On Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 17:10, Wayne Mackintosh <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Edward, > > That's a very good example, and FLOSS Manuals is a great project. > > The OER Foundation is looking to develop the educational equivalent for open > textbooks, study guides etc. A small commission from book sales and > distribution - eg 10% which as a non profit, we reinvest back into paying > authors to develop open texts in high priority areas.
Excellent. As I wrote earlier, Earth Treasury is looking for contracts to develop digital replacements for paper textbooks, for our members to write, and to bring in experts from all subject matter areas and all of the countries concerned. You can read about the concept and our partners on our Web site. The OLPC XO, at its current price of $189 in quantity 10,000, is already cheaper than textbooks in many countries, even before you consider the millions of other books that become available at no cost over the Internet. We have had credible assertions that a successor laptop can be built to sell for $75, which will be cheaper than printed books almost everywhere. I have been costing out computers, electricity, and Internet for worldwide rollout of XOs, and considering microfinance business opportunities that result. Using Grameen Phone as a model, it appears that the whole thing could be done at a profit, with sufficient seed funding. > Not unlike the Pediapress service for ordering bound book copies of user > generated collections of WikiArticles. Incidently we use the same technology > for our wiki ==> pdf collections and WE collaborated with WMF in developing > this technology. Have you looked at the new Booki technology in development for creating books at Floss Manuals? http://booki.flossmanuals.net/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/edit/ > The OER Handbook developed in WikiEducator is also a good example. We > developed this collaboratively in the wiki > (http://wikieducator.org/OER_Handbook/educator_version_one ), and the text > is available for purchase on Lulu > (see: http://www.lulu.com/content/3597933 ) > > However not fully automated yet -- there was some manual DTP work to produce > this pdf example -- but no substantial reason why we couldn't automate this > process with a little work. > > It would be great to provide tertiary education institutions, schools etc > with their own customised open textbooks developed collaboratively in > WikiEducator. These texts could use the institutional logo of the Univeristy > / School for branding and a small commission of the print sales would come > back to the OER Foundation to pay authors for developing OER. In reality it > would be cheaper to produce texts using industrial technologies than the > comparable cost of printing out a text on a domestic printer. > > Classic win-win -- students will get cheaper text books, publishers can > still earn a fair income for print-on-demand and distribution services and > academics retain their rights to earn fair remuneration for their inputs. > > Now to make this happen :-) > > Cheers > Wayne > > 2009/11/16 Edward Cherlin <[email protected]> >> >> California is certifying free digital textbooks, so here the original >> source does not matter much. >> >> FLOSS Manuals and Earth Treasury have as part of their business models >> looking for development contracts for Free Software manuals and Free >> replacements for paper textbooks. I was paid to participate in the >> book sprint for How to Bypass Internet Censorship, which was >> commissioned by Sesawe.net, and has been translated into several of >> the relevant languages, such as Farsi. >> >> http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/CircumventionTools/WebHome >> https://sesawe.net/-Manuals-fa-.html >> >> On Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 06:58, valerie <[email protected]> wrote: >> > >> > Sam got this right, especially in US education - Right now people >> > "trust" the "brand" of MIT - the infallibility of anything that costs >> > a lot of money and has a great PR department. >> > >> > Wikipedia, Connexions, MERLOT are free, so most of my colleagues are >> > unwilling to consider these as academically rigorous. This is a >> > surprisingly big hurdle to overcome. Students are having to drop out >> > of school because everything is so expense - $100-150 textbooks, >> > $30-50 course packs, even though their tuition is essentially free - >> > California community college s about $20 per unit. >> > >> > But like the man said - Times, they are a changin... >> > >> > ..Valerie >> > >> > >> > On Nov 15, 6:20 am, Samuel Rose <[email protected]> wrote: >> > > >> > >> >> >> >> -- >> Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin >> Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. >> The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. >> http://www.earthtreasury.org/ >> >> > > > > -- > Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. > Director, > International Centre for Open Education, > Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. > Board of Directors, OER Foundation. > Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator, www.wikieducator.org > Mobile +64 21 2436 380 > Skype: WGMNZ1 > Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg > > > > -- Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. 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