[OT] [Free association] Re: eTextBooks (for kids)

[Amit Aronovitch]

2009/9/8 Danny Lieberman <dannyl at software.co.il>

> 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.
>
>
Right and true. Luckily, I believe that at some point the alternatives will
become viable enough, and the industry will adapt or be replaced by some
better way to live off creativity.
After all, if 15th century press-printing would have been held-off too long
by the engravers guild or something, there would be no modern academy or
science today. I would probably have to spend a lifetime as apprentice to
some established alchemist, then go seek a patron lord to fund me :-(

My own free-association to this argument was even further off than Dov's
(FOSS): those hate-spam we (at least I) got when the anti-spam law was
passed.
If I recall correctly, the main argument there was that there are people
making a living out of spam and they will lose their jobs (and recursively,
upon reading that, my thought was - there are also people making a living by
theft and robbery, they should be legal as well...).

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.....
>
>
Well, in fact I did see a "Computer" lesson in my first-grader's brand new
schedule, but I assume this is one of the extra classes they get in our
school, beyond the standard MOE program. I did not receive the details yet,
but I think that as such (teaching technology *in addition* to teaching
other stuff), it is actually a good idea to teach basic computer skills.
Of course, just MSPaint would be a poor choice of contents (and besides,
Tuxpaint also makes those funny noises and much more fun :-) ).


>
>
> Danny
>
>
>
>
Amit
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