Lookybook allows you to actually embed an entire book in your page:
The interface is outstanding – no cluttered TOCs, index, or taxonomies – just click and turn the page. The Flash even sizes to match the book’s spine, so there’s no awkward white space around the book.
It’s most useful for children’s books and other books with lots of illustration (where you don’t have to scan text or see a lot of detail) but the idea of embedding an ENTIRE BOOK into a blog or web site is incredibly impressive. There’s a certain tactile sense of turning the page, and it would be easy to layer additional features (search for word etc) on top of the application, much like YouTube’s ability to rate videos within the page itself.
Looks like the Boston State House will be looking into the true value of the multimedia that accompanies textbooks:
State House hearing focuses on costs of college textbooks
A month into the fall semester, Nathassia Torchon has already had two tests in her precalculus class and is approaching her first history exam. But the Massachusetts Bay Community College student said she could not afford the $330 price tag for two of the required textbooks until this week.
“They always tell you 20 hours is good enough to work and go to school full time,” said Torchon, 21, of Mattapan. “I have to work three jobs to pay for two books.”
Also of interest:
Bruce Hildebrand, executive director for higher education with the Association of American Publishers, said one of the most popular college art books is required to be sold with a CD that includes thousands of high-resolution images.
“You take that apart and neither of them will be of any value to anybody,” Hildebrand said.
I think this is actually a good thing for publishers. Most “media ancillaries” don’t add that much value to the book itself; publishers create them to ensure that each of their books can match up against their competitor’s. (This book has a CD-ROM, and that one doesn’t – ergo this book gets adopted by the school system.)
In reality, the entire package (books, CDs, media, etc) should be judged based on how well they educate students on new concepts, not whether they can close adoptions. However like many industries, the need to close the sale often wins out over the need to demonstrate the effectiveness of the product.
Crosspoint Associates Inc., a Natick real estate company, said yesterday that it paid $120.5 million for 10 historic buildings in Boston’s Seaport District…
Crosspoint, in partnership with Anglo Irish Bank, bought the 10 buildings on Thomson Place and Farnsworth Street from an undisclosed owner who was represented by HDG Mansur Investment Services Inc., an international real estate investment firm based in Indianapolis. The buildings, totaling about 380,000 square feet, were constructed by the Boston Wharf Co. in the early 1900s. They are occupied by Thomson Financial, the Toronto information firm, which has a lease through 2014.
STAMFORD, Conn., July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Thomson Learning, one of the
world's largest providers of print and digital information services for the
educational and library reference markets, announced today that it will
change its name to Cengage Learning. The company, recently acquired by Apax
Partners and OMERS Capital Partners, says the new name is based on being at
the "center of engagement" for its customers worldwide.
Strange times. I expect a bigger emphasis on posting a profit, and less and less thought to the quality of products. Naturally some products are going to sell no matter what but it’ll be interesting to see if the ancillaries (CDs, WebCT courses, etc) get cut back.
