| E-books, or 'electronic books' are causing a quiet | | | | computers, but also laptops, the newer, smaller, |
| revolution in our modern day lives. So what are | | | | net-books, as well as hand-held - personal digital |
| e-books exactly? And why do I say they are | | | | assistants and even the newer, larger screened |
| causing a revolution? For centuries, we have been | | | | cellphones. |
| used to paper books - cutting down valuable | | | | E-books can now also be read on dedicated |
| trees to make the paper pulp, then paper, putting | | | | e-book readers, which will be the topic of my |
| it through elaborate printing processes to create | | | | next article, just to say here that they should not |
| the marks that we perceive as words and lines | | | | be underestimated. Although seemingly expensive, |
| and dots to create images. | | | | e-book readers are very light, extremely portable |
| The printing press was a huge development, | | | | and yet can hold hundreds of e-books including |
| enabling mass production, particularly of daily | | | | novels and text books as well as connecting to |
| newspapers. The digital revolution has affected | | | | the internet and downloading the latest daily |
| printing too, the topic of another article, but I'll | | | | newspaper from anywhere, instantly. You can |
| stick to e-books here. An e-book is an electronic | | | | also surf the web and send e-mail from them. |
| book, or a book consisting of a computer file, | | | | So, some of the advantages of e-books are to |
| itself a collection of digital information, such as | | | | save trees, instantly downloadable, easily |
| Adobe's 'PDF' or 'portable document format'. (It | | | | reproducible, no printing costs, take up no physical |
| really does come down to '0's and '1's). | | | | space. E-books can be sent anywhere in the |
| The Adobe 'PDF' has the advantage that anyone | | | | world in seconds, can be viewed and printed by |
| can view or print the document using the free | | | | anyone with a normal computer setup, cost |
| 'Acrobat' reader software available as a free | | | | nothing to reproduce and for me, one of the |
| download. (In other words, you don't need the | | | | most attractive benefits, is that they are |
| often expensive program that was originally used | | | | extremely easy to create. |
| to create the e-book in the first place). Many | | | | The 'digital revolution' is, the way I see it, the way |
| programs can be used to create PDF's (usually by | | | | in which our lives are changing due to new ways |
| choosing 'save as' in the file menu and then files | | | | of creating, manipulating and distributing the |
| of type 'PDF'). | | | | 'printed' word. I love e-books because I love |
| The information for the text and images in an | | | | information and I love the ease of which digital |
| e-book is processed in a number of possible ways | | | | processes allow that information to be |
| (by scanning, for example, or created in a | | | | disseminated. I am an Adobe certified Instructor |
| software program), to turn it into numbers, or | | | | of the Adobe Creative Suite, please see my |
| 'digits'. E-books, or electronic books, are for | | | | websites for more information on e-books, PDF's |
| viewing on electronic devices, not only desktop | | | | and other related subjects. |