Voices of WTFW in India

Voices of WTFW in India is a project by digital literacy educator Ashkumar G., in partnership with Free Libraries Network, the Community Library Project and Next Page Foundation. Through facilitated What the Future Wants (WTFW) exhibitions, the project invites young people to reflect on the impact of digital technologies in their lives and in the lives of their communities.

Banner with purple background and white and black wavy disks that reads "Voices of WTFW in India"

Voices of WTFW in India is a project by digital literacy educator Ashkumar G., in partnership with the Free Libraries Network, Community Library Project and Next Page Foundation. The partnership with Tactical Tech had three goals:

  1. Translate the materials into Hindi to increase, at least partially, the accessibility of the What the Future Wants materials to young people in India;
  2. Promote the What the Future Wants exhibition among librarians and educators in community-based libraries across India as an interactive and accessible educational resource to improve digital literacy of young people;
  3. Host What the Future Wants exhibitions and workshops for young people in underserved communities in Mumbai, New Delhi and Gurugram.

Caption: Young people engaging with an interactive poster. Photos courtesy of Next Page Foundation.

The project started with the translation of the What the Future Wants exhibition and its supporting materials into Hindi to make them more accessible to young people (12-18 years old) from Hindi-speaking communities in India.

In the second phase, and in collaboration with Free Libraries Network, the project then identified libraries that were keen to host WTFW exhibitions and partnered with The Community Library Project and Next Page Foundation. This collaboration resulted in 12 rounds of facilitated What the Future Wants exhibitions in English and Hindi, engaging more than 100 young people in three cities in India, Mumbai, New Dehli and Gurugram.

Hand-drawn images of what a phone would look like as a character

Caption: Examples from a What the Future Wants Activity where young participants are asked to draw their phones as a character. Courtesy of Ashkumar G.

Moreover, the lead coordinator of the project conducted four knowledge exchange workshops with youth to deepen their knowledge of the topics addressed by the exhibition. These workshops provided a space for dialogue and critical thinking around the impact of digital technologies in their lives and in the lives of their communities.

Caption: Hosting What the Future Wants workshops and engaging young people in discussions. Courtesy of The Community Library Project.

To foster more extended access to the exhibition materials in the libraries that participated, another output of the project was a booklet with the What the Future Wants exhibition to be printed and made accessible in community libraries.