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Is Papyrus in your future?

BoardBuzz doesn't mean to suggest that the world is facing a paper shortage, but rather a new e-ink device has come to our attention (and wouldn't that be eco-friendly?). The group of innovators at The Greener Grass have presented Papyrus, an inexpensive, student oriented e-reader specially designed with collaboration in mind. This is a concept that BoardBuzz could wholeheartedly get behind. Our inner geek is a-twittering. And for a brief summary of why, let's turn to Engadget:

You don't have to look very far to find e-book concepts these days, but this so-called Papyrus device from the folks at Greener Grass aims a bit higher than most, with it promising to be nothing short of an inexpensive replacement for students' textbooks. If the designers have their way, the device would cost less than $100, while still packing an E Ink-based touchscreen (with handwriting recognition, it seems), and a battery that lasts for a full 30 hours -- not to mention some sort of networking functionality, as the device is apparently also designed to let teachers and students interact with one another.

BoardBuzz believes e-ink devices are very much the way of the future. The pros: low battery consumption, superior readability (compared to laptop screens), and a thin form. All these factors combined bring us one step closer to a fully-digital world. Amazon's Kindle alone is making remarkable inroads to the public's hearts and minds. What really sets the Papyrus apart is the idea of combining an e-ink device with collaborative tools for the classroom. Students would be placed in an interactive environment with which they're already familiar— similar to Facebook and MySpace where fears of classroom participation diminish. It makes the case for interaction between students and teachers. Imagine students afraid to ask questions in front of peers who could just type out a quick private message to their teacher. Papyrus would provide a direct line of communication between student and teacher. Students can also work collaboratively to tag, highlight, and take notes—helping each other understand their classwork. BoardBuzz would have greatly enjoyed a device such as this back in our day. Imagine being able to replace all your large, heavy textbooks with a device such as Papyrus. Textbook publishers (and chiropractors) beware! E-ink, e-readers, e-books (however you label them) are very much in our future. We'll admit, there's still something to be said about curling up with a good book, but that feeling generally doesn't extend to your average textbook. With yesterday being Earth Day we even wonder if all those new editions that publishers seem to love are really necessary. Investing today, millions? Delivering updates and corrections without printing a new edition, priceless.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on April 23, 2008 (boomark / email).