The Digital Study Hall: A People's Database of Everything:
What They Do:
Every so often you come across and idea that is exhilarating in terms of the scope of the project, and the possible impact it could have for the world. The Digital Study Hall, located in Mountain View, CA, is such a project. The group seeks to improve the education of poor and rural children in slum schools in India. They seek to do so by harnessing the power of community participation in amassing a database of videotaped lessons that will then be distributed to these schools where video is so important given the high illiteracy rates. According to their website, they "envision building a database that contains all subjects, encompassing all grades, spoken in all local languages, covering all state and national boards. This is a database that every child (and adult, for that matter) should have access to...(which) will have profound implications for liberating knowledge, democratizing learning, and revolutionizing education."
How Digital Study Hall could "Be Extraordinary!"
While the project is currently focused solely on pedagogical lessons from select instructors, eventually, in growing the database of video, the Digital Study Hall will need to tap into the power of the crowd. Every single volunteer with the Extraordinaries has something they can teach -- some unique ability or area of expertise which could then be shared throughout the world. Imagine contributing to the building of this database of human knowledge all from your mobile phone, thanks to its recording capabilities. Imagine taking 15 minutes to record a lesson, only to have it show up halfway around the world in an Indian classroom. Volunteers unsure of what lesson to teach could still participate by tagging and transcribing videos so that this incredible collection of knowledge is more easily shared and accessed.
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What Do You Think?
How can the Extraordinaries help to revolutionize knowledge distribution around the world? Please share your thoughts in our comments section below.
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Alex Budak is a recent graduate of UCLA and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Public Policy at Georgetown University , with a focus on Technology and Social Entrepreneurship. He is joining The Extraordinaries this summer as a Research Fellow.
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