Books via camels and mules

Earlier in August Kevin Kelly blogged a unique book mobile service. Two such services deliver books to the readers in the remote areas of Venezuela (via mule) and Kenya (via camel). Meet a Venezuelan bibliomula: And a Camel Book Mobile in Kenya: These mules and camels are sometimes the only access remote communities have to books. And books are not all they provide. The two organizations that run the book mobiles have big plans for the future.In Venezuela:

As the project grows, it is using the latest technology. Somehow there is already a limited mobile phone signal here, so the organisers are taking advantage of that and equipping the mules with laptops and projectors. The book mules are becoming cyber mules and cine mules. "We want to install wireless modems under the banana plants so the villagers can use the internet," says Robert Ramirez, the co-ordinator of the university's Network of Enterprising Rural Schools. "Imagine if people in the poor towns in the valley can e-mail saying how many tomatoes they'll need next week, or how much celery. The farmers can reply telling them how much they can produce. It's blending localisation and globalisation."