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E Ink and electronic paper display technologies have been heralded as sustainable solutions to the proliferation of printed ephemera. Their key environmental benefits include the modest power usage, the reduction of printed material, the general inertia of the chemical substances used, the volume of storage available and the flexibility of application, being embedded or standalone. However, numerous economic, technical, and marketing challenges must be addressed before this technology presents a viable alternative to traditional publication. Chief among these concerns is the perceptual shift required among user-communities, who must adapt lifelong reading habits to accommodate new hardware devices and modes of content purchase or acquisition. From a marketing perspective, convincing a skeptical public to invest in an underdeveloped technological platform with little seeded content, and the potential to be rendered obsolete, presents significant challenges. Elevated price-point, limited content availability, usability issues, and mixed user testimonials have primarily hindered the widespread adoption of eBook readers. Such issues are not unique to this product class, but are further amplified as the consumer’s financial investment increases. The major content limitations associated with eBook readers are largely attributable to digital incompatibility and copyright issues. There has been extreme market segmentation caused by multiple proprietary file formats and limited interoperability between devices. Digital rights management software also imposes another layer of restrictions on content, setting limits on copying, lending and reselling of eBook purchases. To function as a truly useful and robust learning tool, new legislation must be enacted to facilitate management of resources through libraries and other systems of content dissemination.

Stream: Technologies for Learning

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Christopher Moore is a designer and educator whose cross-disciplinary practice ranges from commercial publication design to media-based installations. Moore’s creative and scholarly research currently focuses on appropriated digital content, and the emergence of new genres of folk culture facilitated by social media applications. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, and he has participated in artist residency projects throughout North America. Moore has presented his scholarly research at international conferences, including the College Art Association (CAA), Design Research Society (DRS), Association Typographique International (ATypI), and the Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC). For the past 11 years, he has taught at institutions across Canada and currently holds the position of Assistant Professor in Design & Computation Arts at Concordia University in Montreal.