Dr Laura Hosman, ASU presenting at UNSW 9th August at 12.30pm
Over half of the world's population is without internet access. For most of those coming online, ‘online’ equates to social media, but there's much more to the internet than that. There's an entire skill-set of information literacy as well as digital literacy that needs to be developed by novice internet users to enable safe surfing and identification of credible sources.
SolarSPELL is able to reach the unconnected, bypassing infrastructural requirements and costs associated with providing both electricity and internet connectivity. This portable, waterproof, ruggedized solar digital library is designed for providing current and relevant content to schools and health care services in off-grid, unconnected locales. SolarSPELL provides a combination of societal and educational impact, backed by a proven partnership and attention to real world challenges and context.
This talk will discuss the development and use of SolarSPELL to provide real world impact on health and education in developing communities, as well as those responding to environmental disasters or cut off through geographical barriers; and will touch on the digital literacy required by people in those regions now becoming connected to the internet.
The speaker
Dr Laura Hosman, Associate Professor at Arizona State University, delivers on social impact though her humanitarian and sustainability expertise. With an emphasis on action-oriented, in-the-field work, Laura’s research focusses on the role for information and communications technology in developing countries, particularly in terms of its potential effects on socio-cultural factors, human development, and economic growth. Dr Hosman won the 2017 PLuS Alliance Prize for Education Innovation for the curriculum-developed SolarSPELL solution.
Presented by the School of Public Health & Community Medicine and PLuS Alliance.
Date: 9th August 2019 at 12.30pm - 1.30pm
Location: Berg Family Foundation Seminar Room, Level 6, Wallace Wurth Building (C27), UNSW Sydney
No bookings required, please just come along. For more information contact info@PLuSAlliance.unsw.edu.au
(Image: Access to education for all - Dr. Sethuraman (Panch) Panchanathan)
