An excellent idea has just come downstream from Sajan Venniyoor. He suggests that we utilise the radio for making print available to the visually disabled. This would include everything from school textbooks to novels, short stories, plays and poems, to articles and features in newspapers and magazines. I like it. It’s simple, do-able, and has the potential to extend in other ways.

Since recordings will anyway be done, visually disabled students could be offered these “textbooks” as CDs or audio cassettes. Magazine articles and newspaper features could lead to on-air discussions and round-tables.

The question that’s been turning in my mind is: would publishers be open to sharing their content on-air without any charge? Would they be willing if we gave them back that content as audio files (a kind of barter arrangement?). Or, in the spirit of the enterprise, will they truly believe, that a good idea (or book) gets better when it is spread around?

First published on November 19, 2008
#community-radio#education

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