Read an E-Book Week: Obama White House reached—plus update on his BlackBerry (Presidential e-reader?)
Nice, going! Rita Toews, founder of Read an E-Book Week, has followed up on our suggestion that she ask the White House for official recognition of the Week. She e-mailed me that she had contacted the office of Macon Phillips—White House director of new media as well as a contributor to the blog there.
If you like the “Read an E-Book Week” idea, you can go here to share your thoughts. Do so even if you live outside the United States. Rita herself is Canadian. The form she filled out asks you to enter a state. But Rita managed to make a submission anyway. If nothing else, why not just key in some “fillter” information in the location-related fields while indicating your genuine contact information in your text? And if you want to lobby your own government for an equivalent week, go ahead! Meanwhile we’ve already drawn positive reaction from ActuaLitte.com in France, which wonders if e-books couldn’t benefit from the famous Obama charisma. The week has enjoyed lots and lots of support on the Net.
The BlackBerry update
So what could Barack Obama read his e-books on? Well, the latest on the BlackBerry front is that that he’ll keep his beloved device for personal use while getting a high-security gizmo for government business. Very likely Mobipocket would run, enabling Obama to use the small-screened BlackBerry for at at least short bursts of reaching—and thereby set a helpful example for young people by simultaneously promoting technology and literacy. If his Blackberry is like many recent models, his screen resolution should be adequate, according to Dhamu, a TeleBlog commenter. Of course, if Obama instead wants to go all the way and get a Kindle, Sony Reader, Plastic Logic prototype or other dedicated device, then so much the better.
What I’ve just written the White House: “For Macon Phillips, Director, New Media: I hope that President Obama will officially recognize Read an E-Book Week–to promote both literacy and technology. Via TeleRead.org, I am telling thousands about Rita Toews’ idea. This grassroots effort enjoys support from leading vendors in the e-book industry such as Sony and writers such as Warren Adler, author of The War of the Roses. In a digital era when many young people are forsaking paper for the Internet, books should follow them there.” That’s all the 500-character form let me write. But here’s what I would add:
“Furthermore perhaps Read an E-Book Week could be a time for local civic groups and others to organize equipment donations and technical assistance efforts to help bring e-books to interested students from low-income families–with participation from librarians and educators as well. At a time when many local libraries are cash-strapped and have many gaps in their book collections, why not use technology to expand reading opportunities?”
You may or may not agree with everything here, but I hope that if nothing else, you’ll support the general concept of Read an E-Book Week and write the White House.
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