[LINK] Ebooks for government reports?

[Craig Sanders]

On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 02:27:19PM +1100, Ivan Trundle wrote:
> On 10/02/2010, at 2:20 PM, Craig Sanders wrote:
> 
> > openoffice will have "export to epub" in no time (if it doesn't
> > already), same as it has "export to PDF".
> 
> 
> That'll nail it in the Public Service I'm sure.

you missed the next paragraph about add-ons for MS Word.


BTW, it *should* nail it for public service. government has *no business
whatsoever* creating documents in proprietary formats that require
purchase of a specific brand of software or operating system to read or
use.  they should use open standard formats for everything.  and if an
open standard doesn't currently exist for a particular document type,
it is their responsibility to foster the development of one.

IMO, using proprietary doc formats contravenes governmental record
keeping requirements.  it's also anti-democratic.

> All these things speak from a geek approach to publishing, which is
> not how designers and content creators work (at present). It suits
> publishers to work with ePub formats because of DRM mostly.

actually, it was speaking from a purely practical end-user (i.e. the
reader) POV - people don't want to lug around big heavy reports. ebook
readers are cheapish now and rapidly becoming cheaper (what costs approx
$400 will be sub-$200 by the end of the year[1]), they will become nearly
ubiqitous within the next few years...almost as common as mobile phones
(in fact, a tablet, phone, and ebook reader will commonly be combined
in one unit - with bluetooth headseat so you don't have to hold a 10"
tablet up to your head to talk).


[1] which is NOTHING for someone who reads books (e.g. i routinely spend
$100-$200 every time i walk into a bookshop, which is about once/month).
and not much for someone who needs to read things for work or wants to
read the paper (or reports) on the train without bulk and hassle.


> The point that I was trying to make is that the preferred format of
> output will suit the audience, and at the moment, print media wins
> hands down. Until every home has two iPads, I don't see this changing.

paper is the current preferred format. won't be for much longer, though.
the convenience of ebooks will completely outweigh the familiarity of
paper in a very short time for certain kinds of documents. newspapers,
certainly (broadsheets suck on trains. or even at cafes or your kitchen
table. tabloids too, and they'll have the added incentive of embedded
sport and "page 3" videos for their market demographic). bulky reports,
too. and airport and other transport novels, and most genre novels like
SF, Fantasy, Crime, Romance[2], etc.

this won't destroy printed books - they will be around for decades
at least, but most novels and most other printed documents will be
*primarily* available as ebooks, with printed versions for libraries,
archives, and collectors and office decorators.

ebooks will, within 10 years, destroy (or nearly so) the cheap paperback
market. most printed books will be hardbacks or TPBs. vanity publishers
will probably be nearly wiped out, too. they'll mostly be replaced by
community-driven web sites like author forums and fan-fic sites.

it will also, unfortunately[3], destroy most small bookshops. but amazon
and borders and the big chains (and kmart etc too) are doing that
anyway...their volume purchasing power (and their ability to afford loss
leaders) allows them to sell books for significantly *less* than what
small bookshops can buy them for.


[2] wouldn't surprise me if ebooks created a new market segment of
romance novels for blokes - they can read it on the train without
the embarassing cover giving away their secret vice.


[3] speaking as an ex- bookshop owner.

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>