A fund for people who don't have easy access to Joomla! books
On http://groups.google.com/group/joomla-dev-general/browse_thread/thr... someone was advised some books for learning more about Joomla!-development. He wrote back: " I am in Zimbabwe and we dont have credit cards so it will be a bit difficult for me to buy those books." Of course some people responded that they will take care of the payment; I like the Joomla! community.
As a result of the incident I got an email from a student from the Philipines, who also had trouble buying those books. We emailed about the use of PDF's (and the illegal copies being around on the internet). He wrote a.o.: "The reason I would prefer a book compare to online resources, it's because I can spend most of the time learning when I have spare time and not focusing with other things. I think most book has full documentations of every component you need to know. I can't buy the book online because my paypal funds isn't enough. (...) The money I can earn is used for my college tuition".
The whole situation made me think: we could create a fund and raise some money to do something like this on a more structural basis. So we can stimulate more people who cannot easily get access to books to get those books. Or get them at a discount. Maybe we should talk to the publisher (PacktPub) about it too. I think it is stimulating if we could send out some printed books; they are easier for learning than a PDF (although
that could be a start too; and possibly bettter from an environmental point of view). Maybe some other sponsors for this? Ideas? Who joins?
On the mailinglist there was also an interesting suggestion of getting Joomla!-books in libraries. So, more people can use them. Maybe we can offer some help to people who cannot afford books as easily as "we", from the richer countries. It would be nice if we could keep it simple.
In my opninion it fits good in some of the values that Joomla! stands for.
As a result of the incident I got an email from a student from the Philipines, who also had trouble buying those books. We emailed about the use of PDF's (and the illegal copies being around on the internet). He wrote a.o.: "The reason I would prefer a book compare to online resources, it's because I can spend most of the time learning when I have spare time and not focusing with other things. I think most book has full documentations of every component you need to know. I can't buy the book online because my paypal funds isn't enough. (...) The money I can earn is used for my college tuition".
The whole situation made me think: we could create a fund and raise some money to do something like this on a more structural basis. So we can stimulate more people who cannot easily get access to books to get those books. Or get them at a discount. Maybe we should talk to the publisher (PacktPub) about it too. I think it is stimulating if we could send out some printed books; they are easier for learning than a PDF (although
that could be a start too; and possibly bettter from an environmental point of view). Maybe some other sponsors for this? Ideas? Who joins?
On the mailinglist there was also an interesting suggestion of getting Joomla!-books in libraries. So, more people can use them. Maybe we can offer some help to people who cannot afford books as easily as "we", from the richer countries. It would be nice if we could keep it simple.
In my opninion it fits good in some of the values that Joomla! stands for.
-
Comment by alledia on July 13, 2010 at 5:39pm -
A very good idea Herman.
I don't have a book out, but if needed we can throw in some free subscriptions to our Joomla classes http://OSTraining.com. That's pretty much everything people need to know to get started and no shipping needed ...
-
Comment by Amy Stephen on July 13, 2010 at 8:51pm
-
Definitely will chip in, as well. Along with a book, it might be good to assign a mentor. I'd be willing to help with that. It'd be good to get them involved, if they are interested. That's another good way to learn.
Thanks, Herman, for getting this rolling. Very good initiative.
-
Comment by Jen Kramer on July 14, 2010 at 8:41am -
Hey all -- I have a few copies of my book left and would be happy to send 3 of them somewhere if someone is organizing this.
Jen
-
Comment by Jen Kramer on July 14, 2010 at 8:44am
-
You can also ask publishers for copies of their books as giveaways. Packt generally doesn't give away too many, but O'Reilly will generally send books, as will Wrox/Wiley (my publisher), Pearson (which includes Barrie North's book), Peachpit, and InformIT. If you have a plan for how this will work, particularly if they get credit in a story somewhere, you are likely to get more books.
Comment
© 2012 Created by Amy Stephen.
You need to be a member of All Together, As A Whole to add comments!
Join All Together, As A Whole