
'Major distraction': school dumps iPads, returns to paper textbooks - carlosgg
https://www.smh.com.au/education/major-distraction-school-dumps-ipads-returns-to-paper-textbooks-20190329-p5191r.html
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ryeights
I find it significantly harder to concentrate when reading an eBook versus a
physical copy. Maybe it's Pavlovian conditioning from all the time I waste on
my phone, but something about small glass screens makes my focus shut right
off

~~~
Mirioron
I read fiction on my phone all the time, but when I try to switch to my PC to
continue reading, I will find myself doing something entirely different 15
minutes later. Yet, I can read for several hours in a row on my phone (I've
even bought an extension cord so that I can charge my phone while reading).

I haven't tried reading from paper books for a decade though. Perhaps it would
work, but the selection of things I'm interested in reading is too small.

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dredmorbius
The failure of the tech world to produce a truly good, useful, immersive,
generative mobile media device and ecosystem is profoundly troubling.

The challenges are not technical, nor are they inherent to devices. I supect
it's a combination of business models and IP law (copyright, patents, and
others) which are holding us back.

In the past 24 hours, I've been tracking down works by an author, including
one book for which Worldcat has a single listing, Amazon has none, and a few
physical copies may be found apparently with a surviving co-author, at, as it
happens, Edith Cowan University in Australia.

Oh: and Google _have_ digitised this work, much of it is readable through the
abysmal Google Books interface. But with sufficient limitations that I'd
prefer re-typing the content by hand, as I've done for other works:

[https://pastebin.com/raw/fZajYSGa](https://pastebin.com/raw/fZajYSGa)

This allows me to produce multile formats readily via Pandoc, including HTML,
PDF, ePub, and others.

I've used several ebook readers, all have distinct limitations. Pocketbook on
Android is amomg the better, though its poor metadata management (No author
field!!! Abysmal editing interface) is a constant frustration.

For Apple, lack of a mature console userland as with Android's Termux is a
killer. For Android, everything but Termux is abysmal.

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kwhat4
I'm shocked! No one asked the question "why is this better" when schools lined
up to buy millions of iPads.

~~~
spacemanmatt
> No one asked

That's not true. My district told parents it would lighten backpacks. They
eliminated lockers. Now kids have to carry backpacks full of textbooks, AND
their iPads, AND be responsible for both electronic work and paper work.

Root cause: ebooks too expensive, schools were subject to the same racket as
any student: rent-seeking publishers.

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krasicki
Its the systemic paradox of teachers being unable to learn anything new [it
violates their contract /s] and, as a result, killing educational innovation
at every opportunity. iPads were never cost-effective for schoolwork -
Chromebooks are because even the poorest families can afford or be offered one
for home use.

The public education system is beyond broken.

