Google's new literacy website was launched at the same time as the Frankfurt Book Fair, an event in Germany that houses the world's largest gathering of publishing executives every year.
Two years ago, Google released its Google Books project to make millions of books digitally available over the Internet. This new project stems from the same desire to spread knowledge, says Nikesh Arora, vice president of Google's European operations, "Google's business was borne out of a desire to help people find information."
With more than one billion people around the world over the age of 15 considered illiterate, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Google's new literacy project should help reduce that number substantially if used where it is most needed.
In addition to the Google literacy website, the literacy project will also help the Internet search giant expand its Google video service, which is far behind such Internet video leaders like YouTube.com. But, Google's aim is to get more people into the realm of literacy -- and it just happens to have many of the digital tools to make that happen.
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