Profiting from empowerment? Investigating dissemination avenues for educational technology content within an emerging market solutions project

ABSTRACT: The Stills in Sync (SIS) project is a joint initiative of the nonprofit organization PlanetRead and the global information and communication technology (ICT) company Hewlett Packard (HP). The SIS project entails creating a multimedia product designed to enhance literacy in rural India through the revival of regional folksongs on relevant social issues. This product utilizes the Same Language Subtitling (SLS) feature that won the World Bank Development Marketplace Award in 2002 and the Tech Laureate in education honor from the Technology Museum of Innovation (San Jose) in 2003. This paper explores the dissemination avenues of the SLS folksongs product and its effects within the Inclusive Community (icommunity) of HP in Kuppam, India. This community has functioned as a social and economic laboratory in which HP tested new technologies. Analyzing this test environment makes apparent the dichotomy between corporate responsibility and community development. Keeping the balance between profitable goals of the ICT business and development goals towards sustainable social and economic reforms has been illustrated by the survey results in this paper.