Who should be able to buy those $100 MIT laptop computers intended for the Third World? I fervently hope they make it to rural villages. That may or may not happen if the Simputer’s experiences are repeated. But how about the market among cash-strapped university students in places such as India and Vietnam? Couldn’t the laptops be e-book machines for them?
LISNews has just pointed me to Cry for books, not time–from the Calcutta Telegraph. “The library” at Ranchi University “continues to operate with only two to three textbooks for every subject,” says the Telegraph, “when a university department has 60 students.” What if international organizations even gave the students micro loans to buy the machines? Read on for more details from Ranchi showing the need.
Of course, the issue isn’t just hardware but content. Noncommercial books aren’t a total solution. How to pay for up-to-date books and journals? Hello, Prof. John Edwards? Who says DRM schemes and the related Draconian copyright laws won’t add to the problem of Third World poverty by jacking up the cost of the education that cash-strapped students need to better themselves and others?
Doubt there’s a Content Problem, capital P? Ranchi University’s library reportedly has not received a single journal since 1978. TeleRead for India, anyone? Laudably, India has a digital library started, but it is far from a full solution right now–not when you can’t even find David Copperfield in the online collection right now.
Part of the Calcutta Telegraph article:
Ranchi, May 20: The university’s central library will now remain open for a longer period but students say they would have been happier if they had sufficient study material.
Ranchi University vice-chancellor S.S. Kushwaha had announced on Wednesday that the central library would remain open for 12 hours from June 1. Students can now use the library from 8 am to 8 pm, when earlier they had only six hours, from 10.30 in the morning to 4.30 in the evening. The decision was taken following a directive issued by Governor Syed Sibtey Razi, who is also the chancellor, after a visit to the library.
Students, while saying they were happy that the timings had been changed, pointed out that their long-standing demand for sufficient number of books remains unfulfilled. The library continues to operate with only two to three textbooks for every subject when a university department has 60 students.
The problem of shortage has increased manifold because of the long list of defaulters who have not returned the books issued in their names and the non-availability of journals and reference books. The library, which has an inventory of 1,18,000 books, has not received a single journal since 1978…
