Please join us for today's Change seminar with Cliff Schmidt! *Who:* Cliff Schmidt, of Amplio <https://www.amplio-network.org/> *When:* Tuesday, Mar 5, 12-1pm *Where:* CSE 203 *What:* Audio and Analytics: Strengthening Health Knowledge and Outcomes in Remote Communities
*Abstract: *In the most isolated and remote communities in Ghana and Kenya, citizens face challenges in accessing credible, consistent information about their health, well-being, and rights. Low literacy combined with poor infrastructure, low nurse-patient ratios, and limited access to mainstream media are barriers to the development of thriving and resilient communities. To address these development challenges, Amplio Network’s partners in Ghana and Kenya leverage the Talking Book, a rugged, hand-held, battery-powered audio device, which provides on-demand access to information for people who can't read. Our partners use Talking Books to deliver targeted, behavior change messaging in the form of interviews, songs, and dramas in local languages and dialects, to inform, educate, and prompt rural communities to practice and adopt key behaviors to reduce poverty, generate demand for essential services, and improve community health and protection outcomes. A recent randomized control trial co-designed by UNICEF Ghana found that people with access to health messages on Talking Books were 50% more likely to use bed nets and 50% more likely to wash their hands with soap. *Bio* Cliff founded Amplio Network (formerly named Literacy Bridge) in 2007 to address global poverty and disease by making practical agriculture and health knowledge accessible to those who need it most. He led the development of an audio-based mobile device called the “Talking Book” for people with minimal literacy skills living in rural areas without electricity or Internet access. Cliff received the Microsoft alumni Integral Fellow Award presented by Bill and Melinda Gates twice (in 2010 and 2014) and was selected as a member of the Clinton Global Initiative by President Bill Clinton. He received the top prize at the Tech Awards in 2012 and Computerworld Honors in 2013 and was featured by the PBS Newshour as one of five Agents for Social Change in 2013. Prior to starting Amplio Network, Cliff was a software developer for Microsoft and a nuclear engineering officer for the U.S. Navy Submarine Force. Cliff holds a B.S. in cognitive science from MIT and an M.S. in computer science and engineering from the University of Washington. Cliff loves music and playing tenor saxophone.
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