'... illiteracy, unwritten languages, modernity, globalization & the
net'
Below are ideas for net education for the most remotest of places on
earth I was regurgitating last year. Great to see the parallels, in
particular the use of various media and pda like things. I am still very
interested in suggestions for how to actually proceed. I was thinking of
rural south asia at the time but the general idea is applicable, common
sense, but not done yet as far as I know.
>> Rural urban webworld project <<
[for schools and adults]
Sketch:
o Rural [+urban]
o Internet access
o Schools / community / village centers
o To get around illiteracy and 'text bias' of internet: use camera
+ video + audio over internet to interact with :
§ family anywhere in the world
§ business contacts, merchants and markets
§ cultural community contacts
o take up project of writing down spoken ‘unwritten’ languages in
own or urdu script
o make html pages of content in that language
and upload to web for community use the world over
– ‘preserve’ language in this way in multimedia
§ new content relevant to community
§ translations from other languages such as English
§ use internet for education in schools,
by selecting content which is relevant,
needed and appropriate, making own curriculum
o educating children in their own languages as well, now on web.
[while they are growing up, their unwritten language becomes
'written' on the web, while eventually they become the
primary producers and users of that content.]
o prepare illiterate rural + urban communities for the information
explosion and
o prepare them for associated social changes through
awareness, empowerment, decision-making, using
discriminatory selective access to the world
o protect living cultures using multiple media
Setting up:
o provide technical training and assistance to teacher, community
worker
o setting up language html and tools
o troubleshooting
o helping shape social cultural agenda
o helping setup contacts
o help become self sufficient eg through use of solar panel, etc
o net access via satellite - gov or private,
where landlines not possible
|