I might make this a running feature. After all, nothing says "exciting blogging" like how to cite random things. But, in this one instance I think it is important to have a discussion about how to cite something because frankly, there's not a lot out there on the subject.
How do I cite e-readers?
Let me start by saying that I love my Kindle. Instant access to books for cheaper? Yes please. I wish I had more time to read more things on the Kindle. I sort of jokingly kept asking my fiance if she got me one for Christmas and then, because she is awesome, she did so. I've been in love ever since (with the Kindle, love with fiance already established).
One of the things that I really like about the Kindle is that old books are cheap. Sometimes they're free. I know some of the first books I downloaded were Treasure Island and The Art of War. I downloaded them because they are famous books and the latter I've been meaning to read. I also downloaded them because they were free.
For my Classical Foundations of Literature class, I am writing a paper on the political themes within the comedies of Aristophanes. Wanting all eleven of his surviving plays, I went online and sure enough, Kindle delivered. For 95 cents, I had all eleven plays (I later found that I could have ordered Volume 1 and 2 separately and saved the 95 cents, but oh well.)
So, I read all eleven plays, laughed a bit, highlighted key passages and got set to write my paper until I thought of something. How do I cite this?
There are no page numbers on the Kindle. So, if I cite a passage (which I will undoubtedly do), I have no frame of reference. My usual go-to place for how to cite anything, the Purdue OWL can tell me how to cite a tweet, but has nothing on e-readers.
The best solution I can come up with is that the Kindle does have "locations", which are like page numbers. They are smaller though (my last highlight comes from Location 8,009) which makes it a bit tedious, but I think it will work. I think a note in my works cited page will be in order just to clarify what is going on.
It is tricky because its something that Academia simply hasn't caught up to yet. This surprises me, considering that libraries have been lending out e-books since 1998, so we've had over a decade to figure it out. And I don't think e-readers are going away and will be making bigger strides into education soon. I personally prefer a hard copy if its for a class (will probably do a post on this later), but may try and go the e-reader route in order to lessen my cost and physical burden when buying books next semester (18 pounds of reading!).
What do my readers think? How do e-readers fit into education? How should they be cited? Any other problems you foresee with tech and education merging?
