Celebrate World Book Day with The Literacy Project
Posted by Anne Meyer, Chief of Education Design, CASTAccording to UNESCO, one in five adults is illiterate, with the majority living in the developing world--where access to books, libraries, and education is often limited. But the barrier to literacy isn't simply a question of access, nor is it limited to the developing world. It's a problem we see in the U.S. as well. People may struggle to read for lots of reasons. Some of these have to do with basic literacy skills, such as inadequate vocabulary.
Sometimes readers have trouble "decoding" what that string of letters on a page really means--they might have reading disabilities, for example. Readers may not have enough background knowledge about a story's characters, geography, or culture.
At the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), an educational nonprofit near Boston, we have spent the past two decades working to leverage the potential of personal, digital technologies to customize educational media to meet individual needs. In celebration of World Book Day, CAST has created a powerful new tool, UDL Editions, that showcases how classic and sometimes difficult texts--such as Shakespeare's 18th Sonnet and Jack London's Call of the Wild--can be rendered in smart, reader-friendly ways to provide a whole host of learning supports--such as multimedia glossaries, chapter summaries, and read-aloud features, links to Google Maps to place settings in contemporary contexts.
The books are one of the many projects being featured starting today on The Literacy Project, a joint effort by Google, LitCam, and UNESCO's Institute for Lifelong Learning. The project encourages literacy and reading organisations from around the globe to connect and share materials and best practice--from a searchable maps database to e-learning tools--like PlanetRead's same-language subtitling videos--that can be used in the classroom.
We're really excited to be participating in the project. Come join us on the site and share your thoughts!
2008/4/23 参考消息 <janadatG2G@gmail.com>:
每年的4月23日是"世界读书日"，然而，有多少人知道这个节日？以笔者所在的城市看来，绝大多数人似乎没有"世界读书日"这个概念，至于举办公益性读书活动，也没有听说过。
想必我之感慨也是很多人的感慨。权威调查数据显示，从1999年到2005年，我国的国民阅读率从60.4%下降到了48.7%。
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via 言论_星岛环球网 by www.stnn.cc on 4/23/08
每年的4月23日是"世界读书日"，然而，有多少人知道这个节日？以笔者所在的城市看来，绝大多数人似乎没有"世界读书日"这个概念，至于举办公益性读书活动，也没有听说过。
想必我之感慨也是很多人的感慨。权威调查数据显示，从1999年到2005年，我国的国民阅读率从60.4%下降到了48.7%。
近两年的调查结果尚未公布，但据承担该项调查的中国出版科学研究所有关人士透露，全民阅读率仍然处于"下跌"惯性之中。由此看来，不读书成了一个通病，这委实令人遗憾和无奈。而笔者以为，正是基于这样的现实，政府部门应该担起"挽救读书率"的责任，把全民读书作为建设文明城市的重要工程，切实开展各种读书活动引导市民多读书、读好书。
据了解，在这方面，深圳已在全国先行一步，并为其它城市提供了宝贵经验。从2000年起，深圳每年都要举办读书月活动，活动内容包括读书、换书、赠书、征文、辩论、讲座、朗诵、研讨、展览等多种形式，市民可以根据自己的爱好自由参加活动。如今，读书活动已成为深圳的文化品牌，深圳市民的平均购书量和读书率在全国遥遥领先。
读书对于个人的好处自不用说，对于一个城市而言，如果读书氛围浓厚，市民的文明程度会越来越高，整个城市随之会变得更文明、更有内涵；反之，如果读书氛围淡薄，人们只关心权利和吃喝玩乐，这座城市势必会成为一座徒有其表的"荒凉之城"----也就是思想落后、缺少创造力、缺少以公平正义为内核的人道精神、缺少以包容性为特征的人文环境。
只可惜，不少地方对城市建设很卖力气，而对开展实惠于普通市民的读书活动并不重视。一个城市会因为热爱读书而更加受人尊敬，笔者希望有更多的地方能够结合广大市民的需要，多开展一些读书文化活动。（文/邓昌炉）
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