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It has been eight years since we established the Digital Textbook and Educational Materials Council (DiTT) in 2010.
Initially, we wanted to promote our activities under the name “Digital Schoolbag” rather than “Digital Textbook.”
The proposal we submitted to the government in 2009 also referred to it as “Digital Schoolbag.”
We began using the term “Digital Randoseru” in 2005 at the “Children and Digital Technology Research Group (CCC = Children’s Creativity & Communication)” organized by CANVAS, when Mr. Takashi Sato of NTT proposed the “Randoseru PC.”
“A computer for upper-grade elementary school students. It can be used for learning, creativity, communication, and play. It’s affordable enough—like a school backpack—for every student to have one, and they carry it back and forth between home and school every day. It won’t break even if dropped.”
That was the gist of Mr. Sato’s memo.
　
2005 was also the year Nicholas Negroponte first presented the original concept for the $100 laptop at the World Economic Forum.
Notes from 2009.
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■Digital School Bag■
　Develop the “Digital School Bag,” an e-paper device that integrates textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, blank maps, newspapers, notebooks, pencils, erasers, rulers, paints, brushes, and a harmonica set onto a single screen, and create an environment where every elementary school student has one.
　・Dramatic improvement in the learning environment
　・Development of educational content and digital teaching materials
　・Pioneering the global market for next-generation devices such as PCs, cell phones, and game consoles
　　　Prototype development: 100 million yen. Cost per unit: approximately 20,000 yen.
　　　Distributing to approximately 10 million elementary and junior high school students would cost 200 billion yen;
　　　with the cost of providing one to students in a single grade totaling 24 billion yen (1.17 million new elementary school students).
　　　Currently, the annual budget for providing textbooks free of charge is 40 billion yen.
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We had always thought of the “randoseru” as the symbol of elementary school students, but
Mr. Son of SoftBank said it was actually “textbooks,” didn’t he?
That’s why the organization’s name is “Textbooks” rather than “Randoseru.”That was non-negotiable.
I was a little dissatisfied at the time.
　
However, I later came to the conclusion that revising the system surrounding textbooks was the first step toward widespread adoption, and it wasn’t until 2012—when I began proposing reforms to the system—that I finally accepted that the name “digital textbooks” was correct (*^^*)
　
I was reminded of this the other day while watching the NHK program “Heisei Internet History,” where Takafumi Horie said that Steve Jobs’ greatest achievement was naming that device the iPhone (meaning a phone).
But from now on, wouldn’t “Digital Randoseru” be more appropriate?
Buying a computer instead of a school backpack and adopting a BYOD policy.
　
With that in mind, thank you very much for your eight years of loyal readership of the DiTT newsletter.
Thank you very much.
We look forward to your continued support of the Learning of Tomorrow newsletter.