eTextBooks (for kids)

Tue Sep 8 12:02:06 IDT 2009

Yonatan, Dov,  et al....

1. I think an argument against competitive alternatives on the basis of an
incumbent industry's economic interest is, to say the least....weak.

The Israeli textbook industry is a racket.  This thread would not be
happening if our children would be learning from standard paper textbooks.
Virtually all of the K12 educational content from math to science to
language was invented over 100 years ago - which means that there is no
functional justification to recreate the content in different forms
(workbooks, experimental programs etc...) every year and throw out the
content just to generate more revenue for the folks who feed off the
Ministry of Education pork barrels.

Israel can save billions by using and recycling standard paper textbooks.
I'm  talking about impact on family budget, if you factor in impact on the
environment of throwing out 5-10 million workbooks every year-  then it
looks really bad.  After we standardize, then we can talk about  a OKLP
project (One Kindle per Little Person) project.

2. To set the record straight: there are free digital content (i.e. music
and video) business models.  All of the artists on MySpace music, Garageband
and now the big studios provide free content as a way of promoting live
performances, movie tickets and paid-for content - whether in a VOD
subscription model, pay per track or pay per view.

3. The Israeli Ministry of Education is teaching technology in the classroom
instead of using technology to teach. The worst example I can think of is
(and I kid you not) a program in first grade to teach children how to use
Microsoft Windows Paint.....

Danny

On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 9:47 AM, Jonathan Ben Avraham <yba at tkos.co.il> wrote:

> On Tue, 8 Sep 2009, Dov Grobgeld wrote:
>
>  Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 09:40:58 +0300
>> From: Dov Grobgeld <dov.grobgeld at gmail.com>
>> To: Jonathan Ben Avraham <yba at tkos.co.il>
>> Cc: ILUG <linux-il at cs.huji.ac.il>
>> Subject: Re: eTextBooks (for kids)
>>
>> That argument is like the arguments against writing free software because
>> it
>> will put the software vendors out of business. It is clear that the
>> interest
>>
>
> No, it's a very different argument. The correct analogy here is music. The
> content market is not the same as the sotware market. There is a free
> software market, but there is no free content market. And the main reason is
> that there is a revenue model for free software, but no revenue model for
> free content.
>
>  - yba
>
>
>
>  of the consumer is to have the information available for free, and if
>> someone wants to volunteer their time to provide this information for
>> free,
>> then all the more respect to them. Of course this will make the publishers
>> unhappy, and they'll have to compete harder to have someone pay for their
>> work.
>>
>> But this is all hypothetical as I have yet to hear about any such project.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Dov
>>
>> 2009/9/8 Jonathan Ben Avraham <yba at tkos.co.il>
>>
>>  Hi All,
>>> Don't forget that there is a large industry of authors and publishers who
>>> make their living on the current paper book model. Like music, this is a
>>> content market whose reason for existence is payment for content.
>>>
>>> I think that a better idea for a free education project in this direction
>>> would be an online publishing house the would sell kindle style versions
>>> of
>>> the current content offering.
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>>  - yba
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, 7 Sep 2009, Dov Grobgeld wrote:
>>>
>>>  Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 21:22:37 +0300
>>>
>>>> From: Dov Grobgeld <dov.grobgeld at gmail.com>
>>>> To: Dotan Cohen <dotancohen at gmail.com>
>>>> Cc: linux-il at cs.huji.ac.il
>>>> Subject: Re: eTextBooks (for kids)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> This reminds me of a "public service" project that I have thought about
>>>> for
>>>> some time. It would be nice if someone created some free (as in license)
>>>> books that would pass the requirements of the education ministry. These
>>>> could then be downloaded as e-books or printed, copied partially,
>>>> photocopied, translated, modified, read in audioform, etc, which would
>>>> be
>>>> a
>>>> great service to the all kids and parents.
>>>>
>>>> Just my 2 ag,
>>>> Dov
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 14:06, Dotan Cohen <dotancohen at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  Is there a place to buy electronic versions of textbooks for (israeli)
>>>>
>>>>> school children?
>>>>>> The schools don't have places for kids to keep their books on
>>>>>> premises,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  so
>>>>>
>>>>>  they have to schlep all their books all day long. They are heavy.  I'd
>>>>>> rather they carried a small laptop or e-book reader.
>>>>>> Any ideas?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  You are ahead of your time. What grade are the kids in? You should
>>>>> know that the books are likely used for more than reading, for
>>>>> instance they may have to write in the book.
>>>>>
>>>>> You should also know that Education Ministry limits the sacks on one's
>>>>> back to 10% of their body weight. If your kid's books and a reasonable
>>>>> pack exceed this, complain to the school management. Keep us informed.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Dotan Cohen
>>>>>
>>>>> http://what-is-what.com
>>>>> http://gibberish.co.il
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Linux-il mailing list
>>>>> Linux-il at cs.huji.ac.il
>>>>> http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>  --
>>>  EE 77 7F 30 4A 64 2E C5  83 5F E7 49 A6 82 29 BA    ~. .~   Tk Open
>>> Systems
>>>
>>> =}------------------------------------------------ooO--U--Ooo------------{=
>>>    - yba at tkos.co.il - tel: +972.2.679.5364, http://www.tkos.co.il -
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Linux-il mailing list
>>> Linux-il at cs.huji.ac.il
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
> --
>  EE 77 7F 30 4A 64 2E C5  83 5F E7 49 A6 82 29 BA    ~. .~   Tk Open
> Systems
> =}------------------------------------------------ooO--U--Ooo------------{=
>     - yba at tkos.co.il - tel: +972.2.679.5364, http://www.tkos.co.il -
>
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