E-books for Italian school, between Law Requirements and Publishers' Choices

Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of the Italian legislation about the transition from printed school-books to digital ones and, in turn, it presents an overview of the digital publishing offer of major media groups, by taking as case study the Latin textbooks for high-schools. The concept of digital book has been declined nowadays in two main forms: the first one is the so-called "on-line book", which are digital books (typically in PDF or ePub format) equivalent in structure and in the mode of use to classical printed books; the latter form integrates printed or digital books with a set of varied, and often incoherent, supplementary digital materials. The conclusion is that the current offer of digital publishing about school-books is a narrow interpretation of the Italian legislation, and thus it foresees the design of new paradigms that efficaciously merge the authoritativeness and cultural value of school-books with the advanced features and the new way of uses of digital media.