Reading for all and the next set of challenges

We have previously written about Inclusive Planet that has launched (formerly bookbole.com), an online platform that enables print-impaired people to connect and share accessible content as well as build conversations and communities around the shared content.

1. The platform went live end of October and since then the team has worked on the dual goals of attracting users and sharpening the value proposition.
2. Currently Inclusive Planet has around 3000 users from 76 countries sharing around 16000 files of accessible content.
3. Users have rallied around features like ‘channels’ to create active communities around shared interests like ‘accessible devices’, ‘accessible classnotes’, ‘english literature’, ‘budding managers’, ‘law’ and ‘online classes’.
4. In keeping with the collaborative model Inclusive Planet has enabled users to convert the site into their own languages, leading to Spanish, Turkish and Arabic language options.

I’d recommend a peek – http://www.inclusiveplanet.com/en/group_view

So what are the big challenges that Inclusive Planet is faced with?

According to them: the big learnings have been about the ‘global print-impaired community’. It appears that there is none! The group is fragmented, and communitised only in geographically dispersed pockets. Hence there is no magic viral pill and it is not as if a message to a few will spread like wildfire to thousands of print-impaired. The first 3000 users, possibly another 2000 more, are print-impaired users who are fairly globally active and relatively easily accessible. In order to add on thousands of more users and reach a kind of critical mass / tipping point where the value proposition becomes inflammably strong, somewhere between 15000-20000 users, Inclusive Planet needs to come up with a unique global marketing strategy to penetrate deep into countries with large print-impaired populations.

So how do they do this?

Inclusive Planet identifies the following as critical: engagement with key organisations in different countries, support of national opinion makers in various countries and interns / evangelists across the world. The plan is a work-in-progress.

One thing is clear: if they are to reach people with print impairment across the world it needs all the help it can get – from changemakers, opinion-makers, media, press and each one of us.

Connect:

Blog: http://inclusiveplanet.wordpress.com/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/inclusiveplanet

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/inclusiveplanet

Previously:

readable.in – an online library for the visually impaired

Reading as a Fundamental Right

The Right to Read Campaign