{"id":75,"date":"2018-06-17T10:32:25","date_gmt":"2018-06-17T17:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/?p=75"},"modified":"2018-06-17T10:32:25","modified_gmt":"2018-06-17T17:32:25","slug":"mobile-devices-and-libraries-in-developing-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/2018\/06\/17\/mobile-devices-and-libraries-in-developing-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile Devices and Libraries in Developing Countries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Biblioburro- The donkey library\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wuTswmx9TQU?start=197&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I started looking into libraries in developing countries and found a story about a man named Luis Soriano.\u00a0 He is a teacher in Columbia who carries books around on his donkey and rides up to eight hours per day to give students books because none of them have books in their homes.\u00a0 Once he makes it to his location, he unloads the books and creates a makeshift library\u00a0 to help students with their homework, or let them read for fun.\u00a0 He gets these books from the &#8220;library&#8221; which is also his house.\u00a0 This is a heartwarming story and Soriano is a true hero.\u00a0 But this isn&#8217;t a practical solution to giving students access to books.\u00a0 First of all, most teachers and librarians wouldn&#8217;t be willing to ride a donkey eight hours a day.\u00a0 Second of all, there simply wouldn&#8217;t be enough books even if they did want to do that.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/unesdoc.unesco.org\/images\/0022\/002274\/227436e.pdf\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-78 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/files\/2018\/06\/ReadingInMobileEra-233x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"233\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/files\/2018\/06\/ReadingInMobileEra-233x300.jpg 233w, https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/files\/2018\/06\/ReadingInMobileEra.jpg 623w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 233px) 100vw, 233px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/unesdoc.unesco.org\/images\/0022\/002274\/227436e.pdf\">A UNESCO study published in 2014<\/a> points out that books have historically always been for the rich and this is still true today.\u00a0 Books used to be reserved for the elite (kings, scholars, priests, etc).\u00a0 Today, New York and Paris have world class libraries while developing countries have a handful of run-down buildings with old and outdated titles.\u00a0 Access to books is one of the biggest problems in teaching literacy in developing nations.\u00a0 The challenge is finding a way to get access to books for those who have none.<\/p>\n<p>UNESCO thinks that the answer to getting text to the unreached is mobile phones.\u00a0 They note that of the estimated world population of 7 billion people, 6 billion now have access to a working mobile phone.\u00a0 To put this number in perspective, they cite that only 4.5 billion people have access to a working toilet.\u00a0 Because mobile devices are plentiful in places where books are not, they may be the key in getting those places access to reading material.\u00a0 \u00a0The study&#8217;s results found the key demographic groups that mobile reading initiatives should target are women and girls, children, older people, beginning readers, and men and boys &#8211; basically everyone.\u00a0 The study also outlines key strategies for expanding the footprint of mobile reading.\u00a0 The basic strategy is as follows:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Diversify mobile reading content and portals to appeal to specific groups.<\/li>\n<li>Increase outreach efforts to create opportunities for potential users who experiment with mobile reading and learn about its benefits.<\/li>\n<li>Lower cost and technology barriers to mobile reading.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>UNESCO downplays how big of a role cost and technology will be, but it logically seems like the biggest hurdle to me.\u00a0 Even though many people will have access to mobile phones, there are several other issues that could complicate getting access to texts on them.\u00a0 They even say themselves that the most common phones have only about 30 MB of storage.\u00a0 This is only enough room to store around 20 books.\u00a0 Getting books from the cloud could be a possible solution, but it requires a reliable data connection.\u00a0 In rural areas, internet is so spotty that it renders it unusable.\u00a0 Even if they had access, they would still need to be able to afford to pay for it.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Getting Kids To Read in Developing Countries With E-books\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3jWECWnGgTw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A company called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.libraryforall.org\/\">Library for All<\/a> looks to have found a solution to the cost and connectivity issues.\u00a0 They work to bring kids access to books via digital libraries using e-readers.\u00a0 Tanyella Evans, founder of<a href=\"http:\/\/www.libraryforall.org\/\"> Library for All<\/a>, notes that many developing countries are already shifting to digital libraries because they are much cheaper than building physical ones.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.libraryforall.org\/\">Library for All<\/a> works with companies to make low cost e-readers pre-installed with their app full of books.\u00a0 This eliminates the connectivity issues since the books are already loaded onto the e-readers.\u00a0 Also, they work with a variety of publishers specific to each country they are launching their programs in.\u00a0 This is to ensure that kids are exposed to a variety of literature, both international and local.<\/p>\n<p>I believe that digital libraries and the use of mobile devices is the route to take when looking to give kids access to reading material in developing countries.\u00a0 We always talk about digital devices taking over as if this is something that is going to happen in the future.\u00a0 But the digital age is now, and not just in the developed world.\u00a0 Tanyella Evans stated that the vast majority of mobile device users are from the developing world.\u00a0 With this in mind, this is the logical route to take when building libraries for those who don&#8217;t have access.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>(2009, September 15). Biblioburro- The donkey library. Retrieved June 17, 2018, from https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wuTswmx9TQU&amp;t=201s<\/p>\n<p>Mark, W., &amp; Chew, H. E. (2014). Reading in the Mobile Era.\u00a0<i>UNESCO<\/i>. Retrieved June 17, 2018, from http:\/\/unesdoc.unesco.org\/images\/0022\/002274\/227436e.pdf<\/p>\n<p>(2015, January 29). Getting Kids To Read in Developing Countries With E-books. Retrieved June 17, 2018, from https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3jWECWnGgTw<\/p>\n<p>Homepage. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2018, from http:\/\/www.libraryforall.org\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I started looking into libraries in developing countries and found a story about a man named Luis Soriano.\u00a0 He is a teacher in Columbia who carries books around on his donkey and rides up to eight hours per day to give students books because none of them have books in their homes.\u00a0 Once he makes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[765175],"tags":[4956,240,423,199359],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inquiry-project","tag-developing-countries","tag-library","tag-literacy","tag-mobile-devices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions\/80"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/chrislee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}