Expanding the Impact of Practical Scientific Concepts for Low-literate Learners through an Inclusive and Participatory Virtual Knowledge Ecosystem

Extension materials for low-literate learners are often developed as part of specialized projects for specific regions or groups. In some cases these materials are inaccessible to other development organizations during the project’s life or are lost at the end of the project. More recently, such development materials are typically placed on individual websites for the purpose of preserving the content beyond the scope of any given project. However, such materials are (i) often challenging to find and (ii) those individuals that are able to find and adapt these materials for local use cannot return these local adaptations to the World Wide Web without creating new, often separate, websites. We propose an Internet-based virtual knowledge sharing system for development materials for low-literate learners that allows users to easily access the materials and to contribute their local adaptations and local solutions. The site we envision is similar to a “wikipedia” in terms of ease of use but contains materials that will be peer-reviewed before publication. The site also will allow for post-publication online reviews and updates as mechanisms to assist in the improvement of content and to facilitate the localized adaptation of content.