On Fri, 18 Mar 2005, Marcello Perathoner wrote:
Michael Hart wrote:
At the Mbita Point primary school in western Kenya students click away at a handheld computer with a stylus. They are doing exercises in their school textbooks which have been digitised.
It is a pilot project run by EduVision, which is looking at ways to use low cost computer systems to get up-to-date information to students who are currently stuck with ancient textbooks.
Matthew Herren from EduVision told the BBC programme Go Digital how the non-governmental organisation uses a combination of satellite radio and handheld computers called E-slates.
Do we want African nations to get into an educational dependency from satellite links and such high tech stuff? Maybe textbooks are just right for these students. A textbook will not need a new battery pack in a couple of years. It will not stop working if the school can't get new battery packs because the publicity value of the project has died away.
Personally, I think cell phones have already made the satelites obsolete for distributing eBooks. Africa has the fastest growing cell phone base in the world.
Reminds me very much of the shipping of wheat into nations that are used to eat mais. Ship free wheat, thus ruin the local industry who produces cheap mais, then ship pricy wheat.
Sounds like something the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would do.
"Why in this age when most people do most research using the internet are students still using textbooks? The fact that we are doing this in a rural developing country is very exciting - as they need it most."
And -- as a side effect -- maximizes the publicity Return On Investment.
As long as anyone can send their own eBooks, things should be ok, but that requires freedom of expression. . . . On the other hand, it's harder to get rid of an eBook, once published, than the paper editions. Michael