Basham, a professor of information technology and IT security at St. Petersburg College in Clearwater, Fla., wrote his own 800-page Cisco networking textbook and last week made it available for download over the Internet free of charge.
More than 2,000 copies were downloaded around the world in the first few days of the book's online release, according to Lulu.com, an alternative textbook publisher that agreed to distribute it.
"Cisco's curriculum is fine, but we needed something different to get students ready for work in the real world," said Basham, who is also program director for the Cisco Certified Network Associate classes at the college. "About half the people in this program barely know how to turn on a computer, so we need to start with the very basics. The Cisco curriculum and texts assume a certain level of knowledge."
Basham's solution highlights powerful new publishing techniques that promise to shake up the textbook industry, offering cheaper alternatives to cash-strapped students.
On average, undergraduates spend US$900 a year on textbooks, according to a survey by the California Student Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG). The issue of overpriced books has piqued the interest of some members of Congress, who are asking for an investigation into the pricing policies of textbook publishers. Several states, including California and Georgia, also are looking into inflated textbook costs. CALPIRG accuses the textbook industry of bundling high-priced extras, such as CD-ROMs, with books and coming out with new editions, even though much of the material hasn't been changed.
Thanks to the Internet and new printing technologies that have reduced costs and improved quality, thousands of authors are publishing their own books and distributing them through virtual publishers that can allow readers to download copies or get their books printed on demand. The new publishing model has made it possible for authors like Basham to develop customised content and offer it to students for a minimal cost.
"The biggest complaint of most kids in college today is that their books cost too much," Lulu.com CEO Bob Young said. "Self-publishing is revolutionising the way books are distributed, especially in an academic setting. Not only will it reduce the cost of content, but it will improve the quality of the content that's available."
Forefront of publishing
It's little surprise that Lulu.com is at the forefront of this new and open form of publishing, considering Young was also one of the co-founders of Red Hat. Red Hat commercialised Linux, a free, open-source operating system that competes with Microsoft's Windows operating system.
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