In 2007, Christopher Hail began to contribute to the scholarly research on the work of Domenico Scarlatti by authoring an erudite, witty, and successful website dedicated to the Italian composer. He contributed to it daily, until his death in 2014. Given the relevance of Hail’s research, his family estate resolved to publish the content of →
Public elementary schools appear to be eliminating the teaching of cursive writing. Early introduction to block letters today apparently only readies youngsters to recognize letters on a keyboard and begin typing ASAP, thumbing in texts and tweets on screens, rather than serving as a precursor to learning cursive writing as a primary means of documentation →
OBS is excited to be working with Common Ground’s new product Scholar — “a web writing space for learners of the social media generation” — to explore the dynamic interface where content (aka “books”) meets readers (“students”) and… things change. What used to be an essentially private act of reading and learning, led by a →
Last year, the roll out of the multi-state Common Core Standards in the New York state public education system ignited major controversy. Many parents were surprised to hear that the Common Core had been implemented in their children’s schools. They were frustrated at the lack of official communication on the matter, too: the schools and →
As the immigrant population swells in the United States, the number of Americans growing up with English as a Second Language (ESL) has increased as well. While some debate whether one can be considered American if they do not speak the nation’s official language, the reality remains that in some U.S. public schools, over 40% →
OBS intern Oliver notes that: “In the near future, custom publishing may run only skin-deep. In light of Apple’s recent introduction of Touch ID, a fingerprint scanner to the iPhone 5S, it could soon become possible to receive any amount of pre-packaged, personalized information everywhere you go at no more than the push of a →
When the Library of Congress published a free edition of Jefferson’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress, Ralph Eubanks, former Director of Publishing at the Library, noted in his introduction Most important, this free, electronic book fulfills Thomas Jefferson’s belief in universal education. “…Enlighten the people generally,” he urged, “and tyranny and →