Called “a kind of Wikipedia for textbooks” by the New York Times, textbook giant Macmillan is launching DynamicBooks, a software that allows university professors to edit and customize digital textbooks for their classes. They will be able to reorganize and delete chapters, upload material from their courses such as syllabi pictures and graphs, and even rewrite or delete specific paragraphs and illustrations.
Though customized textbooks have been around for a while, the great novelty of DynamicBooks is that it allows teachers to edit content without having to get the consent of the publishers or authors.
“Basically they will go online, log on to the authoring tool, have the content right there and make whatever changes they want,” said Brian Napack, the president of Macmillan. “And we don’t even look at it.”
Students should be interested in these modifiable e-textbooks too, as they will be significantly cheaper than printed textbooks, retailing for around 50$, less than half the price of a printed edition. They will also be available, at a higher price, in on-demand printed editions.
The e-textbooks will also be available on the iPhone, and Macmillan is now negotiating to have them on the iPad too. This really does seem to me the future of textbooks, digital, interactive versions that students can view on mobile readers and laptops.
Tip: Iddictive