[GOAL] Re: Becoming Unglued ... a rejoinder ...

[Jan Velterop]

Dana,

All these things — including flipping through pages, making notes, looking up references, multiple books open — are possible if the books are in PDF (and you're using a suitable PDF reader, such as Utopia Documents for instance). On a single laptop; I'm doing it all the time. What your undergrads may need is not a paper book, but some computer training.

The only thing missing is the smell of a book. Which is indeed a drawback of electronic literature. 

Best,

Jan Velterop

On 1 Jul 2012, at 23:49, Dana Roth wrote:

> In regards e-books in the sciences and engineering ...
> 
> 
> This from one of our undergrads … who didn’t want an e-book …
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> It is mostly personal preference that I prefer paper copies -
> 
>  *   I like being able to quickly flip through pages (especially with math books) to refer back to equations/concepts, while I'm not tech-savvy enough to open two pages in a e-publication.
>  *   Similar concept - having multiple books open and available is useful
>  *   Being able to look up references online in books
>  *   I take notes on my computer, so if I have an e-publication up, I can't take notes
> I suppose I'm just old fashioned. I realize now that this is not so much "anti-epublication" as "not enough e-readers to look at several of these e-pubs simultaneously."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dana L. Roth
> Millikan Library / Caltech 1-32
> 1200 E. California Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91125
> 626-395-6423 fax 626-792-7540
> dzrlib at library.caltech.edu<mailto:dzrlib at library.caltech.edu>
> http://library.caltech.edu/collections/chemistry.htm
> ________________________________
> From: goal-bounces at eprints.org [goal-bounces at eprints.org] on behalf of Eric F. Van de Velde [eric.f.vandevelde at gmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2012 6:35 PM
> To: goal at eprints.org
> Subject: [GOAL] Becoming Unglued...
> 
> I posted my latest blog a couple of days ago. It is slightly off-topic for this list in that it is about books, not journals. However, it is 100% about open access and an innovative way of getting around long copyright terms. Who knows, it can be translated to journals...
> 
> On Becoming Unglued...
> On June 20th, the e-book world changed: One innovation cut through the fog of the discussions on copyright, digital rights management (DRM), and various other real and perceived problems of digital books. It did not take a revolution, angry protests, lobbying of politicians, or changes in copyright law. All it took was a simple idea, and the talent and determination to implement it.
> ....
> 
> http://scitechsociety.blogspot.com/2012/06/on-becoming-unglued.html
> 
> 
> --Eric.
> 
> http://scitechsociety.blogspot.com
> 
> Google Voice: (626) 898-5415
> Telephone:      (626) 376-5415
> Skype: efvandevelde -- Twitter: @evdvelde
> E-mail: eric.f.vandevelde at gmail.com<mailto:eric.f.vandevelde at gmail.com>
> 
> 
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