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OurBlook interview with Bryce Johnson, creator of CafeScribe.
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of electronic textbooks vs. print textbooks for teachers?
BJ: For teachers, a key advantage of electronic textbooks is the opportunity it gives them to customize content in a way they could not before with print textbooks. While “self-publishing” is still in its infancy, we are seeing professors take books they have authored, and own the copyright to, and use CaféScribe to add their own annotations and links to other online materials or media. They can also update content in their textbooks almost on the fly and literally have a new version of a textbook available for students the next day. One professor, who had written a required text for his course, found that creating an e-textbook was much less expensive than publishing a print textbook. These savings were able to be passed along to his students. For student and professors, another important advantage of e-textbooks is greater collaboration and exchange of ideas outside of the classroom. For example, students can create online study groups where they can share notes with one another and the notes appear in the margin of the virtual textbook.
One possible disadvantage is that electronic textbooks ... with their links to other online materials ... can be a potential distraction for students particularly if they are online during class and tempted to “wander off” to other parts of the web (i.e. Facebook, Twitter or some other site).
What are the advantages and disadvantages of electronic textbooks vs. print textbooks for students?
BJ: For students, e-textbooks enable them to do more than simply read material online.
They can search, highlight, bookmark and annotate an e-textbook’s pages. In addition to the study tools integrated into the electronic textbook, CaféScribe provides a built-in academically based social networking platform. This allows students to create study groups, share notes and discuss topics with peers in their classroom and around the world. Once a CaféScribe digital textbook has been purchased and downloaded by a student, they own that copy of the digital textbook, and there is no limit imposed on how long they may access the material.
One disadvantage now is that not all print textbooks are available in electronic format so, as a result, student access to and familiarity with e-textbooks can be limited. Also, some e-textbook offerings ... not those available through Café Scribe ... can only be used during the semester as a subscription and are not a student’s to keep.
You created the CafeScribe system to search titles, download e-textbooks, search on any word, highlight text, take notes, share those notes, etc. Tell us what prompted you to create this, how it's working out and what its significance is.
BJ: Café Scribe was conceived while I was completing a joint MBA program through UC/Berkeley and Columbia in 2003. Lugging heavy and expensive textbooks from coast to coast and really not having any way to share notes, ideas from my reading quickly and effectively with my fellow students seemed archaic. I laid the groundwork for Café Scribe in my master’s thesis and founded Fourteen40, the company behind Café Scribe, in Salt Lake City, UT in 2004.
By 2007, we had secured content from publishers including McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and Thompson/Cengage. Because the e-textbook industry was in its infancy, we caught the attention of several organizations and were bought by Follett Higher Education Group in March 2008. While the Follett acquisition enabled us to continue development of Café Scribe, it also provided access to Follett’s 850 college bookstores and the five million students it serves. The opportunity to interact with and understand the needs of varying audiences ... students, professors, administrators ... continues to influence the growth of Café Scribe.
E-textbooks seem mainly a matter for colleges but do you see potential for them in K-12?
BJ: I see enormous potential at this level, particularly in private schools and schools that have “one-on-one” initiatives where every student already has a laptop. E-textbooks can help reduce textbook costs for K-12 schools and also enable their students to get better access to related materials.
How does online teaching affect the use of textbooks, either print or digital?
BJ: Online teaching drives student awareness of and demand for the adoption of e-textbooks. As students become more comfortable and familiar with online learning, moving from print to text is really not seen as that great a leap.
How else do you see technology affecting U.S. college education?
BJ: In five to 10 years, learning will be much more customized. Technology will be a key driver behind a learning experience that will enable students to learn via an approach that is best suited to them ... this could be learning via video, online learning, e-textbooks, etc. The learning experience will adjust to the learner and how that individual most effectively learns. For example, students who grasp materials quickly will be moved on to more difficult concepts more quickly.
CafeScribe is described as the first "iTunes" for textbooks. Bryce is director of eTextbook Solutions for the Follett Higher Education Group. He has a background in enterprise software development at Accenture, Kana Communications, Digital Harbor and Consilient. He has an undergraduate degree in marketing from BYU and holds a dual MBA from Columbia and the University of California at Berkeley. He also spent two years in Chile as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and sold pest control door-to-door in Visalia, Calif., earning $35,000 one summer and $40,000 the next.
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