TechRadar reported today on Princeton’s pilot project for cutting down on paper usage by using Kindle e-books for course readings. Looks like we were right in our predictions earlier this week, but mistaken about one thing: the hardware. The project plans to use the new Kindle DX, released by Amazon today.
The awkwardly-titled “Toward Print-Less and Paper-Less Courses: Pilot Amazon Kindle Program” aims “to encourage students to work with documents online rather than rely on printing.” The University News reports that the initiative is funded under the auspices of the University’s Sustainability Plan.
The project basically looks like this:
Under the pilot, the reading materials for three courses due to start in the autumn will be loaded on Kindle DX devices. Participating students and faculty members in the selected courses will receive a free DX that they will be allowed to keep.
It’s a noble and ambitious move, sure, and apparently not all that expensive (at an actually reasonable $30,000 price tag for the University and no fee for participating students), but come on, this thing is going to fall flat on its face.
Reasons why after the jump.
1.) The Kindle DX has extremely limited note-taking capabilities.
Um, the ability to take notes on paper is the foremost, if not the only, reason anyone ever prints stuff out anyway. Few people ever read their course work on their computers, and it’s highly doubtful people will resort to using the DX’s thumb keyboard. That no one took this into consideration when making the pilot program is kind of ludicrous and the main reason the project will probably turn out to be a waste.
2.) Most students carry around their computers anyway.
If students really did want to cut down on printing and stare at a pretty, glossy surface all day, they could just turn to their MacBooks instead of a less-functional version of the same thing. Because, really, the Kindle DX is just a glorified computer screen at this point. Why carry around two pieces of technology when you could just carry one that was multi-functional?
But alright, if you’re optimistic and think kids will actually cut down on printing, maybe there is an economic justification to be made, as TechRadar hints:
Last year, Princeton printed 50 million sheets of paper at the cost of $5 million (£3.3 million) and 25,000 trees. If e-readers can cut down that printing by 1 per cent, Princeton will have more than made up for what was spent on this pilot.
Well, someone has to be the guinea pig, right? Why not us?
To be fair, the Kindle DX actually does have note-taking abilities, as well as bookmarking and search features. Granted, I agree that adding notes via a thumb keyboard is a pain in the ass and by no means a replacement for conventional marginalia.
Duly noted. Thanks.
Also, it’s important to note that the Kindle screen is much easier on the eyes than a computer screen. Its pixels aren’t electronic, but instead are actually made of pigment. You feel like you’re looking at paper. I’d rather read off a kindle than a laptop any day.
Will, it’s sweet of you to include the “maybe there is an economic justification to be made”… but
1) 50 million sheets for $5 million comes out to $.10 per sheet, so $30,000 = 300,000 sheets
2) the most recent drop in Kindle price brought it down to $250, which (using the $30,000 expected cost of the whole disaster) means about 120 students are expected to participate
3) even if all 120 students printed 1000 sheets (for just those classes!) instead of fooling around with the Kindle, we’d be spending about $12,000… no matter what, definitely less than half of the $30,000
I think someone up there is bored and wants to find a new! and innovative! way of improving the university. ! or maybe we’ve run out of ways to prove that we’re better than other Ivies
yay Will Saborio writes awesome articles