Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community
Derek Morrison's "filling station" model of e-learning is coming to fruition with ebooks. "But whose supply route will it be? Sticking with the ebook as representative of one type of ‘fuel' where are we going to be getting our books from in the future? A bookstore? A library? iPrincetonU? iOxfordU? iCambridgeU? iPoppletonU? Or will it be iTunesU or iAmazonU, or even iCloudU?" I would like to think that a specification such as ePub will become the next MP3, and that everyone can create eBooks. We'll see.

Morrison writes, "ePub is similar to IMS or SCORM learning objects in that the book (the object) is actually a package of files and metadata about the files. Because the package has a standardized format that means that reader applications and systems can manage and display the book. In essence an ePub file is just simply a renamed zip file with a bunch of metadata and XHTML files and that is why by building on existing solutions first developed for the web the content reflows no matter the screen size of the device it is displayed on."

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2024 04:35 a.m.

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