The Philippine Online Chronicles

While majority of students make do with paper textbooks, some schools are experimenting with going digital.

Earlier this year, the Laguna local government launched a pilot project to replace physical textbooks used by students in the province with tablet PCs. One thousand Rizal Tablets, already pre-loaded with electronic versions of their textbooks, were distributed to the freshmen students of Laguna Science National High School, Philippines Rural High School and one public high school from each of the province's four congressional districts.

Authorities pointed out that the gadgets would be more engaging for the students, as well as more economically sound in the long run, as new text books can simply be uploaded to the tablet.

In Metro Manila, La Salle Greenhills also went digital this year, issuing 500 e-tablets to selected students. Information technology expert Jun Lozada pointed out that the device would remove the need for students to carry heavy stacks of books. According to the school, if the device is found to be useful, it will be offered to all students next school year.

Digital books have also become popular with the college crowd. In the United States, Flat World Knowledge has addressed the problem of rising text book costs by publishing user-editable textbooks that can be read for free on their website. The digital books can be read on laptops and mobile devices like the iPad, but students can also print out entire books at a lower cost than traditional college textbooks.

EContent magazine recently recognized Flat World for “its commitment to textbook affordability through an open model that provides flexible options for teachers, and use of social technology that can transform the learning experience."

What is the Future of the Book?

The digitization of books, and having a student generation that will grow up using such books, presents challenges not only for publishers, but librarians, readers and the communications and technology sector.

Given this, the National Book Development Board (NBDB) and Book Development Association of the Philippines (BDAP), together with the Vibal Foundation, Inc.--the non-profit arm of leading educational publisher Vibal Publishing House, Inc. is holding the 2nd Future of the Book (FOTB) Philippine Digital Publishing Conference.

The conference is set to tackle the place of publishers in an increasingly digitzed world, looking at emerging trends in creating, distributing and marketing electronic books.

Among the speakers will be representatives from the Laguna local government and Flat World Knowledge.

FOTB 2011 will be held from November 28 to 29 at the University of the Philippines Bahay ng Alumni.