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Did Dem think-tanker steal the TeleRead idea? Probably not deliberately—but a little credit wouldn’t hurt
July 15, 2009 | 2:43 am
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By David Rothman
Thomas Z. Freedman, an ex-Clinton administration official, drafted a K-12 e-book proposal covered in a New York Times blog.
Given the Obama White House’s refusal even to recognize “Read an E-Book Week,” I applaud the general thrust of Mr. Freedman’s thinking in “A Kindle in Every Backpack.”
He wrote the paper for the Democratic Leadership Council, where he is a senior fellow.
At any rate, nice going! In a general way, I’m keenly enthusiastic about the Freedman paper. It advocates a carefully scaled-up approach, rather than just a sudden spending splurge without trials; I’ve said as much for years.
I also love Mr. Freedman’s observations on outdated p-textbooks—sentiments that members of the TeleRead community members have joined me in expressing. And he was on target, too, about the economies of e-books (even if his $10 Kindle bestseller example is misleading, given Amazon’s subsidies). Same for the belief that e-books could provide students’ backs.
At the same time, I must point out that the Freedman plan is essentially just a variant of the TeleRead idea and is also far too Kindle-centric, especially given the limits of the K machine. In the past I’d have been more tolerant about recognition or lack thereof for TeleRead. But nowadays there are some very practical reasons for caring about due credit to aid this Web site’s long-term sustainability.
Well-publicized plan—but still not one mention by Thomas Freedman
By way of background, the TeleRead idea for a well-stocked national digital library system has been online since the 1990s, with articles appearing not just on the Web but also the Washington Post and U.S. News & World Report. I published a 10,000-word-plus chapter in an MIT Press information science collection and testified at a copyright hearing in the Al Gore era and at least briefly mentioned the plan in a paper for the Clinton-era Department of Education titled Copyright and K-12: Who pays in the network era? Furthermore, I have reminded various presidential campaigns about TeleRead. The late William F. Buckley Jr., my political opposite, wrote two syndicated columns advocating the idea. An important wrinkle of TeleRead has been the concept of close integration with local schools and libraries in areas ranging from updated pedagogy to tech support. This is a significant way in which the TeleRead plan has differed from, say, a mere call to get the Library of Congress online.
And yet Mr. Freedman’s school-related proposal contains not one mention of TeleRead. I don’t expect him to have scrutinized every online citation. But if he truly researched the subject, wouldn’t someone have mentioned TeleRead to him? Perhaps not. But I’d like to think that people in the K-12 and library communities would have done so.
The parallels, plus my difficulties with his current proposal
Here are key components of the Freedman proposal. See if you haven’t read this before.
- E-book devices for American students. The big difference is that Freedman is fixated on a Kindle-type approach. I, on the other hand, don’t think the present Kindle is optimal for interactivity—not with such a cramped keyboard and less-than-lightning-fast screen. In TeleRead’s very first incarnation in 1992, I preferred a tablet that could be propped up for reading. Today I would suggest an OLPC-type device, a convertible laptop. And rather than the Kindle’s E Ink, I’d probably go for a Pixel Qi display, which, because of a faster refresh rate, would allow more interactivity. No, I’m not accusing Freedman of insisting on Amazon-sold machines—his paper’s title is probably just a way of grabbing the reader’s attention—but I doubt he is sufficiently familiar with alternatives. If nothing else, what about the ticklish issue of e-book standards? Amazon, in resisting the IDPF’s ePub format in favor of a proprietary approach, is Satan.
- Provision of content. A key component of the TeleRead plan! Freedman writes: “We shouldn’t wait a decade or two to begin to achieve what is inevitable—an education system where each American schoolchild has an eTextbook, like Amazon’s Kindle, loaded with the most up-to-date and interactive teaching materials and texts available.” How much do we really want “loaded” on the device? What about Web sites and other dynamic interactivity? Or the possibility that students might want to download their favorite books?
- Use of mass purchases to drive down the cost of hardware. Again, a key characteristic of the TeleRead plan (also present in Minitel and OLPC).
AWOL from the Freedman plan is the concept of using the devices for low-cost electronic forms—in areas ranging from taxes to health insurance. I’d love to see a revised DLC proposal include this feature. I should also note the importance of any grand plan working with people’s existing hardware in as many cases as possible. Software and hardware standards, not just mass procurement, could be a a major strategy here.
My follow-up
I’ll be sending the Web address of this post to the New York Times and to Mr. Freedman, with the hope that he will amend his paper to recognize my own work and will alert everyone to whom he publicized his proposal. It isn’t a mere matter of ego. While consultants like Mr. Freedman draw retainers from Fortune 500 companies—yes, he doubles as a corporate consultant—the independent TeleRead site limps along with support only from Amazon and Google ads. I’m taking steps to change that, in the interest of the sustainability of this site, and I’ll welcome ideas from the TeleRead community. In the past year I suffered a coronary and underwent a quad bypass. I just can’t spend the rest of my days getting up at the crack of dawn and worrying about RSS feeds. Already we’re lucky enough to have Paul Biba supplying most of the posts, with much-appreciated help from others like Chris Meadows; but additional people and resources would help. Meanwhile it doesn’t exactly boost our long-term survival initiative when Mr. Freedman’s DLC paper unwittingly reads as if the Washington Post op-ed and the chapter in the MIT book don’t exist. In both media and academia, not just politics and government, recognition means funding.
But enough of my TeleRead concerns. I wish Mr. Freedman only the best of luck in convincing the stubborn White House to pay attention. He himself points out that “this proposal is just a concept, an idea to be refined….” May the present post help! Good luck to him!
(NYT item spotted via Donald Smith, an Apple Distinguished Educator who correctly worries about Amazon’s growing influence. Thanks, Don!)
Further tidbit, 11:10 a.m.: LBJ did not come up with a comprehensive TeleRead-style approach in detail, but he did propose an “electronic knowledge bank,” as I’ve noted earlier.
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Comments:
I personally would find it hard to believe that TeleRead would not have come up in Mr. Freedman’s research, as well… although it is also possible that much of his research ended up on aggregate sites that often result in bypassing notice of the original sources. At any rate, Be It Noted that TR was indeed promoting this idea, long before Freedman (and everybody else) had even heard of a Kindle.
I also disagree with the placing of the Kindle into the scanario, as if it is the only possible device to use… it is not, and the idea of tying the idea to the device would only serve to add undue complexity to those who already have perfectly serviceable devices. A common format like ePub or Mobi, readable on any device, would be much smarter. Freedman was clearly pandering to the Kindle “buzz” when he singled it out, most likely just to get the added eyeballs… if he had done thorough research, he would know a standardized format makes more sense than a specific device. It’s the difference between providing computer-ready files to every student, and recommending every college student buy a Toshiba laptop.
… and as the recent lawsuit would emphasize, when you say ‘every backpack’, you better not exclude backpacks on blind students backs…
Hi, Bob. Stay tuned in the next day or so by a high school student with serious vision problems who’ll be recommending a PDF reader. I couldn’t agree with you more!
Best,
David
“Every” sorts of schemes are almost always an indication that the advocate is a policy wonk cut off from the real world. His “scaled up” claims don’t alter that fact. He thinks he knows the “Truth,” and merely wants studies to confirm the brilliance of his insight and leave the skeptical masses without excuse. Note the title, “A Kindle in Every Backpack.” That’s not someone afflicted with undue modesty. He thinks he knows what is right for every school kid. He even knows that they ought to have to lug the blasted thing around everywhere they go, much as he does with his laptop when he flies to a DLC conference.
This particular idea makes as much sense as the now-dying OLPC scheme did. Rich execs and MIT professors, who’d grown up in hi-tech communities as the PC was born, thought “every” child on the planet should duplicate their unusual experience. Over and over again, I’ve tried to point out to them that kids need good teachers not imported gadgets. I’ve also stressed that, if you’re going to put a computer in the hands of the poor, put one into the hands of parents along with the tools to better their lives and that of their children. Don’t try to mold the entire world to be like the Silicon Valley or Brookline in the late 1970s. It won’t work.
To give but one example, grade school children don’t need access to some vast digital library. They read slowly and need to spend a lot of time outside playing. A modest and well-chosen library of printed books will benefit them the most. Buying kids a Kindle or something similarly pricey wouldn’t teach them to love reading. It’d teach them to hate an activity that has to be rigorously regulated by adults lest that valuable gadget get damaged or stolen. Any good parent knows that.
I read a lot as a kid and enjoyed it. Why? Because books are so cheap and rugged, the sorts of abuse and neglect kids routinely deal out didn’t upset adults. That’s not true of the Kindle and its not true of many of the silly ideas that come from our “we know best” chattering classes.
Mike, keep posting! I love both paper and electronic books and am awesomely POed at Amazon for hiding the trade paperback version of my novel. Casual shoppers will see only the listing for the Kindle edition. Outrageous.
Of course, I disagree with you on the national digital library issue—most kids thrive on choice—but it’s fun to hear your side. I’m sure with you about paper books. Let’s keep them around, too!
Thanks,
David