Reading on an iPad

OK, so I admit it, I am one of "those" people who said I would never be able to read on an ereader.  I love books and find it very difficult to imagine a world without them.  I can easily spend hours in a book store, browsing, skimming, reading.  I spend thousands of dollars on books every year - and that is just personally - it does not include what I spend in my library.  I also give books as gifts all the time and love to receive them.  (My favourite this Christmas is Forgotten Bookmarks by Michael Popek that my husband found for me.)  Two Christmases ago we bought my daughter a Kobo thinking she would love it.  She used it a lot at first but it now sits buried under the stack of paperbacks she is reading.  This inquiry however, made me realize I need to try this kind of reading.  What if I am wrong?  What if I do like reading on an ereader?...

Well, I have done just that and I think I may have to take back some of my nasty words.  Although I am still struggling with comfortably holding the iPad while I read, especially in bed, I am not finding the experience as negative as I thought I would.  I like that I am able to change the size of the font and am finding "sepia" an easier theme to read than the bright white, but overall the experience has been positive.  We are fortunate to have 2 weeks for spring break this year and I am seeing that reading on the iPad is going to be a lot better than lugging 3 or 4 books to San Diego for our 10 day vacation. (especially with the weight limitations on luggage, LOL)

So why is this experience better than I expected?  I think part of it is my realization that this technology is not going away.  I do see a future where textbooks and other educational reading will be done online.  I do see that I am already adapting to reading my course material on a screen rather than printing it all out as I did when I first began this diploma program.  I do see that I am already reading blogs, articles, twitter feeds and other material online on a daily basis.  I see that I am evolving when it comes to technology and information.

Some other observations I have made with regards to the iPad as I explore Web 2.0 tools:

• I have to adapt to a different look for things like Facebook, Twitter and even my iGoogle page on the iPad.
• Using the keyboard on the iPad requires a bit of skill as my texting thumbs and touch typing skills have to adapt to the screen keyboard.
• Using iCloud has saved me time in setting up the iPad.
• I am wondering how schools add apps to the iPad - do they set up an Apple ID for the school or does one individual take this on - and what do they do if that person leaves, as was the case for me.