“In order to be really good as a librarian, everything counts towards your work, every play you go see, every concert you hear, every trip you take, everything you read, everything you know.” – Allen Smith, PhD
Lubuto means knowledge, enlightenment and light in the Bemba language, and this is exactly what the Lubuto Library Project is proving vulnerable children throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
The project is a non-profit based in Washington DC which has been providing library services since 2005. Their aim is to help provide information, a space for socialization, and a positive physical environment for children throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The project began after seeing the success a makeshift library at the Fountain of Hope Center which provided help for street children, victims of the AIDS crisis.
Each Lubuto Library has starts out with a collection of 5,000 items, primarily non-fiction, and covering a wide range of subjects. The initial collection has only English language books, but material in local languages is added once the library is established.
Interestingly, this project helps children in the USA as well. The project aims to educate children in the USA about the impact of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, while helping create the collections, organizing them, and helping out with other aspects of the project, as well as learning about the children these libraries will impact.
The above video shows the libraries, the children they service, as well as the children in the USA who organize book drives and help keep the project going in a number of other ways.
You can learn more about this project by visiting their website.
The Mali government has begun work to create a library that will house material from Timbuktu’s golden age. Material consists of works of law, history, poetry, and science, much of which has been gathered from private collections, and storerooms, many having been in danger of decay for lack of proper care.
The material is being made available on the web through Aluka, a project which works to make digital content from and about Africa available on the web. Aluka does require users to be members to access their content. The project also counts with the help of the Mellon Foundation and Northwestern University.
You can read more about this story form an article in the NYT.
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is a collaboration, started in 1989, of the 53 Commonwealth head’s of state to promote open and distance learning (ODL), as well as sharing resources and technologies. COL works with government officials to promote information and communication technologies (ICT) as a means to impact the areas of education, learning for livelihoods, and human environment.
One of the projects launched by the COL is the WikiEducator, a website that gathers people who believe education should be free and available to all. They aim at helping users plan, and develop educational projects, especially those based on free content. Through their Learning4Content program they are working at conducting workshops, train educators, and develop free educational content. At times all of this work is done virtually, other times participants have been able to meet to collaborate.
COL also helped coordinate the development of a Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC). During its initial stage, the VUSSC will focus on creating courses in Tourism and Hospitality, and Small Business Management.
The COL understands that millions of children worldwide have no access to basic education, and many more are taught by poorly trained teachers, and study in schools with few resources. Estimates are that about a billion adults worldwide are illiterate, or have received a very rudimentary education. And while COL focuses on the Commonwealth countries, it aims to help improve opportunities for all adults, children and the generations to come.
I truly love the “radical” idea behind these projects, that education should be free and accessible to all! May the Commonwealth of Learning continue with many more great projects!
This morning the New York Times had an article about two parallel art exhibits displaying art looted during WWII. The exhibit is a collaboration between France and Israel in aims at reconnecting these pieces with their original owners. Most of the art on display was either outright looted or forcefully “bought” by the Nazi, and so far has gone unclaimed, presumably because the original owners were likely killed in the Holocaust. The collections contain a number of “common” pieces, but also works from renown artist such as Cézanne, Manet, Degas, Chagall, Delacroix, and Monet among others.
Art and other cultural pieces are often looted during times of war and much has been written and discussed on the subject. Actually a couple semesters ago I attended a lecture by Patricia Kennedy Grimsted, a Harvard professor who has written extensively on collections held in Russian archives which previously belong to other nations. Her book, “Trophies of War and Empire: The Archival Heritage of Ukraine, World War II and the International Politics of Restitution” discusses the complexities of restitution and why countries loot other nations’ cultural treasures.
Fortunately there are efforts around the globe to stop this practice. The Lost Art Internet Database is a project from the Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste which is working to reconnect lost cultural property to its original owners. Looted Art is another such initiative, and while many of these efforts circle the Holocaust this is not a phenomenon seen exclusively around WWII, Chile recently returned a number of book taken from the Peruvian National Library about 100 years ago. And it’s not just armies who walk away with cultural property that belongs to others. Some of the largest and best endowed universities and museums around the world have gotten some of their material in such a matter. Egypt has been demanding the return of the Rosetta Stone for years, to name just one example (You can read about this from an article in the BBC). Unfortunately we are still seeing this practice in current times; the National Museum of Iraq was gravely looted during the USA invasion. (You can read about the Iraqi National Museum from an article in the Guardian.)
A recent article in the BBC shows how recent violence in Kenya sparked from election disputes has affected the flower industry. Usually Valentines means that workers can expect to work longer hours, and make some extra money. Others can take temporary work on these large farms, but this year ethnic violence has forces many of these workers to flee their homes and jobs, leaving the Kenyan flower industry in a difficult situation for the highest demand of the year. The industry seems to be running on about 80% of it’s usual workforce, while some of the more fortunate workers have been offered housing on the farms, and have thus been able to keep their jobs, many have been forced to send their families to live elsewhere. The most unfortunate ones had to leave everything behind, or worst yet were killed.
Violence has also disrupted transportation routs forcing flower farmers to incur more expenses by having to charter flights to deliver their product. And while we can hope that this violence will be passing, failing to deliver on the industry’s most important day can damage confidence in the Kenyans flower industry for years to come.
In Colombia Valentine day has been adopted by workers in the flower as International Day of Flowers Workers; a day designed to raise awareness about the poor conditions in which many workers toil. This movement is being highlighted by Florverde certification which places its symbol on flower production which meets their social and environmental standards. Now Florverde is trying to increase labor standards and work with trade unions to continue improving the industry.
Florverde certification covers about 25% of the Colombian flower industry, and its criteria include standards such as sealing fumigated areas to protect workers. Although these seem like obvious steps it is actually commons to have workers in the same area where pesticides are being used. In the past the industry has also seen some very nasty disputes over labor issues and attempts at unionizing. Currently there are some farms that have greatly improved conditions for workers offering decent wages, and daycare, but many other farms still have a very long way to go.
Now partnerships with European markets may help improve the situation. In order to sell in European markets, Colombian flowers would have to meet UK’s Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). Complying with ETI includes freely chosen employment (no prison labor), freedom of association and respecting collective bargaining, safe and hygienic working conditions, the absence of child labor, living wages, reasonable working hours, the absence of discrimination, having regular employment, as well as no tolerance for harsh or inhumane treatment (read their full code here).
It would be great if the other large consumer of cut flowers would also set up to the plate and help improve conditions in this industry that brighten our days, while exploiting so many others.
You can read the BBC article about Kenya here, Colombia here. You can read another article on the situation in Kenya from the Washington Post here.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has recently published Information Economy Report 2007-2008 which notes that the digital divide is still very much an issue that must be addressed. The report explains that while digital penetration is growing daily through the world, most developing countries are still far behind (with the few exceptions of countries like Korea and Singapore).
The report notes that in terms of information communication technologies, mobile phones are opening new pathways for people around the world to communicate and access information, and are in many occasions frog leaping several steps in the communication development process. Countries with high rise in mobile phone penetrations are starting to experience a new form of commerce, “M-commerce”. People in countries such as Nepal and Ghana are using mobile phones to buy and sell products, as well as keeping in touch. This same report illustrated their point by commenting on results seen in Thailand. The study showed that a 10% increase in computer literary will produce a 3.5% in productivity increase.
In terms of internet penetrations, most developing countries are also still far behind, with internet access being prohibitively expensive, even when it is available. Still the silver lining is that just a few years ago the developed world had ten times more access to internet, and now the disparity is only of 6 times the amount. I guess this is an improvements, but the situation is still highly unequal.
And while a discussion on access is very important we also still need to have a discussion on related policy issues that should ensure equal access, plus security for users.
A couple of days ago the BBC had an article about this issue. You can read it here. For more visual information on this issues check out the for the Internet User Stats showing a variety of graphs on internet penetration, growth, and usage divided by geographical regions.
After 5 years of planing and development the “$100 Laptop” is finally making its way out into the real world! One of the first countries where the XO, as it is also know, was tested, was Nigeria. At this early developmental stage producers wanted to see if the small laptop could really withstand hard use by children. Teachers in the small village are sure that the laptops are helping improve children’s learning experience, and that this learning is extending back home to the children’s parents. Unfortunately it has not all been perfect. Some of the laptop have eventually broken, and there is little support for maintenance. Accessing the internet has also been found to be prohibitively expensive in many instances.
Sadly there has also been open disregard to this initiative. The education minister of Nigeria Dr. Igwe Aja-Nwachuku is quoted by the BBC as saying, “What is the sense of introducing One Laptop Per Child when they don’t have seats to sit down and learn; when they don’t have uniforms to go to school in, where they don’t have facilities?” I would argue that uniforms are less of a need to learn than a laptop which can connect you to the world, and as for adequate learning environments; it would be great if all children had nice, well stocked classrooms, but educational advances should not be obstructed because other aspects of education are still lacking. Different initiatives can work on different aspects of this problem and we can only hope that some day children all around the world will receive everything they need to obtain a great education.
This project is so simple, yet so powerful and its sad to see so many people criticizing it and fighting against it, specially when they offer little in alternatives. Access to a good education is an issues even in first world countries such as the USA. Here there are plenty of children is poor neighborhoods and rural areas who attend schools with pitiful infrastructures and resources. Being this the case, why not give kids the tools to take charge of their own education? I’m not naive enough to think that a kid with a laptop will only be doing homework, but I do believe that as they explore the web, and use the different tools preloaded into these machines they will gradually explore the world as learn as they go. Today every single employment field requires knowledge of at least some technology and awareness of the world. The XO can provide this to millions of children around the world.
There are only a few days left, but if you want to help support this great project you can participate in the “Give One, Get One” program that will be running until Dec. 31, 2007.
01.05.08 - Today the BBC reports that Intel has left the OLPC project. Intel has cited philosophical differences for leaving the project. Apparently OLPC asked Intel to exclusively support their project, instead of backing other projects such as the Classmate PC. On a positive note, the same article notes that the “Give One, Get One” initiative has managed to raise awareness and funds for this projects, allowing them to launch initiatives in Afghanistan, Mongolia, Haiti, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Ethiopia.
December 10 seems to be a date that gathers many great events.
Today is International Human Rights Day. This year the UN is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. The theme for this year long celebration is Dignity and Justice for all of us. December 10 was chosen on December 10, 1948 by the UN General Assembly, to commemorate the first declaration of human rights. You can learn more about Human Right Day and see how it has been celebrated in the past here.
Today is also Melvin Dewey (1851- 1931) and Emily Dickinson’s (1830-1886) birthdays. Dewey was the inventor of the Dewey Decimal Classification systems for libraries. The American poetess was also born on December 10, 1830. Curiously, both Dewey and Dickinson lived in Amherst, MA around the same time.
Other interesting events that have taken place on this date include; The USA state of Wyoming grants women the vote in 1869; In 1898 the Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Spanish-American War; The first Noble Prize is awarded in 1901; A year later in 1902 women are given suffrage in Tasmania.
To see other events and birthdays on this date, look here.
A World Digital Library is coming together after an agreement signed yesterday between Abdul Waheed Khan, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communications and Information, and James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress in the USA’s Library of Congress. The project was started in 2005 by a $3 million grant from Google.
The project aims is to create digital copies of unique material from libraries around the world and make them available over the internet for free. Some of the libraries participating include the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the National Library of Egypt, the National Library of Brazil, the National Library of Russia and the Russian State Library.
The prototype for this digital collection is still being worked on, but it is expected to function in all six official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish), and Portuguese.
This project also aims at helping develop the capabilities of developing countries to create and promote digital libraries. This way the collection can reflect more of the world’s culture, and hopefully will help promote cross-cultural learning and understanding, while simultaneously preserving some rare objects from these collections.
Today is the 40th anniversary of “Che’s” (June 14 1928-Oct 9, 1967) capture and execution (Oct 9th) in the Bolivian mountains. After studying medicine in Argentina, and later traveling throughout Latin America, Ernesto Guevara met his destiny in Mexico and joined a group of young idealist who would come to overthrow the Batista regime in Cuba.
After helping win a revolution “Che” became Cuba’s National Treasurer, a bizarre position for a man who seemed mostly concerned with loftier notions of freedom and equality for all. Still, “Che” has a number of opponents, many of whom had to sufferer through his harsh and often inflexible treatment towards those he felt weren’t helping improve this world.
I’ve read a couple of biographies on “Che,” and while I admire him for having the courage of his convictions, and for being deeply committed to improving this world, I’m also bothered by how he (like many other guerrillas, and revolutionaries) was able to distance himself from the people closest to him in order to help “save” others. “Che” fought for people in distant lands whom he had no direct connections to, like Cuba, the Congo and Bolivia.
You can read more about the celebrations taking place today in places like Cuba, Argentina and Bolivia in an article from the BBC. The BBC has a second article today recounting the story of his capture and execution. There’s a whole wealth of information on him on his Wikipedia entry.
The Guardian has a great set of images of “El Che” from around the globe.
