David Risher writes, "If Worldreader's experience so far is any guide, e-readers are set to transform the developing world, both in – and outside the classroom. But this change won't be driven by e-readers by themselves – it will be driven by human curiosity, ever-increasing connectivity, enlightened self-interest, and a gentle push from organizations like ours." The devices the children in the photo above are not OLPCs, they're Kindles. A few years from now they could be anything; they'll be cheap, and they'll be everywhere, and they'll signal the end to the printed book. "Worldreader is currently working with 500 teachers and students across three grade levels in Ghana to measure the impact of e-readers, and the effects have been pretty dramatic. We've loaded e-readers with about 80 books each – a combination of local textbooks and storybooks we have digitized along with international books donated by Random House, including the entire Magic Tree House series. That's 40,000 books already delivered – nearly impossible to contemplate without the use of e-readers." 80 books is nothing - we should be thinking 800 books, 8,000 books even, at a cost of $100 or so - a scale of distribution unimaginable in the paper era.
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