Recently in Technology for Literacy? Category

I received Part 1 of my Christmas presents from my parents today. Alongside the requisite treats, Crystal Light packets, and chewing gum, there was a Kindle and two Amazon gift cards! I've never been technologically advanced. I carried a Walkman tape player well into middle school, didn't have an iPod until I left for Africa, and just recently acquired my first laptop. But when I went back to America, I noticed I was even more technologically behind than usual. Everyone had an iPhone and an iPad, and I was the only one who was carrying an actual book in the airports! It was kind of scary. My mom mentioned wanting to buy me a Kindle, which seemed like a realistic enough option now that I live in Ouaga, but I didn't think she'd actually buy one. But she did! I'm still unsure on how I feel about the Kindle, as I am a very big supporter of an actual book, but I've heard good things about them. I'm working on searching the Kindle store to find my first purchase, so I can cuddle up with my Kindle tonight and try it out. I let you know the verdict!

Since the introduction of the electronic book, I have had a strong aversion to the idea. It's not that I'm against technology. I love technology. It allows me to have access to my family and friends via telephone and computer while I'm living in a less developed nation. It's wonderful. However, being born in the 80s makes me apart of this weird generation that has always known computers and cable television, but did not have a cell phone in middle/high school and grew up having the majority of my interactions with my friends be face-to-face rather than electronic. Thus, I do not understand the attraction of staring into a computer screen that masquerades as a book rather than cuddling up with a real one that physically allows me to turn pages and will never decharge on me. But since starting my new volunteer position at FAVL and seeing the need for a wider variety of books in Burkina, even in villages fortunate enough to have libraries.During our last round of library visits, there were students at each library requesting different books based on their school and class level. FAVL (or any organization for that matter) could not possibly physically provide all of those books in any library. And even if they could, it would only be one or two copies. Definitely not sufficient enough for an entire population of people. So what if there was a different way? What if kids in these villages had access to electronic books? What if they could just download all the required books for that school year? They could find the works of Nazi Boni, Suzy Nikiema, Plato, Norbert Zongo in just a few seconds instead of having to wait years. And the books would never get worn out from over use. While I know the technology and the variety of books is not yet available for these electronic devices for this to be a reality, but this question still intrigues me. Burkina skipped over the whole landline thing right into cell phones, saving a lot of valuable resources and money that might have otherwise been wasted. What if one day they can do the same with books? Just skip right over paper copies into electronic books? One organization, World Reader, has conducted an interesting pilot project exploring this very question. Maybe one day soon these electronic books will be available to our readers at FAVL libraries...

Photo courtesy of www.teleread.com

Better Learning Through Handwriting ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2011) -- Writing by hand strengthens the learning process. When typing on a keyboard, this process may be impaired.

Associate professor Anne Mangen at the University of Stavanger's Reading Centre asks if something is lost in switching from book to computer screen, and from pen to keyboard. The process of reading and writing involves a number of senses, she explains. When writing by hand, our brain receives feedback from our motor actions, together with the sensation of touching a pencil and paper. These kinds of feedback is significantly different from those we receive when touching and typing on a keyboard.

Together with neurophysiologist Jean-Luc Velay at the University of Marseille, Anne Mangen has written an article published in the Advances in Haptics periodical. They have examined research which goes a long way in confirming the significance of these differences. An experiment carried out by Velay's research team in Marseille establishes that different parts of the brain are activated when we read letters we have learned by handwriting, from those activated when we recognise letters we have learned through typing on a keyboard. When writing by hand, the movements involved leave a motor memory in the sensorimotor part of the brain, which helps us recognise letters. This implies a connection between reading and writing, and suggests that the sensorimotor system plays a role in the process of visual recognition during reading, Mangen explains.
...

 Mangen refers to an experiment involving two groups of adults, in which the participants were assigned the task of having to learn to write in an unknown alphabet, consisting of approximately twenty letters. One group was taught to write by hand, while the other was using a keyboard. Three and six weeks into the experiment, the participants' recollection of these letters, as well as their rapidity in distinguishing right and reversed letters, were tested. Those who had learned the letters by handwriting came out best in all tests. Furthermore, fMRI brain scans indicated an activation of the Broca's area within this group. Among those who had learned by typing on keyboards, there was little or no activation of this area.

....

According to Mangen, perception and sensorimotor now play a more prominent role. "Our bodies are designed to interact with the world which surrounds us. We are living creatures, geared toward using physical objects -- be it a book, a keyboard or a pen -- to perform certain tasks," she says.

From this morning's New York Times: African Huts Off the Grid Glow With Renewable Power

"With the advent of cheap solar panels and high-efficiency LED lights, which can light a room with just 4 watts of power instead of 60, these small solar systems now deliver useful electricity at a price that even the poor can afford, he noted. "You're seeing herders in Inner Mongolia with solar cells on top of their yurts," Mr. Younger said."

With our iPod trumpeting Christmas music, the lights on our mini synthetic tree glowing brightly, and a couple of laptops charging to watch Love Actually later this morning, it's easy to forget that just a few months ago I had to bike into the local market to charge my cellphone at a solar shack once a week or bike 40km into Djibo to charge my laptop once a month in order to use it for a couple of hours to catch up on 30 Rock and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  But last night as I travelled by bus down to Bobo-Dioulasso to celebrate with other Peace Corps Volunteers, I watched countless bonfires dance along the horizon, defining the distance between those who are on-the-grid here in Burkina and those whose villages have yet to be plugged in.

But big city or little village, solar panels are prevalent in Burkina Faso.  Even on the streets of Ouagadougou one sees them stacked for sale outside boutiques and in the Grand Marché.  And the Volunteer who worked in Belehede before me started a fundraising campaign to finance the purchase of solar panels for the local elementary school and a computer to keep better records of students' performance.  While I have not been back to visit due to lingering security issues in the Sahel, I've been told that the panels are in place and functioning well, even if the computer is unfortunately just gathering dust at the moment.

Here at FAVL, we're excited to see how we can incorporate solar technology into our libraries and programs in Burkina Faso.  We recently received a $5,000 grant to purchase LED lights and run a study evaluating the effects they induce in several communities.  Emilie and I will be designing and implementing a study early in the new year in an effort to gauge the utility of the lights at the village level.  We're hoping to observe results such as those that the Times reports taking place in Kenya:

"Since Ms. Ruto hooked up the system, her teenagers' grades have improved because they have light for studying. The toddlers no longer risk burns from the smoky kerosene lamp. And each month, she saves $15 in kerosene and battery costs -- and the $20 she used to spend on travel."

While it's hard to imagine the lights not making a positive impact on the communities, there is the slight fear that they await the same fate as the new computer in Belehede: relegation to a dusty corner, box unopened.  Or, that the children who are the intended beneficiaries of our project will have their lights appropriated by older family members or members of the community.  We'll be doing our best to make sure that the lights remain in the kids' hands and that they will be used to help bring about the forthcoming reading revolution that Michael blogged about a few days ago.

However, while we hope that everyone here in Burkina will eventually have access to affordable, renewable sources of light, there will always be those moments when it's still better to hit the switch.

After reading Michael's blog entry below, I was curious to see if some studies have been done comparing e-books and printed books and their effects on children's reading skills.  I found two interesting ones.

One study from 2007 (1) compared the effects of children's individual reading of an educational electronic storybook on their emergent literacy with those of being read the same story in its printed version by an adult.  Children who read the e-book on their own without any adult help and those who are read the printed version of the book by adults scored  similarly.  This was true for children from different socio-economic status.  I think this is very interesting considering that the study was done before the advent of friendly electronic book readers, such as Kindle,  which provide an even better experience for young reader.

I found another very recent study from 2010 (2), comparing  three different groups of children, one group  independently reading an e-book, another reading an e-book with adult instruction, and a third one reading the printed book with adult instruction.  The results were different, with the group reading an e-book with adult instruction making the most progress.  The children were from a low income socio economic background, but of course they were not from developing countries.  Their familiarity with computers might explain the results and it is hard to know if the results would be the same with children from developing countries who have not been exposed to computers. 

(1) O. Korat & A. Shamir, Electronic books versus adult readers: effects on children's emergent literacy as a function of social class, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Jun2007, Vol. 23 Issue 3, p248-259, 12p,

 (2) Segal-Drori, O., et. al., Reading electronic and printed books with and without adult instruction: effects on emergent reading. Reading and Writing v. 23 no. 8 (September 2010) p. 913-30

Funny, I just had a conversation with Mercy Beyond Borders honcho Sister Marilyn Lacey about some Kindles she had distributed in southern Sudan.  The teachers, according to her, really liked them. 

It is going to happen, even without a development organization doing it, but there are indeed a bunch of relevant issues, and I'm curous to start thinking about how quickly FAVL libraries will become FAVL book museums.... yikes!  (Elliot, reading this over my shoulder, asks, "Can I have a Kindle?"

HT to Kim Dionne for this link to a critical article from G. Pascal Zachary- there is an extract below. 

I am reminded anew by a celebrated project in Ghana how misguided are amateur, free-lance do-gooders in the matter of "improving" Africans. The ever-insightful Russell Southwood, editor of the Afro-techno newsletter Balancing Act, has penned a new assessment of the effects on reading by African youth of giving away digital reading devices to them (or their schools). Southwood's assessment is prompted by a new program in Ghana to give away Kindle readers to kids. The project sounds and has attracted great press for its clever founder; but both the do-gooder and the media ignore the evident high capital costs of expanding readers one computer at a time -- and the damage to Africa's own efforts to promote reading by children in its own way. The most important effort to promote reading of all ages in Africa is the spread of newspapers. In nearly African country -- and Ghana is no exception -- newspapers are growing circulations, increasing influence and improving quality. All of these papers are created chiefly by Africans for Africans. By importing supposedly superior digital devices, foreign do-gooders -- and in this an American one -- are actually doing more harm than good. Rather than supporting (perhaps through donations) the operations of African-led and African produced-newspapers (or to book publishers, of which Ghana is home to a strong locally-owned book press), the well-meaning foreigners instead undermine the economic foundations of reading in Africa by giving away digital readers, which has the direct effect of suppressing newspaper circulations (and book buying) and thus reducing revenues to papers. African writers, as a consequence, earn less money and a local effort to increase reading as an authentic African activity is diminished. And yet the American do-gooder crows about how much better he feels after giving away the Kindles. And remember there's also the ideological/hegemonic aspect: that instead of showing African school kids that their very own adults are creating appropriate reading material for them, we instead witness the neo-colonial spectacle of foreigners providing an alternative, based on the justification that they are filling a (phantom) void left by (uncaring) African adults. Once more, the technological sublime is presented by Americans as a substitute for authentic cultural and social development in Africa. The answer is for Ghanaians to refuse these Kindles and look to their own natural literary leaders to work with national newspapers -- the Daily Graphic and the Chronicle come immediately to mind -- in order to sustain an organically-grown reading culture. The task of raising reading higher in esteem is central to creating a robust civil society; if foreign do-gooders would first look and really see what's working in Ghana, they might realize that helping what's already happening is much superior to ignoring it -- and creating from scratch an alien imported alternative.

I'm of two minds.  The Daily Graphic is a great paper to read- we have it in the three Ghana libraries- there is a distributor in Bolgatanga and Lucas brings it out to the libraries on his weekly visits.  But in Burkina the newspapers do not circulate much out of Ouagadougou and Bobo, and distribution problems mean we rarely get them in the libraries.  The whole issue is moot in a sense, because journalists in Ouaga are also blogging, and inevitable that they too will start writing ebooks for distribution on Kindle.  Kindle-like readers might be $75 in 2012, and at that point will make sense for community library to have 20 Kindles for the secondary school students and adult readers.  I still think first and young readers do better with books... but haven't seen any good studies.  I'd love to see whether Worldreader is comparing the Kindle readers to readers with access to a good selection of print books... or a $200 voucher to buy books from EPP.

On Thursday, One Laptop Per Child (the nonprofit behind XO laptops) announced a partnership with Marvel to produce inexpensive tablet computers.  The founder of the project, Nicholas Negroponte, claims the tablet will likely combine the functionalities of a laptop, a Kindle, and an iPad all in one device. As Negroponte describes in the video below, the vision is a $75 slim, 9 or more inch, plastic, unbreakable tablet for children with a dual mode display both sunlit and backlit. Renderings of the proposed tablet show images of hands flipping through ebooks, typing a journal entry with a touchscreen keyboard or zooming in on Google maps. 

From Timothy Egan of the New York Times, in an article on the new iPad that will kindlepete:

The last outpost of books in Laredo was a second-tier chain store selling the usual ghostwritten celebrity tell-alls, branded fiction and political screeds for people who need more empty calories in their one-sided cable news diet. But if Denver were to lose Tattered Cover, or Portland lose Powell's, or Washington, D.C., lose Politics and Prose, it would be like ripping one lung from a healthy body.

Probably not would be like.  Curious about the imagery ... why ripped from a healthy body?  If the body were unhealthy, ripping the lung not as bad?

Just got an estimate for solar lighting for one of the village libraries.  Costs are coming down, not too rapidly but indeed steadily.  Now about $1200 to install lighting.  Our experience is that once installed they require very little maintenance, occasional replacement of bulbs (fluorescent) and every 3-5 years the batteries have to be replaced.