[Photo Sparks] Digital transformation: how IT innovators create educational and social impacts

In the earlier 30 posts of PhotoSparks, we brought you creative photographs from an art fair, music festival, telecom expo, art museum, mobile showcase, math museum, social hackathon, bookstore, co-working space, sensorium, lantern festival, outdoor ads, startup roadshow, computer museum, startup T-shirts, business cards, art therapy, Diwali rangoli, ecopreneurs, health activists and eNGOs. In this photo essay, we showcase more of the digital innovators at the Manthan 2014 Awards. Make YourStory’s PhotoSparks your regular source of photographs that celebrate creativity and innovation!

The 11th annual Manthan Conference and Awards for best South Asian Digital Content wrapped up in New Delhi earlier this month (see my articles on the winners of 2014 and 2013). The event also had an exhibition with booths and demos from over 30 finalists and winners of the awards. This is the final instalment of the three-part photo essay on the use of ICTs for outreach, promotion, fundraising and educational activities (see also Part I and Part II).

e-Thaksalawa is the national e-learning portal for general education in Sri Lanka. Developed by the ICT branch of the Ministry of Education, the portal offers interactive educational content in the three official languages, model papers, tri-lingual dictionary, e-library, image bank and school news. It has also formed a partnership with Khan Academy to provide localised versions of educational videos.

I Want To Learn Better is a foundation launched by a diverse group of technologists, social entrepreneurs and educationists to create a sustainable model for social change through quality education. It offers e-learning programmes in maths, language, moral values, media literacy, child rights, gender empowerment and healthcare.

Ayushi Jan Sewa Welfare Foundation aim is to vitalise the ‘potential and power of people’ which remains latent due to lack of opportunity and acceptability by society. Its activities include checkup camps for eye and oral health treatment, distribution of food and education of children. It also offers homes for destitute children and short-stay homes for women, and provides support for marriage ceremonies of poor communities.

BanglaNatak is a social enterprise using culture-led activities to foster protection of rights of women, children and indigenous communities. It specialises in communication for development (C4D) using theatre, arts and crafts. Its initiatives include Art For Life (AFL), documentation of baul folk songs, village culture hubs and the MusiCal folk music festivals.

Buddy4Study is a scholarship information portal for students in India. It connects scholarship promoters to scholarship seekers. Scholarships open new doors for students and create new ways to pursue their careers; the portal provides resources for students in scholarship assessment and application. It also publishes articles, broadcasts mobile alerts and compiles scholarship guides.

NEKTech has developed a product called NEKTech-Linux for Engineering Education, an educational operating system that serves the entire requirement of knowledge and skills in engineering education. It is fully loaded with software development tools, circuit designing, 2D modeling, 3D designing, analysis and simulation tools.

The Hello MP programme from Bangladesh creates a platform for citizens to communicate directly with their elected MP via video conference. Community outreach members enable remote constituencies to place their concerns and demands to the MP online, and help create transparency and accountability. The video conference is recorded and documented, and thus provides a source for proper follow up.

Blind With Camera is an initiative of the Beyond Sight Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation promoting the art of photography among people with visual impairment. It helps visually impaired photographers to share their ‘inner gallery’ of images - unique experiences, feelings, challenges and hopes. This in turn helps empower them, taps their creativity and promotes tolerance and awareness in broader society.

Save The Baby Girl is an initiative to curb female foeticide in India. A drive by Magnum Opus, it has trained over 5,000 doctors in use of active tracker devices, thus effectively implementing the PCPNDT Act (Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act). The solution is based on secure tamper-proof monitoring of sonograph images.

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