.
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