Quote:
Originally Posted by emalvick
I was a PhD student in the past, and I can see where some of those here are coming from, but things were just as bad for printed documents as they are now with ebooks. With multiple editions of books, varying content, etc you had to really make sure your references were clean and accurate (total pages, edition number, etc).
I'm not sure why someone couldn't do something similar with ebooks. It is something that will have to be adopted through MLA or other formatting groups, but I don't see how identifying a specific location, the total number of locations, and even the file format couldn't work for ebooks and references.
A lot of the problems are going to exist as long as we have multiple formats. Right now, it will be epub vs. mobi vs. pdf.... Then, even if we get a standard format or standard method for ebooks and documents that work, we'll always have the issue of eboook vs. print. That's just how its going to be. Everyone is going to have to adapt to some extent be in the companies, the authors, or the consumers who do the reading. Locations do probably need changing, but I think it is a bit optimistic to think there will be one solution that works.
|
I feel it will be a long time before digital readers and their content can be used in academic research, exept perhaps for an global orientation on the subject. And also, not all can be, or should be digitalized.
In writing up my research I am glad I don't have to use annotations of an academic e-book. I mean: what is the standard? Will I be able to use those annotations or search in other places in that particular e-book in about 40 years from now? And on which device and in which format? And how will other people check my quotations and annotations in the meantime?
Literature in my field is not so popular that there are many editions of it, so references are clear, most of the time. As for the rest: I have to find most of my material in archives, where they are kept under lock and key and good conditions, accessible if you know where to look. But all of that is not digitalized, so it is a lot of legwork.
And also, sometimes, the typographical aspect of a book or paper is important to me. I don't know in advance which, and I wouldn't like some else, who digitalizes all that, to make that decision for me.
I still have a lot of reservations on the subject of Kindle+ academics and am rather intrigued if and when they'll going to use it.
