Hundreds of handheld audio computers are to be given to some of Ghana’s poorest communities to help spread potentially life-saving information.
The Talking Books will let families play sound files as well as make their own recordings, which can be shared with others or used to give feedback.
Organisers plan to use the kit to teach people about Ebola, how to deal with diseased crops and the importance of breastfeeding, among other topics.
If successful, the trial should expand.
Child-focused charity Unicef and the British computer chip designer ARM are providing most of the funds for the $750,000 (£477,850) scheme.
It is scheduled to run for two-and-a-half years with each device’s content updated roughly once every five weeks.
The money will cover the cost of 2,000 devices and the staff to support them, with the goal that they will be used by about 40,000 people.
Talking Books lack a screen and are designed to be easy to use by people who are illiterate
Listen and record
Literacy Bridge – the charity running the pilot – said its Talking Books had been designed for people who might not be able to read.
“It speaks to you in your local language and local dialect and prompts you to press a button based on what your interests are,” Cliff Schmidt, the organisation’s executive director, told the BBC.
“The message might be a song, a story, a drama, an interview with a public health officer or a peer in your own community.
“There’s also a microphone on every device so people can respond to the knowledge that they are getting.
“They can provide useful feedback like, ‘I just didn’t understand what you meant here’ or ‘You mentioned this problem, but let me tell you about another problem that is even more important for our community.'”
Literacy Bridge has worked on the technology since 2007 and has already carried out smaller-scale tests.
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