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iPods and Learning

An article in the November 24, 2007 issue of the Los Angeles Times entitled The iPod Lecture Circuit by Michelle Quinn tells the story of how the iPod has created new learning opportunities for people who are not enrolled at colleges and universities.

BERKELEY -- Baxter Wood is one of Hubert Dreyfus' most devoted students. During lectures on existentialism, Wood hangs on every word, savoring the moments when the 78-year-old philosophy professor pauses to consider a student's comment or relay how a meaning-of-life question had him up at 2 a.m.

But Wood is not sitting in a lecture hall on the UC Berkeley campus, nor has he met Dreyfus. He is in the cab of his 18-wheel big rig, hauling dog food from Ohio to the West Coast or flat-screen TVs from Los Angeles to points east.The 61-year-old trucker from El Paso eavesdrops on the lectures by downloading them for free from Apple Inc.'s iTunes store, transferring them to his Hewlett-Packard digital media player, then piping them through his cabin's speakers. He hits pause as he approaches cities so he can focus more on traffic than on what Nietzsche meant when he said God was dead, then shifts his attention back to the classroom.

iTunes University makes lectures available online. There are currently 28 colleges and universities which post lectures on iTunes, lectures which may be downloaded and played by anyone in the world who has a computer and a connection to the internet. Quinn reminds us that 'unofficial students' do not earn degrees for listening. These students learn for the joy of learning.

Some of them have college degrees and some have never had the opportunity to attend an institution of higher learning.

By making hundreds of lectures from elite academic institutions available online for free, Apple is reninvigorating the minds of people who have been estranged from the world of ideas.

Quinn says that 'Retirees in Long Beach and Weaverville, California, halibut fishermen in Alaska, data entry clerks in London, and casting agents in New York' are learning from some of the world's top scholars. Institutions such as Yale, MIT and Stanford are providing lectures to people who may otherwise have never have heard of distinguished professors such as Hubert Dreyfus.

One can access lectures by Dr. Dreyfus by going to the iTunes Store, searching for his name and downloading any or all of his online lectures. iTune lectures may be played on a computer or transferred to an iPod. iTunes is free software and iTunes podcasts are free downloads.

Free and accessible knowledge helps all of us to learn new subjects and to keep up to date on others. Thanks to iTunes University and the institutions which support it Baxter Wood and other students now have access to a continuing and exciting learning process.

Michelle Quinn and the Los Angeles Times deserve top marks for this excellent article.

Bookmaker: NPR Discusses the Espresso Book Machine

On Friday, November 23, National Public Radio (NPR) interviewed Jason Epstein and others involved in the development of OnDemand Books and the Espresso Book Machine (EBM) on their On the Media program. It's an exciting story: 'Any book, anywhere, any time.'

There are four EBM units in the world, one of which is being moved from the New York Public Library to the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont. The machine that was at the World Bank is now at the Library of New Orleans where it is helping to replace books washed away by Hurricane Katrina, and another – the newest EBM – is at the University of Alberta Bookstore.

On the Media is an excellent program, one which can be heard or downloaded directly from the website as an MP3 or accessed later as a podcast. This item on the EBM is part of a program called One for the Book, which also includes a review of Amazon's new electronic book reader.

Sunday Morning Photos

I'm enjoying a weekend at the Delta South hotel in Calgary. While we often have snow at this time of year today is a mild (4 degrees C) day with a brisk wind and no snow.

I didn't bring a film camera with me on this trip, but I took my small digital camera with me on my morning walk. The images I saw near the hotel were ones that I would have normally made with black and white film but I tried them with the digital, then duplicated them in iPhoto and used what iPhoto calls black and white versions of them.

I would appreciate your reactions to which of these parking lot snapshots you prefer – the colour or the black and white versions.

A Book Launch With A Difference: Poet Joyce Harries Meets the Espresso Book Machine

On Thursday, November 15, 2007, Spotted Cow Press launched Joyce Harries' first book of poetry – Twice in a Blue Moon: Poems by Joyce Harries – at the University of Alberta Bookstore in Edmonton. It's a fine volume of verse and Joyce presented it well. Friends and fellow poets came to hear her read and to provide support for this significant event (click here to download a sample of Joyce's poetry from the book ).

There were others in the crowd who came not only to hear Joyce read but to see the new Espresso Book Machine work. Joyce's book was the first trade book produced by the machine. Todd Anderson, Director of the award-winning University of Alberta Bookstore, discussed the machine and how he had decided that he would try to buy a machine after he and Jerome heard Jason Epstein of OnDemand Books discuss the Espresso Book Machine at the Fourth International Conference on the Book in Boston in October, 2006.

There are four Espresso Book Machines in the world at the moment: in addition to this machine there are units operating at the Library at Alexandria in Egypt, the World Bank and the New York Public Library.

Jerome Martin, Publisher at Spotted Cow Press, introduced Todd, who welcomed guests to the Bookstore. Jerome then introduced Joyce who read poems from the different sections in the book. The crowd enjoyed the reading so much that they asked her to read more – and she did.

While Joyce signed books Todd Anderson demonstrated the Espresso Book Machine to a large crowd, including several Alberta publishers. There were cheers and applause when the crowd saw the first book drop from the machine.

The Espresso Book Machine will allow publishers, writers, poets, academics, family historians and others to create and produce small runs on-demand. The unit cost of running one book is the same as that of running 63 or 630 books. It's fast and easy. And it's fun to watch.

Photo Credits: Peter Johnston

Cappuccino U: A Canadian Bestseller

Cappuccino U: A new way of learning and working, a free e-book available on the Spotted Cow Press website, was downloaded by more than 6,000 people in the twelve months since it was released. This book has reached more readers than a Canadian bestseller (5,000 copies per year) and was probably circulated to other readers by those who downloaded it.

The Espresso Book Machine in Action

Jeff Holubitsky of The Edmonton Journal wrote an excellent article about the new Espresso Book Machine (EBM) at the University of Alberta Bookstore. The article, which appeared on the front page of today's Journal, includes information about Spotted Cow Press's book launch on November 15 at which the EBM will be printing copies of Joyce Harries' new book of poetry. There is also a link in the article to a video of the machine in operation at the Bookstore.
We are very excited about the EBM and the book launch. Having this new technology available for short-run books is the best thing that has happened to Alberta publishing in years.