Technology is fast changing the way we lead our lives

Good article from times of India ......

Richa is an avid reader and spends most of her pocket money on books. While earlier she used to save every penny that her father gave her to buy books, today all she wants from him is his credit or debit card so that she can buy eBooks, albeit under his supervision.

Richa is one of those bibliophiles who are quickly embracing technology and are befriending the electronic avatar of books. And their number is increasing each passing day .

As per a global research by Bowker's Global eBook Monitor, popularity of eBooks is growing. According to the report, about 75 per cent of the respondents plan to be reading eBooks in 2015 and half of the respondents expect that most of their reading to be through eBooks.

As a result, 2015 may in many ways be a defining year for eBooks as they will overtake printed books in units sold.

Globally, eBooks have led to a tsunami of change in one of the oldest industries in the world. Sameer Nigam, VP, Digital, Flipkart.com, says, “This is the perfect time to launch eBooks in India. We have a growing, tech-savvy reader base that is constantly on the go and they are looking for options to buy and read their favourite books on their mobile devices instantly . In the US and European markets, which have been early adopters of eBooks, the market share for digital trade books currently stands at 50 per cent. In the US, the eBooks market recently crossed $1 billion in annual sales.“

And now eBooks are making a considerable mark in the Indian book world, slowly , but steadily. As per Amit Agarwal, Vice President & Country Manager, Amazon India, India is amongst the top ten markets for books and the third largest market for English books.

“India is currently a nascent market but we see huge potential here. This high propensity for reading, growth in literacy, increasing Internet penetration and Internet-enabled devices plus a rapid growth of middle class population with increasing disposable income makes it a very promising market,“ he says.

The market is increasingly price sensitive. A Pluggd.in survey of eBooks in India found that 45 per cent of respondents prefer physical copies only while 20 per cent prefer eBooks only and 35 per cent would switch from physical to eBook versions if major discounts were provided. But the publishers are optimistic. Agrees Agarwal as he points out that producing, distributing, and marketing eBooks is more costefficient and customers get the advantage of that.

Vishal Mehta, CEO and Founder, infibeam.com, echoes the same views.

“Author economics work very well in Indian eBooks market.

The average selling price of local edition of physical books is very low and transportation cost makes it economically hard to service large author royalties. With eBooks, the distribution and printing costs are minimal and authors can distribute to readers across the globe without compromising rights and having additional royalties,“ he states.

Industry people say that eBooks should be considered a challenge rather than a threat to traditional publishing.

“The two delivery channels have to co-exist and complement each other in an emerging India which is technology-driven. No industry can remain static,“ avers A Sethumadhavan, Chairman, National Book Trust (NBT).

NBT, which is under Human Resources Development Ministry , is engaged in book promotional activities in the country and is all set to launch its very own eBook store.

About 500 of titles by NBT would be made available in the electronic format in English, Hindi and other Indian lan guages that can be downloaded through reading devices like Kindle, iPad and other android devices.

Apart from Indian publishers, established foreign brands, too, are counting on the growing market.

“Traditionally known as the land of storytelling, it was important to us that we enter the market with an offering that met the expectations of a discerning Indian audience who are passionate about the books they read,“ says Michael Tamblyn, Chief Content Officer, Kobo. “We are delivering an experience that has the very best from around the world and titles from the most beloved local authors. In partnership with some of the best retailers, we'll set the standard for digital reading in India,“ he adds.

“With e-commerce in the midst of a rebirth and a steady increase in demand for more digital content, the time is right for Kobo in India,“ said Haja Sheriff, Country Director -India, Kobo.

“Literature and the love of storytelling are ingrained in our culture and the Kobo platform will make it easier than ever before for Indians to access to the stories they love anytime, anyplace and on any device,“ states Sheriff. In a survey commissioned by Kobo and conducted by Ipsos India, 93 per cent of selfidentified readers said they are familiar with eReading devices or apps that allow for reading across a variety of devices and 56 per cent said they would prefer to read digital content on a dedicated eReading device.

Furthermore, 54 per cent of respondents said they would read more if they had an eReader that provided them with access to their own digital library anytime, anywhere, and anyplace.

Already established in the physical books market, Flipkart, too, has extended its expertise and experience to the digital format as well.

Ravi Vora, Senior VP, Marketing, says, “Flipkart is a clear leader in the Indian books market with 40-45 per cent share of the organised books market in India.

Providing seamless content, regardless of platforms, will be a big part of our strategy to further strengthen this position and extend it to the digital space.“

Speaking about the app launch and Flipkart's upcoming plans for eBooks, Mekin Maheswari, Head, Payments and Digital Media, reveals, “Everything we do is about making the end-user experience easier and more delightful. We don't believe that the eBook experience should be restricted to a single device.

With the launch of these apps, our eBook titles are now accessible to all readers, no matter which device they use. We already have 2.5 lakh titles on the site and we aim to increase this to 10 lakhs by year-end. And all of these can now be read by a customer through any smartphone, tablet or PC.“ With the advent and growth of smart devices, people across all age groups today are consuming digital content.

“Our eBooks are downloaded by all age groups and they can read the books not just on Kindle but can also download the Kindle reading app and read books on their iPhone, iPad, Android tablets and phones, PCs and Macs,“ says Agarwal.

Agrees Vishal Mehta, CEO and Founder, infibeam.com. “The adoption of eBooks is small but growing very fast from analog content going digital and proliferation of smartphones and reading devices. Today growth of smartphones has resulted in fast growth in the consumption of eBooks,“ he informs.

And it's just not the English language that rules the roost in the eBook segment.

Vernacular, too, has a huge role to play in the growing demand of electronic books.

“India is still an emerging market for eBooks and within that the language eBooks market is also small; but we see huge potential here,“ says Agarwal. To this Mehta adds, “Vernacular language books are making their way onto the digital platform and Hindi is the most popular language on our platform.“

Even schools and libraries are moving towards the digi tal format. “Our college library is changing acquisi tion policies in line with mod ern trends. From the coming year onwards, we are going to devote 20 to 30 per cent of our acquisition budgets towards purchasing eBooks. In our acquisitions, we are going to follow required reading lists and purchase eBooks that are prescribed in the syllabus as essential reading,“ concludes Gurpreet Singh Sohal, librar ian at GGD SD College Library .

KOBO Readers will also have access to Kobo's eBook store, one of the largest in the world, fea turing nearly four million titles across 68 languages, including 95 per cent of India's bestselling content featuring work from top-sell ing Indian authors, including Jhumpa Lahiri, Ramachandra Guha and Sachin Garg to international bestselling authors like Dan Brown, John Grisham and Lee Child.

INFIBEAM.COM Infibeam offers more than 1L eBooks from major publishers and authors that can be read across devices (smart phones, tablets and computers). There is no requirement to download any soft ware as its content rights platform is device agnostic. It has also introduced its own eBook reader Infibeam Pi and subsequent versions that support rights management and multi language with eInk and touch screen.

FLIPKART The company's strategic focus on eBooks is supported by Indian authors and publishers who are working with Flipkart to create and expand the market. For example, as part of this launch, exclusive pieces written by well-known authors like Khushwant Singh and Sidin Vadukuthave will only be available on Flipkart eBooks.

Flipkart is also building up a robust collection of region al titles. While it already has an extensive selection of Hindi eBooks, it is looking to expand its Marathi and Bengali offering by the next quarter. With the smartphone emerging as the Indian consumer's constant companion, we have seen the concept of eBooks gaining immense popularity. We believe Flipkart launching its eBook store app on the Windows Store will catalyse this even further, with Nokia Lumia users indulging in their passion for reading on the go. What makes this partnership even more special is that we have worked very closely with Flipkart to develop the eBook application for the Windows Phone platform.

Jasmeet Gandhi Head-Depth, Developer Ecosystem, Nokia India WRITERS' BLOCK The new eBooks initiative will take book distribution to a new level. I am very excited about my books being accessible in new modern formats. I hope this would make India read even more.

Chetan Bhagat It's exciting to see a whole new generation of readers being created in India with the eBooks store! It's a natural step in the right direction.

Jeffrey Archer

 

Source | Times of India | 15 May 2014

How free courses will impact employment and education sector in future

Free online courses, known as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), have the potential to educate anyone anywhere and reach the world's lowest sectors of society with high quality education. The education sector is being shaken up by the world's top universities by offering their quality content for free. The high speed of internet and increasing connectivity in Third World countries is causing a big shift in the way we learn.

MOOCs emerged largely at the end of 2011 and immediately became the defining spirit of education in this techno-savy period of history because of the ideas and beliefs of our world today. Digital and learning cultures are connecting, because of which, since 2011 millions of students have enrolled in over a thousand courses from more than 200 of the world's best universities.

Many employers are still unfamiliar with MOOCs, but once they learned about them, they generally view them positively for recruiting, hiring and training employees, according to a new study by researchers at Duke University and RTI International.The study, funded by the Gates Foundation, is the first to evaluate employers' knowledge, experience and attitudes toward MOOCs.

Researchers from Duke and RTI surveyed almost 400 North Carolina employers between November 2013 and January 2014. Human resources professionals from 103 organisations responded to the survey and 20 participated in interviews.

"These online courses have quickly grown in popularity in the past couple of years, but there hasn't been any research showing how employers view MOOCs," said Alexandria Walton Radford, Ph.D. , program director in postsecondary education at RTI International and the study's director explaining her motivation for the study.

Although only 31 per cent of participants had heard of MOOCs at the time of the survey, once they read a description, most were very receptive to the possible use of MOOCs in recruiting and hiring decisions. And they were especially positive towards their potential use in professional development training.

"As MOOC companies expand their clientele base, companies are logical places to recruit to provide skills to the workforce," said Keith Whitfield, PhD, vice provost for Academic Affairs, Duke University "There are a number of anecdotal reports of MOOCs being used to enhance workers hiring and promotion prospects but virtually no hard data."

In addition, almost three-quarters of employers surveyed indicated that job applicants taking MOOCs would be perceived positively or very positively in hiring decisions.

As for using MOOCs for existing employees' professional development, the study found that 7 percent of employers were already using MOOCs for this purpose, 5 percent were already considering doing so, and another 71 percent could see their organization doing so. This high level of receptivity occurred across industries.

Students on MOOC's

"The mooc revolution is the single most significant thing to happen in education. Today, with a click of the button you can be at a Stanford classroom while sitting in Alwar. Online education is a major step towards free and good education for all. "

- Amal Sethi studied Psychology at Coursera

"I think they're brilliant, provided one is absolutely comfortable with the idea of self-learning."

- Anushka Shah, studies Spanish at Duolingo

"It's always good for education to be spread as widely as it can be. It can definitely benefit a lot of people! "

- Aaliya Kanuga

Source | Daily News Analysis | 21 April 2014

Learning to show not tell: How to encourage your children to conjure up new worlds using their own words

It’s about painting vivid pictures without a brush. Building precise structures without bricks. Creating a catchy rhythm without a keyboard. 

For an agile writer can snatch flimsy words out of the ether and use them to capture a thought, convey a message, tell a compelling story. Indeed, to create a whole new world—a Hundred Acres Wood in which Pooh and Piglet can encounter Heffalumps. A Hogwarts in which young wizards make friends and fight bitter battles.

 

The ability to write effectively is a marvellous gift. But most children are so busy hurtling from school to art class to tennis that they are rarely given the time and space to experiment with words. And often, when they do retreat into a quiet corner with a blunt pencil and a creative thought, they are greeted with dampening words. “What on earth are you doing writing a poem about grumpy elephants! That too on a day when you have to complete your math worksheets.”

 

Which is really sad, because learning to write is about much more than attending a five-day workshop. It is about pottering about and feeling bored. It is about finding new words and falling in love with them. It is about having the confidence to express yourself. It is about spending half a day (not wasted, not wasted) trying to find a word that rhymes with “elephant”.

 

Here are a few simple ways in which children can be encouraged to write, and to write well:

 

Read, read, read: When children read the wonderful books written by others, they intuitively begin to understand what goes into a story. So expose your children to a wide array of genres and writers. If you want to lead them to a favourite writer—but one they consider old-fashioned or difficult—then start by reading a few chapters aloud.

 

For example, as a little girl I adored the adventures of William, that naughty, messy schoolboy who never washes his hands and is such a trial to his family. When I reread the books as an adult I was amazed by the ironic style and astounding vocabulary. But my three daughters were in a girlie-fairy phase and turned up their nose at scruffy William.

 

So for a couple of weeks, I read out William short stories at dinner. Never have we all laughed so much. And now my threesome is happy to tackle the long sentences and unfamiliar words, just to follow William on his madcap missions.

Look, look, look: Before putting pen to paper, children have to learn to observe the world around them. To spot the rain clouds rolling in from the sea. To identify different trees and cars and pastries and birds. To watch the drama constantly unfolding on the streets.

 

After all, if they spend all their free moments staring at a screen, they won’t really have much to write about. So encourage them to look out of the window during tedious journeys and talk to them about the changing city. Identify interesting people on the road and encourage curiosity and make-believe. For example: “Look at that pretty teenager in the shiny dress. Where do you think she’s going?”

 

Don’t tell me, show me: This is the mantra that all writing teachers chant—and it works. Interesting writing is always packed with examples and illustrations.

 

So if your child writes “Mrs Kapoor was a bad-tempered woman”, ask him to flesh it out. How do you know she’s bad tempered? What does she do that proves this trait?

 

By the end of it he may come up with: “The entire neighbourhood knew that Mrs Kapoor had a very bad temper. When she was angry, she shouted so loudly that even the family on the sixth floor trembled.”

 

Words, words, words: Introduce children to the beauty of words—to frippery and impudent and gluttony and slither and moxie and lambent.

Urge children to avoid empty words like nice, good and thing. Instead, come up with evocative words that pack an extra punch. For example, babble or whisper or mutter or shout instead of just “say”.

 

Word games like Scrabble are a great way to take children to the world of words. Also, you can use long car rides to come up with interesting similes. Maybe, “This road is as bumpy as…” or “These biscuits are as stale as…”

 

Encourage in little ways: Provide an attractive diary in which your child can jot down story ideas.

 

Once a story or poem is done, show the child that you value it. If your child writes a story, encourage her to design a cover page and add a couple of illustrations. You can then staple or spiral-bind the story and drawings and make a little book.

 

My eight-year-old daughter often makes storybooks that she gives as gifts to beloved teachers or friends. My 10-year-old daughter enjoys writing poems that she then takes to school for “Show and Tell” and submits to the school yearbook. 

Also remember, while spellings and grammar are important, they are not the focus of creative writing. So enjoy the spark of creativity and humour in the writing rather than just getting snagged on spellings.

 

Why don’t you write a short story?: When your children complain that they are bored or have nothing to read, casually suggest that they write a story. Don’t force it, but mention that you would love to know more about Tilly’s next adventure or the grumpy elephant. And then be genuinely interested when the masterpiece lands on your lap a few hours later.

 

Shabnam Minwalla is the author of The Six Spellmakers Of Dorabji Street, an adventure book for children that recently won the RivoKids’ Parents and Kids Choice Award for Indian books. She is now busy wrapping up her next book, set in a Mumbai school.

Source | Mint – The Wall Street Journal | 17 May 2014