A recent collaboration with the DG Murray Trust and a team of CodeSpace Academy graduates means that all 500 Book Dash children’s books, in a variety of South Africa’s languages, are now available data-free right here on the Book Dash website.
Book Dash want to increase ownership and access to high-quality, home-language children’s books for all, knowing the positive effect this has on literacy development and lifelong prospering. We create new African children’s books by working with creative volunteers at Book Dash events, to quickly produce and publish beautiful, open-licensed picturebooks. These are printed and distributed to children around the country to own, and all versions are also now available digitally on the website to read, download or adapt.
Recently, Book Dash’s site has been made data-free on a variety of networks thanks to the work from the DG Murray Trust to encourage Internet Service Providers to zero-rate educational, public beneficiary websites. The books are also freely accessible through Moya Messenger, South Africa’s data-free messenger app.
The project worked to make an additional 350 language-versions of Book Dash books available directly on the Book Dash WordPress site. This means that now the books can be read data-free for South African users on the associated ISPs. This unlocks access to valuable reading material for all from behind the data-barrier, and the user-experience of the Book Dash site is greatly enhanced for all readers. There are also tips for reading with young children available in 11 languages, too.
The Creative Commons open-license means that all the Book Dash books can be viewed, read and downloaded by anyone. The books can also be re-shared on other digital reading platforms, and reach readers all over the world in this way. Over a hundred platforms globally already re-use, re-share and re-mix the Book Dash books to reach more children and make a positive change to the global literacy crisis.
There are 500 books available in total on the Book Dash website, spread across 11 of South Africa’s languages. Reducing barriers to accessing high-quality, appropriate content is key to addressing illiteracy worldwide. Improving access to books from early ages gives a child a measurable advantage before, during and after formal schooling.
Read the books today, go to bookdash.org/books!
“Groups like Book Dash are changing the shape of global book markets with open access, high quality books to download, print and share #CloseTheBookGap” — Global Book Alliance.
#bookdash #everychild100books
