[OLPC India] Digitizing Primary school textbooks for OLPC, India
Trilok Khairnar
trilokgk at gmail.com
Thu Apr 29 11:15:20 EDT 2010
Tried to contact BalBharati using their 'contact us' form, with the
following comment: 'Seeking information on availability of textbooks for
free online as a free software enthusiast and a volunteer for the "One Laptp
Per Child" project.'
And sure enough, form submission failed :-( and dumped this -
Server object error 'ASP 0177 : 800401f3'
Server.CreateObject Failed
/send.asp, line 14
800401f3
Regards,
Trilok
On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 8:35 PM, Trilok Khairnar <trilokgk at gmail.com> wrote:
> And now the textbook section on NCERT website has the following notice:
> "The Online textbooks section is temporarily out of service. Please bear
> with us.". Duh.
>
> Your initiative is great. Just my two cents here.
>
> After scanning the Marathi textbooks, what is the manner in which eAccess
> will make PDF books:
> A] Build the entire content as one PDF from a set of scanned images as
> pages?
> Or
> B] Extract text using OCR (sounds difficult) or type it manually. After
> rounds of proofreading, get the content typeset and build an ebook using
> LaTeX/ OpenOffice/ RestructuredText or equivalent.
>
> I guess it's A (scan books and make PDFs/ HTML from images).
> While this will give the kids access to e-textbooks for reading, they will
> not be able to pick images/ text to take notes, make annotations etc.
>
> Is it not worthwhile to talk to NCERT or their regional counterparts such
> as BalBharati <http://www.balbharati.in/index1.htm> and convince them to
> make books available for free (as in free speech and milk) online with
> appropriate open license attached? They would have anyway used computer
> based typesetting software to typeset the books, although I am sure there's
> probably no standard followed across states for that process.
>
> Regards,
> Trilok
>
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 5:19 PM, Harshal Jawale <hjawale at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks Trilok!
>>
>> I have seen the NCERT site but did not find Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil,
>> Telugu etc languages on it.
>>
>> Also I do not think the navigation is intuitive - for e.g. When I saw only
>> two pages in the first PDF, I thought it was a sample PDF.
>>
>> In my opinion, the structure was probably designed for dialup access.
>>
>> Btw, the first set of Marathi primary textbooks are being shipped for
>> scanning.
>>
>> We are looking for volunteers to buy & ship textbooks in other languages.
>> Costs will be reimbursed (thanks to few sponsors) after the textbooks reach
>> Chennai.
>>
>> Warm Regds,
>>
>> Harshal
>>
>> -- Sent from a handheld device --
>>
>> On Apr 29, 2010, at 4:33 AM, Trilok Khairnar <trilokgk at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> The textbooks are available on NCERT website, although as a collection of
>> chapters that need to be downloaded separately and not as entire PDFs.
>> These PDFs can be downloaded and then placed on school servers, XOs.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Trilok
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 11:39 PM, Harshal Jawale <hjawale at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> *Update on content digitization:*
>>>
>>> Based on the tests done with various formats - we have come to a
>>> conclusion that 72dpi scanned PDF format is the optimum format (quality &
>>> file size) for digitizing primary school textbooks (Stds I to IV). The
>>> subjects are - Balbharati (reading), Math, Sciences, History/Geography.
>>>
>>> I am trying to get a few volunteers to mail Marathi primary school
>>> textbooks to Soundar.
>>>
>>> We are requesting primary textbooks for other Indian languages including
>>> Hindi, Gujarathi, Kanada, Telugu, Bengali, Oriya, Urdu, Tamil (the
>>> syllabus is changing so this is on hold) etc.
>>> The books need not be brand new but should not be torn and should not
>>> have any scribblings on the pages.
>>>
>>> Anyone interesting in helping gathering primary school textbooks from
>>> your neighbourhood kids etc and mailing it to Soundar?
>>>
>>> His mailing address is :
>>> M.Soundara Pandian
>>> eAccess
>>> New No.42, Old No.2,
>>> Vellalar Street, Near Best Hospital,
>>> Kodambakkam,Chennai - 600 024
>>>
>>> We plan to package them as Collections so that children will have access
>>> to the textbooks on the XO itself.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Harshal
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 1. Re: Digitizing Primary school textbooks for OLPC, India
>>>> (Harshal Jawale)
>>>> 2. (no subject) (Soundar)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Message: 1
>>>> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 20:22:20 -0700
>>>> From: Harshal Jawale <hjawale at gmail.com>
>>>> Subject: Re: [OLPC India] Digitizing Primary school textbooks for
>>>> OLPC, India
>>>> To: India at lists.laptop.org
>>>> Message-ID:
>>>> <z2s4bac79531004062022x9018d581n5eb24d37137fa17b at mail.gmail.com>
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>>>
>>>> Agreed Sameer. Now that Soundar has shown interest in doing textbook
>>>> scans -
>>>> I think we should open this for inputs from others.
>>>>
>>>> To keep this discussion streamlined and focused, I would like to suggest
>>>> following discussion points:
>>>>
>>>> 1. To facilitate digitization of primary school textbooks, Soundar has
>>>> offered his services to scan and digitized textbooks so that they can
>>>> be
>>>> used on OLPC. There are two formats which look attractive,
>>>>
>>>> a) HTML - as Sameer rightly points out, its easy to keep these on
>>>> school
>>>> servers. For this we would just need image scans of the pages. The
>>>> images
>>>> would need to be optimized to reduce the file sizes. Also, these would
>>>> need
>>>> to be packaged so that the HTML navigation can be incorporated using
>>>> Javascript or simple hyperlinks.
>>>>
>>>> b) PDF - this is the easy option and can also be kept on the school
>>>> server.
>>>>
>>>> Thoughts? This is pilot test so lets keep it simple without getting
>>>> into
>>>> painful technical discussions.
>>>>
>>>> 2. Can someone check on copyright & legal aspects of scanning primary
>>>> school textbooks? Can the scans be used for educational purpose? If
>>>> not,
>>>> what approvals are needed and from whom?
>>>>
>>>> 3. Soundar, since you are based in Chennai, can you take couple of Std
>>>> 1
>>>> textbooks from your local schools? Try to find a kid you know and
>>>> borrow the
>>>> textbook for scanning. Please scan in JPG as well as PDF format. We do
>>>> not
>>>> need them to be 'editable'
>>>>
>>>> 4. Once we do a pilot scan, then we can check if volunteers across
>>>> India
>>>> can help to collect primary school textbooks in local languages to be
>>>> sent
>>>> to Soundar who can then scan them for XO.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Harshal
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 6:37 PM, Sameer Verma <sverma at sfsu.edu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 4:20 PM, Harshal Jawale <hjawale at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> > > Hello Soundar,
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Thank you for your email and interest in helping out OLPC.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Here's what I think:
>>>> > >
>>>> > > The biggest shortcoming of OLPC in India (& elsewhere) is the lack
>>>> of
>>>> > > content. Ofcourse, it has built-in activities and tools etc but when
>>>> it
>>>> > > comes to learning for exams, how can it help the children? I do not
>>>> have
>>>> > a
>>>> > > clear understanding of it.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > This is where you can provide immense value and help.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > The idea is very simple -
>>>> > > Digitize textbooks of Std 1 to 4 (primary school) for OLPC. And, to
>>>> start
>>>> > > with, you can focus on Science, Maths and one language.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Most of the syllabus and curriculum is determined by the State
>>>> Govts. -
>>>> > in
>>>> > > many cases, the Govt publishes the textbooks and heavily subsidizes
>>>> it
>>>> > for
>>>> > > primary students.
>>>> > > Now, if instead of carrying paper textbooks, if these kids had it
>>>> all on
>>>> > > their XO or could access it using the XO- it changes the whole
>>>> equation
>>>> > on
>>>> > > how the XO gets used! The students don't need to carry any books at
>>>> all.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Do you think you have the capacity to softcopy (digitize) textbooks
>>>> from
>>>> > Std
>>>> > > 1 to 4 for 10 major Indian Languages? That would be around (4
>>>> classes x 3
>>>> > > subjects x 10 languages = 120 books)
>>>> > >
>>>> > > If you can do this, I am hoping that we can request volunteers
>>>> around
>>>> > India
>>>> > > to ship you textbooks. You can then create the soft-copies and I can
>>>> help
>>>> > > package the collection for XO.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Sameer, what do you think?
>>>> > > I am aware that softcopies take disk space which the XO may not
>>>> have.
>>>> > But,
>>>> > > school server can host this or an additional SD card can also help
>>>> solve
>>>> > the
>>>> > > problem. In any case, this shouldn't be a big deal. I am also
>>>> betting
>>>> > that
>>>> > > since the Govt owns the rights to the educational material, they
>>>> won't
>>>> > have
>>>> > > problem if this is made freely available to all kids in India.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Harshal
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 6:27 PM, Soundar <soundar at eaccessbpo.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hello Harshal,
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for the reply. Really I am very happy to do this. I would like to
>>>> know whether the all text books in softcopy ( only for image (PDF ) or
>>>> editable Soft copy.) please advice the same. How I will get the entire
>>>> text
>>>> book.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Soundar M
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> >
>>>> > There are two basic pathways to content. Either it is prepackaged by
>>>> > the country/state or the school/teachers create it. So, for instance
>>>> > you want electronic versions of textbooks, then the books have to be
>>>> > scanned or digitized (OCR). NCERT has already done this in an
>>>> > experimental mode.
>>>> http://www.ncert.nic.in/textbooks/testing/Index.htm
>>>> > Anything that's HTML/web based for exams etc. are usable with a school
>>>> > server. A lot of the material is not clear legally for reuse in such
>>>> > environments.
>>>> >
>>>> > The mode of self-exploration and development of content locally is
>>>> > based on activities such as Write (word processing), Memorize (memory
>>>> > matching), etc. TamTamEdit is a music editing system that allows for
>>>> > building card-based music scores, which can then be played in
>>>> > TamTamJam.
>>>> > http://tamtam4olpc.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/new-tamtam-90-flat.png
>>>> >
>>>> > Etoys is its own authoring system. Sandeep Surve, the teacher in
>>>> > Khairat did some of his own development early on. I saw this when I
>>>> > was there in 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgKy0SuZJHk
>>>> >
>>>> > Nepal is using a HTML and Javascript framework that they have
>>>> > developed (http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Karma).
>>>> >
>>>> > The choices are several. A lot depends on who is authoring and how it
>>>> > is delivered.
>>>> >
>>>> > Note: A good bit of this discussion should happen on the lists so that
>>>> > others can chime in.
>>>> >
>>>> > cheers,
>>>> > Sameer
>>>> > --
>>>> > Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
>>>> > Associate Professor, Information Systems
>>>> > Director, Campus Business Solutions
>>>> > San Francisco State University
>>>> > http://verma.sfsu.edu/
>>>> > http://cbs.sfsu.edu/
>>>> > http://is.sfsu.edu/
>>>> >
>>>> -------------- next part --------------
>>>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>>>> URL:
>>>> http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/india/attachments/20100406/14fa1bfd/attachment-0001.htm
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Message: 2
>>>> Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2010 09:43:03 +0530
>>>> From: "Soundar" <soundar at eaccessbpo.com>
>>>> Subject: [OLPC India] (no subject)
>>>> To: <hjawale at gmail.com>, <India at lists.laptop.org>
>>>> Message-ID: <20100407041326.F1E162384F at mail.laptop.org>
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>>>
>>>> Hello Harshal,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks. If I am doing the pilot for the Std 1 Text books for OLPC. I
>>>> would
>>>> like to know the DPI & Mode of the Pages to be scan ( 300 dpi / 1 bit
>>>> Black
>>>> & Whit or 300 dpi gray, if we are do the scanning in Gary the file size
>>>> to
>>>> large .) please advice the same.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>> Soundar M
>>>>
>>>> eAccess
>>>>
>>>> New No.42, Old No.2,
>>>>
>>>> Vellalar Street,
>>>>
>>>> Near Best Hospital,
>>>>
>>>> Kodambakkam,
>>>>
>>>> Chennai - 600 024
>>>>
>>>> Mail : soundar at eaccessbpo.com
>>>>
>>>> Phone : + 91 - 44 - 43565774
>>>>
>>>> Mobile : + 91 - 9543009993
>>>>
>>>> _____
>>>>
>>>> From: Harshal Jawale [mailto:hjawale at gmail.com]
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 8:52 AM
>>>> To: India at lists.laptop.org
>>>> Cc: Soundar; Sameer Verma
>>>> Subject: Re: Digitizing Primary school textbooks for OLPC, India
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Agreed Sameer. Now that Soundar has shown interest in doing textbook
>>>> scans -
>>>> I think we should open this for inputs from others.
>>>>
>>>> To keep this discussion streamlined and focused, I would like to suggest
>>>> following discussion points:
>>>>
>>>> 1. To facilitate digitization of primary school textbooks, Soundar
>>>> has
>>>> offered his services to scan and digitized textbooks so that they can be
>>>> used on OLPC. There are two formats which look attractive,
>>>>
>>>> a) HTML - as Sameer rightly points out, its easy to keep these on school
>>>> servers. For this we would just need image scans of the pages. The
>>>> images
>>>> would need to be optimized to reduce the file sizes. Also, these would
>>>> need
>>>> to be packaged so that the HTML navigation can be incorporated using
>>>> Javascript or simple hyperlinks.
>>>>
>>>> b) PDF - this is the easy option and can also be kept on the school
>>>> server.
>>>>
>>>> Thoughts? This is pilot test so lets keep it simple without getting into
>>>> painful technical discussions.
>>>> 2. Can someone check on copyright & legal aspects of scanning
>>>> primary
>>>> school textbooks? Can the scans be used for educational purpose? If not,
>>>> what approvals are needed and from whom?
>>>> 3. Soundar, since you are based in Chennai, can you take couple of
>>>> Std
>>>> 1 textbooks from your local schools? Try to find a kid you know and
>>>> borrow
>>>> the textbook for scanning. Please scan in JPG as well as PDF format. We
>>>> do
>>>> not need them to be 'editable'
>>>> 4. Once we do a pilot scan, then we can check if volunteers across
>>>> India can help to collect primary school textbooks in local languages to
>>>> be
>>>> sent to Soundar who can then scan them for XO.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Harshal
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 6:37 PM, Sameer Verma <sverma at sfsu.edu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 4:20 PM, Harshal Jawale <hjawale at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> > Hello Soundar,
>>>> >
>>>> > Thank you for your email and interest in helping out OLPC.
>>>> >
>>>> > Here's what I think:
>>>> >
>>>> > The biggest shortcoming of OLPC in India (& elsewhere) is the lack of
>>>> > content. Ofcourse, it has built-in activities and tools etc but when
>>>> it
>>>> > comes to learning for exams, how can it help the children? I do not
>>>> have a
>>>> > clear understanding of it.
>>>> >
>>>> > This is where you can provide immense value and help.
>>>> >
>>>> > The idea is very simple -
>>>> > Digitize textbooks of Std 1 to 4 (primary school) for OLPC. And, to
>>>> start
>>>> > with, you can focus on Science, Maths and one language.
>>>> >
>>>> > Most of the syllabus and curriculum is determined by the State Govts.
>>>> - in
>>>> > many cases, the Govt publishes the textbooks and heavily subsidizes it
>>>> for
>>>> > primary students.
>>>> > Now, if instead of carrying paper textbooks, if these kids had it all
>>>> on
>>>> > their XO or could access it using the XO- it changes the whole
>>>> equation on
>>>> > how the XO gets used! The students don't need to carry any books at
>>>> all.
>>>> >
>>>> > Do you think you have the capacity to softcopy (digitize) textbooks
>>>> from
>>>> Std
>>>> > 1 to 4 for 10 major Indian Languages? That would be around (4 classes
>>>> x 3
>>>> > subjects x 10 languages = 120 books)
>>>> >
>>>> > If you can do this, I am hoping that we can request volunteers around
>>>> India
>>>> > to ship you textbooks. You can then create the soft-copies and I can
>>>> help
>>>> > package the collection for XO.
>>>> >
>>>> > Sameer, what do you think?
>>>> > I am aware that softcopies take disk space which the XO may not have.
>>>> But,
>>>> > school server can host this or an additional SD card can also help
>>>> solve
>>>> the
>>>> > problem. In any case, this shouldn't be a big deal. I am also betting
>>>> that
>>>> > since the Govt owns the rights to the educational material, they won't
>>>> have
>>>> > problem if this is made freely available to all kids in India.
>>>> >
>>>> > Harshal
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 6:27 PM, Soundar <soundar at eaccessbpo.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hello Harshal,
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for the reply. Really I am very happy to do this. I would like to
>>>> know whether the all text books in softcopy ( only for image (PDF ) or
>>>> editable Soft copy.) please advice the same. How I will get the entire
>>>> text
>>>> book.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>> Soundar M
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> There are two basic pathways to content. Either it is prepackaged by
>>>> the country/state or the school/teachers create it. So, for instance
>>>> you want electronic versions of textbooks, then the books have to be
>>>> scanned or digitized (OCR). NCERT has already done this in an
>>>> experimental mode. http://www.ncert.nic.in/textbooks/testing/Index.htm
>>>> Anything that's HTML/web based for exams etc. are usable with a school
>>>> server. A lot of the material is not clear legally for reuse in such
>>>> environments.
>>>>
>>>> The mode of self-exploration and development of content locally is
>>>> based on activities such as Write (word processing), Memorize (memory
>>>> matching), etc. TamTamEdit is a music editing system that allows for
>>>> building card-based music scores, which can then be played in
>>>> TamTamJam.
>>>> http://tamtam4olpc.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/new-tamtam-90-flat.png
>>>>
>>>> Etoys is its own authoring system. Sandeep Surve, the teacher in
>>>> Khairat did some of his own development early on. I saw this when I
>>>> was there in 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgKy0SuZJHk
>>>>
>>>> Nepal is using a HTML and Javascript framework that they have
>>>> developed (http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Karma).
>>>>
>>>> The choices are several. A lot depends on who is authoring and how it
>>>> is delivered.
>>>>
>>>> Note: A good bit of this discussion should happen on the lists so that
>>>> others can chime in.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> cheers,
>>>> Sameer
>>>> --
>>>> Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
>>>> Associate Professor, Information Systems
>>>> Director, Campus Business Solutions
>>>> San Francisco State University
>>>> http://verma.sfsu.edu/
>>>> http://cbs.sfsu.edu/
>>>> http://is.sfsu.edu/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Soundar M
>>>>
>>>> eAccess
>>>>
>>>> New No.42, Old No.2,
>>>>
>>>> Vellalar Street,
>>>>
>>>> Near Best Hospital,
>>>>
>>>> Kodambakkam,
>>>>
>>>> Chennai - 600 024
>>>>
>>>> Mail : soundar at eaccessbpo.com
>>>>
>>>> Phone : + 91 - 44 - 43565774
>>>>
>>>> Mobile : + 91 - 9543009993
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -------------- next part --------------
>>>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>>>> URL:
>>>> http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/india/attachments/20100407/7e67be66/attachment.htm
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> India mailing list
>>>> India at lists.laptop.org
>>>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/india
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> End of India Digest, Vol 40, Issue 3
>>>> ************************************
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> India mailing list
>>> India at lists.laptop.org
>>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/india
>>>
>>>
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/india/attachments/20100429/8a7b3d70/attachment-0001.htm
More information about the India
mailing list