Today, LitCam, UNESCO, and Google announced the launch of “The Literacy Project”, a resource for teachers, literacy organisations and anyone interested in reading promotion and education.
The site is a collaborative effort between the three organisations, as well as several literacy groups, and was launched in conjunction with the launch of the Frankfurt Book Fair literacy campaign (Litcam).
The Literacy Project aims to provide users with the chance to access and share literacy resources from around the world—from e-learning videos and books about literacy, to scholarly articles, reading groups, and literacy-related blogs. Visitors can also use the Google Maps function to search for literacy organisations around the globe. The site is available in both English and German.
"Litcam is excited to have partnered with Google on this site. A global problem deserves a global solution, and we believe that cooperation and the sharing of best practices is key in the fight against illiteracy," said Karin Plötz, Director of Education for the Future, LitCam.
“Education for All is UNESCO’s first priority. Literacy is at the heart of Education for All and is an issue of vital importance for individuals, families, communities and societies. Literacy and Basic Education give individuals chances to succeed, open a world of limitless opportunities, contribute to equality, improve health and economic self-sufficiency. The aim of this site reflects one of the key missions of UNESCO, and in particular of its Institute for Lifelong Learning: to encourage the promotion of literacy around the world to build capacity and to enhance access to information about the issue,” said Adama Ouane, Director, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL).
“Google’s business was born out of a desire to help people find information. It’s exciting to see how literacy organisations and educators are using the Internet to share ideas and information. We hope this site will serve as a bridge to even greater communication and access to important information about literacy problems—and solutions,” said Nikesh Arora, Vice-President, European Operations, Google.
The site is available at google.com/literacy and google.de/literacy
About LitCam:
LitCam is the international literacy campaign to be launched on October 2, 2006 by the Frankfurt Book Fair. The international campaign will promote literacy projects in newly industrialising countries, but also take account of the problems of functional illiteracy in the industrialised nations. At this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, LitCam, together with its partners, the Bundesverband Alphabetisierung und Grundbildung e.V., the Deutscher Volkshochschulverband e.V., Google, and the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, will organise various activities and events to draw attention to the urgent problems of (functional) illiteracy.
About UNESCO’s Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL):
The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning is a non-profit, policy-driven international research, training, information, documentation and publishing centre of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). One of six educational institutes of UNESCO, UIL focuses mainly on adult and continuing education, literacy and non-formal basic education in the perspective of lifelong learning.
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. It is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.
