If you’re interested in helping to spread the magic of the Kindle Revolution around the world, you might be interested in this relatively new non-profit organization.
Worldreader.org is a Barcelona-based not-for-profit devoted to making digital books available to children in developing countries. Using emerging e-book/reader technology, the organization’s mission is to improve children’s lives. (Here’s a link to a short video, courtesy of YouTube, showing the children’s excitement.) Their promotional materials stress that e-book technology is “sharply reducing the cost and complexity of delivering reading material everywhere”.
The end-goal: to stimulate under-served youth internationally with “life-changing and power-creating ideas” in books published across the globe. Former Amazon.com executive David Risher is behind the project. His former boss, CEO Jeff Bezos, has praised Risher’s innovative philanthropic work.
The project has received attention from CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and The Huffington Post. In the July 5 article published by the Journal, Risher said that Worldreader.org is embracing the “long-term idea is that technology will ultimately help create a real culture of reading in parts of the world where that’s not been possible before.”
Risher and his colleagues are preparing for a year-long trial in Ghana, where the Ministry of Education has offered support, to determine the effects of e-book technology on the literacy of children. As they wage this e-campaign, Worldreader.org is underway building relationships with local African publishers and authors to digitize relevant content for Ghanaian communities.
For more information, visit Worldreader.org or go straight to the organization’s Donation Page.