Mobile Reading Data Exchange

We are excited to kick off the Mobile Reading Data Exchange research site. The site is a collaboration between Worldreader, and the Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) and DataLab of the University of Washington Information School. We will be using this site to share the ongoing work of a joint research project that has been generously funded by the Tableau Foundation.

At its core this project is about using big data analysis and visualization to unlock stories about mobile reading patterns across the globe. The mobile reading data for the project comes from Worldreader, which is a US-, Europe-, and Africa-based non-profit organization dedicated to creating a world where everyone can be a reader through increased access to digital books. Approximately 6 million people, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa and India, have used their mobile application to read from a selection of more than 30,000 titles available in 100 languages.

This dataset is particularly interesting to TASCHA, as a research group that specializes in understanding how people are using new technological systems – such as mobile devices – to gain access to information that can change their lives. Worldreader has invited TASCHA to help them analyze this dataset to better understand the reading patterns of its users. This analysis can help us to understand digital reading patterns in the Global South more broadly.

Our Partners

	Worldreader champions digital reading in underserved communities to create a world where everyone can be a reader. Every month, Worldreader empowers over 500,000 children and families in 50 countries to read from their free digital library via e-readers and mobile apps.
	The Tableau Foundation is an initiative led by the employees of Tableau Software that encourages the use of facts and analytical reasoning to solve the world’s problems. Tableau Foundation grants combine Tableau’s two most valuable resources – its people and its products – with financial support to nonprofits that are using data to reshape communities around the globe. To learn more, please visit www.tableaufoundation.org.
	As a leading member of the iSchool movement, the UW is a model for other information schools around the globe. The UW iSchool's approach to information instruction and scholarship builds on the traditional roles filled by information professionals and infuses this with a strong emphasis on the technologies through which information is increasingly delivered. By tackling key social and technical problems in the information field, the iSchool has become an important link between users of information and designers of information systems, connecting society with the information it needs.
	The DataLab is the nexus for research on Data Science and Analytics at the UW iSchool. We study large-scale, heterogeneous human data in an effort to understand why individuals, consumers, and societies behave the way they do. Our goal is to use data for the social good, in an ethical manner that can inform policy and impact lives for the better. As the focal point for industry partnerships related to “big data” and business analytics, the DataLab also provides infrastructure and support for student training and engagement in projects that involve the analysis of large datasets.