Don't Kno, Do Kindle

Ebooks are the future of higher education. A compelling and inexpensive reader device is necessary for that to happen.  We're getting there, but the sweet-spot hasn't been hit yet. I love my Kindle. It is great for leisure reading. And I do a lot of that. However, the screen on the standard Kindle is too small to view the full page  figures and tables that populate much of my work related reading.  Fortunately, the Kindle platform is ubiquitous. I can view my Kindle books on myriad other devices. So, when I encounter a full page table with text too small to read on the Kindle's screen -- I can leverage the Kindle platform's ubiquity and switch to reading the Kindle book on my laptop or netbook. Ideal? No. However, it gets the job done.

The Kindle DX addresses the viewability concerns with its larger screen (9.7" vs 6" diagonal).  At a current price of $379, the DX almost has me adopting a second Kindle. Almost. But is it a compelling value proposition for higher ed students?  I don't think so. At $199, maybe.

Key is whether work flow (research or studying, for students) is most efficient with special purpose devices (such as the Kindle reader) or with multi purpose devices (such as the iPad). Or does it matter? The Kindle platform's support for highlighting of passages and insertion of comments/notes yields a powerful research/study tool that I find easier to use than my conventional practice of having a PDF open on one monitor and a Google Docs doc open on a second to capture my notes. Ultimately, the Kindle not about the Kindle Reader hardware but about the Kindle Platform.

The ubiquity of the Kindle Platform is the key strength of the Kindle solution relative to a conventional dead tree book. A conventional book exists in one point in the time space continuum. A book can be in my backpack, in my home office, or at my campus office, for example.  A physical book can't be all three places simultaneously.  There is nothing more frustrating than getting home only to realize that a book I need is at my campus office (50 miles away). A Kindle book is always available to me.  Even when I don't have my Kindle reading device with me.  Amazon is about to launch Kindle for the Web which means my books will never be further away than the closest web browser. No special app required.

Which brings me to the Kno,  The Kno -- billed as a "tablet textbook" -- is a large (14" diagonal) tablet computer available in single- or hinged dual-screen versions (to resemble a book).  The Kno's USP is that it operationalizes how students study: read, take notes, highlight text, watch videos, read web based content, etc. The Kno is a locked down proprietary platform (built on Linux) that supports three proprietary apps: Reader, Notes, and Browser. The reader app is for viewing digital textbooks. The notes app is for taking notes. The browser is for accessing the web.

Kno's business model is based on two primary revenue streams: hardware sales and sales through their textbook store. Adoption of the Kno implies double lock-in:  One is locked in to purchasing textbooks through a single source: the Kno textbook store. The second lock-in is that textbooks purchased for the Kno can only be viewed on the Kno. It is a closed system. The Kno duplicates one of the biggest hassles of dead-tree books: if you don't have your Kno with you, you don't have access to your books.  Or your notes. Oops.

Kindle for the Web exposes a major flaw in the Kno's business model.  Kindle for the Web suggests that users already have a key for unlocking Kno's proprietary bookstore.  There goes that revenue stream.  

The single screen limited function 16GB Kno, priced at $599, is more expensive than the very versatile 16GB Apple iPad (with a smaller 9.7" screen). And you can read all of your Kindle books (as well as books from other vendors) on the iPad. How's that value proposition, Kno?

As a faculty member, I cannot, in good conscious, lock my students into a restricted purpose limited function device. Apple and an increasing cast of others offer tablet devices. Apple's system has attributes amenable to enterprise management. If Kno has a competitive advantage (and it is unclear whether they do), it is in their claim that they understand better than anyone how folks study.  Kno should shift from bundling hardware and software. I think that Kno should channel what they have learned about student study habits into note taking apps for the iOS and Android platforms.  Such an approach would leverage the source of Kno's competitive advantage.

Kindle is a Helpful but Crippled Research Tool

The Kindle's value as a research tool has intrigued me. Amazon's announcement that Kindle notes and highlights are available on the web piqued my interest. The ability to convert notes and highlighted passages into a word document or a content management tool is a powerful research tool. Powerful because it means that highlighted text and notes are easily transportable from format to format. Powerful because those notes and highlighted passages are in a format that is guaranteed to be legible (unlike my handwriting at times ... OK, most times). Powerful because those notes and highlighted passages can be easily incorporated into a manuscript. Perfect!

Amazon's handy 'email to' your kindle feature is perfect for the myriad white papers and technical reports I encounter, frequently download, sometimes, print, yet rarely read. By putting these reports on my Kindle, I actually do read them. An added bonus is that these documents are typically written in a way conducive to stepping into and out of. This makes them perfect for filling an odd 5 minutes while waiting at Northern on Main for my sandwich, or when waiting for a flight.

With all of these thoughts in mind, I sent the Aspen Institute's intriguing white paper Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing to my Kindle via Amazon's handy email-to feature. Content rich with intriguing observations, I highlighted many passages. Notes flowed from thoughts spurred by ideas presented. Many of the passages and notes should be useful for my Winter quarter ecommerce course.

Document read, now to archive into a word document. Hmm ... the document isn't listed among the items in my "Kindle Reading List." Switching to Amazon.com's "Manage My Kindle" page, I find the paper listed under the "Your Individual Charges" section. Hmm ...bummer. It appears that, at this point in time, highlights and notes are available online only for books purchased from Amazon.com.Highlights and notes are not available online for items, such as white papers and other PDF or Word format documents, that are emailed to the Kindle.

Bummer! The inability to access highlights and notes on content other than Amazon.com Kindle books severely limits the utility of the Kindle as a research tool. Yes, the notes and highlights can be viewed in summary form on the Kindle, as with Kindle books purchased from Amazon. However the prospect of having to then manually transcribe those notes and highlights -- which are already in digital form -- into another system (e.g., a text document) is an unexpected, time consuming, and unnecessary step. One might as well type the notes and transcribe the passages directly into a document.

Perhaps this is a temporary state. Perhaps Amazon will soon turn on web accessible highlights and notes for Kindle documents other than Kindle Books purchased from Amazon.com. Given that the Kindle produces highlight and note summaries for these documents, it seems arbitrary that Amazon has chosen to not make them available on the web.

When (if?) Amazon.com makes notes and highlighted passages on user uploaded Kindle documents accessible on the web, the Kindle will be a very compelling complement to my arsenal of research tools. Until then, the Kindle is a helpful, but crippled, research tool.