• Reuters, Wednesday, October 4, 2006 11:30 AM

Google is now teaching people how to read, unveiling a literacy Web site Wednesday that pulls together books, video, mapping and blogging services to provide educators with multimedia resources. The online giant launched the new reading site yesterday at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest gathering of publishing executives. "We hope this site will serve as a bridge to even greater communication and access to important information about literacy problems--and solutions," said Nikesh Arora, vice president of Google's European operations.

More than 1 billion people over the age of 15 are considered illiterate worldwide, according to UNESCO. Google has asked literacy groups around the globe to upload easy-to-follow teaching programs; among the first few hundred to be posted will be a project from India--a country with a massive literacy divide between rich and poor--that uses Bollywood figures to teach reading. Another, by a nonprofit in New York, uses a group of 6- to-9-year-olds to make a video tutorial for the new Google site. An older set films another one that uses claymation. "When our students see the Web as something they can contribute to--rather than just browse through--they're inspired to think bigger, write more and film more," said Joan Kim, the group's director of education. The service also leverages Google's mapping technology to enable worldwide literacy groups to find each other and share resources.

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