Motherfucking Cthulhu

Over het downloaden van ebooks in 24 verschillende formaten via ManyBooks.com en meer…

(klik voor vergroting)

Op de site ManyBooks.net kun je rechtenvrije – dus legaal – ebooks (bijv. The Call of Cthulhu van H.P. Lovecraft.. vandaar illustratie.. hoewel beetje off-topic) downloaden. Vind je er een titel naar je zin via zoekveld, genre, auteur, taal, of een combinatie hiervan (via geavanceerd zoeken) dan heb je de mogelijkheid deze te downloaden in 24 verschillende formaten. Bekende formaten zoals ePub, Mobipocket, eReader, Kindle, HTML, PDF etc. maar ook bijvoorbeeld iPod Notes, RTF, txt en een paar waar ik nog nooit eerder van heb gehoord.

Handig is de bij de titels afgebeelde QR code die je na scannen een mobiele versie van desbetreffende titel geeft met daarbij de mogelijkheid om het meteen te downloaden (achteraf niet zo heel bijzonder want Project Gutenberg heeft een geheel mobiele versie van haar website met dezelfde mogelijkheid). Op mijn Android-telefoon kan ik zo de ebooks – door gedownloade ‘epubs’ te openen met Aldiko – gelijk lezen. Verder zijn de beschikbare RSS feeds nog erg handig; alle nieuwe titels, nieuwe titels op categorie etc.

In de ‘About this site’ is te lezen: “Many of the etexts are from the November, 2003 Project Gutenberg DVD,* which contains the entire Project Gutenberg archives except for the Human Genome Project and audio eBooks, due to size limitations, and the Project Gutenberg of Australia eBooks, due to copyright. As of July 2004 most current PG texts are available here, usually within the week of release. There are also public domain and creative commons works from many other sources.” Zo is bijvoorbeeld The Call of Cthulhu wel via ManyBooks.net te downloaden maar niet te vinden op Project Gutenberg. De collectie lijkt groter.

* NB. er is inmiddels een april 2010 DVD (dual-layar) beschikbaar die (te downloaden via torrent) die meer dan 29.500 titels bevat!

E-book readers for academia

(by lack of inspiration and time: this post was written in Dutch earlier this month)

It seems 2010 will be the year of the e-book (at least for the Netherlands.. we’re always a bit slow on the uptake).  It sure is a nice device for reading novels… I had a change to try an iREX iLiad (version 1/2006 and now an oldie) for a while and it suited me well.

But is an e-book reader of the current generation also the right device for reading digital publications which an average academic library collection holds? I think three aspects should be considered to judge this: 1) which electronic documents can be defined as a scientific e-publication, 2) can they be read on an average e-book reader and 3) is the device suitable for reading scientific publications at all?

PDF, access restrictions and other problems

E-books are electronic (or digital) versions of books. Complete editions of (mostly) regular prints in PDF format or scanned books (embedded) available through a website. But in science it’s (mainly) all about articles..  These are for 99% available in – again – PDF format; actually meant to be read on a computer screen (or to be printed, obviously).

So, first an e-book reader must be capable of reading PDF-format. Almost all e-book readers nowadays are capable of doing this. Screen diameters vary from 5 to 10 inch… ‘size matters’ when reading PDF; it’s read in the closed-in layout of the document. PDF is not as flexible as ePub or Mobipocket-format is. You will need at least a screen with a diameter of 8 to 10 inches to read it comfortably. Another thing is the actual reading of PDF: is a TOC available, zooming, document management e.g. Very important considering usability and user friendliness.

Secondly, the e-book reader needs an internet connection (wifi or 3G) and browser* functionality to view e-books which are embedded in a webpage (I’m not even talking about the VPN necessity (for access) which is possibly needed and impossible to install on e-book readers). Then the problems that rise in different databases.. e.g. Early English Books Online (EEBO) only provides PDF download one page at the time! And only by chapter in EIO-italianistica. There are still some databases which only offer plain text (copying)! Speaking of downloading.. how to get these ‘books’ on your e-book reader. I’ve read a lot of irritation on this topic.

* some readers can… but really… look at this, it looks like Windows 3.0!

Practical use

Reading scientific articles is an active process. Making notes, highlight a piece of text e.g. .. a touchscreen is necessary! (I think – equipped with a 8-10 inch screen- about 4 readers are capable of doing that). In the meanwhile you probably would like to add (type) something to your assignment, paper, thesis or article…. most likely by using a word processor on a computer (!). You will need another device.

Pros or cons?

When speaking of e-book readers the advantages always mentioned are barely interesting for scientific use: reading is very comfortable for the eyes, you can put a really huge pile of books on it, one battery load turns 8000 pages, it weighs nothing and e-books are cheaper to buy…
Furthermore, results published on research on scholarly use of e-book readers are all but positive (I refer to Princeton University (thanks to Een beetje adjunct) and this post on results of EDUCUASE by RE:Gereration).

A non-starter?

Is the e-book reader just a non-starter when it comes to scientific reading? More and more functionalities are added: mp3, 3G, WIFI, touch screen, keyboard.. in fact for a student of scientist – until the mediatablets are fully released – a Netbook will be the best choice as a device for reading scientific e-publications! For example the ASUS Eee PC 1001HA: light weight (1,1 kilos), WIFI (of course), 9 hours on a full battery, 10,1 inch screen and about the same price (in the Netherlands approx. 300 Euros.. (eh..yes..we have to pay the dollar price in euros all the time!).

I think the use of an e-book reader starts and ends with sitting relaxes on a couch reading a novell (or wherever) . Wired agrees..