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World Librarians: A Peer-to-Peer Commons for Closing the Global Digital Divide

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dc.contributor.authorSmith, Jeremy
dc.contributor.authorSchweik, Charlie
dc.contributor.authorMeyer, Carl
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst
dc.date2023-09-23T23:41:32.000
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-26T18:02:48Z
dc.date.available2024-04-26T18:02:48Z
dc.date.issued2018-01-01
dc.description.abstractINTRODUCTION An estimated 53% of the world’s population do not have Internet access. As a consequence, they lack information capital that could be key to bettering their lives. In this practice article, we introduce a sociotechnical system called “World Librarians.” This system, facilitated by a knowledge commons, provides educators, librarians, students, and medical professionals in remote Internet-poor areas of Malawi with access to digital content that they request. OBJECTIVE We describe the social and technical methods by which a team of educators, librarians, students, and information technology specialists in information-privileged environments share educational content to information-disadvantaged communities. METHODS After briefly discussing key foundational components and partnerships, we explain the mechanics of the sociotechnical system. We follow this with two proof-of-concept cases where offline requesters in remote school and library contexts in rural Malawi are assisted by an online librarian searcher team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. RESULTS The proof of concept cases demonstrate that the relatively low-cost sociotechnical system accomplishes the goal of sharing open access educational content in remote areas with limited or no access to networked information. Moreover, the cases demonstrate that the content shared can be content global southerners offline want and need, rather than information global northerners think they should have. CONCLUSIONS The World Librarians system is ready to be scaled and replicated at other institutions with ready access to high-speed networked information. The authors welcome contact from readers who might be interested in establishing their library as a new “searcher node” in the growing World Librarians network.
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.2249
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/32267
dc.relation.ispartofJournal of Librarianship and Library Communication
dc.relation.urlhttps://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1077&context=librarian_pubs&unstamped=1
dc.relation.urlhttps://works.bepress.com/jeremy-smith/14/download/
dc.source.beginpage2249
dc.source.endpage2230
dc.source.issue2
dc.source.issue2
dc.source.issue6
dc.source.issue6
dc.source.statuspublished
dc.subjectCommons-based Peer Production
dc.subjectDigital Divide
dc.subjectICT4D
dc.subjectOpen Access
dc.subjectOpen Educational Resources
dc.subjectAccess to information
dc.subjectComputer Sciences
dc.subjectLibrary and Information Science
dc.subjectScholarly Communication
dc.titleWorld Librarians: A Peer-to-Peer Commons for Closing the Global Digital Divide
dc.typearticle
dc.typearticle
digcom.contributor.authorSmith, Jeremy
digcom.contributor.authorisAuthorOfPublication|email:cschweik@pubpol.umass.edu|institution:University of Massachusetts Amherst|Schweik, Charlie
digcom.contributor.authorMeyer, Carl
digcom.identifierlibrarian_pubs/77
digcom.identifier.contextkey14620264
digcom.identifier.submissionpathlibrarian_pubs/77
dspace.entity.typePublication
relation.isAuthorOfPublication773c269b-308b-4268-98be-166f83785877
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery773c269b-308b-4268-98be-166f83785877
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