OLPC, UNICEF, Google bring children's own stories to web

Stephen Withers
Monday, 10 December 2007 06:21

Your IT - Home IT

Our Stories provides children in developing countries with a way of sharing their stories with the world.

The children are able to the OLPC XO laptops to record  and upload the stories told by their elders, family members, friends or themselves.

UNICEF field workers are extending this with recordings made on other types of device.

The stories can be accessed via a Google Map at the Our Stories web site.

The first batches come from Brazil, Ghana, Pakistan, Tanzania and Uganda.

"Information technologies can help young people around the world learn more about each other," said UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman. "Our Stories will promote dialogue across borders and cultures and give young people a voice on a wide range of issues."

At a later stage, people of all ages from around the world will be able to add their own stories to the site.

"In the coming years, we hope to capture and share millions of stories, which we believe will help to preserve a truly global, multi-lingual history of humanity in the 21st century" said Stephen Cho, a director of product management at Google and a participant in the project.

"We also hope that, in some small measure, the ability to listen to the voices of others, to hear first hand about their hopes and challenges, contributes to a better understanding of our shared humanity across the many lines which often divide us."