" ...there is no chemistry more subtle and combustible than the matching of reader with book; it just can't be standardized. Pair a Phantom Tollbooth kid with Little Women and the results will stink. You have to experiment until you get it right: that's the only formula for making a lifelong reader." - Why Teachers Love Depressing Books, by Laura Miller, in the New York Times (reg. required), via LISNews.

The TeleRead take: The title of the article refers to certain teachers who, in the opinion of Ms. Miller, are jealous of the children's innocence and inflict "realistic" literature on them prematurely. But that's not the point I'll make here.

How TeleRead would help

Indirectly and unwittingly, the article makes a strong case for TeleRead in a certain way. Teachers shouldn't just inflict their pet books on students. Rather they should (1) help students find books that the young readers like and (2) teach the students to do the same.

With many thousands of free books online in an easy-to-use collection, such tasks would less difficult. TeleRead could even include mechanisms to help teachers and students assess what book was most likely to appeal to the latter.

Assigned reading would continue

No, TeleRead wouldn't and shouldn't mean the end of assigned reading. But teachers should not be so heavy-handed in inflicting their own "optional" choices on students, and TeleRead would aid the students' own discovery process.

posted by David Rothman at 8:58 AM | permanent link

"The majority of students prefer a traditional textbook to an electronic version, according to the most recent StudentWatch(TM) research from the National Association of College Stores(NACS)." - PR from the group.

The TeleRead take: Oh, nothing like impartial research. NACS didn't just pay for the study, those people did it! I'd love to know the questions asked.

Even with the odds stacked against e-books, the Luddites unwittingly compiled evidence for our side. The younger the respondent, the greater the enthusiasm for e-books. Truth is that the study stinks royally as science and as common sense.

Just how can students evaluate p-books vs. e-books when hardly any have seen the latter on the most modern displays and with the optimal form factors in use, or the best software. Just how many students have tried out textbooks on the most modern tablets, or with e-ink!

E-books, textbooks and others, are just going to get better and better. Luddites are just going to get more and more desperate.

(Thanks, Jon.)

posted by David Rothman at 3:29 PM | permanent link

"...the files that I've seen most often in newsgroups and the like are almost always books for which no legitimate etext exists--Harry Potters and the like... The legitimate market will never be visible until you give the people something to buy." - Dave "Evil Genius" Slusher

The TeleRead take: Yo, Harry. Can you use your magic powers to drum sense into the heads of the publishing establishment?
posted by David Rothman at 8:43 AM | permanent link

Oh, no, Senator Hatch. Guess you'll just have to rely on the proposed INDUCE-style legislation for the preservation of your campaign contributors' business models--at least if this decision sticks. Might not.
posted by David Rothman at 8:00 AM | permanent link

Imagine a 520Mhz PDA with a docking station that lets you plug in a regular PC monitor and a keyboard.

That's the prototype of the Toshiba e830 Pocket PC, which isn't a certain release but which has made it as far as an FCC submission. Wouldn't it be a shame if Toshiba left the PDA business instead of sending this beaut to market? The LCD screen is four inches and of VGA quality. More from engadget.



posted by David Rothman at 4:21 PM | permanent link

"The Italian engineer, who founded the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG), is moving ahead with his new Digital Media Project (DMP), hoping to bridge the gaps between resolutely incompatible copy-proofing technologies from companies like Microsoft, Apple Computer and Sony." - Group calls for copy protection Rosetta stone, via CNET.

The TeleRead take: Let's hope that the DMP approach will be friendlier to libraries than MPEG's apparently will be. Meanwhile some DRM defenders are using worst-case scenarios to justify the technology.
posted by David Rothman at 5:30 AM | permanent link

Jessamyn West at librarian.net has a neat little post about unofficial campaign ads in the middle of subject lines ballyhooing pirated books on Usenet. "Maybe," she jokes, "ebooks are good for something."

Try "Keeping libraries alive for the long term." Right now, yes, demand is heavy in many cities. But how about the future as more and more young people grow up accustomed to reading off screens? And who says that the young are the only ones waking up to the advantages of electronic text?

Fled libraries for B&N

Yesterday a new acquaintance, a retired Ph.D. in his 80s was telling me how he no longer visits his public library so regularly. Instead he frequents a brightly lit Barnes & Noble with a constantly changing selection of fresh new books. That's where we were, discussing the possibility of bringing e-books into a local retirement home, where the residents are shunning the tired, unchanging collection of p-books.

I brought along an old Gemstar e-book-reader and Sony and Dell PDAs; and he could read easily off them all, though the Dell was his favorite.

The library angle

So how does this relate to libraries? Well, suppose that libraries could devote less of their space to physical books while increasing the selections available, via the e-books--and venture into print-on-demand books as well. And suppose that like B&N, more of them experimented with coffee shops and other amenities. More importantly, e-books could help free some funds to go for intensive mentoring and guidance of young people and other patrons. Remember, the expense isn't just from the books, but related activities such as shelving.

No, public libraries are not about to fold up and die tomorrow. But they will in the future if planners don't look ahead.

The Jessamyn West angle on libraries and tech: "I like having a library job--and this library is one of the best in the state--but I remain deeply critical of what I see as the real Achilles heels of libraries in general: failure to innovate and 'get' technology, failure to 'think outside the box' and creatively address issues and problems, failure to make the patron the one who gives your job meaning." Let's hope that "innovate" includes the introduction of e-books among the alternatives. The idea isn't to replace p-books overnight--they'll always be around--but to adjust to a wired era where even some octogenarians are starting to give up on public libraries.
posted by David Rothman at 8:47 AM | permanent link

Who says that math skills and story-telling skills are entirely separate? New Canadian research raises some interesting questions. What if, by developing children's skills as story-tellers, a process aided presumably by reading, we can also make them better as math problem-solvers? Could the analysis required for story-telling be one way to understand the requisite logic for successful math, especially in Real World situations? And could greater access to a wide variety of reading materials, such as through a TeleRead approach, help since reading can strengthen story-telling and writing? While the study involved children under six, not reader, perhaps some of the same concepts could apply to older ones as well.

(Spotted via WWWEDU, an email list of Web-oriented educators.)
posted by David Rothman at 10:24 AM | permanent link

Thanks to JD Lasica, a respected media critic, for spreading the word about Ralph Nader's refusal so far to speak up on copyright.

May JD and his many friends in the media follow up with their own questions for Nader. I've criticized Democratic and Republican presidential candidates for ducking copyright issues, and if need be I am prepared to do the same with Nader. Just what's the point of Nader's campaign if he wimps out on Net-related matters as important as copyright? What would this mean in terms of his integrity even on non-Net issues?

I'd hope that Nader's authorship of a recent HarperCollins book--his own dealings with the copyright interests--would have nothing to do with his out-of-character silence and that he'll soon be denouncing Bono and similar joys. Title of the HarperCollins book? The Good Fight. A little irony? I fervently hope that Nader will soon be teeming with the courage that distinguished him in the past. Earlier the Naderites seemed on the cusp of showing backbone. A key Nader aide was drafting a memo for me to comment on, and then he said he would pass it on to others in the Nader campaign. What happened?

Detail: Just writing a book doesn't nccessarily indebt one to the copyright interests--I've perped six published books myself. But the longer Nader is silent on copyright, the more one will have to wonder if his HarperCollins-Murdoch connection matters.
posted by David Rothman at 8:26 AM | permanent link

From Ernest Miller's blog, The Importance of...:

The LibraryLaw Blog has a great post by Newton Minow about the consequences of the INDUCE Act for libraries (Inducing Unintended Consequences for Libraries):

INDUCE could shift the library away from its traditional role as information provider who leaves responsibility for copyright compliance to the library patron. Instead, to cover itself from liability, it may need to audit library patron uses to make sure the library does not intentionally aid, abet, induce, or procure an infringing copy.

Such inquiries would be antithetical to the judicially-recognized role of libraries in Minarcini v. Strongville City School District as "a mighty resource in the free market place of ideas." [italics in original]

[via INDUCE Act Blawg]...
posted by David Rothman at 8:01 AM | permanent link

PDA sucks for reading on screen, a point we've made repeatedly, but it can work for e-books intended to be printed out. See Net Publishing Made Profitable from Wired News. Of course, the ideal format would work for both screen and paper, and that's what OpenReader will strive for. (Via eBookAd.)
posted by David Rothman at 6:24 AM | permanent link

Pirates do spread around PDF books online. But HTML seems to be the preferred format among the most tech-savvy sharers of illegal files. So says a friend of mine. True? I haven't studied the situation. But I'd suggest that legitimate e-book publishers do so--to help judge which formats users prefer. I suspect they'll find that at least for recreational reading, PDF isn't what it is cracked up to be, given the lack of control that readers have over the flow of text. Needless to say, OpenReader will reflect what human readers want; and, as Jon Noring and I see it, it is not PDF or variants thereof.
posted by David Rothman at 6:12 AM | permanent link

"According to PhysOrg we are close to being able to record our entire lives on a single 3.5" optical disc. This article talks about using ultraviolet light since focused laser beam is smaller in diameter than other frequencies of light. The expected cost per drive upon production is $570-$750 with discs costing $45." - 100 Terabyte 3.5-inch Optical Storage in Slashdot.

The TeleRead take: Imagine: You can't get Social Security someday unless you let the feds download the contents of a disk or chip recording your entire thoughts, not just the sights and sounds you've heard? Slashdot refers to sights and sounds. But what about the recording of thoughts? It'll happen soon or later in the era of embedded chips. Imagine a John Ashcroft type a century from now pushing for legislation forbidding the encryption of brains. Or a Jack Valenti insisting that brains be monitored regularly for copyright violations? Devote too much time to refining someone else's idea without paying and Washington will be on your back on behalf of the copyright interests. Sounds like parody. But a few decades ago, so would have an abomination like the proposed INDUCE approach to copyright law.

Needless to say, as a booster of archives and well-stocked national digital libraries, I'm excited by the march of technology--but a little horrified as well. Meanwhile I can hardly wait to see the nonthreatening uses that organizations such as the Internet Archive can make of the storage technology. I'll also be curious about issues such as the equivalent of CD rot. Just what kind of backup media and procedures will be used?

One RX against Orwellian use of the techology: Take Jack Valentis seriously,not just the Ashcroft types. No, I don't see Valenti and his ilk as part of a master plot. But the man is a moron about the damage that Hollywood-bought laws can do to freedom of speech, privacy, technology, science and society in general. What's more, alas, his being clueless about technology doesn't make him an idiot about political strategy. How ironic that liberal Hollywood's best-known lobbyists is paving the way for a scenario as bad as Minority Report's.

posted by David Rothman at 5:26 AM | permanent link

Sent to the Union for the Public Domain list:

As a presidential candidate, Ralph Nader so far isn't opposing the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, the DMCA, and other elements of the multibillion-dollar copyright giveaway.

I've been in touch with one of Nader's key aides in the campaign and am hoping that RN will ultimately stand up for consumers and even business people. Radical Hollywood-bought copyright laws hurt almost our entire society except for the MPAA and RIAA elites and the other members of what Michael Hart has accurately described as the copyright gentry. None other than Steve Forbes, publisher of Forbes Magazine, the "capitalist tool," has warned of the need to mitigate Bono. Why can't Nader catch up? Shouldn't Ralph speak out for balance? Bono and the rest are a special disaster for schools and libraries, not to mention the consequences for free and creative expression and America's high-tech industries; doesn’t Ralph care? For more on Nader and copyright, see Will Ralph Nader fight Bono, DMCA, other anti-Net laws? I won't blame the aide for Nader's disappointing silence; he has done what he could. He seemed infinitely more attentive than John Kerry's policy crew was. I'll bc the Nader aide just in case he has something new to report.

So why I am posting this note to the upd-discuss list, beyond the fact that the Union for the Public Domain cares about living up to its name? While it is not a Nader group, it does have at least indirect Nader ties. Perhaps James Love, who helped get UPD going and is director of the laudable Consumer Project on Technology, which Nader himself started, can follow up. Jamie, as an essential and much-appreciated member of the public domain movement, can you please tell us all why Nader won't speak out on copyright? Big thanks.

One reply from the Nader campaigners might be: "Copyright isn't an issue that resonates with the voters."

Well, that in itself is worthy of scrutiny--the fact that the mass media have ignored the copyright question to the point where the average voter doesn't even know about the multibillion-dollar copyright giveaway. It isn't just Bono but the ramifications of, say, the DMCA for third-party maintenance contracts and parts--a huge issue from both consumer and business perspectives. And yet the press is comatose and sometimes much worse.

So I'm afraid that Ralph Nader will have to alert voters on his own. Isn't this, however, one of the purposes of independent candidacies of any ideology--to educate the populace when the media won't?

The word here is indeed "won't," at least if you look beyond Net-aware media like Wired News and CNET and the San Jose Mercury News.

Even the Atlantic Monthly ran a pro-Hollywood press release recently. The magazine devoted more than 9,000 words to Hollywood campaign donors but failed to mention the word "copyright" once except to say "Copyright (c) 2004" at the end. Don't believe that? Check out for yourself The Hollywood Campaign.

Also see Myopic Atlantic Monthly writes up Hollywood campaign money but ignores massive copyright giveaways, my response in the TeleRead blog.

Eric Alterman, author of the Atlantic article, is a "senior fellow" with the Center for American Progress, the CEO of which is John Podesta, the former Clinton chief of staff who was and is very interested in copyright matters. According to Alterman's own article, Podesta "often strategizes on the phone with Hollywood consultants, and occasionally makes the trek to Los Angeles for a fund-raising dinner." Oh, well, at least Alterman is more open about his Podesta connection than about the elitist Tory-style laws that Hollywood money buys. I'm certain that the nice Hollywood liberals don't view copyright as their main motive when they give. But you can bet that their trade associations do and that the politicians are hardly oblivious to the source of the millions. I'd like to think that Alterman was innocent, that Podesta simply duped him, in which case Alterman should resign from the Center. Whatever happened, this is a disgraceful episode in the long and mostly distinguished life of the Atlantic. If even the Atlantic can unwittingly do PR for Hollywood, that says plenty about the press in general and suggests that Nader should address the copyright issue ASAP, perhaps using the Atlantic article as an illustration of why the copyright issue is missing from the press.

So why isn't Nader speaking up? If nothing else, the copyright laws are a textbook example of the harm from massive campaign donations and would illustrate his general points about the dominance of American political life by special interests. You can even be against campaign spending limits, as I believe Steve Forbes is, and question radical laws like Bono. That is how biased they are. In today's climate, "Hollywood radical" does not just apply to SUV-loving socialists with private jets, but also to black-suited lawyer-lobbyists in the Valenti vein who are seeking to undermine fair use and usher in an era of near-eternal copyright. Can anyone spell F-a-u-s-t-i-a-n and b-a-r-g-a-i-n? That's what the Democrats have made with the likes of Valenti.

For a little more context, please check out:

--Mafia-copyright connection--with Sen. Edwards' PAC getting tainted money? Yes, that is a strong headline. But it's true. One of the Democrats' biggest contributors, and an Edwards angel, too, is a Hollywood producer with a mobster business associate and a refusal to discuss the details of the 900K+ in donations early in Edwards' presidential campaign. Edwards' advisors also were silent when I inquired about the generous Steve Bing. The mobster information, by the way, does not originate with me. It comes from Disney-owned ABC News, definitely not a tool of the Free Software Foundation. Whether or not Sen. Edward knew about Bing's mob connection before accepting the money, just how will he and the Democrats stand on the question of future donations from the man? What's more, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, with jurisdiction over copyright matters, doesn't Sen. Edwards have a special responsibility to speak out? As for Steve Bing, known for his liberal causes, I believe that even he could be a hero of sorts if somehow if he came out for balanced copyright law and showed that schoolchildren mattered more to him than another Time Warner deal did. Not expected. But I'll at least dream and welcome a positive surprise.

--Hollywood-bought law stars in professor's nuts-and-bolts guide to Washington sleaze.

Oh, it's fascinating to discuss the intricacies of copyright law on this list. But it also won't hurt to communicate your concerns to your favorite presidential candidate, no matter whom you're supporting, including George Bush, whose ex-librarian wife ought to be able to educate him.

No right-wing conspiracies here. As a lifelong liberal Dem, I'm holding my nose and voting for Kerry-Edwards. May they redeem themselves so I can breathe a little more easily. In fact, the copyright issue will not hurt them if they speak up to show their independence of Valenti and crew. A true "Profile in Courage" would actually help. Fighting against radical Hollywood-bought copyright law would be one way to establish Kerry and Edwards--in voters' minds--as true protectors of the commonweal. Nader is the key to achieving this goal and convincing mainstream politicians of both parties to do the right thing. Please, Ralph, SAY SOMETHING! Steve Forbes already has.

(Note: I've changed links so they're embedded. Meanwhile you can see a follow up at DarkNet. Thanks, JD!)
posted by David Rothman at 4:59 AM | permanent link

Hollywood and the ALA will be battling for the minds of K-12 students in the copyright wars--via different comic books. Here's rooting for ALA and fair use. Hollywood and the business software interests already had been using comics--but we're delighted that ALA is gearing up to counter industry propaganda. More via Wired News.
posted by David Rothman at 8:24 AM | permanent link