Wikibooks takes on textbook industry

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Interesting concept

As an editor with a STM publishing firm that is in the textbook
market, the idea of Wiki's is certainly an interesting avenue for
the future. I do think they'll make excellent teaching tools, but
are unlikely to replace traditional textbooks for many reasons.

First of all, a really well written textbook needs to be consistent
throughout the text. It should be written in one voice, with one
style, which facilitiates the learning process. You don't want
chapter 7 contradicting chapter 2. You don't want the material
in chapter 11 to assume you've learned things earlier in the book
unless those things are really in there. By producing textbooks
by committee like this, you're going to lose the ability to make
them coherent, which means they'll be less useful for teaching
purposes.

There's also an obvious growing need for editorial oversight. As
our access to information grows exponentially, it is becoming
very difficult for each individual to filter out material that is valid
and relevant. And that's what you'll be paying for in the future,
not the actual material, but the time and effort taken by an
expert to separate the wheat from the chaff.

There's also the form factor--can you really teach a class to
second graders using solely online material? Ink on paper is a
superb interface, it's high resolution, extremely durable and very
low cost. Until we come up with some sort of universal
electronic book reader, one that is so cheap that everyone can
afford it, and so durable that you can read it in the bathtub,
books make a lot more sense. Someone has to produce those
printed books.

Posted by: tic swayback   Posted on: 09/28/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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