Kindle: The future of Technology?

Ten years from now, hardcopy textbooks may no longer exist on Hamilton’s campus. According to Vice President for Information Technology Dave Smallen, in the next decade, Hamilton will likely integrate a Kindle-like electronic textbook device into its curriculum, replacing the standard textbooks that students have been using. “I would imagine in the next 10 years we will see the emergence of electronic textbooks as the dominant form of supplemental course materials,” Smallen says. The Kindle is a reader for electronic textbooks that is marketed on Amazon.com that lets you download your books directly, instantly, and cheaply from the Kindle’s handheld device. “My sense is that students feel that textbooks are too expensive. They spend a lot of time and money buying them at the start of a semester and get little back when they trade them in,” he adds. Other competitors to the Kindle include Sony Reader, PlasticLogic, Hanlin, iRex, and Cybook. The Kindle is about the size of a novel. According to Smallen, reading a book on the Kindle is just like reading a book with the advantages that you can change the size of the type font. Another advantage is that the Kindle screen does not have the glare of light that normal computer screens do when exposed to the sun. Because its reading screen is of the same color and quality as a normal textbook page, the Kindle lessons the chance of eyestrain. As for battery life, according to Amazon’s Kindle website, you can read for days without recharging it. Smallen highlights the convenience factor as one of the Kindle’s biggest selling points. Nonetheless, like any other technological innovation, the Kindle has its setbacks, too. Namely, it is expensive: $359 for the new version just released. Also, if you drop it or get it wet, you destroy it. However, this seems like less of a disadvantage when we remember that it is the same with cell phones and computers. Another minor limitation is that the Kindle as it stands does not handle color.

Although the Kindle is not currently being used by colleges, Acting President and Dean of Faculty Joseph Urgo believes that someday this will change. “I do think some version of this technology will eventually be quite common, and the college textbook market would seem to be an ideal one for it,” Urgo said. Among the many advantages of using a Kindle versus a hardcopy textbook, Urgo highlights that it would be “nice not to have to lug a book bag around all day when you can have all your books, and your personal library, in a hand-held device.” According to Amazon’s website, the Kindle can hold over 1,500 books. Hamilton student MaryDaphne Kostakopoulos ’09 agrees that having all of her texts in one small device would be convenient, not to mention that it would be nice not to have to carry a load of heavy books around all day: “I’d buy a Kindle. The lesser the load, the better. But then again, that might mean I’d have to start lifting at the gym,” Kostakopoulos said with a laugh. For Professor of English Onno Oerlemans, the greatest plus would be “the ease of access to all or most of one’s texts.” He adds that the “ability to search for words and phrases in a novel quickly” would be beneficial as well.

In spite of its advantages, the Kindle, like any new piece of technology, still has issues that need to be resolved if it is to appeal to consumers. For instance, some users have complained that the Kindle device is too large in size, and that they would prefer that it fit in their pocket. Although some smart phones like iPhone have addressed this issue by offering a new application for the iPhone that allows users to read books on it, readers still find the size of a cell phone screen too small for their liking. According to Smallen, companies are seeking to reconcile this sizing issue by working on computer screens that fold up. Professor Oerlemans voices other concerns. He worries that that the inability to take notes on the Kindle “will encourage less careful reading, since we tend to skim things on a computer screen more than we do on paper.” Oerlemans also notes that students might lose the sense of satisfaction they gain after completing a physically large book: “one would lose the weird pleasure of the heft of a big book, like Moby-Dick! The Kindle will make all books feel slim.”

According to Dean Urgo’s prediction, a Kindle-like device would affect more than students’ readership experience: it would limit the role of the Burke Library and college store as well. “Building a personal library was once part of the goal of a liberal arts education. With Google and others working to make books available electronically, a personal hard-copy library may one day be obsolete,” he says. Although it may be the case that students would check out fewer books from the library if a Kindle were introduced, Couper Librarian Randy Ericson believes the library would still remain a resource that students would use. “Library resources may still be needed to supplement textbooks. These supplemental items might well be provided through the Library reserve system, whether that be in electronic format or print,” Ericson remarks. Professor Oerlemans adds that students would still need reference librarians to help them with research. As for the college store, Smallen suggests it might want to start considering new roles that it might fulfill in the future: “If you can imagine a future world where the information is all electronic, the college store will be doing things other than selling textbooks,” he said.

Smallen concludes by noting that the main challenge that remains for the Kindle is determining the right financial model to use. The Kindle as it stands is too expensive. As Professor Oerlemans remarks, “I think I might purchase one if it were a lot cheaper. At the moment, its advantages don’t seem significant enough to me to fork over 400 dollars.” Furthermore, like with music-sharing, there remains the possibility that students might illegally share textbooks electrically. “If one student buys it and gives it to everyone in the class, [the publishing industry] would all fall apart,” Smallen added. Thus, in spite of its perks, the Kindle is an evolving piece of technology that needs refining before colleges like Hamilton will consider integrating it into their curriculum. At this point, one can only anticipate the kind of effect a Kindle-like device will have ten years down the line. As Smallen says, “We always overestimate how quickly a new technology will be adopted but ultimately underestimate the impact it will have. I think that is true in this case.”