Relief might be on the way for those frustrated by high textbook prices, especially those who don’t mind using electronic files, as we learn in Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free.   A new model of academic publishing that mirrors Web 2.0 patterns and vocabulary, rather than that of traditional publishing houses, is gaining ground.  Not wishing to burden his student with  the high costs of the typical academic textbook, Prof. R. Preston McAfee of Cal Tech decided to put his textbook online for free download. However, taking advantage of the new print-on-demand technology, he has also permitted two companies to charge for creating printed copies.  Two questions spring immediately to mind, is this an isolated case? And will other schools and classes make use of the textbook.   We already have an answer to the second question, other colleges, including Harvard, are using the text in some of their classes.

In what might be an answer to the first question, a broader effort called Connexions, aims to provide a space where academic content can be shared online by its creators.  Unlike open courseware and open access, other models gaining wider acceptance, they take advantage of Creative Commons licensing, allowing educators to edit the content as long as the originator is credited.   Ensuring a high degree of adaptability,  modules can be uploaded to Connexions, with parts possibly edited and combined (similar to a web mashup) to suit individual courses . What may prove beneficial to the Poly community is that Connexions is strong on statistics and electrical engineering.  Signals and Systems, an online text with the same name as a popular course reserve book, has been made available by Rice University professor, Richard G. Baraniuk (who came up with the idea for Connexions).

Not wanting to be left out, even traditional textbook publishers are entering the game.  A group of publishers has joined forces to create CourseSmart, a host for online textbooks.  Students can subscribe to read texts online, and they can pay to print sections of it.   The textbook options mentioned above allow free reading, whereas CourseSmart requires a subscription.  Still, CourseSmart might have an advantage because the big question  really is whether academics are willing to give up the quality control that comes with traditional publishing.  Frank Lyman, Executive Vice President of CourseSmart, thinks he has the answer to that question, one which will keep CourseSmart ahead off the game despite their greater cost: “What doesn”t worry me is that leading experts will say I will write my own damn book and people will read it.

For more on Open Access, see

• Harvard research to become Open Access
• Featured Resource: Directory of open access journals
• What lies ahead for the future of scholarly communication?

For more on online textbooks, see

•  Digital battlefields: first music, then videos, now textbooks