For immediate use
Next eGranary from WiderNet Project will include TED Talks
All 1,900 TED Talks will be included in the next release of the “Internet in a Box”
(Chapel Hill, N.C.—May 12, 2015) – TED Talks are about to spread even further thanks to a collaboration with the WiderNet Project, a non-profit founded and directed by UNC-Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science (SILS) associate professor Cliff Missen. All 1,900 TED Talks will be included in the next release of the eGranary Digital Library, the off-line “Internet in a Box” that is used at over 1,000 locations that lack adequate Internet access in places such as Africa and India.
“As TED extends its mission to hard-to-reach parts of the world, particularly where Internet connectivity is constrained or costly, we’re keen to partner with the right platforms to reach these underserved regions,” said Deron Triff, TED’s Director of Global Distribution and Licensing. “eGranary’s solution is an important part of our strategy and we’re excited to support their efforts.”
TED is an internationally known nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks in 18 minutes or less. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics–from science to business to global issues–in more than 100 languages. Both TED and WiderNet are committed to the power of education and ideas to change lives.
“Everybody needs a new idea a day,” said Missen, who was a TED Fellow in 2007 and has organized TEDx events. “The addition of the TED Talks to the next eGranary will spread important and exciting ideas to people who have been left out of the conversation.”
The eGranary, WiderNet’s centerpiece program, was created to provide educational resources to the two-thirds of the world’s population that does not have Internet access. The eGranary is an off-line collection of over 32 million resources, including videos, articles, books and images, accessible over local area networks.
WiderNet, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and its research and development component, WiderNet@UNC, are dedicated to providing digital educational resources to clinics, schools, libraries, prisons and homes lacking adequate Internet access. For more information, visit http://www.widernet.org/.
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School of Information and Library Science contact: Contact: Katherine Perales, (919) 843-8337, kpearl@email.unc.edu
WiderNet contact: Lisa Many, (919) 240-4622, publicity@widernet.org
Communications and Public Affairs contact: Helen Buchanan, (919) 445-8555, helenb@unc.edu