SAfm Question Box interview

This Way Up, a program from Radio New Zealand, features an interview with Question Box founder Rose Shuman. This Way Up is a weekly two-hour show that explores the things we use and consume.  18 Jun, 2011 (11′29″) Check it out!

Idealist has just added Question Box and Open Question to their Idea File. Check out the complete article!  Here’s an excerpt:

Why we’re adding it to the Idea File

• Circumvents the limitations of the web. If you’re like me and speak one of the top ten languages on the internet, then you probably take for granted that we have access to an incredible wealth of information with just one click. But the world has 1,000+ languages, and Google is available in “nearly 40″ of them.
• Gives most everyone access. Reaches people on the margins: the illiterate, women who are excluded from communication, the visually impaired, and those who are too poor to even have a mobile phone.
• Provides employment. Operators have the opportunity to use their language skills, and make some money while they’re at it.
• Utilizes local knowledge. In many villages, knowledge is passed down from generation to generation, or neighbor to neighbor. Question Box not only places values on its importance, but helps capture it for future use.

Question Box: Bringing the Power of the Internet to People Without Computers

Alex Goldmark

Google is great. Ask basic questions, get instant answers. You do it every day, and are more efficient for it. That access to information can be a matter of life or death or business survival in rural villages in the developing world, but the people who need basic information the most often don’t have internet access or computers. They may not even be able to read or write. So Rose Shuman, of the nonprofit Open Mind, came up with a plan to bring the value of a Google-type search to even the most remote parts of the globe.

Question Box is like a “fairy Godmother internet librarian for the village,” Shuman explained to the Guardian’s Activate conference in New York. It’s a powerful idea, but Shuman’s willingness to change course when it wasn’t working also provides a lesson for development aid organizations, as she explained to GOOD.

Read full article on GOOD.is

International Trade Forum asked Question Box Founder Rose Shuman to write an article detailing how our service and philosophy relates to Aid for Trade.

Question Box: Crossing the digital divide

Listen to the interviews and discussion -  click the link below:

QB BBC interview Sept 2010

Rose & Nikhil emphasized using technology that local populations are already familiar with, so that development organizations can focus on their initiatives and not on teaching new technologies. Rose unveiled upcoming plans to launch an online guide that will teach community organizations how to start their own live, local-language hotlines. The BBC announcers lauded the Question Box initiative, saying “It was a good idea when it started; it continues to be a good idea.”

Question Box gets written about in Deutsche Welle.

Excerpt:

“Maher founder Sister Lucy Kurien, 54, said Question Box was useful for students who need help with homework and want to find out about exam results. Although that information has been available online, students couldn’t access it – until now.

‘It has been very difficult for them, unless they get (the information) from the newspaper or the radio,” she said. “And we have a simple television program, but we don’t have a television cable connection. It has been very difficult.’ ” Read full article