Board members were handed a Kindle instead of the typical thick board binder at a Mott Foundation meeting. Is this another case of Not-for-profits stepping into the gap, leading the way? Well then, how does it square with Mott’s commitment to ‘learn how people can live together most effectively…and create a sense of “community,” or belonging, whether at the local neighborhood level or as a global society’?
Maybe Mott has in mind expediting the day when tree pulp is no longer needed for Power Points and Word documents. Kudos to them! After all, using an eBook lessens the environmental impact not to mention the guilt of all those forlorn board packets shoved in a file cabinet or on a shelf or worse, a shopping bag never to be referenced again. A little like college books that are out of date, but live on my bookshelf anyway. At some point they are merely decoration, dusty nostalgia, clutter.
I think the bigger point – the stepping into the gap point – is figuring out how we all will make this shift to eBooks. And I applaud Mott for trying to figure it out. At the time they took the initiative the Kindle was the leading eReader. Wish I could have seen the faces of the Board members as they looked at the Kindle. No doubt a few already owned one so it was not a new experience. For others it would have been simple enough to view the meeting materials. Someone had to mention that everything was in black and white…unless that was somehow altered by a savvy tech person.
But, my guess is the board members were not clued in to the work required behind the scenes to get the presentation on the device. And, they may have been basking in the glow of taking that first important step and missed the fact that the Kindle is not friendly for the uninitiated. It is designed to work flawlessly to connect to the Kindle store and drive sales through Amazon. It has been a struggle at SterlingHope to ‘navigate the Amazon’ in order to convert our books to this format for the different versions of the Kindle.
So, while I applaud Mott for stepping into the gap by asking their Board to test a new way of receiving reports, Amazon’s ‘exclusivity’ seems to be in direct conflict with creating a global community. Bit by bit Amazon is figuring this out…lowering the price and now distributing in Staples stores . So maybe it was enough to think differently at the Mott Board meeting…or maybe next year it will be iPads for all.
Imagine if Amazon – or someone – stepped into the gap and gave Kindles away to deserving non-profit organizations. Socially responsible, philanthropic, and who knows where it might lead.
Had not thought of that one, great idea…let’s start a movement.
‘“ I am really thankful to this topic because it really gives up to date information :,`