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Web helps reading

TIPPINST -- Over the past three years, we have discovered that a vibrant e-learning environment nurtures the art of reading. Some of this occurs as a result of set pieces on the curriculum such as book reports, open mic sessions and classroom discussions. After all, a book offers one of the least expensive forms of content for students. Books have unlimited battery life with easy to read pages. That's not the case with expensive, power-limited e-book readers.

Besides our experience on the curriculum, book publishers have discovered smart uses of the web add to a writer's toolkit. The Guardian points out the internet bow wave surrounding Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. When JK Rowling held a sleepover reading for 70 readers hand-picked from around the world, she selected Leaky Cauldron's Melissa Anelli and the 18-year-old founder of Mugglenet, Emerson Spartz. Compared to the withering pace of book tours, nurturing fans online is a doddle. Plus, the web has evolved from being merely a haven for geeks. It has become the infrastructure for a social network--a big reader's circle in one incarnation.


Bobbie Johnson -- "Author's Ally" in Online, July 21, 2005.

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