Listen Online: “E-Readers Mark A New Chapter In The Developing World”, Worldreader Profiled on NPR

Note: At the bottom of this report we have a link to a report about a grant that Worldreader received from the Gates Foundation that was announced six weeks ago. 
The work of David Risher and Worldreader are profiled in this report from All Things Considered/National Public Radio.
From the NPR Web Site:

A former Amazon executive who helped Jeff Bezos turn shopping into a digital experience has set out to end illiteracy. David Risher is now the head of Worldreader, a nonprofit organization that brings e-books to kids in developing countries through Kindles and cellphones.
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Working through schools and local governments, Worldreader launched its first program in Ghana and is now in nine African countries. As of last month, Worldreader says, it has put more than 700,000 e-books in the hands of some 12,000 children.
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“[E-readers] turn out to be remarkably well-adapted to the developing world, in part because they don’t take very much power, they are very portable. It’s almost like having an entire library in your hand and, like all technology, they get less and less expensive over time,” Risher says.

Listen Online

See Also: Worldreader Receives Gates Foundation Grant, Will Launch Ereading Pilot in Eight Kenyan Libraries (October 17, 2013)
See Also:  With Digital Technology, Worldreader Brings Knowledge to Africa’s Neediest Children (December 12, 2012)
See Also: Frequently Asked Questions About Worldreader

Filed under: Funding, Libraries, News