adminShepherd Chimururi Cool Lifestyle Correspondent
Long ago it was really fashionable to move around with heavy academic text books. Students used to boast with big books and for those lazy in thinking they described the book worms-tractor as the upcoming professors.Bulk text books that quickly come to mind are David Waugh’s A-Level Geography, Ramsden and Briggs’ Chemistry, Randall & Crawshow’s Biology, Frank Wood’s Business Accounting not forgetting the encyclopaedia which many loved to carry.
The big volumes of books have been replaced by e-books. An electronic book or e-book is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on computers or other electronic devices. In other terms a printed copy is called a hard copy while the electronic version is called a soft copy.
Commercially produced and sold e-books are usually intended to be read on dedicated e-reader devices. In an interview with Cool Lifestyle, Passmark College A-Level student Mercy Huni (17) said the current generation is reaping the rewards of education that has gone digital.
“Carrying big books is now a thing of the past except in some circumstances. All a student need is to have a flash. E-books are trendy because you can read them in PDF or JPEG format on your smart phone or laptop and you can zoom or print them if you want. Stories of students who are denied results by school authorities because of lost books will be a thing of the past soon,” she said.
In Zimbabwe the bulk of e-books are pirated versions which are being peddled without the writers or publishers’ consent. Almost all text books used in schools have been converted into e-books in one way or another.
Text books by international writers are readily available in PDF format on the internet while those published locally they are being scanned into a set of JPEG image files and arranged using Microsoft Power Point and other various softwares for easier presentation.
The e-books in circulation cover a wide range of topics from Christianity, literature, financial, professional, family, business, motivational to academic textbooks.
Agriculture too has not been left out as there are soft copies on goat production, cattle pig rabbit fish farming bee keeping. The green book a favourite with writing classes has been converted into an e-book too. The growing demand for e-books has become a money spinning venture.
Enterprising young people have gone to create WhatsApp based e-books free sharing platform. Mukoko Virtual Library is one such project that is being run by Craig Mashura (20). He said the virtual library is more like an open source community where members share almost anything readable like novels, textbooks, modules, poems you name it.
“All the e-books in the library are posted by volunteers who source them on the internet for the benefit of the mukoko community. As a community we do have a specific book we task ourselves to read and review it as a community.
“We also read, review and motivate our fellow authors in the community thus promoting local talent. I have noticed that it is not only students who are into e-books but even the house wives business people who are also the SMEs owners are into e-book reading. The main reason being they are cheap, easily accessible all you need is a smart phone or a laptop. They are readily available and the marketing is easy as well thanks to WhatsApp,” he said.
However, all is not gloss with e-books as files may be corrupted, deleted or otherwise lost. While students are enjoying the benefits of e-books, the local publishing industry which still relies heavily on production of printed version is on the verge of extinction. It has to swim now or sink. It is also high time that schools and public libraries consider investing in e-libraries as the technology save a lot of money.
Shepherd Chimururi (executive director — Dzidzo Inhaka Audio Visual Learning); Mobile: +263 772 608 276; [email protected]; www.dzidzoinhaka.co.zw
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