1.

0 Introduction
1.1 Definition of E-book
Rouse(2005) stated that an e-book is an electronic version of a traditional print book that
can be read by using a personal computer or by using an e-book reader. E-book reader is a
device used as a reading device on a computer. People normally download e-books on the
internet because it is convenient and it is free. E-books can save cost on buying expensive
reference book in the bookstore. Generally, an e-book can be downloaded in five minutes or less.
Besides, e-books are a user friendly system. The fonts and styles of the text can be
changed. Readers can bookmark pages, make notes, highlight passages, and save selected
text. E-books also can be access anywhere at any time.
Lastly, online databases are defined as assortments of electronic material such as interactive
program, pictures, articles and books that can be retrieved to look for information. Databases can
also be source that offers the whole text of articles that published in journals, publications and
papers.

1.2 Objectives of Study:

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1.2.1 To study the advantages and disadvantages of e-books in classroom.

1.2.2 To find out the future improvement of e-books in education.
1.2.3 To study the usefulness of e-books toward education.

2.0 Literature Review

2.1 History of e-book

Striphas (2008) stated that during the old days, printing press and printed books were
known as revolutionary in the West. E-book was the continuity of the revolutionary.
The revolutionary was started by the process of telling story from one to another. The
westerners regularly told the stories and then it is printed by partisan in the West. However, some
of them resisted the printed stories.
In Europe, printed books were not universally embraced. Nevertheless, printed books
became a disreputable enterprise. The people make money by printing. However, piracy
happens and the printers didnt checked matters such as spelling, punctuation, layout, authorship,
accuracy of translation, and so forth. Besides, the society replaced scribes and illuminators with
printed books.
After a few years, the Europeans started to produce miniature manuscript books
composed of tiny writing or as known as micrographia. It is a way to resist printed book and it
is also a way to preserve traditional scribal practices. However, printed books were published in
a smaller edition due to micrographia phenomena. As the text is very small, the monks used
simple lens to read it. Then, the physician produced magnifying glass and managed to create
eyeglasses. Lastly, they also created microscope in order to ease them to read the miniature.
Due to the technology the managed to develop, the Europeans managed to capture small
photograph of the books and it is known as micro photographic and managed to create a small
projection lantern. It is used to project the microphotograph to the wall of their houses. Then, the
people used luminous projection of micro photographic books via electric lamps.

After a few years, the Europeans developed another way to read the books that is by
motion pictures or it is known as cinematography. Then, the Lumire 's motion picture projector
was created to project the cinematography.
From the cinematography, the television was created and it applied the same principal.
The television is also known as visual literature. Then, TV companies produced TV e-books;
teletext and videotex. Teletext was used to provide up-to-date national and local news, weather,
community information, and other services alongside the ability to access electronic books.
However, teletext has limitation of words that was up to 125 words only. Videotex was more
advanced system as it can transmit graphics in color. However, the companies stopped to develop
videotex and teletext.
Some of the companies which develop videotex and teletext migrated to PC-based
services. The companies started to create e-books and the term electronic books was introduced
in 1984 and created e-books reader .Then, e-books were released widely in CD-Rom. Next, on
1999, the developers released NuvoMedia 's Rocket e-book, a platform which we can access a lot
of e-books online. Lastly, more companies started to developed e-books and published it online
on the internet.

2.2 Advantages of E-book

According to Renner (2006), E-books are electronic publishing matures, research and
academic libraries that give a lot advantages to its users especially in academic and research
4

libraries. One of the advantages is providing varied sources and information. A lot of information
can be found using both e-books and printed books but e-books is more compatible as it offers
many features and advantages for the users. E-books also have wider selection in finding
information as there are a lot of valid and acceptable resources can be found.
Besides, the usage of e-books will lower down the wage for the employee that is used to
coordinate all the books, books shelves, physical handling, processing of printed books and
others instead of reducing the consumption of human energy. E-books also lessen the repairing
cost as e-books are hardly to be broken, lost or other concerning matters rather than the printed
books which has to be repaired or cannot be used anymore if it is broken which will be a waste.
Furthermore, e-books improve the performance of a person in finishing research as it is
easy and fast to search documents or information. This is because all the information and
resources can be found very fast and not wasting too much time. The unlimited usage of e-books
also eases everything as it can be used anywhere and anytime instead using printed books. If the
book is borrowed from library, at the end they must be returned back compared to e-books that
can be used anytime.
In addition E-books also save the money and cost to buy the printed books which some of
it is very expensive required a lot of money to be spent. Most the daily expenses such as
bandaging, categorizing, transportation and servicing the printed books or even the broken
printed books so that the money can be used on others. Using E-books also will save your time
compared to printed books that we have to find it in library or buy at bookstores or other shops.
For example, if there are no books, we have to go bookstore or any shop to buy the book but
when using e-books we can use it at home and for sure it will save a lot of our time. The

immediate updates also favorable by the user to find information but the printed books has to be
waited for another edition which require more time which lead to wasting time in finding sources
and information especially for the research.
Finally, E-book also a space saving books as it does not required any shelves to place so
it will save the space of the house. For example, printed books need shelves in order to
coordinate all the books so that the books will not mess around but E-books does not need any
shelves to coordinate. Thus, the empty space can be used for other purposes that are more
important.
In conclusion, E-books are beneficial to everyone as it have many advantages including
save cost, storage and more others advantages. It is recommended to libraries, researcher,
teachers, students and other to apply the usage of e-books as it have many benefits for our daily
life.

2.3 Disadvantages Of E-book

First and foremost, reading on the screen are less effective as it is poor of information and
create discomfortness to the user because printed book are easy to open and turn via, while
electronic text are more messy to navigate page-to-page. From a research that has been done,
user will only have intention to read a shorter text on screen, if not, they are more preferred to
print it off. Consequently, this circumstances create a big problem to the E-books provider, as it
is not appropriate to be read for a longer writing despite the PCs technology are moving
forward.
E-books also have no sentimental value on it. Contradict to the printed books, this traditional
one can make a connection with the owner. Several people only want to collect books even they
are not willing to finish read some book. They proudly show their books on the bookshelves.
Printed books also sometimes use as a present. People would like to go to bookstore during their
free time. They love to search their favorite book. All about this does not peep out in the Ebooks world. E-books also have unreliable life span. Paper has a much longer life span than the
digital forms of storage.
The other issue that arises about these electronic books is the copyright and security of the
documents. This problem likely worried the author or publisher as their work are maybe being
copied and faked. If the user can save the e-books document to their computer, they can easily
send the file to their friends or print the file. As a result, this situation will cause a big loss to the
publisher as their file being spread illegally to the other individual.
Downloadable e-books also took a much time to be saved into their electronic devices.
This problem evoke especially to those who have slow internet connection. So for the larger file
of e-books, it is not convenient to be downloaded by the user. Facing the PC screens for a longer
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period during reading also induce problem to the readers, which is can cause eyestrain and bad
effect to eyes. Besides, poor visual also must be considered as the one of the problem that faced
by e-books.
Finally, there are still no same format of e-books exist for this current time. Because of this,
two different systems may not compatible to each other. In other words, e-books only suitable for
particular software and not the other since it are reliant for certain system. E-books also cannot
be compiled with video and audio. As this file only can be opened by using the electronic
equipments, the battery of the devices can bring to the other issue of E-books. Hawkins(2000)

2.4 Future Improvements of e-book

As available e-book hardware is numerous, it is essential that guidelines to edit and

publish e-book must be standardized. This will allow compatibility between two different
systems and low cost for migration to modern platform. A software must be designed to create
equal format for e-book. The software can be developed in collaboration with publishers,
software and hardware company and supported by related organization.
Problems in preserving printed materials always concern on the physical damage of an
item. The use of virtual documents can be much welcome as these threats do not happen in
online data. However, due to drastic changes of computer revolution, electronic documents
would face preservation problems. In other words, printed materials are much convenient to
preserve in this situation; hundreds year-old book can be easier to preserve than outdated floppy
disk. As new technologies are developed, e-book is needed to allow to be compatible with
upcoming platform so that they can still be retrieved.
Other issue of the technological abilities of e-book is the security of private documents
and commercial products so that they will not be exploited. For consumers, easy and instant bulk
production and distribution of e-book gives very good value for availability. However, for
publishers, this gives chance for susceptible to copyright infringements and tends to happen with
digital documents, and is assume as against reserved right of the publisher.
Until today, these digital disadvantages are still vulnerable to this lawlessness. The
flexibility of digital media cause it not to bind itself to a system that restrict its function and
ability; it is still unsure how to apply a safe e-book system which protects authors and
publishers rights without neglecting consumers personal data or limiting the function or
features of the products (for example, the first sale doctrine, which gives consumers usage rights,

need to be fully completed). These criteria are particularly have been top priority for the
publishing industry as well as press company (Microsoft, 2000).
The impact of E-book towards the environment remains shady. Earlier trials at creating
paperless system are not only disappointing, but may have worsened current problems as it has
totally produced much paper than it should. By few thoughts, printing of electronic books
actually will use more paper than conventional publication does. For instant, it would be
inconvenient when electronic document, such as an online PDF, is printed by everyone instead of
using paper for a single copy and then circulating the document.
The quality of e-books is yet incompetent to match the printed materials. The screen
resolution is relatively does not match with the quality of printed materials. In addition, screen
glare and eyes discomfort are major problem but, however, all signs showing that the display
technology will be much improve with time. Microsoft, for example, planned to create brand
new series of Palm devices using ClearType Technology which might be can resolve the problem
encounters when using e-book.
With cheap cost for publishing and distribution of e-book, there are possibilities for a
rapid transformation to traditional publishing models. In some cases the mediator publisher can
be ignored, as shown by most self-publishing on Internet. Other than that model, such as Napster
file-sharing system and direct business opportunity through vendor such as FatBrain and other
online publisher are getting more famous. (Albanese, 2000; Milliot, Reid, & Zeitchik, 2000;
OReilly, 2000; Rose, 2000).

3.0 Case Study

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3.1 Respondent 1 (Professional)

Name
Date of Birth
Age
Occupation
IC/Passport
Contact Number
Qualification
Time
Date
Location

: Abubakr Sirageldin Khamis

: 1st March 1975
: 39 years old
: Teaching Asisstant
: C0524069
: 01116242249
: PhD - IT
: 13th November 2014
: 9.00 AM
: Room 2.29, Block J, Universiti Teknologi Petronas.

3.2 Respondent 2 (User)

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Name
Date of Birth
Age
Occupation
IC/Passport
Contact Number
Qualification
Time
Date
Location

: Lim Wan Ern

: 25th August 1995
: 19 years old
: Student
: 950825-06-5116
: 010-9327724
: Foundation In Petroleum Enginnering
: 9.00PM
: 17th November 2014
: Guest Room, V4B, Universiti Teknologi Petronas.

4.0 Findings
4.1 Respondent 1

There isnt a need for you to write the personal information

once again as you have written it in the case study section

Our first respondent was Abubakr Sirageldin Khamis who was born on 1 st march
1975. He is 39 years old with the passport number C0524069 from Sudan. His
contact number is 011-16262269. His higest level of education is philosophy of
doctor (phD) in Information Technology (IT). His current occupation is teaching
assistant at Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP).

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Write the label of the figure as in:

(Mr Abubakr is explaining about e-books to us.)

Figure 3.1: Mr Abubakr is

explaining about e-book

According to him, he is also one of the frequent E-books users but he only use when it is
necessary only in case he need to find some information. He also has developed E-books for his
student in his University. He was introduced to E-books since a long time ago as it related to his
work. He told that 2011 was the year that he mostly used E-books as he needed it for his work.
He also stated that he did not encounter any problem when using E-books. He has his own
solution in case there is a problem by searching from other sources. In term of heath, he
mentioned that it is depend on age of the users. For him E-books is really helpful in finding
information. It is easy to use and read. He also added that printed books only waste time and we

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do not know the exact page of the information that we need. Compared to E-books, we only need
to type and many search result will came out.
In addition, he also agreed that E-books are suitable for education purposes as most of the
learning materials can be accessed through gadgets such as Ipad, laptop or even mobile phones.
In term of reliability, he said that there are many trusted sources that can be found such as
libraries. According to his point of view, he also agreed that the government should replace the
current textbook with E-books for the reasons of the availability of E-books that available for a
large amount of people, easy to handle and easy to use. He also agreed if the conventional
libraries to be replace with E-books so no shelves needed, no books and just facing the gadgets.
In term of payment, he explained that only some of the books needed to be pay to use it but
for him price is not a real problem in order to collect information. However, the transaction was
the common problem that occurred. From his opinion, E-books are very suitable for them who
are still studying. This is because some of the information that is needed is not in printed books
and they have to move here and there to find the information.
He also recommended that E-books should be improved in the aspect of trustworthy, quality
and quantity. So that people can find many reliable sources that is good in quality. He also
insisted that E-books should be improved in term of finance and population. This is due to Ebooks are a matter of payment. Some of them are very expensive thus the payment make some of
the users very lazy.

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Figure 3.2: (All of our group members took a photo with Mr Abubakr after the interview)

4.2 Respondent 2
Our second respondent for the FAL 0024 coursework project is 19 year old Miss Lim Wan
Ern. She was born on 25th of August 1995. Her Identification Card number is 950825-06-5116

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and her contact number is 010-9317724. She is currently studying in Universiti Teknologi
Petronas for Foundation Program in Petroleum Engineering.

Miss Wan Ern is one of the users of E-Book. To her, besides its functions like the normal
book and providing useful information for any purpose, E-Book has one good thing that is more
convenient to handle. Digital book additionally gives a neater format, has all the earmarks of
being more satisfactory in the part of visualization and exceptionally convenient, regardless of
how thick the perusing material it will be it can fit into one document.

(Miss Lim Wan Ern happily explaining about e-books)

She insisted that E-Book help her in study. She simply search down a proper title based the
E-Book she need. She have access many documents and a lot of additional sources that she got.
In the first choice, she utilizes E-Book because digital book save more time to find any data.

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Miss Wan Ern distinguish whether the sources is ttrue or not through her companions or by
watching the comments of the information. Although E-Book needs to pay to use, she will
continue using it because she believe that learning a new things will always give benefits.
According to her, a problem that encountered when handling E-Book was her eyes may be
strained and at one time, she will fell exhausted. Apart from studying, she work with E-Book for
learning another skills such as cooking, business and marketing skills, accounting, financial
management and many more.
If the data that she need does not available in E-book, she will go find to e-learning, word of
intelligent or well-informed (lecturers), conventional books, YouTube videos or/and reliable
websites. She surmises that E-Book is significant to be utilized for academic reasons on the
grounds that digital book spread numerous themes, from the parts of basic instincts to researches;
it is extremely helpful to support learners in the examining methodology.

17

(All of our group members took a photo with Miss Lim Wan Ern after the interview.)

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4.3 Suggestion of Improvement

Based on the interviews, few suggestions can be synthesis from the respondents to improve the
usage of eBooks. They are:

i.

Increase the readability of the eBooks. The device screen should be improved with
the innovation of glass materials such as ClearType Display technology and
widescreen display for better viewing experience. Sound stimulation should be
created to draw user attention. Also, friendly user software should be developed for
user convenience.

High Definition
Speaker
High Resolution
Display
ClearType glass
Widescreen display

Try to limit the page number for case study to 4 pages maximum. My suggestion:
One page for discussion of first respondents answers
One page for discussion of second respondents answers
One page for your suggestion
One page for the sketch.
Total page will be 4 pages.

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ii.

Lower the cost of the devices. With lower devices prices, more people can afford to
buy the devices and greater access to eBooks.

iii.

Make the eBooks user interface (UI) much friendly to the users. This can be done by
providing detailed and advanced search box on the Web.

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5.0 Conclusion
In conclusion, eBooks do give benefits to the society especially to those whos involved
in the education. However, eBooks still have disadvantages of their features otherwise, it will
become an achievement.
The innovation of eBooks should remain its momentum, and their user interface must
develop along with the time .Many people difficult to see a world where eBooks overcome
printed books. Even though the book will still remain relevant, it is logic to consider that eBooks
will alter the way we shared knowledge. Once eBooks capabilities have been fully improved, the
biggest issue influence their acceptance is their apparent usability. Manipulating these new
technologies will become much attractive to most users. Taking the Internet as examples, which
happened to occur when the Internet became more convenient to use than a library? Future
generations will more freely accept new technologies, taking up the limp in a consumer base that
the latest developed technologies are generating.
In the future, the role of papers will be replaced by the eBooks which are space saving,
friendly environment and have better sharing access. Hopefully, the total usage of eBooks by the
global society will become into reality.

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References

Books

Dictionaries

Websites

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Appendices
Appendix 1 (English Transcript of Interviews)
Transcript 1
1. Kushairi : how do you use E-books in your daily works?
Abubakr: I only use when necessary not all time. I am using E-books when I have to
find some information and 2011 was the year that I commonly use E-books as it related
to my work
2. Kushairi : How frequent do you use E-books in finding information?
Abubakr: Frequently use as I need it for my work
3. Kushairi: What problem do you encounter when you use E-books?
Abubakr : No. I do not encounter any problem when using E-books as I still can manage
to collect the information from other sources. In term of health, its depend on age.
4. Kushairi : Is E-books really help you in finding information?
Abubakr : Yes. E-books really help me as it is easy to use and read. Unlike printed
books, we do not know the exact page compared to E-books that we only need to type
and many search answer will came out. For me, printed books only wasting our time.
5. Kushairi : Do you think E-books suitable for education purposes?
Abubakr: Definitely. It such a great future as all the materials can be accessed by only
touch the screen on scrolling down the page through laptop, ipad and smart phones
6. Kushairi : Do you think E-books is reliable as a references to your work?
Abubakr : Yes. There are also many trusted location to find for example libraries.
7. Kushairi : From your opinion, should the government use E-boks to replace textbook
for education purpose?
Abubakr : Yes definitely. E-books available for a large amount of people and free. It also
easy to use so it is better than the printed textbook. Same goes to libraries, conventional
libraries need to be replace so that there will be no shelves, no books and just need to face
the electronic devices and just type.
8. Kushairi : Is E-books affordable to be used?
23

Abubakr : It is affordable but some of them are very expensive. Its also depend on the
country. Sometimes the problem is not about the payment its about the transaction of the
money.
9. Kushairi: How were you introduced to E-books?
Abubakr: I have been introduced since long time ago as it related to my work. I also
develop E-books in my own university for my students
10. Kushairi: What major group of age that you think suitable for them to use E-books?
Abubakr: It is very suitable for them who are under study because sometime the
information that we need is not available on printed books. It also saves much of our time
as we do not have to move here and there to find the books.

Transcript 2
1. Awal: As a student, how can E-book ease student to find information to their study?
Wan Ern: It functions as a normal book, providing useful information for any
purposes. The only plus point that it is more convenient to handle.
2. Awal: Compare to the printed books, what are the advantages of E-book?
Wan Ern: E-book provides a neater layout and appears to be more presentable in the
aspects of visualization. Besides, it is very portable, no matter how thick the
reading material may be, it can fit into a file in any applications.
3. Awal: Do you think that E-book helps your study? How?
24

Wan Ern: Yes. Just by google-ing or by searching for an appropriate title regarding
the E-book I want, I have access to various files and so many extra resources.
4. Awal: In the first place, why you use E-book?
Wan Ern: Because it is less time consuming.
5.Awal: As a student, how do you identify the sources is trusted?
Wan Ern: Through other friends that use E-book or by spectating reviews.
6.Awal: If E-book needed to be paid before you use it, do you still use E-book? Why?
Wan Ern: Yes because paying to learn new things will always be worthwhile.
7.Awal: What are the disadvantages that you find out during use of E-book?
Wan Ern: Sometimes it may be straining to the eye, after using it for some time, I will
feel exhausted.
8.Awal: Apart from studying, what other purposes that you use with E-book?
Wan Ern: I can use it to learn skills like cooking, business and marketing skills,
accounting, financial management and so much more.
9. Awal: If E-book does not have the information you need, what are other sources that
you use?
Wan Ern: E-learning, by word of intelligent or well-informed (lecturers), conventional
books, YouTube videos, reliable websites.
10.Awal: Do you think that E-book is relevant to be used for academic purposes?
25

Wan Ern: Yes. E-book covers many topics, from the aspects of survival skills to
researches, it is very useful to aid learners in the studying process.

Appendix 2

26

(Mr. Abubakr shared his knowledge about e-books with us during the interview.)

Appendix 3

27

(Kushairi and Qayyum interviewed Mr. Abubakr with full of passion.)

Appendix 4

28

(Awal asked Miss Lim about the usage of e-book in her daily activity.)

Students Profile
29

Name

: Muhammad Hafiz Bin Zubir

ID matric number

: 21055

Country Of Origin

: Malaysia

Programme

: Foundation In Petroleum Engineering

Age

: 18 years old

Date of birth

: 14 April 1996

Place of birth

: Subang Jaya, Selangor.

IC number

: 960414-10-6517

Contact number

: 0173210586

Previous school

: SBPI Selandar, Melaka.

Hobby

: Play sports.

Email Address

: timbong96@gmail.com

30

Name

: Awaluddin bin Alimudin

ID matric number

: 21359

Country Of Origin

: Malaysia

Programme

: Foundation In Petroleum Engineering

Age

: 18 years old

Date of birth

: 27 July 1996

Place of birth

: Sandakan Sabah

IC number

: 960727-12-7159

Contact number

: 014-8719970

Previous school

: Maktab Rendah Sains MARA Tun Mustapha Tawau

Hobby

: Watching Talent Videos

Email Address

: luddinmessi@gmail.com

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Name

: Abdul Qayyum Bin Mad Isa

ID matric number

: 21357

Country Of Origin

: Malaysia

Programme

: Foundation In Petroleum Engineering

Age

: 18 years old

Date of birth

: 18 February 1996

Place of birth

: Kedah

IC number

: 960218-02-5867

Contact number

: 013-4820626

Previous school

: MRSM Kubang Pasu

Hobby

: Playing games

Email Address

: qayyum96@gmail.com

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Name

: Muhammad Kushairi bin Rosli

IC number

: 960415 14 - 5745

ID matric number

: 21430

Country Of Origin

: Malaysia

Programme

: Foundation in Petroleum Engineering

Age

: 18 years old

Date of birth

: 15 April 1996

Place of birth

: Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan K.L

Contact number

: 010-4296958

Previous school

: MRSM Tun Ghafar Baba

Hobby

: Playing badminton

Email Address

: muhd.kushairi15@gmail.com

33