Low Tech Gutenberg?

Peace Corps Guy asks: "I have a friend who recently left for a two year Peace Corps stint in Mozambique. While there she has limited access to electricity, no technology, and not a lot to do with her 'off' time. She's a big literature fan, and many of us here at home would like to send a care package - but how best to ship pieces of free online text like Project Gutenberg to a developing nation? We can print it (high shipping and printing costs), print it very small and ship her a high quality fresnel lens (awkward), or put it all on a cheap PDA, which would be a high theft risk en route and in situ. High shipping costs on weight and volume are another major limiting factor. What alternative solutions can Slashdot readers suggest for shipping a freely available byte-stream to someone without a computer?"

Digital media

[mpmansell]

If she already has a PDA, or can get one, then the best way would be to send data via SD media.

As for powering the PDA, there are a number of options using solar power

Not Gutenberg

[Scarblac]

Amazon delivers to Mozambique (linky [amazon.com]). Just order some actual books and have them delivered. Some nice Penguin Classics paperback edition or so would probably be more practical to read than any of your ideas for delivering a Gutenberg text as well, I would think.

(Possibly giving this answer makes me a total moron because I obviously forgot about a number of problems with it, and it's not even an answer to the question. If so, kindly explain why it won't work. Ta)

Re:A (compartively) new way of encoding byte-strea

[Otter]

Yeah, I've tried to swear off responding to Ask Slashdot's with "Don't even bother!" but, really, he's right.

You're talking about books that are off copyright, anyway -- buy some cheap or used paperbacks and send them as parcels. (I think there's even a discount books-only rate.) It's foolproof, familiar and when she's done, she can distribute or trade the books. A much better plan than microfiche and a Fresnel lens.

One up on the book shipping

[Hellraisr]

Here's an idea. Open a website that allows people to donate books to this person, much like a paypal donation site. On top of you shipping books to your friend, other people can also ship off a couple old books that they don't want anymore.

It would save on shipping costs for you (I think what you're trying to do is ship a huge amount of printed material, right?), and wouldn't cost many other people very much either.

Re:Low tech data transport?

[fm6]

I tried that one. Bandwidth sucks. Latency is unbelievable. Not to mention packet loss [mooseyscountrygarden.com]...

Re:Low tech data transport?

[zcat_NZ]

Not as silly as it sounds (for small distances at least..)

http://science.slashdot.org/science/04/03/31/222 42 27.shtml?tid=126&tid=133&tid=186&tid=95

Send books

[jbarr]

OK, so others have already suggested this, but really, it's probably the best solution for many reasons. For example, when the person is done reading them, give the books away to locals to promote the stories. It's educational, and a great way to expose others to the literature. The problem with at PDA is that its the usefulness is really limited to that one person, but if you send books, they can be passed around to countless people. We take things like this for granted but many would love to get their hands on books to pass around...

Re:Just buy real books

[RomulusNR]

$10?? Hell, you could get them for a buck or less (US) at a Goodwill or other thrift store, maybe as much as $3-5 at a used book store.

Re:Similar problem here...

[hoggoth]

What's REALLY REALLY funny about this is I purposely picked the most absurb example I could think of, with the SMALLEST, LIGHTEST, MOST PORTABLE musical instrument in existance and compared it to hauling a TON of unnecessary high-tech equipment.

And still I'm getting serious replies.

Just a thought...

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Maybe the problem of getting books there is something that the Peace Corps should be looking at. Teach a man to fish and all that...

Re:Just buy real books

[Chapium]

First of all, I'd like to compliment the courage of your friend. But really, just send a real book. They are nice. You can keep a slip of paper on them, share them with others, and they are very easy to read. Besides.. depending on where they are, electricity might not be always there. Batteries are just going to poop out. One of the best things about being out there is removal from electronics and crazy things like that. A book will do nicely :D

Re:Make books on CD

[John_Booty]

Are you seriously suggesting that hours upon hours of horrible monotone text-to-speech voice samples would be REMOTELY pleasurable to listen to?

Even the best text-to-speech stuff I've heard is, uh, not something I'd want to listen to for hours on end. What you've descrived sounds like a particularly excruiating version of pure hell.

Re:A (compartively) new way of encoding byte-strea

[s4f]

Sounds good, but they do in fact require an external energy source. Solar power is your best bet, but any of the solar subtitutes availble will probably work fine.

Re:A (compartively) new way of encoding byte-strea

[Bud]

...an embedded reader which does not require an external source of energy.

No no, you've got the specs wrong. The embedded reader is based on reflective technology and absolutely REQUIRES an external energy source. Best results may be achieved using a giant ball of flaming gas positioned above and behind the user's shoulder. This is actually the preferred source of energy, since giant flaming balls of gas are abundant on this world. In this case you don't have to worry so much about environmental conditions, e.g. even backscatter works fine.

If the giant ball of flaming gas is hidden behind solid objects ("gone where the sun don't shine") and/or is difficult to position (e.g. due to lack of levers and/or fixed points from which to move the Earth), you must simply rely on backscatter from other planetary objects or produce your own energy e.g. by incinerating animal fats.

--Bud