MEGA PROJECT BLOG 2: Bringing Books to Life

Our vision is to give solid stage to the individuals who are visually challenged and particularly for those individuals who need to get additional information however they can’t learn because of their visual incapacity. On the opposite side our vision is to lighten up the eventual fate of individuals and end darkness from their lives. We want to fortify the individuals with disability and eliminate the obstacles from their way.

Progress

1st Week:

We able to talk with different NGOs which includes School of Inclusion, Pakistan Foundation for Fighting Blindness and National Audio Library for the Blind. We as a group decide on what medium we will use for recording. We had a talk with School of Inclusion and they assigned us two books for recording as well. We created facebook page and youtube channel to share our recordings.

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Hope-For-Visually-Impaired-Community-114406853721502/about/?ref=page_internal

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYsMOvCc55ecPax-2PWo8aQ?view_as=subscriber

2nd Week:

After getting all the ingredients for our special dish. We started working on our main task which is of recording. We divided both books into three parts and started recording. We able to record the books and post related materials on our Facebook simultaneously. We post materials like quotes for motivation, things like visually challenged person face and how to show empathy without having the pity feeling towards them. Our Facebook page has more than 150 followers till now.

THE NEXT ACTIONABLE STEPS THAT WE HAVE PLANNED TO TAKE FOR THE NEXT WEEK:

1. After recording books next step is Audio Editing. We will cut, copy, paste and compile parts of the recording in proper way. We will be adding effects like amplification and eliminating background voices or noises.
2. After this, we will be sharing our recording on our social media and also with different NGOs that are already working for this cause. They will also post them through their social media accounts which will create a massive impact.

3. We will be digitally advertising our page and YouTube channel to create awareness as well as engaging more audience towards this social cause.

4. We as a group will be recording a short video and share it via social media. We will be sharing our experience and try to convert it from a teamwork effort to community work on a larger scale.

Project completion percentage

Challenges and their solutions

1. As members of our group is from different cities we have to arrange zoom meeting to discuss our plan of action but because of unstable internet connection, we sometime unable to discuss or convey our next steps to each other properly.
2. Creating facebook page and Youtube channel and gathering the audience to follow the page or subscribe the channel is a big task.
3. Recoding books is a challenge in itself. Most of us haven’t read an Urdu book in a while and even recording a book which is in English we faced difficulty in pronunciation of some words and sometimes fumbling of words messed up the whole recording.
4. No one in our group knows how to do Audio editing. It is a new task and challenge for us as well.
5. Due to online classes, exams and assignments, it was very hard for us to give proper time for this cause.
6. Quality audio recording is a big task because recording at home using recording app is a challenging task.

Planning on how to overcome problems

“Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.”

1. To overcome the first problem, just after the zoom meeting we use audio recording and post in our WhatsApp group briefing about the discussion we have in our zoom meeting.
2. Using digital advertising as well as posting our recordings on NGOs pages will help us to create larger impact.
3. Before recording, we read chapter more than 1 time and we try to record in small bits and after completing the recording compiling them in a proper order.
4. This is a big hurdle as a group in front of us but I was so happy to see how my group members are ready to learn about new things and we watch Youtube videos which helped us in our desire task.
5. For this problem, we gave each other deadline to record and ask for updates on daily basis which helped us to complete our task in time.
6. From Youtube we learn about adding effects like amplification and deducting background noises which can turn our recordings near to perfect ones.

Change in approach

When we started our project we thought “ More the better” which means we will try to record as many books as we can to make our project better but guidance from our Program Manager helped us to realize its better to generate more impact with less books. So, we able to quantify the number to 2 books and try to generate impact as much as we can.

In our first week we created different social media accounts on Facebook, twitter, Instagram and YouTube but we realize its hard to maintain every account and we minimize it to only 2 accounts. Now, we are putting our efforts just on Facebook and on our YouTube channel.

People, We are able to impact

Firstly how this project impacted us as a group.

As a Group:

“Two heads are better than one.”

We as a group learned many skills in this project that can help us in professional career. Making choices and making changes as a group, learning how to use our knowledge, skills and strengths looking for support in groups and encouraging it. Most notably, sharing, what happens, whether it’s a win or a loss. The challenges we’ve gotten through to enhance the facets of the Mega Project. Using the adversity of Corona Pandemic as an opportunity to learn and change our concepts. Team members motivating and convincing each other that we can do it regardless of our busy routines.

How we have impacted others?

Without advertising our page and channel we able to attract more than 150 likes and followers. When we will complete our editing process the recording will also be shared by NGOs pages which have more than 650 followers. Our minimum goal is around 1000 people. When it was shared on different pages we will be able to attain our goal. As NGOs are working for visually challenged community our goal will be achieved when it was shared to them.

OUR APPROACH FOR FUTURE

Our goal is to help visually challenged community to keep on carrying on with full and free lives by making reading materials accessible for them which will help them. For this purpose we will remain in contact with NGOs and we will provide our services as a group to them whenever they need one. As for recording we as a group will continue working for this cause by recording 1 book per month collectively.

In the end, I would love to give shout out to my entire team. Without them nothing could be possible. They remain active throughout this project. Always remain helpful, motivating and encouraging each other, participated actively, loved their ideas on what can be our next steps and most importantly working in tight deadlines. I am impressed by the commitment they shown throughout this project. Without them this all cannot be possible.

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” — Phil Jackson