Textbooks free for developing countries

In an attempt to meet the needs of university students in developing countries, Richard Watson, director of the University of Georgia’s Center for Information Systems Leadership, has teamed up with leading professors to create a series of “$0” textbooks.

The goal is to create a free library of 1,000 electronic textbooks. A prototype is already complete, and the first official release will be this month (January). While the initial books will be business related, Prof Watson and the other Global Text professors are recruiting volunteers to write texts for the full range of university topics. The texts will be translated into Spanish, Arabic and Chinese with the assistance of faculty and students around the globe.

The Global Text Project uses a modified version of the Wiki software that powers the website Wikipedia. The project enables students to get free access to the Wiki-based textbooks, each of which will come in pdf and other formats so that it can be inexpensively printed for students without internet access. The Wiki software has also been modified so that only the book’s editors can accept readers’ changes.

The first GTP book will focus on Information Systems. Each book chapter has been assigned to a different academic which means that 17 professors from five different countries will be involved in the process.

Source Link : Textbooks free for developing countries - The Financial Times