Digital Audio to Reduce Illiteracy, Poverty and Disease

Speaker: Cliff Schmidt

Knowledge is power; but most knowledge is tied up in text. So how do over one billion illiterate adults in the world access knowledge crucial to preventing disease, creating economic opportunity, and defending their political and human rights? In response to this problem, Literacy Bridge (http://literacybridge.org) was founded to empower children and adults with tools for scalable knowledge sharing and literacy learning. The Talking Book Project is Literacy Bridge's major program, developing new and affordable digital audio technology to provide vital, locally generated information and literacy training to people with limited access to either. Imagine an affordable MP3 player used to play locally generated podcasts, plus a decentralized, digital content distribution system that reaches villages without electricity but also enables global content sharing. During this talk, Cliff will share his observations from his time in a remote region of Ghana, where Literacy Bridge's Talking Book Project is being tested.