Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO)

This information and communication technology (ICT) initiative uses videos and cell phones to support health and sustainable development education. The 2-minute educational animations viewable on cell phones are designed to save money and time, not to mention improve ease of use as people can watch the videos over and over at their convenience. "This is a very different paradigm from some other current development projects, where U.S.-based educators are flown to another part of the world, interact with people in the field for a few weeks to several months, and leave," says University of Illinois entomology professor Barry Pittendrigh. The team works via email with aid workers, farmers, entrepreneurs, and an animator to develop several initial videos that teach, for instance, how to treat water to avoid exposure to cholera or how to eradicate pests attracted to cowpeas. After the content is approved by the participating team members, collaborators develop two scripts: the narration itself, and instructions for the animator on what to draw. The sound can be swapped out to change the narrator's language, dialect, and even accent; the video on treating water, for instance, is currently available in English, French, Haitian Creole, and more.

The cell phone-ready versions of the videos are available on the web:

• SAWBO website
• SAWBO Facebook page
• SAWBO YouTube channel
• Sustainable Development Virtual Knowledge Interface SusDeViKI

Health, Agriculture.

According to SAWBO's Barry Pittendrigh, "[o]ne of the big problems with many development messages, especially those created and tested in the academic community, is that these ideas are often placed in peer-reviewed journal articles, making it very difficult for educators to access these materials in a format that would allow them to take the information to target populations in the field." SAWBO's animations are designed to overcome this barrier. Pittendrigh also explains that "[o]ne of the great advantages of animation is that it can be used to show concepts and techniques that are often hard to capture with live-action filming. This art form is now being used extensively in the medical profession to show biological processes."