Worldreader.org is a nonprofit organization that is making Kindle e-book readers available to the developing world. (As TechFlash says, “Kind of like One Laptop Per Child, but with Kindles.”) It is beginning its first trial in Ghana this week.
Says Worldreader’s website:
Just as mobile phones have leapfrogged landlines in developing countries, e-readers can deliver books instantly and for far less: many e-books are less than one-third the price of a printed book, saving trees and reaching more minds.
Personally, I suspect that a netbook such as the OLPC might prove considerably more useful for about the same amount of money (though Amazon has donated a number of Kindles for the project’s use). At least a netbook can be used for communication, writing, and school work; a Kindle just downloads e-books.
It is hard to see the point of giving poor Africans e-book readers rather than a more useful device. It’s not as if they can afford to buy more e-books from Amazon. Still, maybe something useful will come out of it.
