Era Of Edautainment Cd-roms, India

Era of Edautainment CD-ROMS

An interesting and fine merger of entertainment and education that we have come across is the Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) technology which is here in India since the last ten years or more and has become really popular in the last five years

An interesting and fine merger of entertainment and education that we have come across is the Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) technology which is here in India since the last ten years or more and has become really popular in the last five years. It is proved an ideal medium for information storage and retrieval to information seekers like students, librarians, etc. The potentiality of the CD-ROM lies in its compactness, portability, reduced shelf space, maintenance cost, durability Upto 100 years and exciting features like it's ability to play a wide range of material viz. books, periodicals, directories, education materials, games, movies, music, communication modes data types that include animation, graphics, software, sound, text, video etc. The cost of production and usage of CD-ROM is also cheap compared to the heavy printing cost, which one generally burdens them with. It's capacity to hold Upto 660 mega bytes or more of information is equivalent to approximately 2,50,000 pages of paper. Storing on a CD instead of paper can save Upto six trees for each disc used thus CD-ROM also plays it's active part in saving nature during this Eco-friendly era. It's easy access is also an attractive feature i.e. most computers in schools, homes, and businesses have CD drives and the information stored on a CD-ROM disc can simply be read by keeping the disc in a CD-ROM drive or player attached to a computer. Financially too it is very cheap than printing documents and it's time-efficiency still tilts the balance towards it's favor. In addition, it saves many unnecessary transitional expenses as it can be sent by conventional mail at lower cost compared to heavier print documents.

CD-ROM has numerous compensating benefits, which have served to make it the most widely used medium for information interchange. CD-ROMs are best used when you need to access large data sets, images, files and movies, particularly those too large to be delivered easily over the World Wide Web. Various types of CD-ROMs are useful to teachers, school students, curriculum and exhibit developers, educational TV and planetarium show producers, textbook authors, publishers and journalists. CD-ROM applications are diverse and may include data or image archives, interactive displays for museum kiosks, interactive lessons for students and full featured instructional packages.

It is not far that this mode will soon become popular as the source of education instead of the big and bulky books used by children and students today, which day by day are becoming heavier to carry. In the west, CD-ROMs have successfully overpowered the books in many parts but in India, it has still to capture a good hold in the market. It has started becoming a part of education with all the education CDs coming out in the market for small children and students comprising of nursery rhymes, lectures in mathematics, history, science etc. In addition, for children special educative CD-ROMS with lectures in game format are made available so that the child enjoys while it studies. This in later stage is sure to make a powerful impact on the educational system in India.

The usage of these CD-ROMs are very much becoming a part of the student activity but it has failed to create a desirable impact which will change the whole education system of India. There are many hindrances which has to be removed first only then this powerful giant can hold it's hands in the Indian education system and the economic market. One of the major reasons may be that majorities of the schools in India are undeserved and the principal as well as the teachers is ignorant towards the technological upgrades. If they themselves are ignorant about the new technology, imparting this knowledge in the mind of the children becomes almost impossible. So proper technological training requires to be given to the faculty first and then through them it could be imparted to the children. For this the manufacturers and suppliers of CD-ROMs have started conducting seminars and teaching programs in the schools and colleges for both teachers and students demonstrating them the functioning, advantages and features which would best suit their mode of working, thus making things easier and quicker for them. Another limitation that it faces to gain popularity is the costs associated with educational CD-ROM development and dissemination, which are often higher than most people realize. Projects with limited funds can become less ambitious about the scope or application of CD-ROM. Schools, Colleges have certain restricted budget to follow, and one cannot go beyond that limit. In this case the education welfare institutes and government should put their foot forward and help such deprived institutions with the right kind of funds to increase global awareness in education. In addition, the manufacturers and supplier's need to rework on their cost structure to help reach these technological upgrades in every nook and corner of the country.

However, now the work for technological upgrades of teachers and students in some parts of India has already been started and gradually the CD-ROM industry in India is broadening its base after a steep fall. The educational information seems to augur well for the CD-ROM market in India. Moreover, the manufacturers and suppliers also because of immense competition and to improve their sales of CD-ROM have crashed down their prices due to which the CD-ROM industry is growing fast and now anticipates a growth of 100-200% more. Previously where there were around 30,000 installed a drive in 1995-96 it has now in 2005-2006 considerably grown to approximately 90,000+ drive. Today the percentage CD-ROM sale in India constitutes 80% from software packages while 20% from games, databases, and education including recreation. Overall the Educational CD-ROMs have become a very fast growing industry and introduction of compulsory computer education in schools has definitely benefited the CD-ROM market.

CD-ROM, the most exciting medium has now gone for both reference and interactive multimedia software. Although CD-ROM technology is a decade old, it is just now beginning to show its full potential and what now we see is only the beginning there is no stoppage to this ever-growing field. Multimedia in CD-ROM is invading the education, entertainment and recreation system too and more and more users will automatically get trained in handling computerized information systems. The developing country like India could adopt this technology, as it is free from telecommunication problems. There is a vast scope for publishing our own CD-ROM databases to suit not only our requirements but to earn foreign exchange.

So whenever now you hold a CD-ROM in your hand don't just think of it as mere small disc but instead think about it as the emerging educational tool which will sail away India through the sea of technological ignorance reaching towards shore of total gradient and advanced India.