Storyweaver is an inspiring offering from publisher Pratham Books as a digital repository of multilingual story books offered in the mother tongue of learners everywhere. Led by a mission of ‘A Book in Every Child’s Hand’ and doing this since 2004, Storyweaver is perfectly aligned with carrying out the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4:
“taking books to some of the most disadvantaged children globally, particularly where chronic under-investment in the availability of mother tongue reading resources poses a significant barrier to literacy.
As but one example, see The Kitten published in Lakota, with options to read the same story in 28 other languages. And see how storybooks are building blocks for open educational resources such as the STEM Literacy Programme (see it in Marathi) tailored at learning levels Grades 1 to 5, containing 80 learning experiences aligned to a curriculum framework.
From a start in 2015 with 800 books published in 24 languages, the current version of Storyweaver provides an astonishing 54000 storybooks in over 300 languages, all published under a Creative Commons license. That the stories can be made available in so many languages exemplifies a globally focused open initiative whose measurable impact is worthy of this recognition.
Storyweaver’s Open Philosophy includes not only their content, but also reflects a platform built on and shared as open source code, integrating open tools for services such as language translation.
The platform that runs Storyweaver provides a deeply interactive and engaging experience plus it includes the affordance of being able to be set up for use in places lacking internet access. Storyweaver offers a way for teachers to assemble collections by grade level, create lesson activities, and media from books is made available for remixes.
An excellent example of diverse co-creation in multiple languages and cultural contexts that is enriching and diversifying open educational practices across the globe!
Award Reviewer
