University of Stirling Library Visit

Went to the library yesterday with a hope of finding some publications about the use (or not  much use) of e-books in education (mainly secondary) however not much luck…

I spoke to one of the librarians who helped me with the search but even she wasn’t able to locate anything. Only thing she knew about was a research done right at the Stirling Uni under name National E-books Observatory Project. All the work is on http://www.jisc.ac.uk/ so I can access it on-line only – I guess very appropriate since it’s about e-books ;) Only thing is – this research was aimed at the use of e-books in university environment, not secondary.

I did however find journals called “Reading Today” from which I was able to photocopy a some articles relevant to my research and they also have a website http://www.reading.org/ which has quite a lot of info, so it was actually quite a productive day ;0)

I also spoke to one of the librarians in charge about this subject and even though she wasn’t very keen on being interviewed she is very happy to complete a survey and give her opinions on this matter in written form. Happy me – getting somewhere.

I organized an interview with Margo at the college library for next Thursday (21/10) at 10am which I’m really looking forward to.

I’m going to do more research about e-books on-line today and start putting together some words….

And I’m going to do more sketching – loads to do….

And I’m trying to get hold of someone at the education office for the Dean Gallery… I have 3 numbers and no one is at their desk, or on hols…. What’s wrong today – tried to call a few offices to organize things and not getting anywhere – must be one of those days…

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0142.pdf

Feeling Inspired by Chagall

Last week I discussed my case study and questionnaires with the tutors and all seems good to go. I will need to organize some interview questions for the headmistress of the academy and also Linda McKay – the principal of the college, Margo Johnstone at the Library, Martin at KA library and one digital media company I recently approached. I have loads of research to do this holiday week. This Wednesday 13/10 I’m going to Stirling Uni library to go through white pages and journals relevant to my research. I’m hoping to get loads done on that day.

I’m hoping to make an appointment with the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh, tried to call them today, but no answer…. Hmmmm. I’d really like to see the book section, there might even be someone I could interview… ?

The tutors seem to be quite happy with how I am planning to approach my illustration brief, will see. I felt very inspired by Striking Similes by Grenville Kleiser (1868-1953) and I think I made a decision that this is the way I will go. I will need to try various printing techniques which I am really looking forward to.

I started to look at Marc Chagall’s paintings and etchings. Very poetic and his style is just what I had in mind for this brief.

I’ve done some sketches today (11/10). I’m hoping to end up with at least 8 images, so I need to select the similes I will go with so I can work on the compositions.

On 4/10 I work on my Artists Statement and PDP and made my ILP plan a bit more detailed. I also had a chance to discuss the projects with Paul which was good.

I have a huge list of things to go through this week - better get on with it....

Albin Brunovsky

Sod’s Law – got flu on 22/09 so I lost a few days … joy, anyway – back to work now and trying to catch up. I think the case study is going ok so far – just need an approval for the questionnaires so I can give them to people to complete.

I need to start working on the artist’s statement – something I’ve never really enjoyed but wahey – has to be done. That’s the plan for today.

Also, can’t make up my mind about my illustration – book brief. I’ve looked at similes and came across Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases (New York and London: Funk & Wagnalls, 1917) by Grenville Kleiser (1868-1953) "Section VIII: Striking Similes" Many images are popping into my mind when I’m reading through them. They sound so poetic and I think that’s the way I want to go with this book….

Just how beautiful are these???:

“He began to laugh with that sibilant laugh which resembles the hiss of a serpent.”

“Great scarlet poppies lay in drifts and heaps, like bodies fallen there in vain assault.”

“Eyes half veiled by slumberous tears, like bluest water seen through mists of rain.”

“Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid.”

However I also looked at contradictions – crossed it with paradoxes and it’s sooo amazingly interesting as well. I’ve like a quantum mechanics “Schrödinger's cat paradox: Is the cat alive or dead before we look?” for some time now and of course there are so many more…

And today I’m looking at signs – again – just an amazing topic…. We could see signs in anything really. Even thinking of going eastern – japanese way… but also signs in their poetry….

Or classical antiquity on the other hand?

“High on the stern Aeneas his stand,

And held a branch of olive in his hand,

While thus he spoke: "The Phrygians' arms you see,

Expelled from Troy, provoked in Italy

By Latian foes, with war unjustly made;

At first affianced, and at last betrayed.

This message bear: The Trojans and their chief

Bring holy peace, and beg the king's relief."

What to choose, what to choose… I guess a bit more research needs to be done, some ideas sketched out and decisions to be made soon – have to get on with the actuall art work soon. I think I’ll do some perpex etching for this. I love work of Albin Brunovsky… may ‘try’to approach it in a simmilar way – try very,very hard is the right way to put it as he is a genius and my work will never be that standard of quality, but hey, we need to try at least, don’t we? ;)

“How Will Digital Books Affect Children’s Secondary School Education?”

Digital books have been developing for a number of years but only now have they become so user friendly. Digital e ink makes it a lot easier for us to read without any glare from the screen and it also allows for a long battery life. They are incredibly light and you can do a lot more with them than just read books. There are many models available but the one which will probably lead the way is the iPad which allows you to read books, purchase them, bookmark pages, look up individual words in a built in dictionary or on-line, highlight passages that interests you, access internet, play games and so on all in high definition .

Digital books do cost more than the average book but once you have one you have access to thousands of books for free and others you can purchase usually for less than a printed copy. AmazonKindle is claiming to be the most popular product you can buy on Amazon and the Kindle versions of the books are cheaper than the printed books. Publishing houses are closing down on a large scale. In some areas of the UK only 20% of them are still in existence so it seems going digital will become inevitable.

We also need to consider the fact that printed books are very costly to produce. Of course there is an option of printing on demand which is great especially for printing desired books which are out print. These were previously too expensive to produce if there was a need only for a few hundred which is not an issue anymore.

Even so the digital version of a book is becoming a lot more popular. Printing millions of books and shipping them all around the world is also not environmentally friendly which is something we really need to consider in this day and age.

Not all the books are available in the digital format yet but it is well on its way. Project Gutenberg which was founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart is the oldest digital library.  Currently it stores over 33,000 books which are available for free or for a low cost to anyone. The books are set in a format usable on most computers. Also, more and more authors are keen for their books to be available in the digital form. There are many educational books available for free on line just waiting to be used.

It seems that this technology has evolved and is available; however schools have not implemented it yet. If schools would get more involved, how would this affect secondary school education?  How will this technology affect learning of all the subjects but mainly reading and writing? Is a possible closure of libraries going to affect children’s social behaviour?  Are e-books going to make life easier for children as well as teachers? Or is it going to cause problems? I would like to get points of view on this subject directly from teachers, pupils, libraries, digital media companies, publishing houses and the general public.

The need for a school or even a public library may be gone soon as children will be able to search for whatever textbook, novel, poetry or encyclopaedia they need for their subjects online. Copies of all the books will be one day available to anyone so unlike the traditional library, we will be able to access books at any time and at the touch of a screen.

Is going digital in education just the next inevitable step forward or is it unrealistic at the present time?