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Books Education United States

Obama Announces e-Book Scheme For Low-Income Communities 126

Posted by samzenpus from the you-get-a-book-and-you-get-a-book-and-you-get-a-book dept.
An anonymous reader writes: The White House has today launched an initiative encouraging top book publishers to supply $250 million worth of free e-books to low-income students. Partnering with local governments and schools nationwide, President Obama hopes that the e-book scheme will support low-income households who significantly trail the national average for computer ownership and digital connectivity. At Anacostia Library in Southeast Washington, D.C., Obama announced that libraries and schools in poorer communities would be supported by the scheme and efforts would be made to increase internet access at these establishments. Publishers involved in the program include Penguin Random House, Macmillan, Bloomsbury, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. NGOs, such as book donation charity Firstbook, and public libraries will also be working together to develop apps to support the digital reading program.
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Obama Announces e-Book Scheme For Low-Income Communities More

Obama Announces e-Book Scheme For Low-Income Communities

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  • ebay here we go

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Opportunist ( 166417 )

      This. Does anyone think this is going to help them in any way?

      The way the US treats its poor reminds me a lot of the colonialism of earlier times. Patronizing, without any real care or concern and so far detached from the real problems that one has to wonder whether they are just stupid or whether their motives ain't what they claim to be.

      • Re:flooding in 3, 2, 1 ... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Mr D from 63 ( 3395377 ) on Thursday April 30, 2015 @06:57PM (#49590461)

        The way the US treats its poor reminds me a lot of the colonialism of earlier times. Patronizing, without any real care or concern and so far detached from the real problems that one has to wonder whether they are just stupid or whether their motives ain't what they claim to be.

        The motives are clear. Getting votes. They make promises, ask for votes, and blame others. Keep reminding the poor its no fault of theirs and they should sit and wait until someone comes in and saves them. And in our all our 'political correctness' nobody is willing to talk about the primary elements of the problem, which are kids being brought up in broken homes or no home at all with no family or community support structure. All the schools, teachers, & Ipads in the world won't do anything to help most of them. But hey, as long they'll vote for you, tell them what they want to hear. As long as you look like you are doing something, you'll get the votes.

        Unfortunately, the vicious cycle can only be broken by taking kids out of the environment, or limiting the number of kids in it. But if you propose solutions that try to do either, you will be branded as hateful, intolerant, racist, or whatever other slanderous accusation that can be thrown because your messing with guaranteed votes.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by quenda ( 644621 )

          And in our all our 'political correctness' nobody is willing to talk about the primary elements of the problem, which are kids being brought up in broken homes or no home at all with no family or community support structure. ... the vicious cycle can only be broken

          The "vicious cycle" is a myth, or at least a common assumption not backed by evidence. Numerous adoption studies show that the home environment and immediate community has only a small effect in childhood, and that fades away to zero as the child gets older. Parenting is not the problem, even though it looks that way, the science says otherwise. The real "cycle" is genetic, but that is even less politically correct.

          Poor communities in the US don't need iPads, they don't even need more books.

          • Don't let the facts get in your way, but Walmart pays well above minimum wage.

            http://www.glassdoor.com/Salar... [glassdoor.com]

            Raising the minimum wage will only make the problem worse. When the minimum wage goes up, there are less jobs. How far do you think McDonalds is from replacing their staff with robots? Another couple minimum wage hikes and many manual labor jobs will just disappear. Also, when minimum wage goes up, the costs for needed items rises as well quickly eating up any raises.

            What you should really be a

            • Raising the minimum wage will only make the problem worse. When the minimum wage goes up, there are less jobs.

              Some people care about poor people so much, they do everything they can to make more of them...

        • which are kids being brought up in broken homes or no home at all with no family or community support structure.

          Really? And systemic racism has *nothing* to do with the plight of young African Americans? https://www.facebook.com/brave... [facebook.com]

      • Patronizing, without any real care or concern and so far detached from the real problems ...

        Would you care to explain what you think the "real problems" are, and what specific policies you would recommend to address them?

        • The real problem is the lack of social mobility. Poor people are lumped together in poor areas, have poorly funded and staffed schools where you may learn little more than what is necessary to serve your masters. Yes, every blue moon someone manages to claw his way out of it on his own... only to face the backlash of the whole "affirmative action" bullshit. Because after a wave of poorly trained people (due to poor education from understaffed, underfunded schools), everyone from the demographic will be seen

      • This. Does anyone think this is going to help them in any way?

        I do. It may not help most, it may even help only a small portion, but out of that small portion will come some students that are better educated and better able to help shape the next generation. And that would be a success. Education is always a bargain relative to the costs of not doing so. So what if a bunch of those readers end up on ebay?

        • The "what" is that the majority of those readers will end up on ebay. You're dealing with people who are SO deep in debt that you can't even see their hair tips anymore. Giving them something they can easily sell means that it's sold in "never removed from box, mint condition".

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Whiteox ( 919863 )

        This. Does anyone think this is going to help them in any way?

        The way the US treats its poor reminds me a lot of the colonialism of earlier times. Patronizing, without any real care or concern and so far detached from the real problems that one has to wonder whether they are just stupid or whether their motives ain't what they claim to be.

        Yes, it will. Some of those kids will get benefit as they wouldn't have to pay for textbooks or recreational reading. Problem is that they're looking at a reduced subset i.e. all those who have readers, registration via the school or welfare, the desire to become involved in the program etc. If the funds are not totally spent on administration (hopefully less than 50%) then someone will benefit.

        • Why do you think ANY of the books will be textbooks? Those are already being bought by taxpayer-funded school districts.

          Recreational reading? They can't find free ebooks on the Internet? Is Gutenberg really THAT hard to spell?

          This is a nothing program - publishers are encouraged to donate, no money allocated to buy anything.

          • My curiosity is what will they load these free ebooks onto? Is the state going to hand out Nooks to all these kids? How long before those are stolen and sold for crack money?

      • The motives ain't what they claim to be.

        We ended slavery and gave up iron chains in favor of government assistance.

        If the gov had any intention of bettering the lives of people on government aid it would do so.

        Sad thing is there are many on gov aid and many without that don't see it that way. In fact they will say it's racist to say otherwise.

        I've got zero issue with helping people, we all need a hand from time to time. I do have issue with it being a way of life for several generations, and be perfectl

  • already done (Score:4, Insightful)

    by knightghost ( 861069 ) on Thursday April 30, 2015 @06:29PM (#49590313)

    Libraries already do this. How about supporting the vanishing middle class?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by CronoCloud ( 590650 )

      Here we go with the "help the middle class" again.

      By definition the middle class can AFFORD things, the poor and lower class need help MORE than the middle-class does.

      Yes the middle class is seeing it's status erode, but the poor and lower-class are having it WORSE.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by JBMcB ( 73720 )

        By definition the middle class can AFFORD things, the poor and lower class need help MORE than the middle-class does.

        So we're blowing money on e-readers when, last time I checked, libraries still exist? How about $250 million worth of more free pre-school for underprivileged kids, which has been proven to lead to better outcomes?

        • So we're blowing money on e-readers

          Do you even glance at the headline any more? It's e-books, not e-readers. You can read an e-book on practically any device with a screen, from a $30 e-reader to a cell phone or a 10 year-old computer.

          It's cheaper to buy a simple e-reader than it is to buy your average textbook, and the e-reader can hold lots of textbooks.

          Clearly we need start some sort of program to promote basic literacy for Slashdot readers. Maybe if we gave them free e-books...

          How about $250 million

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by JBMcB ( 73720 )

            It's e-books, not e-readers. You can read an e-book on practically any device with a screen, from a $30 e-reader to a cell phone or a 10 year-old computer.

            Same difference. There are libraries filled with books you can read for free. It's a sunk cost. What specific problem are ebooks going to solve?

            You mean like this?

            Exactly. Now take the money wasted on ebooks and fund that instead.

            • What specific problem are ebooks going to solve?

              A publisher can donate 10,000 eBooks to a library with a few thousand square feet of floor space, but couldn't do that if the books were physical, as there would be no room.

      • By definition the middle class can AFFORD things, the poor and lower class need help MORE than the middle-class does.

        Yes, but the problem is that the help for the poor and the lower class is coming from the middle class, instead of from the rich, who have all the money. If you help the poor and lower class at the expense of the middle class, all you're going to do is wind up with more socioeconomic stratification — i.e., just two classes, upper and lower, with an even bigger divide between them. Like pretty much everything else today, it's selling out our future for a temporary, apparent improvement.

    • Or just supporting libraries in general. Also, does anyone think it's a little odd that they want to provide $250 million worth of something that could be copied an infinite number of times?

      • Actually, the books they will be providing for the $250 million appear to be largely out of copyright already. So this is even worse than paying the publishers for copyrighted books.

        • Actually, the books they will be providing for the $250 million appear to be largely out of copyright already. So this is even worse than paying the publishers for copyrighted books.

          Where are you getting this info? From the articles linked from the summary, it appears that the e-books are being donated by the publishers (not paid for by the government) and I didn't find any information on what books are being provided. But the articles I can find are are woefully lacking in detail.

          • One of the stories mentioned that they were largely out-of-copyright books, but I can't find it again. It also follows from the fact that many of the good children's book are, in fact, out of copyright.

            What was confusing about the announcement is that Obama said "We're going to provide millions of e-books online". If this is a giveaway by the publishers, why does Obama claim that he is giving those books away too?

            The whole thing just strikes me as stupid. You can get a decent brand-name Android tablet for u

          • Publishers "donating e-books", lol.

      • Or just supporting libraries in general. Also, does anyone think it's a little odd that they want to provide $250 million worth of something that could be copied an infinite number of times?

        One of the names mentioned was HarperCollins.

        You might remember them as the yokels who wanted ebooks to "wear out" after they've been read 25 times.

        Don't expect them to support "infinite copies".

    • Kinda pay full price for the e-books you borrow.

      Which kinda suck since when I borrow books in general I never read shit from them.

      I can't understand how that's supported / accepted.

      I wonder what this cost in the US.

  • $subject_desired filetype:pdf
  • we don't need no stinkin' books.

  • Australia has this (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jblues ( 1703158 ) on Thursday April 30, 2015 @06:48PM (#49590421)

    My mom regularly borrows ebooks from the library in regional Australia. The system used is called Bolinda Borrow Box. Sounds like it works pretty well. Only epub is supported though, no no kindles.

    Meanwhile, here in Manila Hernando Guanlao, 60-something, converted his whole house into a library (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19547365), to honor his mother and father after they died. He said: "As a book care-taker, you become a full man.

    • My mom regularly borrows ebooks from the library in regional Australia.

      My local library also has e-books, in San Jose, California. I thought all libraries had them. They even have e-readers that you can check out and use.

      • Many libraries have e-books available for loans. The publishers love this. They charge a fortune (somewhere near $100) for a book and with the DRM it has a limited number of loans (either 24 or 26). Once it's been loaned out that number of times the library has to buy another license for the book. The theory behind this is that each time the book is loaned out it is a lost sale. Of course this is complete BS.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Quirkz ( 1206400 )

        My small-town library has some, but not many, and most were checked out, and the pool consisted of primarily pop new releases. I found literally zero ebooks there that I was interested in when I tried to use the system the first time.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by SonCorn ( 301537 )

      Libraries in Dallas/Fort Worth Texas also have ebooks that can be borrowed.

      It is pretty handy and very easy.

  • That would be a good title.

  • Selling Freezers to Eskimos (Score:3)

    by Stormy Dragon ( 800799 ) on Thursday April 30, 2015 @06:56PM (#49590451)

    President Obama hopes that the e-book scheme will support low-income households who significantly trail the national average for computer ownership and digital connectivity.

    So exactly what use are low-priced e-books to people who don't own computers?

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • So exactly what use are low-priced e-books to people who don't own computers?

      You can get a decent computer for $20 from Goodwill. You can buy a used Kindle on eBay for about the same. Computers are common, even in poor households. They aren't luxuries anymore.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by jblues ( 1703158 )

        So exactly what use are low-priced e-books to people who don't own computers?

        You can get a decent computer for $20 from Goodwill. You can buy a used Kindle on eBay for about the same. Computers are common, even in poor households. They aren't luxuries anymore.

        Yup. I've visited a few slums in developing nations, with people living hand-to-mouth in basic conditions. But there's very often at least one large-screen cell-phone or tablet computer per household. I would certainly hope the situation is even better in the USA.

        • This.

          And, fine, let's say you can buy a $20 computer from goodwill (probably running XP, just waiting to virus the place up, though I've never seen goodwill selling used computers), but what about access? Can't get to the e-book without Internet access. People living hand-to-mouth cannot afford Internet access. People living hand-to-mouth shouldn't be able to afford a cell phone either, or they technically aren't living hand-to-mouth. So, how the hell are they supposed to access the e-book with their $2

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by jblues ( 1703158 )

            I don't go to the USA often, but last time I was there, there was free Wifi all over the place, especially in inner-cities areas where today's urban poor live.

            And, as I said in the comment above, most people in my own country are much poorer, but even the 30% living well below the poverty line in makeshift housing have access to pre-paid 3g internet using cheap Android SmartPhones.

    • the article talks about that.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      Computers are cheap, especially if you don't need the latest and most powerful. You can get a functioning Android tablet that can work as an ebook reader for under $40. It won't be a *nice* tablet, but compared to the cost being shut out of the digital economy $40 is a reasonable investment for even a poor person. Otherwise how are you going to look for jobs, in the help wanted section of the newspaper? Are you going to buy used stuff from the print classifieds?

      There are laptop formfactor Android computer

  • How the heck are they going to afford the ebook reader?

    This is a great plan Obama. Bully businesses to do it since you can't get socialism officially passed through Congress . . . Yet.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      Ebook edition of job-hunting bible "What Color is Your Parachute": $9.99.
      McGraw Hill High School Equivalency Study Guide ebook: $17.89.
      Typical study guide for trade test (plumbing, electrical, etc): $30-$60.
      Microsoft Office for Dummies: $13.99

      Cheap Chinese 7" Android Tablet that can run ebook reading software: $35.

      For comparison, how much a family of four spends on food in a year: $7800 - $15600/yr.
      Cost of a 2 br apartment in a crummy big city neighborhood:$13000/yr.

      So, what's clear here is the cost of an e

  • Now I wonder who thought that one up... "You get the eBook for free saving you 5.00-10.00 encouraging you to read" The fine print forgot the required iPad/Tablet/PC. Save 10.00... But spend the 500.00-3000.00 to read it. Brilliant.

    • A lot of Ebooks can be read on cell phones which aren't far off from small tablets. I have a niece who reads about a book a week on her phone in the time it takes to ride to and from school, waiting for things, and study hall in school or even when bored at home.

      Most of the poor can get phones- the obama phone for instance, some should be capable of reading ebooks (I know obama isn't behind the phone but that's what its called). I imagine you need an app for that and wifi from some place which is why intern

  • We already have libraries full of books and ebooks. If Kindles could be loaned out like books and enough copies of ebooks were available for the additional demand, we could do this with much of the infrastructure we already have. Plus, by keeping the ebooks in libraries we ensure that each book can be read by dozens or hundreds of patrons.

  • He is bringing relief to the poor people stuck in a book desert.

  • crony capitalism (Score:4, Insightful)

    by NostalgiaForInfinity ( 4001831 ) on Thursday April 30, 2015 @08:49PM (#49590805)

    Obama is giving $250 million to big publishers and some software developers so that they can deliver out-of-copyright books that "the poor" could have downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg and Google already. All Hail our Crony Capitalist in Chief.

  • ... giving up on copyright protection.

  • Where did they get the $250M figure? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by aNonnyMouseCowered ( 2693969 ) on Thursday April 30, 2015 @09:00PM (#49590843)

    Now how exactly did they calculate how much the "free" ebooks were worth? (Smell the oxymoron in that?) Is this some sort of MPAA/RIAA accounting scheme where the price of an ebook is quantified by the price of a physical copy (DVD/CD)? And why focus on the so-called reputable publishers? Can't the government just hire the authors directly and have them put out Creative Commons licensed textbooks (BTW this has already been done by some independent groups)? This is like hiring the mafia to build your house.

    • Re:Where did they get the $250M figure? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Tailhook ( 98486 ) on Friday May 01, 2015 @12:28AM (#49591485)

      Now how exactly did they calculate how much the "free" ebooks were worth?

      The amount is calculated as a function of the number of authors and publishers the Democrat bundlers designate for the funds, multiplied by the amount each of those individuals and organizations are permitted to contribute, times the factor needed to make the contributions a small enough fraction of the total so that it can't plausibly be called a straight laundering operation.

      In the end the Clinton's hard money coffers will net somewhere between 2-3% of the total; a typical ratio for laundering public money back to politicians that know how to play the game and stay out of prison. $5-7 million, in other words. The other 97-98% go to politically favored authors and publishers who write to children primary on the topics of race, gender and sexuality grievances, climate change, diet and assorted atrocities in American history, not necessarily in that order.

  • You know what'd be more useful than this? (Score:3)

    by trawg ( 308495 ) on Thursday April 30, 2015 @09:22PM (#49590911) Homepage

    I suspect availability of good things to read isn't really the big problem here. You know, because, libraries.

    And let's not forget Project Gutenberg [gutenberg.org], over 46,000 free ebooks.

    So how about some copyright reform! Fuck, give the $250m directly to the MPAA/RIAA. Do something about the ludicrous copyright period. Imagine how many more great books would enter the public domain?!

  • Cut the publishers out entirely (Score:3)

    by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Friday May 01, 2015 @03:21AM (#49591809)
    Why doesn't the federal or local government simply commission the books it requires for its educational curriculum? Then give them away for free from a website. It shouldn't be necessary to go cap in hand to publishers begging for a few freebies when the publishers shouldn't be in such a strong position to start with.

  • Pardon my cynicism, but...does this make any sense at all? Or is it just about a subsidy for big publishers, plus some stupid political games?

    Provide ebooks? The problem this is supposed to solve, according to Obama, is "low-income children lag below their grade level in reading skills and lack books at home". There's a reason for that, and it isn't lack of access to books. It's parents who don't read and don't encourage reading.

    And how are they going to read those ebooks? Why...on the upgraded "Internet se

  • How many times will politicians announce yet another initiative to bring broadband internet access to schools and libraries, especially in lower-income neighborhoods? They have been beating this drum for what, 10, 15 years now?

    I'd really like politicians to explain why programs like e-rate have failed to achieve their goals and describe how this new program addresses the problems in existing programs.

    Oh, and he's 'encouraging' publishers to 'donate' $250M worth of e-books... All Obama has done is asked for

  • The White House has today launched an initiative encouraging top book publishers to supply $250 million worth of free e-books to low-income students.

    President Obama hopes that the e-book scheme will support low-income households who significantly trail the national average for computer ownership and digital connectivity.

    Did I miss something?

    I mean if they significantly trail national average for computer ownership and digital connectivity, then how are the books supposed to be delivered digitally or even r

  • From Publishers Gave Away 122,951,031 Books During World War II: And, in the process, they created a nation of readers [theatlantic.com]:

    In 1943, in the middle of the Second World War, America's book publishers took an audacious gamble. They decided to sell the armed forces cheap paperbacks, shipped to units scattered around the globe. Instead of printing only the books soldiers and sailors actually wanted to read, though, publishers decided to send them the best they had to offer. Over the next four years, publishers gave away 122,951,031 copies [archive.org] of their most valuable titles.

    [follow title-link for the rest of the article]

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