An analysis grid for the pre-design of electronic books

Abstract

This article begins with the statement of a negative fact: too many electronic books are being published in the world with strong deficiencies, suggesting a lack of consideration to elementary features, from the viewpoint of the goal a given electronic book is supposed to be aimed al. So, this article proposes a methodology, taking the form of an «analysis grid», through which the author or designer of a would-be electronic book could analyze, orderly and systematically, the essential features that his/her electronic book should have. And doing this just while in the initial stage, called pre-design, it could eventually imply either the abandonment of the idea or its substantial transformation, before irreversible costs are incurred to. A first essential statement is established: the information system contained in an electronic book must be aimed at the solution of an information problem, actually existing in a given area. We can proceed then to the application of our proposed «analysis grid », structured from a formal viewpoint in 21 items, each one proposing the consideration of some specific problems and its alternate solutions. These 21 items are grouped in 9 sets (the columns of the grid), corresponding lo 6 main stages and 3 more, where working hypotheses will be progressively defined and refined.