4 ms·

DRM a major barrier to e-textbook adoption

9 points by soundsop 18y ago

iamdave 18y ago
I think it's a fantastic idea, proposing open standards for books but there's a major incumbent people aren't looking at: academia still doesn't trust the Internet. Students are often limited to one Internet source and the rest hard copied sources. We on HN know how well open licensing goes on the Internet because we use it everyday, academia uses the Internet for internal email and checking the weather, otherwise it's treading on their territory and they don't like that. Amazon is pushing a student version of the Kindle out, but just like other tech toys you're starting to see in the classroom, at the most you'll see them used in community colleges and maybe even a few privileged high schools, but the major universities and academies are highly unlikely to jump on the ship and provide DRM free textbooks any time in the near future.
- mdasen 18y ago
  academia still doesn't trust the Internet. Partially because the internet is academia's competition. For centuries, academia was able to keep their knowledge locked away because, while many knew a little, they were the only ones who knew enough (both in breadth and depth) to really teach you anything. Today, the internet's communal nature makes up for the fact that most of us don't have the breadth or depth that they have - we each contribute a little and it becomes more than the breadth or depth than they have. Is it surprising that they don't trust the internet? "Wikipedia is unreliable!" That's because people who use Wikipedia have less reason to buy knowledge from you. "Open source is fraught with patent liability problems!" That's because no one will pay for outrageous licenses from you if they can get it for free. "Automation creates inferior products!" That's because no one is going to pay your high union wages if they can get a machine to do a better job than you for less money. All of those statements have the potential to be true. I'm sure they are true in some cases. In the majority of cases, it just isn't true. But your way of life is potentially on the way out and there's a catalyst of that change that you can campaign against so you do.
  - jrockway 18y ago
    Extremely well said. I think the academics specifically dislike Wikipedia because the information has to stand on its own merit, rather than the author's reputation. They are used to being able to say, "I say this is true." and having everyone believe them. In the WikiWorld, that doesn't fly.
  - pg 18y ago
    Professors don't distrust Wikipedia because they regard it as a threat to their supposed monopoly on learning. (They don't regard themselves as as a single unit at all.) The reason they distrust Wikipedia is that there's no accountability. The problem is not that it's online, but that the work is unsigned. I think you're misunderstanding the value of Wikipedia. Its main value is as a fast source of leads, not as a source of authoritative answers.
    - prakash 18y ago
      Its main value is as a fast source of leads, not as a source of authoritative answers. Do you say this in general or with the specific DRM/Academic context? Wikipedia, to me, provides fantastic summaries and quite often an authoritative source, as much as I would believe a major news source, sometimes there is more trust in wikipedia.
pchristensen 18y ago
Widespread adoption won't happen until the open textbooks are significantly better than proprietary ones, both for the students and the teachers. Teachers will happily use them if a) they are better for students and b) don't require additional work on the teacher's part.

9 points by soundsop 18y ago

I think it's a fantastic idea, proposing open standards for books but there's a major incumbent people aren't looking at: academia still doesn't trust the Internet. Students are often limited to one Internet source and the rest hard copied sources. We on HN know how well open licensing goes on the Internet because we use it everyday, academia uses the Internet for internal email and checking the weather, otherwise it's treading on their territory and they don't like that. Amazon is pushing a student version of the Kindle out, but just like other tech toys you're starting to see in the classroom, at the most you'll see them used in community colleges and maybe even a few privileged high schools, but the major universities and academies are highly unlikely to jump on the ship and provide DRM free textbooks any time in the near future.

mdasen 18y ago
academia still doesn't trust the Internet. Partially because the internet is academia's competition. For centuries, academia was able to keep their knowledge locked away because, while many knew a little, they were the only ones who knew enough (both in breadth and depth) to really teach you anything. Today, the internet's communal nature makes up for the fact that most of us don't have the breadth or depth that they have - we each contribute a little and it becomes more than the breadth or depth than they have. Is it surprising that they don't trust the internet? "Wikipedia is unreliable!" That's because people who use Wikipedia have less reason to buy knowledge from you. "Open source is fraught with patent liability problems!" That's because no one will pay for outrageous licenses from you if they can get it for free. "Automation creates inferior products!" That's because no one is going to pay your high union wages if they can get a machine to do a better job than you for less money. All of those statements have the potential to be true. I'm sure they are true in some cases. In the majority of cases, it just isn't true. But your way of life is potentially on the way out and there's a catalyst of that change that you can campaign against so you do.
- jrockway 18y ago
  Extremely well said. I think the academics specifically dislike Wikipedia because the information has to stand on its own merit, rather than the author's reputation. They are used to being able to say, "I say this is true." and having everyone believe them. In the WikiWorld, that doesn't fly.
- pg 18y ago
  Professors don't distrust Wikipedia because they regard it as a threat to their supposed monopoly on learning. (They don't regard themselves as as a single unit at all.) The reason they distrust Wikipedia is that there's no accountability. The problem is not that it's online, but that the work is unsigned. I think you're misunderstanding the value of Wikipedia. Its main value is as a fast source of leads, not as a source of authoritative answers.
  - prakash 18y ago
    Its main value is as a fast source of leads, not as a source of authoritative answers. Do you say this in general or with the specific DRM/Academic context? Wikipedia, to me, provides fantastic summaries and quite often an authoritative source, as much as I would believe a major news source, sometimes there is more trust in wikipedia.

pchristensen 18y ago

Widespread adoption won't happen until the open textbooks are significantly better than proprietary ones, both for the students and the teachers. Teachers will happily use them if a) they are better for students and b) don't require additional work on the teacher's part.