Sub-theme 8. Opportunities and challenges of digital commons
Panel 8.2.
World Librarians: A Knowledge Commons supporting offline rural, offline schools in Malawi and Kenya
In this practitioner panel, a cross-national team will discuss the “World Librarians” (WL) system, a global socio-technical KnowledgeCommons system working to close the information access problem that many remote offline schools have in lesser developed contexts, and a focus on removing GlobalNorth-South power differentials. We will discuss the operational system refined over six years; operational in Malawi and Kenya. We will describe: (1) the WL physical infrastructure, including solar-powered computer labs, Keepod flash drive operating systems; (2) an offline WiFi server with a database of open educational material; (3) the Twitter-based communication system where schools request information they want – not what the people in the Global North think they want; and (4) and the open access librarian search by Internet have locations, and the “digital postage-based” transmission system of data found to the requester. We will also discuss challenges and opportunities we’ve discovered along the way.
Panel Participants (assuming travel funding):
– Carl Meyer, Executive Director of ShiftIT, a technology organization in Malawi that sets up solar power, computer labs, and the relationship between the school and the searcher team (https://www.shiftit.co.za/#Team)
– Francis Warukira, Director of NetBilaNet(Internet without Internet), a nonprofit in Nairobi supporting WL there
– Sofie Roux, inventor of the “Bloombox” solar-powered shipping container to support WL computer labs
– Toussaint Kanyenyetsi of Salama Africa, an organization supporting refugees in the Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi
– Members of the WL searcher team @ UMass, Amherst, led by Professor Charlie Schweik.
