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WordAloud^® - teaching English and literacy worldwide

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." Benjamin Franklin

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EU Projects

Minerva

In November 2004, Cloudworld submitted a pre-proposal to MINERVA, under the European SOCRATES education initiative. This was accepted on 19th January, 2005. This project concerns technology for multi-lingual language learning, with WordAloud as a teaching tool. We await the evaluation results.

The SILC project was addressing the needs of the elderly in society, as regards independent living. The PACE (Personal Accessors for Citizens of Europe) Project was designed to serve the needs of disadvantaged in society, including the elderly, in access systems such cash dispensers (ATMs), lifts (elavators), and digital TV.

Take a look at the PowerPoint presentation given by John at the PACE information day in Brussels.

To quote from European Commission, looking ahead to beyond 2005, concerning eInclusion and Citizenship:

2010 Challenges

eInclusion and Citizenship

The policies known as 'eInclusion' aim at ensuring equal access to and the availability of ICT services for all, at an affordable cost. The importance of such polices increases as ICT permeate society. Citizenship is about the participation of all in society, but it faces new challenges with the increasing use of ICT in everyday life. New and complex technologies create the risk that some sectors of society will be unable to deal with them. eInclusion should be tackled at national, regional and local level.

Digital literacy is about ensuring that citizens have the necessary critical skills to be able to make full and effective use of ICT. eInclusion policies should ensure digital literacy for everyone in society. They should ensure that technologies are easy to use and provide content and services to prevent new digital divides from opening up. The challenge is made greater given the societal changes which the EU will face over the coming years. Forecasts indicate that in some Member States close to 40 per cent of the population will be older than 65 years in 2020.

These policies are an absolute necessity, yet they are complex to implement. They also require a substantial research effort that is unlikely to be provided by the private sector alone. The public sector can provide an important impetus for addressing these problems. The European Union is encouraging and supporting the research effort in this field through the Framework programme. In addition, the increasing cultural diversity, including at regional level, augments the urgency to address new digital divides.

The PACE approach is geared to address these challenges directly, and works towards a solution as regards the access of the everyday appliances that provide ICT services, and hence access to the services themselves. In November 2004, a pre-proposal "LISTEN" was submitted under MINERVA programme, within the EU's SOCRATES education initiative. This project concerns technology for multi-lingual language learning, with WordAloud as a teaching tool. We await the evaluation results.

Thus:

1. it provides a mechanism for equality of access;
2. this allows the participation of all in the utilisation of the services;
3. the mechanism can be implementated at very low cost to service providers;
4. it allows the enhancement of services with added complexity, without sacrificing eInclusion and opening up the digital divide;
5. it tackles the digitally disadvantaged in society, by including experts and user organisations in a wide range of disabilities, including cognitive impairment of the elderly;
6. it allows the introduction of advanced and more friendly user interfaces from the industry.