Volunteers categories

The following categories of volunteers are required for volunteering online. All the work can be done from the very comfort of your own home. Most of the co-ordination and communication with other volunteers can be done via e-mail or chat. When you contact us, be sure to specify all the categories for which you have expertise. The target platform being a low-cost, android-based tablet or phone with a 7" screen, limited memory and processor speed, the greatest challenge is to present the text in short sections, keep the images attractive but small in size (preferably < 100K) and make the animations and videos short and to the point. Please note that all the content that you create will be used for the express purpose of improving the quality of rural education.

1. Vernacular content creators

Volunteers in this category should be able to speak, read, write and type the specified vernacular language (Kannada currently). They convert chapters from the prescribed syllabus in each subject to e-material and enrich the content. The content needs to be enriched with simple-to-understand explanations of concepts, good pictures, short videos, animations, drawings etc.,

2. Photography or Image experts

Volunteers in this category work closely with the text experts and understand the requirements for pictures for specific chapter(s) or subject(s). Then they would either capture the required pictures on their cameras and provide them copy-right-free or look for copy-right-free pictures on the web or elsewhere to meet the requirements.

3. Short Video experts

Volunteers in this category work closely with the text experts and understand the requirements for short videos for specific chapter(s) or subject(s). Then they would either capture videos or look for copy-right-free videos on the web to suit the requirements.

4. Animation experts

Volunteers in this category work closely with the text experts and understand the requirements for short animation for specific chapter(s) or subject(s). Then they would create the required animations and provide them copy-right-free to be included in the content.

5. Drawing experts

Volunteers in this category work closely with the text experts and understand the requirements for illustrations for specific chapter(s) or subject(s). Examples of this could be illustration of a science experiment or a theory in Geometry and so on. Then they would create the required illustrations and provide them in jpeg format copy-right-free to be included in the content.

6. Image or Video editors

Volunteers in this category work closely with the text experts and understand the modifications required to existing images and videos. Then they incorporate these changes to the original picture or video using tools like Microsoft Power Point, Office Picture Manager and so on. The modified images or videos are to be provided copy-right-free.

Scanning text books, creating a separate pdf for each chapter, scanning pictures from text books, editing them to conform to the required size and resolution and similar activities are also performed by these volunteers.

7. Voice experts

Volunteers in this category lend their voice to recording the pronunciation of English words and in the future to narrating the entire text of the content.

8. Analytical experts

Volunteers in this category help create co-curricular and extra-curricular material that is intended to be included on the tablet besides the enriched curricular material. This is meant to improve the analytical abilities of children and prepare them for taking competitive exams in later years. The challenge here is to create material that is appropriate for each standard.

9. Life skills experts

Volunteers in this category create short, catchy poems or narrate stories from our epics, mythology and classics to help sow the seeds of courage, honesty, civic sense, national pride and other important life skills in children. The extra-curricular material created by these volunteers will be included on the tablet along with the enriched curricular material.

10. Psycho analysts

These experts analyze the syllabus and suggest ways to explain the same in simple ways so that rural children with little exposure to the internet and other mass media can understand the concepts easily. Text experts use this input to create the e-material. Once the e-Material is ready (along with images, animations etc,), these experts also analyze the content for age appropriateness and other such psychological view points.

11. Syllabus experts

These experts preferably have prior experience of sitting in text book committees and/or teaching in primary/secondary schools. They go through the syllabus and provide inputs to the compilation experts and work with psycho-analysts to review/edit the final outcome to make sure that it is correct, age-appropriate and non-controversial.

12. IT (tablets) experts

These experts analyze the existing devices in the market and recommend suitable ones for this cause keeping in mind the cost and features required. Expected outcome is a spreadsheet of existing devices along with their feature list, cost and most importantly their ranking. This will be used as base recommendation by the NGOs and corporates sponsoring the tablets.
In addition, these experts devise mechanisms for auto-update of content to tablets over internet or from another device (which is a requirement for remote villages).
In the future, these experts will also help in selecting and configuring servers to be installed in rural schools.

13. Volunteer co-ordinators

Volunteers in this category co-ordinate the activities of other volunteers. For e.g., they collect image/animation/video requirements from text experts and convey it to volunteers in the respective category and also ensure that the required material is delivered on time

14. Marketing experts

Volunteers in this category prepare presentations for promoting the cause of Suvidya to corporates, NGOs, individual sponsors, government officials and so on. They also do on-line research to find potential sponsors