Evolving content for mobile delivery summary workshop report March 2011 by Gill Needham Associate Director (Information Management & Innovation) the Open Univeristy

1. Event Held 7th March 2011
Summary Workshop Report
Evolving content for mobile delivery: a workshop
On March 7th 2011, a select group of representatives from the Publishing industry
and senior librarians and educational technologists from HE met at the Open
University. The objective was to address the challenge of a lack of appropriate
academic content which meets the needs of increasing numbers of mobile
learners. Librarians had identified this as the major barrier to the development
and delivery of effective mobile services. The workshop was an opportunity to
engage publishers and suppliers in a constructive and creative dialogue with
librarians and to address the challenges together.
Delegates were encouraged to consider the ways in which the world of
publishing has been transformed by the Internet. Does the publishing industry
still have a role in an environment where individuals have direct access to infinite
quantities of content and where anyone can be a publisher (and most of us are)?
There is a pressing need to review and re-evaluate the functions of the industry
and its relationship with higher education. Research being carried out at the
Open University with users of mobile devices suggests that we should focus less
on the technology itself and more on the diverse behaviors and preferences of
learners. The value of the technology is where it supports particular needs such
as pressure on study time and the need for flexibility like being able to study
while travelling or to maximize so-called ‘dead time’. The level of demand for
mobile services cannot be ignored and is likely to increase in line with ownership
of smartphones and tablets. 10% of Open University students now access their
online learning environment via mobile devices and the University is now able to
output learning content in a mobile-friendly format.
It is clear that the speed of technical development has supported a phenomenal
success of the eBooks market with the availability of cheap readers such as the
Kindle. However, these devices are limited in their ability to meet the
expectations of users who are accustomed to interactive and multimedia
experiences via the Internet. The development of the iPad has opened up the
possibility of a new breed of eBook which fully exploits the technology so that
users can access and interact with content, (including video, audio, images and
diagrams) manipulate and annotate, add their own content and share with peers.
This has huge significance for education and begins to blur the distinction
between what have traditionally been regarded as learning content, on the one
hand and textbooks on the other.
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2. As numbers of mobile learners increase, it becomes more important for libraries
to be able to deliver services in this way. Many libraries now offer mobile friendly
websites but these are merely portals to the ebooks and eJournals which
students need for their studies. A recent survey at Edinburgh University found
that 89% of students who responded said they would like to access the library
and its content via their mobile devices. In the majority of cases, once a user
clicks through the Library’s mobile website to an article they wish to read, they
will encounter problems. Access may be denied, or they may be asked to log into
a supplier’s website and supply passwords. If they are able to open the article,
the presentation may be fragmented and difficult to read. They are unable to
download the article to read offline, so if a connection is lost they have the
frustrating experience of having to start the whole process again.
It would be misleading to suggest that there have been no attempts in the
academic publishing industry to address mobile delivery – that is not the case
and there are pockets of exploratory work. Many publishers have developed
apps but this is currently an unsatisfactory approach for libraries because, first,
they are often promotional rather than delivering the full content required by the
user and, more importantly, because the business model for apps (individual
payments through iTunes) does not work for libraries. There is as yet no
licensing model for apps.
Discussion at the workshop explored many of the challenges and identified areas
where the industry and the HE library community could work together to identify
and implement solutions. The most significant of these were the need for general
adoption of standards for eBooks, the need for an integrated approach to
authentication and access, the need for more flexible and straightforward
licensing arrangements for eBook content, the importance of catering for different
levels of device with alternative formatting and the value of sharing skills,
experience and evidence in this rapidly expanding area. The over-arching
message was a general agreement for commercial publishers and the HE library
sector to collaborate to identify and implement solutions which will ultimately
benefit all concerned.
It was particularly encouraging that colleagues from JISC were actively involved
in the event and announced a forthcoming funding call to support work in this
area.
Gill Needham 18/3/11
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