Print books have been used as the main source of information for many years, but in today’s highly advanced Information Technology (IT) world, electronic books, or “e-books,” are quickly taking their place. Hard copy printed materials, including newspapers and periodicals were the primary sources of knowledge, information, and even personal growth for the last several centuries. However, technological advancements have made it possible to acquire new information and knowledge through e-books and they will continue to be the future platforms for people to acquire knowledge and information. E-books will successfully replace printed materials due to their storage efficiency, ability to offer augmented experience, and their contribution to environmental conservation by eliminating the need to cut down trees to manufacture papers.
The electronic platform has immense benefits besides minimizing environmental degradation by reducing the demand for papers. The portability and small weight of eBooks make them convenient to carry. One eBook reader may store thousands of eBooks, eliminating the need to carry many heavy books (ElAdl & Musawi, 2020). It frees up a lot of room, both in your house and your purse. There is no need to be concerned about the storage cap. Several books can be compressed and carried on a single device. The biggest winners are the students, who no longer have to lug about a backpack of books every day. A student can store more books than anyone could ever read in a lifetime on a single device.
The eBook experience has been elevated to a whole new level by augmented reality. It is now possible to incorporate text and photos with augmented three-dimensional visuals that appear on the user’s screen. Reading and learning become considerably more immersive when readers have access to a computer-generated 3D representation of the image (Kiryakova, 2020). Simply pointing the device at the picture or text will cause an improved version of the image to appear on the user’s screen. Several educational institutions and organizations are incorporating this technology into their eBooks to improve user experience.
Furthermore, schools all around the world are switching from printed textbooks to electronic versions to improve teaching. Electronic learning materials not only motivate instructors to be innovative but also gives pupils the chance to experience a different kind of learning. E-books give instructors a great chance to write their own textbooks or chapters or to gather the work of a student, dissection, field trip, lab, class, or research project. An ebook might be a single page or a full textbook enhanced with multimedia images and clickable connections. It is possible to download and store eBooks for later use. The eBook may be read anytime you want and is portable. The instructional materials may be read by staff and students both at home and on the go. For those who are always moving, it is useful. Some eReaders have offline accessibility, enabling users to utilize them even when there is no internet connection. Readers may simply access any eBook anytime, anywhere, unlike paper books, which must be ordered or purchased from the bookstore, taking time away from reading while waiting for delivery or traveling to the bookshop.
Most people belong to a generation whereby education and new information were solely acquired through printed books. People learned about new occurrences by reading printed newspapers and magazines circulated daily. While the same practice is still in place, increased technological advancement has resulted in the circulation of information electronically. Newspapers and magazines have an alternative electronic version. The number of printed copies has significantly reduced over the last few years. The reduction in the use of printed copies has a significant positive impact on environmental conservation. A study conducted in educational institutions in Oman indicated that employees of a single institution utilized several reams of papers that resulted in the cutting down of 312 trees annually (Shah et al., 2019). Shifting information storage from the use of printed papers to e-books would significantly reduce the number if trees cut down to manufacture papers, eliminating the need for deforestation. Modern organizations are challenged to implement environmentally sustainable means of doing business, including the adoption of sustainable ways of disseminating information and knowledge. Therefore, every organization involved in the use of papers is striving to minimize its use to improve their corporate image as sustainable organizations by shifting their operations to the electronic platform.
E-books will successfully replace printed materials due to their storage efficiency, ability to offer augmented experience, and their contribution to environmental conservation by eliminating the need to cut down trees to manufacture papers. E-books offer an augmented learning experience to learners and allows teachers and learners to store several books in a single device. In addition, the use of electronic storage system will eliminate the demand for papers, contributing to environmental conservation as less trees will be cut to manufacture papers.
References
ElAdl, A., & Musawi, A. A. (2020). Effects of Students Attitudes towards Using E-Books on Their Self-Efficacy and Academic Motivation. European Journal of Educational Research, 9(3), 1167-1176.
Kiryakova, G. (2020). The immersive power of augmented reality. In Human 4.0-From Biology to Cybernetic. IntechOpen.
Shah, I. A., Amjed, S., & Alkathiri, N. A. (2019). The economics of paper consumption in offices. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 20(1), 43-62. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2019.6809
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