Tag: kindle

Internet Goodie #7: Bookmobile gone wild!

On By Margie.MercIn Communication, Education, PostADay2011, Web Resources6 Comments

With all the online resources we have at our disposal, it’s hard to believe you could ever be without a good book to read.

Bookshelf full of books
Bookshelf full of books

At Goodreads.com, you can find great book recommendations and once you sign up you can track what you’ve read and create a list of books you plan to read. You can join or form an online book club, make friends and have a new place to call home.

Eye On Books is full of podcasts by authors that explain their stories and reveal the source of their inspiration.  These authors fill in back stories using their words and explain their thought processes. Be sure to check it out – you’ll be very happy you did.

Another source of books is your nearest library. At my library, I can check out books, books on tape, books on cd or online books. The online books can be downloaded to my computer or mobile device (like an iPod or MP3 player as well as iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, Android)  You may be pleasantly surprised at what they have to offer.

If you’re in a book club or just want a list of some good books to read, check out 100 All Time Best Book Club Books. The great thing about these lists is you’re bound to find an author that writes the kinds of books you like to read.

Now that mobile reading devices like the iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, Android are in the hands of thirsty readers they might be looking for free books. At Project Gutenberg over 33,000 free ebooks are available for download. Perhaps you can start to look at the top 100 ebooks that were downloaded yesterday at the Project Gutenberg website. You’ll be hooked for sure!

Reference sites:

—

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

Your Life is an Open Book …

On By Margie.MercIn Education, Social Media6 Comments

…When you purchase a Nook, Kindle or Google Books E-reader.

The E-readers are sleek, smooth and novel. We can download our favorite books and articles from magazines, journals and e-books and fit a bookstore in our pocket.

Don’t Look Now…

And that bookstore has us in their pocket too. Google Books logs all your search data with an IP address and will associate searches with your Google Account if logged in. Amazon also logs data about what you’ve viewed and searched for. The privacy policy for the Nook isn’t clear, according to the EFF, but Barnes & Noble logs data on searches made and pages viewed on its website. This information from ReadWriteWeb.com touches the surface about the eyes that watch us.

Who Monitors What You’re Reading?

“Google logs the books and pages viewed, and while Amazon does too, EFF says that the “exact parameters of information logged in unclear.” It’s not known if the Nook monitors your reading after purchase. But Sony Reader, FBReader, Internet Archive, the iPad, and the Adobe Content Server do not.

Who Tracks What you Buy?

Again, Google and Amazon track the purchases you make on their sites. The privacy policy is unclear for both the Nook and the Sony Reader. The iPad will keep track of purchases made on the iBookstore and via other Apple apps, but otherwise no.”

Read more at I Know What You Read Last Summer – E-Readers and Privacy

Is your ebook reading up on you?

Kindle and Nook Pollution

Cyberspace Classrooms: A New Reality

On By Margie.MercIn Education, Web Resources1 Comment

Book readers, podcasts, webcams, cell phone texting platforms, chat rooms, webinars, videos, and open source software will be old school techniques when my grandson is in college in 2030.

Land based classrooms will not be an option. They will be as obsolete as the rotary telephone I grew up with that tethered me to a wall. The cyberspace classroom is being created now. Each new innovation erases an existing fixture in the educational realm.

Cell phones are allowing students the ability to attend webinars, seminars and to download podcasts allowing students to learn in ways that don’t involve paper, books or people.

Courses can be created and students can be grouped according to their interests. Students will have more freedom to pick and choose from a wide range of universities since location will no longer be an issue.

Success will come to students as they set goals that suit their personalities and fill their class load with courses that speak to them.

In an online learning environment, there will be no need for dormitories, buildings, librarians, janitors, parking attendants, football players, cafeterias or bookstores. Some colleges may decide to keep their science and medical departments but the others can go online.

The cyber-classroom will have everything a student needs to be successful. In addition to advisor and counseling forums, a student will be able to have chats with faculty, work groups with students and even create new environments as a way to share information.

Diversity will become a way of life as students from across the world attend class in cyberspace bringing their world view, culture, religion, history and attitude to the table.

The educational model we have today doesn’t work. It costs too much and doesn’t deliver the necessary tools for the graduate.

The Global Web of 195 countries may not even need tools. By the time my grandson is in college, the whiteboard may be replaced by a virtual circuit board giving him access to all existing information.  Put a ring on his finger …and he’s in the Louve looking at original art or he’s back in time watching the pyramids being created or he’s sitting next to John Steinbeck as he writes a novel.

He will tell his children, “There was a time when students had to go to a classroom to learn…”