clipped from: www.newscientisttech.com Students in developing countries are to get free textbooks written using "wiki" technology that lets anyone add to or edit an online document.
"The usual business model for textbooks just doesn't work for these countries," says Rick Watson, an expert on the development of opensource software at the University of Georgia, US. "Why not get groups of academics and their students to write them?"
Publishers typically halve their prices for the developing world, he explains, but a single book can still cost one-fifth of average yearly income in places like Uganda.
Watson has recruited about 80 academics from the US and other countries to his Global Textbook project. It will produce free online textbooks using technology similar to that behind online reference work Wikipedia.
Anyone can edit or add to the texts that will gradually take shape on the project's website, Watson explains. It currently relies on donations of time and money from the academic and business worlds, but in the long term will seek corporate sponsorship.