October 2006 Volume 9 Number 4

2004 Baruch College Computer
Center for Visually
Impaired People and
Touch Graphics
audiences
How to help visually impaired
learners deal with visual
information.
2004 DonorsChoose Address the school funding
crisis in the U.S.
2004 I*EARN How to leverage the power of
computers and
telecommunications for
improved education and
2004 Andrew E. Lieberman,
Asociación Ajb’atz’
Enlace Quiché
2004 National Society for
Earthquake Technology
2005 Gilberth Clark, Telescopes
in Education Foundation
learning.
How to counteract the decline
of indigenous cultures and
languages in Guatemala
How to increase the knowledge
and earthquake awareness of
builders in Nepal
How to offer students
opportunities to work with
world-class telescopes from
school
2005 Design that Matters, Inc. Teaching adults how to read in
areas with few books and no
electricity
2005 Fahamu–Networks for
Social Justice
How to train staff of human
rights organizations working in
Africa
2005 In2Books How to encourage the
development of literacy skills
among low-income students in
the U.S.
2005 MIT Open CourseWare How to share educational
resources in ways that protect
intellectual property yet
enhance the knowledge
commons
Develop the Talking Tactile Tablet
that supports access to graphical
and multimedia applications.
Set up a website that matches
teacher-identified needs with
potential donors.
Online forums, project-based
learning, and other activities
connecting teachers and students
around the world.
Develop a series of multimedia and
web-based materials, and other
community services, that preserve
and enhance local indigenous
cultures.
Created the “Shake Table” to
demonstrate the effects of
earthquakes on buildings erected
using inadequate vs. modern
building techniques.
Web-based access and control of
sophisticated telescopes in the
U.S., Australia, and Chile.
The Kinkajou projector relies on
solar batteries, high-efficiency
LEDs, low-cost optics in a
projector that shows print and
images from microfilm.
Created custom-developed courses
delivered via workshops, CD-
ROMs, and email to serve their
audience.
Literacy program gives 5 books to
each participating child, and pairs
each student with an adult “pen
pal” via letters and email
correspondence.
Launched the MIT Open
CourseWare initiative in 2002,
where information and resources
for the majority of MIT courses are
available free of charge.
As can be deduced from the list in Table 1, there have been no corporations, only one government organization
(Alexander McDonald is affiliated with the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration), and
only three individuals (Kothari and McDonald in 2003, Clark in 2005) so far among the Laureates. While the list
seems weighted toward organizations from the United States, many of them were being recognized for work
done outside of this country or with a deliberately global scope.
Whether or not the Laureates were aware of the United Nations’ MDGs and the six goals of the World Education
Forum, their work contributes to the achievement of those goals in measurable ways. From 2001, for example,
what FreePlay Foundation and Schools Online were doing addresses directly the need of providing access to
information and education through technology (wind-up radios for FreePlay, computers with Internet access for
Schools Online) for hard-to-reach populations.
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