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Keele University recently became the first English university to allow students to apply for places using the US Common Application system. Keele, which was the founded in 1949, was the first new British university of the Twentieth Century. It is located in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. It is the largest main campus university in the UK and is ranked in the top 350 universities in the world by The Times Higher Education supplement. However, it is not a member of the elite Russell Group, which comprises twenty-four of the UK’s top universities, including Cambridge University and Oxford University.

Keele’s adoption of the Common Application system Keele will allow students from the US to apply for places using the same form as they use to apply for US colleges such as Harvard, Yale or Princeton. They will no longer have to go through the UK’s Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).

Although Keele is the first university in England to adopt the Common Application system, it is not the first in the UK. The University of St Andrews in Scotland is already a member. St Andrews is an excellent university, which is perhaps best known for its proximity to the world-famous St Andrews golf course and its most famous former student, Prince William.

International students are an important source of revenue for UK universities and Keele’s initiative is the just latest move by a British university to make itself more accessible to foreign students. The UK is currently the second most popular destination for students studying outside of their own country and is keen to strengthen its position. The USA is unsurprisingly the number one destination.

UK universities are not alone in thinking about becoming part of other countries application systems. According to a report by the BBC, the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands is thinking about applying to become part of UCAS. In the future, it seems possible that all of the world’s major universities will be accessed through a single application system making movement of students internationally a much easier process.

Matt Wisbey is a Director at ITS Global Education Limited. ITS Global Education’s mission is to help students from Hong Kong, China and Singapore to fulfill their potential by taking advantage of the best educational opportunities that the world has to offer. We advise parents on how their children can access the best schools, colleges, universities, vacation courses and summer camps available globally. Contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Profile:           http://mattwisbey.brandyourself.com/

Telephone     +852 2116 3916
Email:           global@tuition.edu.hk
Website:       http://www.tuition.com.hk
Twitter:          @ITSEducation
 

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French literary theorist Roland Barthes is perhaps best known for his 1968 essay, The Death of the Author. In this essay, he argued that since it is impossible for a reader to understand an author’s intentions, there can be no single correct interpretation of the meaning of a particular text. Instead, texts are open to a multiplicity of interpretations, which inevitably incorporate the reader’s own cultural experiences, knowledge, and prejudices. In the Internet age, a new phenomenon has emerged: the reader who not only produces his or her own interpretation of a text, but who consciously rejects the right of the author to reinterpret his or her own work. There are also more extreme Internet forums where readers seem to long for the death of the author!

This Internet phenomenon is most pronounced in the genres of fantasy and science fiction. World-building is a key part of these types of fiction: readers (or viewers, in the case of TV programmes and films) appear to be attracted to fully realised worlds or universes which allow them temporary respite from the harsh realities of their own world. Over time, these individuals make the transition from viewer/reader to ‘fan’. ‘Fandom’ brings with it a sense of ownership and entitlement that creates a very different dynamic between the author and his audience. An example of this is the present state of revolt among Star Wars fans.

Star Wars director George Lucas is one of the most successful film directors of all time. He established two immensely lucrative ‘franchises’ – Star Wars and Indiana Jones – the first of which provided the template for both family-friendly action blockbusters and movie merchandising. The original trilogies in each of these franchises are both fondly remembered by those who grew up in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, with Star Wars generating a zeal equaled only by the fans of the other major SF franchise, Star Trek. And right now, the Star Wars zealots are in a state of revolt.

Why? Well, George Lucas has an unfortunate habit of tampering with his legacy. Most of the first wave of Star Wars fans was hugely disappointed by the prequel trilogy that was released in the late 90s and early 2000s. Many of these fans refuse to acknowledge the prequel trilogy, preferring instead to treat the original trilogy as a standalone series. Unfortunately for them, Lucas sees the six films as forming a continuous whole. He has therefore taken the opportunity to revisit the original trilogy and amend the films to fit his updated vision.

This process began in 1997, with the release of the special edition of the original trilogy on VHS. It continued with the DVD release in 2004, and has developed further with the recent Blu-ray release. Unlike other directors who have made the original theatrical cuts available alongside newer director’s cuts (for example, Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner), Lucas has denied fans the opportunity to buy re-mastered copies of the originals. Fans wanting to watch high definition versions have no choice but to buy versions of the films that incorporate new CGI sequences, sound, scenes, and even dialogue.

Many Star Wars fans feel that the films belong to them and that Lucas has no right to force his changes upon them. In fact, they see it as vandalism of their property. In reflection of this, fans have produced their own digital restorations of the theatrical versions and are distributing them via the Internet in order to rescue their ‘world’ from the ‘depredations of the evil Emperor Lucas.’ They argue that the energy, money and time that they have spent as fans means that Lucas has a responsibility to give them what they want, rather than to do as he pleases. The author’s legacy is not his, but theirs. He should have the decency to ‘die’ (metaphorically) and leave it to them. After all, how annoyed would we be with Shakespeare if he kept rewriting Hamlet?

Is this the antithesis – the opposite – of Roland Barthes’ argument in in The Death of the Author? Or have author’s simply neglected the fact that they do not ‘own’ a text’s multiplicity of interpretations, and that its fans have an equal right to claim ownership of it , even to the extent of contradicting the author?

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As a tutor who focuses primarily on the teaching of English Literature (or, more accurately, Literature in English) to IB Diploma and A-level students, I have become increasingly concerned about the relationship that many of my students have with the texts that they study. There often seems to be very little sense of enjoyment, with literary texts being given much the same status as text books: they are to be read, assimilated and regurgitated, rather than actively engaged with.

In many cases, Hong Kong students’ lack of enjoyment of literary texts may be due to a lack of knowledge of the wider cultural context for works of literature chosen for them in school. This is partly due to students’ cultural backgrounds and experiences. After all, is it reasonable to assume that an ethnically Chinese or Indian student studying in Hong Kong will have the familiarity with Christianity and Christian symbolism that the poetry of, for example, William Blake demands of them? A second reason for this lack of enjoyment in reading literature may also stem from students being so focused on learning in order to pass the assessments and exams within their school curriculum that there is minimal time available for personal study which could include finding out more about the cultural context of different works of literature. Such personal study could include knowledge of historical events, current affairs, wider social debates and of course, other works of literature, as all of these are invaluable to one’s reading and understanding of literary texts. The more one knows about the world when a writer was creating their text, the more refined one’s appreciation of that text will be.

The nature of examinations is also a factor when considering many students’ somewhat reluctant approach to literature. Examinations related to the GCE A-levels, IB Diploma and HKDSE test students’ understanding of literature in three ways: firstly, by answering questions on prepared texts under exam conditions; secondly, by producing coursework essays on prepared texts; and, thirdly, by writing essays on unseen texts. Examinations on prepared texts tend to encourage students to learn the ‘facts’ about texts, which they have ‘learnt’ from their teachers and tutors, while examinations on unseen poems force students to adopt an approach that could be said to be the antithesis of how literature should be approached and appreciated.
Literary texts need care and attention. They need to be considered from many different perspectives, and research needs to be carried out to gain understanding of unfamiliar language, allusions and references to other texts, people or events with which a student is unfamiliar. But most of all, literary texts need time. The words, ideas and images within a text need to ‘percolate’ (move gradually) through a reader’s consciousness, slowly giving rise to ideas and associations that did not come to them at the first reading. Our first reading of a work of literature is rarely, if ever, complete. True appreciation of literature comes slowly, and this is why coursework on texts that students have chosen for themselves tends to produce the best and most interesting results, with time and enthusiasm leading to more perceptive readings.

My view of how students should approach works of literature has, perhaps, best been expressed by American poet Billy Collin’s (1941- ) in his ‘Introduction to Poetry’ (http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/001.html), a poem I encountered in a GCSE past paper. I wonder if the examiner was aware of the irony of asking students to analyse a poem in 45 minutes that extols the virtues of the slow and careful approach to textual analysis?

Matt Wisbey is a Director at ITS Global Education Limited. ITS Global Education’s mission is to help students from Hong Kong, China and Singapore to fulfill their potential by taking advantage of the best educational opportunities that the world has to offer. We advise parents on how their children can access the best schools, colleges, universities, vacation courses and summer camps available globally. Contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Profile:           http://mattwisbey.brandyourself.com/

Telephone     +852 2116 3916
Email:           global@tuition.edu.hk
Website:       http://www.tuition.com.hk
Twitter:          @ITSEducation

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Danny Harrington, a founder and Director of ITS and Oxford alum (Christ Church, Geography, 1988), will be running an interview workshop on November 12th at 2-4pm at ITS Tutorial School in Central. The Oxford academic team of Dr Peter McFadden and Dr Katherine Grevling were in Hong Kong last week. Danny was in attendance and will now run the workshop again as a last call for anyone who missed out. This is for candidates who have applied to Oxford for entry in October 2012 and who are expecting interviews this December. Please call 21163916 or email mandy.l@tuition.com.hk to register. There is no charge.

Seminars will be run for younger candidates and hopefuls at later dates, so watch this space. But please only register for this event if you have already applied.

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A recent article in The Guardian, a UK newspaper, drew my attention to the phenomenon of the use of Hong Kong-based ‘ghost writers’ by Mainland Chinese students. The term ‘ghost writer’ normally refers to an individual who writes a document on behalf of another, and such writers are perhaps most commonly associated with celebrity autobiographies. Celebrities, having neither the time nor in most cases the skill to write their own memoir, employ a writer to put down their memories in a coherent form. In China, however, the term ‘ghost writer’ is used to refer to an individual who takes an exam on behalf of another.

These ghost writers take English language proficiency tests such as IELTS and TOEFL, which are needed in order to be eligible for immigration visas and university courses. The consequences of failing to pass a test are so severe that individuals are willing pay lots of money in order to ensure a passing grade. This means that the ghost writing industry can be extremely lucrative. A July 2011 article by Kane Wi published on ChinaDaily.com.cn reveals that ghost writers charge Mainland Chinese students ¥10,000 for each IELTS scoring point that they need to achieve. As IELTS is assessed on a scale from 0 to 9, a student looking to get into a good UK university can expect to pay in excess of ¥60,000 to their ghost writer.

If a student is caught cheating at an IELTS centre in Mainland China, they will receive no test score and will be banned from sitting IELTS tests in the Mainland for life. Moreover, ghostwriters can face serious consequences for their actions. In July 2011, Zhao Chunlin, an 18 year old Mainlander, was jailed for six months for taking a test on behalf of another individual. However, there is currently no communication between the IELTS administrators in different countries. This means that a Mainland Chinese student caught cheating outside of Mainland China can still take the test again in a Mainland Centre.

The writer of The Guardian article, Glenn Fulcher, Reader in Education at the University of Leicester in the UK, highlights how financially lucrative being a ghost writer is. With test takers under immense pressure to pass English language proficiency tests, the market for ghost writer remains large. After all, “If your future depends upon travel, study or work opportunities and you cannot meet the bar, the value you place upon the test score may outweigh the cost and fear of being caught cheating.” Fulcher goes on to argues that test scores are valuable commodities because of the benefit that they give to the consumer, and that as ‘Humans trade in commodities’, unfortunately ‘when they cannot trade, they sometimes steal.’

One of the ironies of this phenomenon is that students who cheat their way through the IELTS requirements for universities are actually cheating themselves. They may have paid a significant amount for access to a course that they can’t actually understand. Moreover, will they actually be able to pass their university assessments if their language proficiency was too low to gain entry in the first place?

Matt Wisbey is a Director at ITS Global Education Limited. ITS Global Education’s mission is to help students from Hong Kong, China and Singapore to fulfill their potential by taking advantage of the best educational opportunities that the world has to offer. We advise parents on how their children can access the best schools, colleges, universities, vacation courses and summer camps available globally. Contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Profile:           http://mattwisbey.brandyourself.com/

Telephone     +852 2116 3916
Email:           global@tuition.edu.hk
Website:       http://www.tuition.com.hk
Twitter:          @ITSEducation

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Although travellers looking around at fellow passengers on the MTR could be forgiven for thinking that the only use for an Apple iPad is to play games, it is in fact fast becoming an important educational tool. City University’s School of Law, for example, is currently piloting the use of iPads. Their students will be able to download course materials via Wi-Fi or 3G, ensuring that they have everything that they need for their lectures and tutorials.

The most obvious advantage of a tablet computer such as an iPad, is the huge amount of information that can be crammed into a very small piece of space. There have been numerous studies that have identified the harm children can suffer from carrying heavy bags to school. Effects can include poor posture in later life and, in extreme cases, spinal damage. At around 0.6kg, an iPad is much lighter than a typical school textbook, which is likely to weigh between 1.3kg and 2.4kg – and it can ‘contain’ potentially thousands of textbooks within that 0.6kg. In cities such as Hong Kong where space is at a premium, schools could conceivably convert their school libraries into classrooms and make their library texts available to students’ PCs via a wireless connection.

There are many other arguments in favour of tablet PCs. Electronic textbooks can easily be updated after their initial publication. Once a paper textbook is published, it cannot be added to or amended, and so students are forced to buy potentially expensive new editions of textbooks which may have only a handful changes in them. Electronic textbooks can be easily updated to ensure that students are up to speed with the very latest developments in a particular subject: all students need is access to an Internet connection to download the update.

Although iPads may seem a costly investment at around US$600, so are textbooks. A recent report by the Associated Press suggests that many US schools consider iPads more cost-effective than textbooks. New entrants to the tablet PC market such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire, will result in such hardware becoming more available to a much wider market. Tablet PCs not only give teachers and students access to cost-effective textbooks, they also enable them to download a wealth of public domain e-books from websites such as Project Gutenberg. In addition, students with access to streaming video services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, can access documentaries, drama productions and movies that are relevant to their studies.

Tablet PCs also enable teachers and students to make use of educational applications that enhance the learning experience, with examples including apps that allow teachers to provide more effective demonstrations of the process of solving a maths problem or that enable students to take quizzes. With the advent of iOS 5, iPad users will, in an Apple TV-enabled classroom, be able to display materials directly onto a TV or projector screen – so no more messing around with memory sticks or projectors!

Matt Wisbey is a Director at ITS Global Education Limited. ITS Global Education’s mission is to help students from Hong Kong, China and Singapore to fulfill their potential by taking advantage of the best educational opportunities that the world has to offer. We advise parents on how their children can access the best schools, colleges, universities, vacation courses and summer camps available globally. Contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Profile:           http://mattwisbey.brandyourself.com/

Telephone     +852 2116 3916
Email:           global@tuition.edu.hk
Website:       http://www.tuition.com.hk
Twitter:          @ITSEducation

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There is a myth that A-level English Language is an easy option and is not taken particularly seriously by employers. Do not be fooled. If you want to stand out from the crowd, read on!

Similar to other A-level subjects, English Language is nothing like its GCSE or IGCSE precursor. It is challenging, requires knowledge of specific terminology and involves analysis of a variety of texts from diverse genres and subjects – and not only written texts. Some of the questions it raises are for example, why do people speak in a particular way in different situations? Do men and women speak differently? What makes a good communicator? With questions such as these, A-level English Language offers students the opportunity to learn a great deal about language while actively engage with it.

For many students and their parents, the choice of what to study is linked to beliefs about university admission procedures and employment options after graduation. Studying English Language enables students to pursue opportunities linked not only to language, but also those within areas such as human-computer interface design, business communication, marketing or advertising. Moreover, with its strong focus on analysis, reasoning and communication, A-level English Language is also particularly valuable for law and the business world.

A-level English Language fosters the intellectual abilities and related skills sought by universities and employers. Business and law schools consistently indicate a preference for students with skills related to written and oral communication, critical thinking, problem solving, international perspectives and creativity.

For students who decide that the scientific study of language (linguistics) is the university course for them, they can opt to study linguistics with subjects such as psychology, journalism, social sciences, translation or education. Alternatively, they can choose to specialise in linguistics and its related areas. For linguistic graduates, employment opportunities are wide as there is a shortage of prospective employees with a background in linguistics. Indeed when Professor Stanley Peters of Stanford University, was asked if there a demand for people with a linguistics background, he replied, ‘You bet there is,’ and noted that the supply of such people was ‘extremely limited.’

So to return to A-level English Language, what does this course of study involve?

The course of study is divided into four units in the same way that other A-levels are, and so there are AS and A2 levels. The entire course considers a wide range of spoken, written and multi-modal texts, thereby providing the inspiration to learn about spoken and written language from real and imaginary worlds, as well as to engage in the craft of creating one’s own texts.

The AS-level provides a focus on the familiar and engaging area of everyday language. It has a practical emphasis on finding out about written and spoken language and using it effectively. It also looks at how language choices reflect identity and context variation, while also looking at the writing process used to generate different genres for different audiences.

A2, on the other hand, focuses on the origins of and variations and changes to the English language over time, moving on to the present use of English as a global language. Other topics studied include the development of children’s spoken and written language, and Unit 4 of A2 provides students with the opportunity to choose a topic from the course for investigation and subsequent presentation of an internally assessed project of 2,500 – 3,000 words – a real research project!

So is English Language A Level is an easy option? Absolutely not – it’s the gateway to many different degree and subsequent career options.

Sean Martin

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Last weekend, Hong Kong’s Lyric Theatre played host to the Bridge Project’s version of Shakespeare’s Richard III, with the eponymous (the character named in the play’s title) king played by top American actor, Kevin Spacey.

The play tells the story of King Richard’s murder of his brother, his nephews (otherwise known as the Princes in the Tower), his wife, and many noblemen who would or might have opposed him in his bloody quest to become King of England.

Shakespeare’s version of Richard’s rise to power was, and still is, controversial. It is sometimes said to be a work of Tudor propaganda that transformed Richard from a reputable king into one of the blackest villains in English history.

King Richard was defeated by Richmond at the Battle of Bosworth Field, and Richmond went on to become King Henry VII. Henry VII was the founder of the Tudor dynasty, and he was Henry VIII’s father and Elizabeth I’s grandfather. As Shakespeare wrote the play in 1597 during the reign of Elizabeth I, he would have been unlikely to portray Richmond’s succession to the throne in a negative light.

The complex historical background to the play and the large number of characters present on stage can make Richard III a difficult play to understand and/or appreciate. However, Sam Mendes, the director of this production, assisted the audience by projecting the name(s) of the key character(s) in each scene onto the set.
The play was performed in modern dress, but the periods from which the styles of dress were taken varied from scene to scene. In some scenes, the actors’ costumes suggested pre-World War II Britain, with Richard dressed like Hitler or Mussolini; at other times, Richard was dressed like a military dictator with his uniform covered in gold tassels and decorations. This mixture of historical periods unfortunately did not have the effect the director may have wanted, if that was to encourage the audience to think about tyrannical rulers in modern times.
The costumes were not the only confusing factor in the play. Spacey’s performance as King Richard did not reflect the play’s portrayal of him as an evil monster. Spacey drew more on the play’s humour than on Richard’s ruthless ambition and loathing for himself and all those around him. By making the play more ‘accessible’, Richard’s unscrupulous viciousness and nihilistic sense of humour were missing, and these are key to his character and the play.

Some scenes, particularly those involving Haydn Gwynne’s wonderful portrayal of Queen Elizabeth, capture the very essence of this play. However, scenes such as these need to be seen in contrast to scenes such as when Buckingham persuades the citizens of London to support Richard’s claim to the throne. Unfortunately, Spacey’s focus on humour meant that the sense of menace that should have been built up simply collapsed. An example of this was when the audience laughed at Richard’s declaration to Buckingham – ‘I wish the bastards dead’, the ‘bastards’ referring to the princes in the tower. It was quite sad that the play was changed in this way from an exploration of tyranny, dark ambition and murder into a semi-comic tale.
The production was not without its merits though. Spacey’s performance was impressively physical, and he captured the exaggerated acting style of a British theatrical actor perfectly. But the real high points of the play were delivered by the female actors, especially Gwynne. My lasting memory of this production will be of a raw and authentic Act IV, Scene IV in which her naturalistic and emotion-drawing performance captured the true spirit of Richard III.

To conclude, the true lesson of Richard III is that an absolute lust for power by someone with an immoral, asocial, and unrepentant nature can twist the world around them with tragic consequences. Surely this is not something in which there is much humour.

Matthew Wisbey

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When I first moved to Hong Kong, I was bemused by the advertisements for tuition services that I saw on posters, billboards, buses and television. After finding work as a tutor, I became even more confused. How could tuition companies possibly have the budget to pay for such extensive advertising? I thought the tutors in the ads must be quite amazing to have their images plastered all over the city, and more importantly, I wondered when my name would be up in lights.

A colleague recently sent me a link to an article entitled Meet the Glamorous Celebrity Tutors of Hong Kong from a US website, Slate.com (http://www.slate.com/id/2302695/), which provided the answers to my questions.

The Slate article reveals that some tuition schools can afford to spend in excess of US$1 million per year on advertising, including slots on prime time television, because of the huge number of students that they teach. Beacon College, one of the oldest and most famous tuition companies in Hong Kong, has about 60 tutors and more than 25,000 students. This is a ratio of 417 students to a tutor. The article depicts such tutors as being more like pop stars than teachers; and according to writer Hillary Brenhouse, tutors can’t wear the same outfit twice in case their ‘fans’ notice, won’t disclose that they are married in case it diminishes their popularity, and can have earnings of more than US$1 million dollars a year. The faces of these tutors are so widely recognised that they have, in effect, become brands in their own rights. Even I can name two or three of them, having seen their posters and bold claims of success on the way to work each day.
So why don’t ITS’ tutors have their faces on posters on the MTR or on the side of buses?

The answer lies in a culinary analogy – food comparison – that the Slate article notes. The article quotes Professor Mark Bray of the University of Hong Kong as saying that, ‘Hong Kong cram schools are like the McDonald’s of education: they have a product, they mass produce it, it’s relatively cheap, it’s probably not very nutritious, but it fills your stomach.’
I have already mentioned the tutor to student ratio at Beacon. At ITS, we have around 50 tutors working with approximately 600 students at any one time; this is a ratio of 12 students to each tutor. We are more like a Michelin-starred restaurant than a McDonalds fast food restaurant: we take immense pride in creating a product that is made to order and which is, in knowledge terms, highly nutritious.

So when am I going to have my name lit up in lights as one of Hong Kong’s celebrity tutors? Well, Hong Kong can breathe a sigh of relief as this is exceedingly unlikely to happen! I want to be known for my well-prepared ‘meals’ that have been created with care and attention, and I want to be part of the ITS team of ‘chefs’ that each day feels a sense of pride and pleasure in the quality of their ingredients, their preparation techniques and their delivery of nutritious meals.

Matt Wisbey is a Director at ITS Global Education Limited. ITS Global Education’s mission is to help students from Hong Kong, China and Singapore to fulfill their potential by taking advantage of the best educational opportunities that the world has to offer. We advise parents on how their children can access the best schools, colleges, universities, vacation courses and summer camps available globally. Contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Profile:           http://mattwisbey.brandyourself.com/

Telephone     +852 2116 3916
Email:           global@tuition.edu.hk
Website:       http://www.tuition.com.hk
Twitter:          @ITSEducation

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On 6 September 2011, the inventor of the eBook (the electronic book) and founder of Project Gutenberg passed away. Michael S Hart created the first eBook in 1971, long before the advent of the Internet or the availability of cheap, high-capacity storage devices and portable computers.

Hart dreamt of making books available to everyone via computers. From this dream, he founded Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org) and invented eBooks. His remarkable website, Project Gutenberg, is named after Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (c. 1398 – 1468), the first European to use movable type, and the inventor of the printing press. The invention of the printing press enabled the mass production and distribution of books for the first time in history.

Dr Gregory Newby’s obituary for Michael S Hart (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Michael_S._Hart) quotes Hart as once saying, ‘One thing about eBooks that most people haven’t thought much (about) is that eBooks are the very first thing that we’re all able to have as much as we want other than air. Think about that for a moment and you realize we are in the right job.’ Indeed, Hart’s invention of the eBook represents the greatest revolution in the distribution of text since Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, with the name Project Gutenberg therefore being entirely appropriate.
Anyone with access to a computer and the Internet can now gain access to more than 36,000 free eBooks in sixty different languages from Project Gutenberg. Moreover, the website offers many eBook titles that are difficult, if not impossible, to get hold of by any other means. Because of Project Gutenberg, books can now be easily downloaded onto a desktop or laptop computer. However, it is much easier to read them if they are then copied to an eReader (eBook Reader), with the two most common e-Readers in Hong Kong being Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad.
The Kindle and the iPad eReaders are quite different. The Kindle is a single-purpose device dedicated to the reading of eBooks. It comes in two sizes, the smaller of which – the Kindle 3 – is about the same size as a paperback book. The larger – the Kindle DX – is of a similar size to an iPad. The iPad is a multi-purpose device which allows users to download Apps (applications) such as iBooks or Kindle, which can then be used to read eBooks.

As eBooks come in a variety of different formats, the use of an eBook management programme such as Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) is recommended. This freeware allows people to manage their collections and to convert eBooks into the correct format for their e-Reader.

Free eBook services such as those provided by Project Gutenberg and also the University of Adelaide (http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/) are only allowed to distribute books whose copyright has expired in the USA or Australia respectively. This means that readers outside of the USA or Australia should check whether the book they would like to download is subject to copyright laws in their country of residence. In addition, as these two suppliers of eBooks only offer out of copyright books, readers should not expect to find the latest releases available on either of these websites. However, the majority of new titles are usually available from eBook shops such as Amazon (www.amazon.com/) or Barnes & Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/).

It’s clear to see how the technological advances pioneered by the remarkable Michael S Hart have created a literary legacy from which all readers will continue to benefit. Where eBooks and eReaders will take readers next is unknown, but without the forward-thinking Michael S Hart, we may not have had the chance to even speculate on this.

Matt Wisbey is a Director at ITS Global Education Limited. ITS Global Education’s mission is to help students from Hong Kong, China and Singapore to fulfill their potential by taking advantage of the best educational opportunities that the world has to offer. We advise parents on how their children can access the best schools, colleges, universities, vacation courses and summer camps available globally. Contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Profile:           http://mattwisbey.brandyourself.com/

Telephone     +852 2116 3916
Email:           global@tuition.edu.hk
Website:       http://www.tuition.com.hk
Twitter:          @ITSEducation

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