The Global Text Project (GTP) is a not for profit organization dedicated to the creation, translation, and distribution of free open content textbooks over the Internet. It is an

open educational resources Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and licensed to be free for the end user to own, share, and in most cases, modify. The term "OER" describes publicly accessible materials and ...

project focusing on reaching university students mainly in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

, where textbooks are often expensive and not affordable. Textbooks are necessary and crucial for higher education, but they are becoming increasingly expensive, even in the United States. Between 1998 and 2014 textbook prices increased by 161 percent. And since 1977, textbook prices in the country have risen 1,041 percent, more than triple the overall rate of U.S. inflation. Two major reasons that could be affecting textbook prices are the constant publication of new editions, and extra material bundled into the textbooks.

History

The Global Text Project was initiated in 2006 by Professors Don McCubbrey of the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver and Rick Watson of the

Terry College of Business The C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry College of Business is a constituent college of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States. The business college offers undergraduate programs, MBA programs, specialized master's programs and ...

at the University of Georgia. In 2007 the organization received funding from the Jacobs Foundation of Switzerland to move forward with a pilot test of the project. The project's original intention was to share open-content textbooks in English, Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish freely via the Global Text website. Currently, the website has over 100 textbooks primarily available in English, but many in Spanish and Chinese as well. Translations are also underway into Arabic and Dari.

Methodology

This project relies heavily on volunteers; however, the organization has found it challenging to engage volunteer translators in languages other than Spanish. Volunteers are currently enrolled as college or graduate students, and are bilingual to some extent. Other volunteers come from volunteer translator communities such as Translations for Progress and Translators Without Borders. Once a book has been chosen for translation based on global needs and availability of volunteer translators, work is allocated to a virtual team of translators using a Pyramid method.

The Pyramid Method

The Global Text Project developed this translation methodology to foster collaboration among student and other translators and engage them in the translation process. The Pyramid Method involves the following three steps: #The book to be translated is broken down into small segments for volunteers to translate, generally around 5 pages for novices. #Volunteers with a higher level proficiency review two or more segments and then pass several segments on for review by more experienced translators. #Finally, the entire book is reviewed by a professional with

domain knowledge Domain knowledge is knowledge of a specific, specialized discipline or field, in contrast to general (or domain-independent) knowledge. The term is often used in reference to a more general discipline—for example, in describing a software engin ...

and who is fluently bilingual. The book is then published on the Global Text website.

References

External links

*{{official website, www.globaltext.terry.uga.edu Online * Archived version : https://web.archive.org/web/20151109082622/http://globaltext.terry.uga.edu/ Open educational resources Educational charities based in the United States International educational charities 2006 establishments in the United States

History

Methodology

The Pyramid Method

See also

References

Further reading

External links