james said:

I did some work for One Laptop Per Child.

yes, i saw that.

http://www.archive.org/details/EBookEnlightenment

haven't seen that yet, but i'll look at it when i get a chance.

The goal of this book is to get children and teachers in poor countries to digitize their own books.

right on. right arm.

Again, cheap and time-consuming is better than expensive and efficient.

but we can agree that cheap and efficient is _best_, yes?

Kid's labor is worthless

i'm sure you didn't mean that the way it sounds... ;+)

and doing it the hard way might even be educational.

if you emphasize the "might"", i might agree. but it's beside the point, right? the point is that we do things that are educational, and whether they are easy or hard is immaterial. the important thing is that _we're_learning_. there's a time and place for _difficulty_ too -- when we want to instill capabilities for discipline and tenacity and persistence and self-confidence and asceticism and resolve and dedication and a sturdy work ethic -- so i have full appreciation for its qualities, but a love for difficulty _per_se_ is twisted.

(I'm assuming that the kid is doing this because he *wants* to do it. I don't advocate child labor).

and thus you touch on what might well be _the_ most important issue -- motivation. i have found -- most especially for kids -- _a_sense_of_mastery_ is one of the crucial -- even _vital_ -- sources for motivation... if you feel like you're good at something, you are much more likely to want to do it. likewise, when you feel you're not good at something, you're unlikely to want to do it. so, do you feel you're a master of digitizing? or more like you've been beaten down by it? and another thing lurks right behind mastery -- so close it may be its twin, or its shadow -- namely _a_sense_of_fun_... it almost sounds redundant to say that people are much more likely to want to do things they think are "fun". the linkage is so tight it's almost tautological. similarly, if you're good at doing something, you're probably gonna come to think it's fun. and if you find something fun, you will do it, and the experience will lead to more mastery. so the intertwine of these three factors is quite compelling and creates a fine braid. and "difficulty" is not present in the picture. *** so, are there difficult parts to book-digitization? yes, without any question. but _on_the_whole_, if book-digitizing is hard, you're doing it wrong. and people who tell you otherwise... are wrong. -bowerbird