Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf professor Christopher Kurz demonstrates a sign language storybook on the World Around You platform.
Documenting and collecting local sign languages and creating an open-content digital library of folktales offered in an interactive bilingual format
Project Name
World Around You
Location Implemented
Philippines
Technology Used
Assistive Technology
Competition Entered
Sign On For Literacy Prize
Reading Skill Targeted
Pre-Reading, Reading Environment
Status
Finalist
Amount Award
Up to $250,000
Collaborators/Partners
Philippine Federation of the Deaf, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde
The Challenge
Of the estimated 32 million deaf children globally, 80% do not have access to education and only 2% receive education in sign language. Without early access to language, children fail to develop social and cognitive skills at the same rate as their peers, hindering their ability to learn to read and write and isolating them from society over the course of their lives.
The Big Idea
Developing open source software that enables communities to create literacy content in local and national sign languages to be shared via an open-content digital library of folktales. Digital libraries will be viewable from any web browser, can be hosted locally on Linux-based computers and mobile devices, and remixed by individuals (including children) with simple text and video editing tools.
Featured Innovation
World Around You
Open source software that enables communities to create literacy content in local and national sign languages to be shared via an open-content digital library of folktales.
