History and Development - Ebook
THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF E-BOOK
INTRODUCTION
Ever heard of E-book? It is not something new as it has been with us for almost forty years now. According to Mary Jane (2008), E-book, electronic book or digital book is a digital version of a printed book. It is made in a form which can be read on computers, portable devices, some handsets or some other digital devices. It usually comes with tools which can make reading easier compare to a normal book. They allow readers to search for words in the text, find words in dictionary, highlight up important text or phrase, make notes and many more. Sometimes, E-book may come with video or audio elements which make it more interesting. Links are also given which lead to some other source on the net. It is designed in a way that its visualization, downloading and usage more handy. The best part is that it is cheaper than a usual book and sometime, it is free.
HISTORY
Have you ever wonder about the origin of E-book? Well, actually E-book was firstly introduced by Michael S. Hart, when he was still a freshman at the University of Illinois in USA. According to MyEBookDesign.com, Michael Hart was the creator of this innovation and the founder of the Project Gutenberg back in 1971. “Well, from 1971 to 1988-89 no one paid any attention so it was just me with tilting at windmills, but I knew eBooks and eLibraries should be two of the great wonders of an entirely new world, so I was never tempted to give up–never. I just had to wait for the world to catch up.” (Michael S. Hart interview, 2009, November 6)
Project Gutenberg is actually a public library full of digital books. It treasures a collection of more than 2000 books including a great number of classic favourites. At that time, the operators of the Xerox Sigma V mainframe had given Michael S. Hart an operator 's account with $100,000,000 of computer time in it at the Materials Research Lab at the University of Illinois.
Michael then thought
INTRODUCTION
Ever heard of E-book? It is not something new as it has been with us for almost forty years now. According to Mary Jane (2008), E-book, electronic book or digital book is a digital version of a printed book. It is made in a form which can be read on computers, portable devices, some handsets or some other digital devices. It usually comes with tools which can make reading easier compare to a normal book. They allow readers to search for words in the text, find words in dictionary, highlight up important text or phrase, make notes and many more. Sometimes, E-book may come with video or audio elements which make it more interesting. Links are also given which lead to some other source on the net. It is designed in a way that its visualization, downloading and usage more handy. The best part is that it is cheaper than a usual book and sometime, it is free.
HISTORY
Have you ever wonder about the origin of E-book? Well, actually E-book was firstly introduced by Michael S. Hart, when he was still a freshman at the University of Illinois in USA. According to MyEBookDesign.com, Michael Hart was the creator of this innovation and the founder of the Project Gutenberg back in 1971. “Well, from 1971 to 1988-89 no one paid any attention so it was just me with tilting at windmills, but I knew eBooks and eLibraries should be two of the great wonders of an entirely new world, so I was never tempted to give up–never. I just had to wait for the world to catch up.” (Michael S. Hart interview, 2009, November 6)
Project Gutenberg is actually a public library full of digital books. It treasures a collection of more than 2000 books including a great number of classic favourites. At that time, the operators of the Xerox Sigma V mainframe had given Michael S. Hart an operator 's account with $100,000,000 of computer time in it at the Materials Research Lab at the University of Illinois.
Michael then thought
Links: “…I think that the shape of ebooks to come is almost visible in the way that people interact with text today…” (Cory Doctorow, 2004, February 12, San Diego, California) “I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying” (Jeff Benzos interview, 2001, May 4, San Antonio, Texas) Gardiner, E., & Ronald G. M. (2010). The Oxford Companion to the Book: The Electronic Book. Oxford: Oxford University Press. James, B. (2002, November 20). The Electronic Book: Looking Beyond the Physical Codex, SciNet Lebert, M Myebookdesign.com. Retrieved November 18, 2010 from http://www.myebookdesign.com Project Gutenberg Newsletter (2010, November 15) Reitz, J. M. (2004, April 30). DLIS - Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Danbury: Western Connecticut State University. Wikipedia.org. Retrieved November 18, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-book