
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
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
-
Set-up and activate your school
-
Create school book-lists, confirmed with Reseller
-
Parents purchase booklists
-
Students register and install
-
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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