From New Zealand to Mongolia

Co-Designing and Deploying a Digital Library for the World’s Children

Abstract

There has been an explosion of Internet users throughout the world. Low-cost computing options are now emerging for developing countries that are changing the world’s educational landscape. Given these conditions, there is a critical need to understand the obstacles and opportunities in designing and deploying technologies for children worldwide. This paper discusses seven years of strategies and methods learned in co-designing and deploying the International Children’s Digital Library (www.childrenslibrary.org) with children in multiple countries. Our experience with iterative, international co-design and developing world deployment shows that acquiring site-specific knowledge is critical to adapting the methods needed for success. In the case of co-design, a combination of face-to-face and email collaboration is important for building on-going partnerships. With deployment activities, it is important to be prepared for the unexpected—managing complex technologies in rural settings is very difficult. The more site-specific knowledge that can be acquired the more likely there will be a successful outcome.