I can't let this question go by without talking about the social enterprise I've founded called Worldreader (www.worldreader.org.) We use e-readers to get local and international books to children in Africa. What we find-- and we measure this obsessively-- is that the kids read far more (I've met girls who have 90 books in a year!) and better (as measured by standardized tests vs. control schools) as a result. In a way, it's not surprising: what I learned as an Amazon guy is that when you make things easier and less expensive, people do more of it. See also: cell phones in the developing world.
As for the efficiency question, I can only say that we're super-focused on keeping costs low, but maybe not in the way you think. We get donations from everyone from international publishers (Random House, Penguin, etc.), hardware partners (mEdge donates the cases that protect the e-readers), software partners (Dropbox gives us free licenses), and even local African publishers who let us use their books for nearly no cost. Heck, the hotel where we stay in Accra, Ghana, even gives us lots of nights for free. But at the same time, I do pay many of our employees a salary-- after all, this is their full-time job, and they've got to make money somehow. I volunteer all of my time, but not everyone is in a position to do so. And beyond that, we take trips (flying coach!) to countries like Ghana and Kenya to train the teachers, work with the students, and generally make sure things are going well. Are these costs worth it? You bet: there're the only way we can have the impact we have.
Speaking of impact, if you have 90 seconds and think reading is important, take a look at some of the kids in our program in Africa as they talk about what they're getting out of reading, and how they want to become a doctor or soccer player as a result: http://youtu.be/uhAuD65WYnk (We have lots more video at youtube.com/worldreaders if you enjoy seeing kids and teachers reading and improving their lives.) Or visit Worldreader.org to find out more.
OK, I know this is an ad, but that's part of what running a social enterprise means: believing in your cause enough to tell other about it... and doing it in a way that doesn't cost money! Thanks, Slashdot!
Funny thing: the Davis Square sign-makers that inspired this book actually have an excuse, if they use Macs. Look at the definition for "trespassing" in the New Oxford American Dictionary that ships with every Mac (the app or the widget-- doesn't matter.) The definition includes a note called "tresspass on," with the same typo that drove Jeff Deck so crazy. Maybe Steve Jobs needs to get involved....
How do I know? First, my credentials: I went to Princeton, than Harvard for grad school. So I've sat through many a lecture. Then I worked as a business guy at several significant tech companies, so I have tech blood in me. And finally I taught as a professor for several years at a large university-- classes on managing technolgy, in fact. So I have some experience with teaching.
The first day, students (class size = ~40) brought laptops. "No problem," I thought. Then I discovered two things:
* The sound distracted me. That's a problem. Could be my problem: I also had no tolerance for whispering and such. But I found it hard to teach.
* The students with laptops weren't really tracking what was happening in the class. I ask a lot of questions during my lectures. The students who were taking notes with pen and paper could answer them, by and large. Those who had been typing could not. It wasn't that they were playing Minesweeper; it was that their brains were too busy moving translating info from one for to another for to be able to think. Some would hem and haw and read over their notes, then come out with an answer. But there was zero doubt that those who were typing were in a low-learning zone. Perhaps later they would figure everything out... but come on. Who really does that?
So I said "from this moment on, no more laptops: it's distracting, and you're not really paying attention." Everyone closed his laptop, and I never heard another complaint about it.
During my first three years of teaching, I was elected Professor of the Quarter three times and then Professor of the Year. OK, now I'm bragging, but my point is simple: sometimes technology helps, and sometimes it gets in the way. At least for the kind of class I taught-- similar to the give-and-take of a law course-- students quickly understood that it was getting in the way, and were happy to put pen back to paper.
Slashdot Mirror
I can't let this question go by without talking about the social enterprise I've founded called Worldreader (www.worldreader.org.) We use e-readers to get local and international books to children in Africa. What we find-- and we measure this obsessively-- is that the kids read far more (I've met girls who have 90 books in a year!) and better (as measured by standardized tests vs. control schools) as a result. In a way, it's not surprising: what I learned as an Amazon guy is that when you make things easier and less expensive, people do more of it. See also: cell phones in the developing world.
As for the efficiency question, I can only say that we're super-focused on keeping costs low, but maybe not in the way you think. We get donations from everyone from international publishers (Random House, Penguin, etc.), hardware partners (mEdge donates the cases that protect the e-readers), software partners (Dropbox gives us free licenses), and even local African publishers who let us use their books for nearly no cost. Heck, the hotel where we stay in Accra, Ghana, even gives us lots of nights for free. But at the same time, I do pay many of our employees a salary-- after all, this is their full-time job, and they've got to make money somehow. I volunteer all of my time, but not everyone is in a position to do so. And beyond that, we take trips (flying coach!) to countries like Ghana and Kenya to train the teachers, work with the students, and generally make sure things are going well. Are these costs worth it? You bet: there're the only way we can have the impact we have.
Speaking of impact, if you have 90 seconds and think reading is important, take a look at some of the kids in our program in Africa as they talk about what they're getting out of reading, and how they want to become a doctor or soccer player as a result: http://youtu.be/uhAuD65WYnk (We have lots more video at youtube.com/worldreaders if you enjoy seeing kids and teachers reading and improving their lives.) Or visit Worldreader.org to find out more.
OK, I know this is an ad, but that's part of what running a social enterprise means: believing in your cause enough to tell other about it... and doing it in a way that doesn't cost money! Thanks, Slashdot!
Funny thing: the Davis Square sign-makers that inspired this book actually have an excuse, if they use Macs. Look at the definition for "trespassing" in the New Oxford American Dictionary that ships with every Mac (the app or the widget-- doesn't matter.) The definition includes a note called "tresspass on," with the same typo that drove Jeff Deck so crazy. Maybe Steve Jobs needs to get involved....
Your right. :)
How do I know? First, my credentials: I went to Princeton, than Harvard for grad school. So I've sat through many a lecture. Then I worked as a business guy at several significant tech companies, so I have tech blood in me. And finally I taught as a professor for several years at a large university-- classes on managing technolgy, in fact. So I have some experience with teaching.
The first day, students (class size = ~40) brought laptops. "No problem," I thought. Then I discovered two things:
So I said "from this moment on, no more laptops: it's distracting, and you're not really paying attention." Everyone closed his laptop, and I never heard another complaint about it.
During my first three years of teaching, I was elected Professor of the Quarter three times and then Professor of the Year. OK, now I'm bragging, but my point is simple: sometimes technology helps, and sometimes it gets in the way. At least for the kind of class I taught-- similar to the give-and-take of a law course-- students quickly understood that it was getting in the way, and were happy to put pen back to paper.