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E-books, the elderly and ‘the growing digital divide’
May 7, 2007 | 2:13 am
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By David Rothman
The elderly are the least likely to take advantage of the most current Web technology, if you go by a new Pew study on the Digital Divide, summed up in Tech Crunch. What can the e-book industry, retailers and libraries do to help?
1. Educate more of the elderly about the glories of large-”type” on e-book screens. Maybe e-book companies need to place more ads in magazines of interest to older people and work with educational and recreational programs aimed at them. E-book tech isn’t the newest or the flashiest. But it is vastly underused by people with eye problems or the inability to drive themselves to libraries.
2. Actually work on producing the hardware needed. Perhaps with the elderly, simple dedicated e-book readers would be better than more complicated general computers.
3. Digitize content of interest to the elderly.
4. Use e-book standards to make the content as easy to use as possible—including with voice synthesis. In a related vein, I hope publishers can worry less about the line between audio and e-books and more about revenue.
The elderly are a huge potential market—well into the tens of millions just in the United States alone. Granted, older people are accustomed to paper, but given the numbers involved, it still might be worth it for e-bookdom to try to woo the open-minded among them.
Please note these are my opinions and not necessarily Pew’s (PDF alert).
Related: The forthcoming TeleComments on some schools’ abandonment of laptops.
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Comments:
[...] TeleRead suggests that corporations and libraries should innovate in creating readers and e-books that will allow the elderly and others to help bridge the digital divide. [...]
On a related note, I’m working with one of my authors, Michael Paulson, on offering DVD versions of eBooks. These eBooks would play on DVD players, letting readers read them from their TV or from a DVD player. I know this sounds like more eBook Tower of Babble (and it is), but when I read your thoughts on the senior market, I remembered the DVD seems to be one of the technologies many in this age group have mastered.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
Cool, Rob! Although still in his 20s, the sight-impaired son of a friend of mine relies on books on CDs. You’re onto something. Keep us posted on the results, and the very best of luck to you with the experiment! While I hate eBabel, I’m all in favor of publishers addressing here-and-now needs. – David
I’m a published author, and have just recorded one of my novels to podcast. It’s available on podiobooks. Podiobooks say it’s free but they try to guilt you into sending a ‘donation’ (presumably to keep me from starving) Well, I’m not starving, and I want everybody over the age of 65 who owns an ipod to know THEY CAN READ MY BOOK 100% GUILT-FREE AND ABSOLUTELY FREE. In fact, I insist on it.
My problem is, I don’t know who to contact.
Here’s the feed: http://www.podiobooks.com/title/heart-of-desire/feed
I’ve tried to get the word out, but I just don’t know how to let the oldsters who are looking for audio books know that this is available to them.
It’s available, it’s a good, exciting read, and it’s free to people who have earned their lives by living them.
If you have any ideas of how to go about this, I’d appreciate it.
Thanks and God bless,
John Klawitter
Dancing Bear Ent, LLC
22647 Ventura Blvd #159
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
http://www.extinctionthefilm.com
http://www.john.klawitter.podshow.com