ebook

Trials and Tribulations

Geoff Bowers

Founder

Technology is transforming the classroom. Box of Books makes digital solutions simple and robust enough to be a reality in schools.

 

We’re starting with ebook distribution

and blended learning.

A bit of history...

1930's

1930's

 

“To continue reading at today’s speed, I must have a machine,” he wrote. “A simple reading machine which I can carry or move around, attach to any old electric light plug and read hundred-thousand-word novels in 10 minutes if I want to, and I want to.”
 

Robert Brown, 1930 Manifesto; "Readies"

​​

1970's

 

  • 1971; Declaration of Independence published on the internet; 6 ppl download
  • 1978; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series featuring an electronic reference book containing all knowledge in the Galaxy​​

1980's

 

  • 1985; the Grolier Encyclopaedia published on CDROM
  • 1989; Project Gutenberg releases its 10th text e-book to its website
    ​​

CDROM dominates.

1990's

 

  • 1994; The popular format for publishing e-books changed from plain text to HTML
  • 1996; Project Gutenberg reaches 1,000 titles
  • 1997; E Ink Corporation: technology dna for the Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Amazon Kindle​​

 

The death throes of CDROM.

2000's "Naughties"

 

  • 2001; Adobe releases Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 allowing users to underline, take notes and bookmark
  • 2004; Google announces plans to digitize the holdings of several major libraries; birth of Google Books Library Project
  • 2007; The International Digital Publishing Forum releases EPUB to replace Open eBook
  • 2008; Adobe and Sony agree to share their technologies (Adobe Reader and DRM) with each other

2010's "Teenies?"

 

  • 2010; Apple releases iBooks, Google launches Google eBooks

  • 2011; ideas of the next-generation digital book (the 'interactive e-book') proposed, Amazon.com US e-book sales exceed all of its printed book sales

  • 2015; over 70 million e-readers had been shipped worldwide, Box of Books unleashed

 

Nothing much happening apart from various law suits.

What does an ebook look like these days?

eBook Formats

 

PDF

ePub v2

ePub+ (the Apple way)

Mobi (the Amazon way)

ePub v3 (the committee way)

"interactive books" (the wild west)

 

​​

We've run out of standards.

what will a book look like in ten years?

Adaptive Learning

Integrated Assessment

Learner profiling

Personalised Content Delivery

Reality Check

Digital Books will mirror Physical Books for the Short/Medium term

 

Increasingly supported by multi-media and interactive learning behaviours

Publishers Will Innovate

 

Interactive content, assessment platforms and elearning behaviours 

Schools Will Innovate

 

Divergent digital strategies. Teachers don't want to be told how to teach.

Bog snorkling...

Tailor made solution.

 

eBook distribution platform that dovetails into your schools digital strategy and pedagogy

Pushing the "Standard"

Ebooks!

Much less expensive

Weigh Nothing

Incredibly convenient

Can be enhanced...

Book List

All major publishers.

Publishers

  • Cambridge University Press
  • Oxford University Press
  • Pearsons
  • Macmillan
  • Nelson Cengage
  • Jacaranda
  • IB Publishers Worldwide

 

We will bring on smaller publishers whenever needed

Blended Model

  • eBooks (direct from publishers)
  • Publisher Interactive Content
  • Physical Books

 

 

In all combinations.

eReaders

All major platforms.

Robust. Simple. Useful

  • Cross platform; iOS, Windows & MacOS
  • Offline Reading
  • Annotations, highlights, notes & bookmarks
  • Full text search
  • Fast zooming

 

 

Always working on the next generation.

School Portal

Dedicated "white label" platform.

Tailored Solution

  • Smart "On Boarding"
  • Single Sign On
    • SAML
    • Google Apps for Education
    • School Email
  • Provisioning workflow & In-app support
  • School published books (incl. DRM)
  • Publisher Interactive

 

Demo

Purchasing Models

  • Book list by individual purchase
  • Book list by School license
  • Combined Parent/School contribution

 

 

Single point of purchase for physical and digital resources

 

Back to bog snorkling!

  • Adopt a core book list as a foundation; curate more cutting edge elements as needed
  • Avoid "perfection paralysis"; interactive books are a mixed bag
  • Zero friction implementation; sso, mixed model options, etc

 

Time to adopt is now.  Takes time to develop a digital culture. Plan to adapt.

Set up a trial.

1 user or a 100! we'll do all the heavy lifting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

www.boxofbooks.com.au

 

Talk to us.

we will come to you. National tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

www.boxofbooks.com.au

 

Kick the tyres.

Go to the app store; join the School of Hard Knocks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

www.boxofbooks.com.au

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geoff Bowers

Founder

www.boxofbooks.com.au

 

Putting it into practice..

Five Easy Steps

  1. Set-up and activate your school

  2. Create school book-lists, confirmed with Reseller

  3. Parents purchase booklists

  4. Students register and install

  5. Download books!

Setting Up the School

School Activation

  • Determine Student On Boarding Process
    • School records import
    • Registration via email
    • Google Apps for Education
    • SAML SSO (custom SLA)
  • Parent payment workflow
  • Device provisioning strategy

Create Book Lists

Book Lists

  • Create School Book Lists
    • Targeted at Year Group(s)
    • Optional supplemental books
  • Educational Publisher Catalogue
    • digital and/or physical
    • collaborate with Edu Supplier
  • School Publications (PDF/ePub)
  • Sample Books (free public domain books)

Parents Purchase Books

Book Purchasing

  • Parents pay direct online
  • School pays on "account"
  • Existing book licensing arrangements

Student Registration

  • Registration through Reader or the web portal
  • Sign Up with SSO
    • immediate confirmation
    • Google Apps for Education (others planned)
  • Sign Up via Email confirmation
    • requires email receipt and confirmation

Box of Books Reader

  • Multi-platform reader support
    • iOS (iPhone and iPad
    • Android
    • Windows Desktop
    • OSX (through Adobe Digital Editions)
  • Books always available through "CloudShelf"
    • can be downloaded to device on demand
  • Cross device page synching

Reseller Based Channel

An umbrella service for other book distributors.

Complexity

Cost

Change

Complexity

 

Any Publisher

BYOD

Single Sign On

Provisioning/Onboarding

Multiple Payment Models

Code management

and more...

Cost

 

Network Infrastructure

Internet Connectivity

Individual Student Devices

Ebook Distribution

 

Cost of Ebooks

 

Change

 

Habits of a lifetime..

 

Bandaid or Big Toe Approach?

 

Book List Sales Channel

 

Publisher

Book Distributor

School

Parent

Student/Reader

 

​​

ebook trials and tribulations

By Geoff Bowers

ebook trials and tribulations

A fractured publisher market, competing technology platforms and evolving teaching practices have done little to simplify the task of integrating ebooks into daily school life.

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