Building an open source, mobile optimized, crowd-source translation tool for literacy engagement in rural Kenya

OSU Libraries and Press has been investigating alternative publishing paradigms, primarily using mobile technologies to explore how users can access and manipulate information. Maria's Libraries, an NGO in rural Kenya, in conjunction with Kenya National Library Services, has been testing innovative approaches and leapfrogging technologies through a network of libraries for the social, political, and economic development of communities in resource-poor settings. Together, these two organizations have been creating a mobile optimized platform using open source tools which will provide users the ability to crowd source translations of folk tales and existing children's books into a variety of African languages, sub-languages, and dialects. The goals of the tool are to provide opportunities for users to explore and play with new technologies, to provide a tool to improve early childhood literacy and to provide opportunities for cost-effective, multi-language publishing.