E-BOOK
DEFINITION:
E-book is an electronic book in digital form consisting of text, images or both which is readable on computers or other electronic devices. Although many e-books exist without any printed equivalent.
HISTORY :
The e-reader firstly appeared in 1930 when Bob Brown decides to write a book after watching his first “talkie” (a movie without sound). He titled the book “The readies” and he said that e-book is a machine that will allow us to keep up with the vast volume of print available today and be optically pleasing
Candidates for the first e-book inventor:
Roberto Busa (late 1940s):
Roberto Busa (late 1940s): The first e-book prepared by Roberto Busa beginning in 1949 and completed in the 1970s. Although originally stored on a single computer, a distributable CD-ROM version appeared in 1989.
Angela Ruiz Robles (1949):
In 1949, Angela Ruiz Robles a teacher from Galicia, Spain, patented in her country the first electronic book, la Encyclopedia Mecánica, or the Mechanical Encyclopedia. Her idea behind the device was to decrease the number of books that her pupils carried to the school.
Doug Engelbart and Andries van Dam (1960s:
Alternatively, some historians consider electronic books to have started in the early 1960s, Augment ran on specialized hardware, while FRESS ran on IBM mainframes. FRESS documents were structure-oriented rather than line-oriented, and were formatted dynamically for different users, display hardware, window sizes, and so on, as well as having automated tables of contents, indexes, and so on. FRESS was used for reading extensive primary texts online, as well as for annotation and online discussions in several courses, including English Poetry and Biochemistry.
Michael S. Hart (1971):
In 1971, the operators of the Xerox Sigma V mainframe at the University of Illinois gave Hart extensive computer-time. Seeking a worthy use of this resource, he created his first electronic document by typing the United States Declaration of Independence into a computer in plain text. Hart planned to create documents using plain text to make them as easy as possible to download and view on devices.
Advantages of eBooks:
Travel. If you’re on the go a lot, you know how heavy regular titles are, particularly if you intend to finish one book while you are out and need to bring another book with you. eBooks allow you to bring a whole library with you wherever you go. You can switch between titles with ease and the weight is lighter than a standard paperback.
Storage. Those who own a lot of books know how much space they can take up, but with a reader, your bookshelf is located on a small handheld device, your computer or on both. This will save you a lot of storage space and also means you have a backup online if something happens to your books.
Advantages of physical books:
Resale value. Like music downloads, you’ll never actually be able to resell electronic books. If you are into collectable books, this is a particularly big problem and you should only use physical titles.
Reading ease. This one is only really a benefit for those that would otherwise read eBooks on their computers or phones. If you buy a commercial eReader, it will probably use ink technology that will not hurt your eyes with backlight. Never the less, you don’t need to worry about this problem with a physical book.
No devices needed. If you find yourself in a small town without your cell phone or computer, you won’t be able to download a new title for your eBook, but you can always stop by a local bookstore and pick up a new paperback.
Triantafyllidou Anastasia 32nd General High School of Thessaloniki
Daoularis Panagiotis-Dionysios 3rd Gymnasium of Charilaou Thessaloniki