Library Projects in Developing Nations with Mobile Devices
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| Rural Kenya. Image Courtesy of Bill and Melinda Gates foundation- Global Libraries |
According to Rebecca McDonald, who is CEO of Library for All: A digital library for the developing world, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1692978335/library-for-all-a-digital-library-for-the-developi in developing countries such as Haiti, a school of several hundred students may only have about 30 library books. These books are so precious that they are often locked up and unavailable for students to take home. Rebecca has started the organization Library for All to help those living in poverty to have access to ebooks and other digital devices. She and her husband moved to Haiti after the the earthquake to help rebuild and realized that providing paper copy books was unsustainable and the information may be out of date. By providing the schools in Haiti with ebooks, laptops and digital resources needed to connect online, students are given access to thousands of books and learning opportunities, which they previously hadn't had. Also in the past, the books received in developing countries for libraries may have been books weeded out in developed countries because of their out of date information etc. By having access to ebooks the children have equal access to current books and current information as children in developed countries. The organization relies on support from individuals and companies to fund the project. The pilot school for the project is in Respire Haiti. One of the types of technology that they are using there is a lowcost tablet that retails at $40 called a Aakash tablet.
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| A grade 4 student in pilot school in Respire, Haiti using a low-cost Aakash tablet. Image courtesy of Rebecca McDonald, Library for all |
Mobile devices in developing countries such as Haiti, provide more democratic access to information as for the first time, it provides people in poverty with equal access to information as people in developed countries have which will enable them to learn new skills and have more control over their future.
Another organization that is really helping to enable developing countries to have access to digital books and digital resources in The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation-Global Libraries.http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Global-Libraries The philosophy behind this organization is based on the premise that by providing people in poverty access to information and knowledge it provides a more sense of equality worldwide in opportunity. Farmers can access information on crops and learn ways to produce bigger crop yields. This bee farmer in the video clip substantially increased his honey production after learning about new varieties of bees in farming on the internet.
Mothers can access health information in public libraries like this women in northern Ghana. She received a weekly text message providing her with information on prenatal development.
According to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, there are approximately 230,000 public libraries in developing countries. Public Libraries are becoming information centres in rural developing countries. A program called EIFL-PLIP which stands for Electronic Information for Libraries and the Public Library Innovative Programme is providing services such as prenatal information to this women in Ghana http://www.eifl.net/plip
This program focuses on connecting communities to vital information which improves their lives. This year to date the program has grown to a total of 39 services in 23 countries. The program helps provide information on agriculture, employment, health issues, helps youth. Some of the ways this organization has helped connect people to information through technology in libraries is:
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This is so great! You've captured a lot of very powerful applications of technology allowing access to knowledge, communities, health and prosperity in the developing world. Great job on the embedding, labelling, and design of the post as well. Overall, a very insightful and useful post for a wide audience.
ReplyDeleteDenise, I especially like the video. It was really interesting to see an example of a success story. I also like the bullet points you included. This could be an interesting starting point for an inquiry project at your school. Students could learn about these libraries in developing nations and could make some comparisons to their libraries (and perhaps they could get inspired to use libraries here a bit more or see the different possibilities that are made available because of libraries.)
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting post, I learned quite a bit! I've also wondered about the books that these countries receive. For example, the books that I am weeding from my collection will be donated to the Compassionate Warehouse and will then be distributed to third world countries. As great as this program as, of the many books that are being weeded, most are very out of date and I wonder about how long this information will be relevant for. The solution of using ebooks is a great one and I think this is an excellent way to provide access to multiple copies and relevant resources. Thanks for sharing!
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