Daily Times

E-revolution is being touted as the most significant agent of change witnessed in the 21st century. It has brought paper reading almost to zero and has supplanted it with reading on electronic gadgets, termed e-reading. This is a rapidly expanding area of digital life that is engulfing human beings all over the world in almost every walk of life, whether teaching or reading, journalism or media, mobile industry or other industry, so much, and so forth. In Pakistan, many printing presses are closing and instead reverting to e-prints of their newspapers. Moreover, research journals and books are not being printed now. Instead, they are available online and can be accessed without traveling to any physical library. The availability of reading material on different websites can also be read and analyzed through e-reading gadgets. Now, this information and knowledge are not available in the physical format. The search for knowledge and skills is available only in digital format, which involves e-reading.

The world has been undergoing revolution after revolution since the industrial revolution in the 19th century. World War 1 & 2 provided the much-needed impetus for scientific and industrial progress, which paved the way for scientific inventions done mainly in Europe, especially Germany. One of these is the soft umbrella term including e-reding. Consequently, millions of books have become available to people to read. They are available and cheaper even if one needs to buy them. Online purchase of an eBook is executed within minutes.

An entire library can be packed in just one powerful electron machine.

The significant advantage of e-reading is that one can carry 100s of books in a very small device like a cell phone, what to talk of tablets, laptops, and PCs. An entire library can be packed in just one powerful electron machine. One can carry these books comfortably in a pocket or a small bag whenever and wherever one wishes to read for pleasure or learning.

The second significant development of e-reading is that it allows reading in all environments. For example, one does not need artificial light at night or in darkness because these are self-illuminating. Besides this, the font’s size, color, and style are adjustable/modifiable at the reader’s will as per his moods and can be switched from one to the other just with the click of a button. The overall size of the page is also customizable with such gadgets. Searching for a particular word, phrase, or sentence is far easier and quicker than the physical book. One needs to open the search dialogue and click, and the desired results will appear in the wink of an eye. Moreover, e-reading allows one to insert any other text or notes within the lines, which one can never do in a physical book.

There are many electronic reading devices other than cell phones, like Amazon Kindle. Many other companies have developed reading and writing-only tablets, gradually gaining currency. Western developed societies have initiated paper-free schooling for their kids by providing them with reading and writing tablets. Digital schooling has resulted in efficient teaching and learning environment.

Students love to read books on their gadgets in and out of the classrooms instead of going to libraries and borrowing a physical book by following a cumbersome process. Even the important libraries of the world have converted themselves to eBooks and e-journals, which provide access to all and sundry on a meager payment. This has provided access to students and readers worldwide to the primary and significant libraries of the world, which previously could be consulted only through an in-person visit. This has also reduced expenditures incurred on purchasing, maintaining, and providing physical libraries.

E-reading has provided opportunities for all to enjoy the pleasure of reading in their way. For example, one can write notes anywhere on the page and change the text’s color. While one can highlight the text in any color, one can also underline the lines of text and strike through the lines. Above all, the gadget remembers all this for our next reading. So, e-reading has proved easy, more attractive, engaging, and more comfortable than p-reading. A common man with a knack for reading will find e-reading more attractive because of its comfort, ease, and accessibility. Middle-aged or old people specifically can be comfortable with such gadgets because they can increase the size of the text. Apple books e-reading software also provides the facility to change the page’s background.

The poor and developing countries can benefit from this revolution by buying used reading electronic gadgets from the developed countries and give to their teachers and students so that they can easily access the materials relevant to their areas of study and work. This will provide the latest knowledge to our students and make them feel more engaged and interested in their studies. This can bring more efficiency to the teaching methodologies as well.

The writer is a professor of English at Government Emerson University, Multan. He can be reached at zeadogar@hotmail.com and Tweets at @Profzee