The Obama BlackBerry and ‘Read an E-Book Week’

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By David Rothman

Barack Obama will keep carrying a BlackBerry despite earlier security worries, says an Atlantic blogger—thanks to a little assistance from the NSA or another agency.

Now here’s a proposal. Rita Toews and the other organizers of Read an E-Book Week, March 8-14, should approach the White House for an official proclamation and see if the President himself can set an example and use his gizmo for a little e-reading. Maybe Warren Adler, an ex-Washingtonian who wrote the memorable War of the Roses and is himself an E-Book Week supporter, could use his old D.C. connection on behalf of the cause.

I’m thinking of all the young people out there with iPod Touches and iPhones—and screens that they could light up with e-books appealing to them. Obama has advocated both technology and literacy, and what better confluence of the two than e-books? Presidential proclamations have already recognized National Farm-City Week and National Safe Boating Week. Now how about a little recognition for books in a modern context to show that Peter Osnos’s optimistic scenario can prevail over the gloomy one from Larry McMurty.

Bursts of short reading

In fairness to Obama, his BlackBerry probably lacks a high-resolution screen. But he could use the device for bursts of short reading. Software? Mobipocket would be fine—it runs on BlackBerries. Of course along the way, if Obama wants to put in a consumer-friendly suggestion that Mobi also work on the iPhone, I’ll go along with that. Same for advocacy of ePub. We can thank the feds here in the States for ePub, in part. Victor McCrary at the National Institute of Standards and Technology helped get the e-standards movement started, years ago.

For longer reading? Just what kind of device, E Ink or otherwise, would you recommend for Obama, and why? A Kindle? A Sony Reader? Or maybe a big-screen iLiad? Or an advanced prototype of a plastic-screen gizmo, maybe from Plastic Logic (see video)?

About Rita’s citizenship: Rita is Canadian. So much the better. I’m all in favor of an international approach. Research in Motion, the company behind the BlackBerry, is itself Canadian.

Which model: Anyone know the model of the Blackberry that Obama uses, or at least has in the past? Shown here is a BlackBerry Curve.

Related: The official site for the Week is here, although I could not get through just now. Also see past post on Obama and the TeleRead plan and my complaints about Mobi’s refusual to do an iPhone version. No, I don’t think tech challenges are the only reason for lack of a Mobi iPhone app. Amazon, owner of Mobi, cares more about protecting the Kindle than

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