THE FUTURE OF TEXTBOOK PUBLISHING
William M.K. Trochim, who teaches research methodology and policy analysis at Cornell, says that textbooks of the future should be smaller, more customized and globalized. "Professors should be able go to the Web, look at a list of contents, click off the sections they want, indicate what order they want them in and create their own tailored, personalized textbook in any major language they need. Students should then be able to interact with this text on the Web, access it in a uniquely customized printed form, or both." He says that traditional publishers are too limited by the old-fashioned stereotypical textbook model, and that more agile publishers such as Atomic Dog <http://www.atomicdogpublishing.com> are where these textbook innovations are likely to start, because they are "willing to try new things and use technology in new and different ways, helping make the latest vision of textbook publishing a reality."
(Campus Technology 19 Oct 2004) <http://www.campus-technology.com/article.asp?id=9893>
ShelfLife, No. 179 (October 21 2004) <http://www.rlg.org>
