Most
college and university students would rather not use their cellphones for
course readings, but phones are becoming an increasingly important tool in
boosting literacy in underdeveloped nations.
The
nonprofit Worldreader organization, based in San Francisco, CA, has created an
app for feature phones and Android devices that gives youngsters from these
countries a means to access thousands of digital books stored in a cloud
platform. They pay nothing; the venture is supported by donations from
organizations such as Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
While
printed books and desktop computers are often scarce in rural areas across
Africa, Asia, the Mideast, Indonesia, and other territories, many people there
do have cellphones with Internet service. Worldreader is also working to make
more e-books available in native languages, as children learn to read faster
when the books are in their first language.
Worldreader’s
latest effort is a partnership with Cambridge University Press to provide 390
titles in African languages. In all, Worldreader reaches kids in 37 countries
and 23 languages.