I recently subscribed to Safari Books Online. Safari Books Online (Safari) is a digital online library filled with thousands of technical books and videos. Once someone subscribes to Safari they have access to those thousands of books and videos as long as they have an Internet connection. People also have the option of buying any of the online material as a permanent download that they can view offline. I use my regular PC and my iPad for viewing materials. Safari Books has its own App for the iPad. I find the experience on my regular PC is better navigating the Safari site and playing back videos. The iPad is much more convenient though. I find myself reading more often with my iPad and viewing videos more on my PC. Because of the increased reading I do on my iPad I spend almost as much time on my iPad as I do on my PC now. I like my iPad but without Safari it would just be an interesting toy. Safari has not just changed my computing and study habits but it has changed my views on learning and information.
I love books. My home is filled with books. Until now books and going to class were my main alternatives for learning. There are some great resources on the Internet but they tend to be focused and short which can be both good and bad. YouTube is full of tutorials but they tend to be short. After trying to create a video tutorial myself I totally understand and respect the hard work that people go through but as a student those YouTube videos may not completely fulfill my needs. Some websites have very good information but they too can be rather focused or are mostly a great starting point. One example is that I often start my knowledge search at Wikipedia but I rarely stop my learning about a subject there or at any one website. I have found that books and classrooms tend to be the most complete learning experiences, but both have their drawbacks.
The problem with certain types of books, like computer and technical books, is that they go out of date quickly. That "How to Troubleshoot Windows 95" book was a great resource but it is more of a historical document today. That Windows 95 book won't help you pass today's current certifications or help you on the job in a modern IT department. There is also no magical bookshelf that continues to grow every time that a book is added. There are limits to space and regular books are space hogs. Another problem is that it is impossible to carry with you every technical book that you may need. Technical books are also expensive and hard to find. Technical
bookstores and other book retailers have a difficult time keeping all
the books that are out there that people might need. People also have a hard time finding and affording all the titles that they may need.
The solution is to digitize these books and to either keep them on your hard drive or on a server that you can log in to. I could buy a few books and scan them to my hard drive or I could log in to a service like Safari that has already scanned thousands of books and has added videos too. Safari solves the storage and portability problem as well as the having a "bookshelf" full of the latest titles with current information. With Safari I can read just one chapter that I might need and not have to buy a really expensive book. In the past I would have to order a book based on a title and content review and hope that it would fit my needs. For around forty dollars a month I can add a library of thousands of books and videos that I can sample and use and Safari makes a reasonable amount from customers like me.
The books on Safari are outstanding but I have found myself watching the videos even more. After work I may be too tired to read a book but I have a hard time making an excuse for not sitting back and watching a video. Watching video is also an easier way form me to learn. There are different ways people learn and the visual and audio information that I get in a video just sinks in faster and seems to "stick". I think that a subscription to Safari is worthwhile just for the videos alone. Technical books are hard enough to find and afford but technical videos are even more rare and expensive. I found myself having to pull away from the Safari website in order to go to the Cisco Networking Academy I was attending. Between logging into Cisco's website and going to class I felt that "school" was getting in the way of my learning on Safari.
That is when I realized that Safari Books Online has changed my view on learning and school. What is important to me about school is gaining knowledge and being able to apply it. In the past a regular brick and mortar school was the only alternative you had for learning something that was specialized and technical. But just like online shopping has given people an alternative to shopping at a brick and mortar store so has online learning and resources. I don't think that brick and mortar schools or stores will go away. I do see online resources supplementing and giving people alternatives that will enhance their lives. I work full time and going to school at night is really difficult. It is hard to concentrate during class when you are tired and I found that on my days off I was too tired to study. I also found it difficult retaking the Cisco Networking Academy to review material. I found that I was recalling much more of the information I needed to review using Safari than I was in class. Safari provided the opportunity to choose several resources on any topic that worked best for me and at the pace and schedule that fit my learning style. I think that the Cisco Networking Academy was perfect the first time I was introduced to learning about networking with Cisco routers and switches. The brick and mortar experience provides a structured environment that is great for the first time student and that is why I feel that the traditional brick and mortar approach will still be around for a long time. The online experience with Safari just seems like a better experience for someone like me doing a review of technical material. Safari Online Books is not a class that provides a framework that guides a student. Safari just provides the resources that someone who has already had a structured introduction can really benefit from.
In the upcoming blog posts I will be reviewing some of the resources that I have been using on Safari as well as other online resources. I decided that I will be focused towards online resources for a while and maybe return to Cisco Networking Academy or another structured class in the future. Leaving the academy was a difficult choice but I had to be honest with myself about what was working the best for me and what was not working as well. School and learning are individual experiences and I am lucky to be living in an era when there are many choices. Safari has a free ten day individual trial so that you can see if you like it first. I really like Safari Online Books and if you have to study computer related material I think you will too.
