Based on the information provided in both Lynch's article, "The Battle to Define the Future of the Book in the Digital World" and in the Scottish government's excerpt summarizing the most effective instructional practices regarding Section 9', it is clear to see that there are multiple, compelling issues that deeply effect the future of education both in the United States and abroad in the context of E-books and online reading. In retrospect, I believe that Lynch communicates a point to his readers that is central to the world of education--the transformation of traditional, printed texts to an electronic, flexible, and easily-manipulated format opens up a plethora of options to our authors. However, Lynch touches on the fact that, although this should be considered as a tremendous positive that provides educators with optimism and hope for the future, E-Book readers constrain the abilities of authors, thus diminishing their freedom. Lynch states, "The priorities [of E-book readers] are not flexibility in authorship and reading, but control and familiarity through emulation of the printed work. We owe it to today's most innovative authors, and to our society, to make available the fullest potential of the environment that information technologists are developing, and not to limit these authors to the capabilities of book readers that are concerned with protecting and managing the works of those that have come before them". He goes on to say, "We must not allow these book readers to define in the public mind what is a book, and what is something else - something perhaps having less legitimacy as a cultural artifact based only on our ability to conveniently package it, market it, and control its use".
This causes one to call into question the intended purpose of the electronic book--why was it created, and whom is it meant to serve? After reflecting upon Lynch's statements and his article as a whole, as a future special educator, I believe that the use of E-books could potentially serve a greater purpose than allowing certain individuals to obtain control over transformed content. Lynch personally opened my eyes to a shocking fact regarding the realm of electronic reading--although vast amounts of (sometimes helpful, most times not) online encyclopedias and dictionaries exist, electronic versions of many of the most valuable and enriching fictional stories do not. In "The Battle to Define the Future of Books" Lynch states that he is "yet to see a work of printed fiction as storytelling designed specifically for use through an electronic medium". One must consider the fact that, at the end of the day, the book industry is a profitable business. The risk of generating books that are strictly intended for online usage is both risky and potentially detrimental to a company. Until those who control the disbursement of online reading material can guarantee the safety of a publishing company's potential profits (Lynch points out the danger of one publishing company's text sending readers to links of another company's texts), it is very unlikely that fictional books will cross over to a fully digital format any time in the near future. How could the availability of fictional, electronic texts assist our students with special needs? Is this an issue worth advocating for?
One specific student's experience that is highlighted in the Scottish government's article may indicate that it is. I know that I, when considering the potential advantages of the use of online texts in the classroom, immediately consider the potential impact that these technologies can have on students who have cognitive disabilities (dyslexia and other reading/writing disabilities in particular), and do not as readily consider the advantages that they present to students who are physically disabled. Helen, whose experiences as a student with significant physical disabilities is presented in the article, serves as a perfect example for why quality fictional works must eventually be made available for purchase online. Sure, any student can access teacher generated or text book based material through an online medium if it is scanned and transformed into an electronic format, and the effects that these accommodations provide serve to meet many of their needs. However, when considering hard-copy, traditionally printed novels, one could think of Helen, who's disability prevented her from even holding a book, as a perfect example for a need for change. Fictional texts are simply inaccessible for her unless the school she attends has access to programs such as "FineReader Pro" and has obtained the proper license. Why should schools be forced to experience so much trouble to simply accommodate the needs of their students? Although this issue, on the surface, may not appear to carry much weight (i.e., I do acknowledge that the accommodation of Helen's needs is possible), imagine a time when the use of those programs and the qualifying for proper licensing would not be needed, due simply to the fact that fictional texts that Helen's classmates are able to manually handle were readily available online. With this being considered, the availability of online texts must evolve to include a set of diverse genres--if done, it has a tremendous possibility to positively affect our students' learning experiences in the future.
