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Iowa College Goes Paperless
As reported in this Wired article, joelav22 writes that an "Iowa college plans to go completely paperless. There are no libraries, just work stations for e-books and online information. the article supports that 'The school plans to be an entirely paper-free campus. Last year, about 75 telecommunications students participated in a pilot program to go paperless. Each student used a Compaq iPaq handheld to access e-textbooks, syllabi and class materials, and to take notes and exams.' less time spent in a library equals more time for beer and filming amateur Girls Gone Wild digital video!"
My eyes get sore after a certain amount of time staring at a computer screen... if I had to do all my studying/reading/working on computer screens (of various sizes/shapes) I would kill my eyesight. Especially since the iPaq's are way smaller than your average text book. I think the graduating class will all have squints.
I hope you're not pretending to be evil while secretly being good. That would be dishonest.
E-Books are like E-Jobs -- they don't feel "real" to most people.
Case in point -- I work for GameSpy Industries, doing writing, editing, and management. However, their offices are located in Irvine, California. This is quite a daily commute from Winnipeg, MB, Canada. The solution? Telecomutting.
However, people don't seem to quite grasp the fact that, even though I'm at home, I'm still working. My mother asks me to do housework, people say "dammit Cary, get a real job".. and I make almost 3x as much as they do at their real McJobs.
I imagine that the e-book situation is quite similar -- because there is no tactile book to hold, it isn't "real". (I've been told that, if I had to go to an office but still telecommute, then I have a real job.