Two papers have recently been submitted by members of the W4RA team, to the Downscale 2012 Workshop, co-located with the 9th Extended Semantic Web Conference.
"Voice-based Access to Linked Market Data in the Sahel" by Victor de Boer, Nana Baah Gyan, Anna Bon, Pieter de Leenheer, Chris van Aart, Hans Akkermans. Submitted to DownScale 2012 workshop of the International Semantic Web Conference 2012.
W4RA released a new documentary about the making of an innovative voice and web based system for farmers, living in Mali and other Sahel countries. This documentary shows the development and deployment of the voice-system, nicknamed "Radio Marché" within the local setting in Mali. Radio Marché is a pilot project, set up within the EU funded VOICES project, in which the W4RA partners VUA, Web Foundation and Sahel Eco cooperate with other partners including North West University, CSIR, Orange Labs, W3C and TNO.
Today, we are pleased to announce a new project. VU University Amsterdam, in partnership with The Web Foundation and Sahel Eco (Mali), is starting a new initiative on voice technology-based citizen journalism. In early February 2011, the International Press Institute, a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists dedicated to the furtherance and safeguarding of press freedom, initiated a call for proposals under the IPI News Innovation Contest. The contest aimed at advancing the future of news by funding new ways to digitally inform communities in Europe, Middle East and Africa. The Web Foundation and its consortium partners were chosen as one of the three winners of the contest.
