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UNICEF, One Laptop per Child, Google Launch Initiative to Preserve and Share Stories around the World
NEW YORK, 7 December 2007 – UNICEF, One Laptop per Child (OLPC) and Google
today announced the launch of "Our Stories" (www.ourstories.org), a joint
initiative to preserve and share the histories and identities of cultures
around the world by making personal stories available online in many languages.
Using laptops, mobile phones and other recording devices, children will
record, in their native languages, the stories of elders, family members
and friends. These stories will be shared globally through the Our Stories
website, where they can be found on a Google Map.
By making these stories accessible around the world, the Our Stories
project hopes to contribute to a better understanding of our shared humanity
across countries and cultures, across religious traditions, across languages,
and across generations.
"Information technologies can help young people around the world learn
more about each other," said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman.
"Our Stories will promote dialogue across borders and cultures and give
young people a voice on a wide range of issues."
Low-cost XO laptops by One Laptop per Child will serve as a foundation
to help build this digital archive of personal stories by providing children
in developing countries with easy-to-use technology to record their stories
and interviews.
"One Laptop per Child is very excited about partnering with Google and
UNICEF to capture the thoughts and feelings of children and their communities
around the world," said Walter Bender, President of Software and Content/COO,
One Laptop per Child. "The XO laptop is a tool for sharing and collaboration
and this project is a great way to build a global community."
The Our Stories website will initially include stories collected by
Brazil's Museum of the Person and stories recorded for UNICEF by young
people in Ghana, Pakistan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Our Stories has taken inspiration from the StoryCorps® project in the
United States founded by MacArthur Fellow Dave Isay. "StoryCorps is proud
to lend its experience in recording the conversations of nearly 30,000
Americans to this global undertaking," said Isay. "These efforts teach
us that the lives of everyone – whether they are in New York or Nairobi
– matter, and that they will not be forgotten."
More stories from more countries will be added to the site every month
in an effort to preserve an oral history of humanity in the 21st Century.
"Google as both a company and as a culture loves a good story," said Elliot
Schrage, Vice President of Global Communications and Public Affairs for Google.
"We're proud to support the Our Stories global initiative and we hope that
this collaboration will not just encourage better storytelling but
better listening to stories."
Leading figures have already lent their voices to the project: Ban Ki-moon,
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah,
Queen of Jordan and UNICEF Eminent Advocate for Children, and Ishmael
Beah, UNICEF Advocate for Children Affected by War and best-selling author
of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, have all recorded
messages welcoming users to the site and encouraging them to share their
stories.
Listen to a story today at www.ourstories.org.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help
children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence.
The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF
supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality
basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children
from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the
voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
For more information, visit www.unicef.org.
About One Laptop per Child
One Laptop per Child (OLPC at http://www.laptop.org) is a non-profit
organization created by Nicholas Negroponte and others from the MIT Media
Lab to design, manufacture and distribute laptop computers that are sufficiently
inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to knowledge and
modern forms of education. These XO laptops are rugged, open source,
and so energy efficient that they can be powered by a child manually.
Mesh networking gives many machines Internet access from one connection.
The pricing goal is $100.
About Google
Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people
around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D.
students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top Web property in
all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses
of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall Web experience
for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout
the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.
For further information, please contact:
Najwa Mekki, UNICEF New York, +1-212-326-7162, nmekki@unicef.org
Jackie Lustig, One Laptop per Child, +1-781-487-4664, JLustig@w2groupinc.com
Heather Spain, Google, +1-650-253-2533, hspain@google.com
Barbara Becker, StoryCorps, +1-917-273-0208, barbara@equalshot.com |
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