Bloom software is a finalist in Enabling Writers competition

One of three finalists in the Enabling Writers software competition, Bloom facilitates publication of original stories and shell books by local authors.

(February 2015) SIL’s Bloom software for literacy materials is one of three finalists in the Enabling Writers competition, part of USAID’s All Children Reading initiative. The developers will have an opportunity to incorporate feedback from the competition’s judges, after which the three programs will be pilot-tested in several international literacy programs. The winning software will be freely available and released to the public for open source development.

Bloom simplifies the process of developing new books, allowing local literacy teachers and other authors to create both original materials and local language adaptations of shell books. The program’s interface was designed to be user friendly for people with any level of computer experience—much of the formatting is automated for ease of use. With Bloom, authors can focus on developing good stories and other content, not on acquiring computer skills.

The version of Bloom submitted for the competition includes features incorporated from a program called SynPhony, developed by the Canada Institute of Linguistics (CANIL). The competition team was led by John Hatton of SIL International’s Language Software Development team and Paul Frank, CEO of SIL LEAD.

The goal of the Enabling Writers competition is to promote the development of software solutions that allow writers to easily create and publish local language materials for new readers.

One of the main barriers to improving children’s reading skills is the lack of appropriate and engaging reading materials…meaning children are unable to get the reading practice they need in the language they speak and understand. 

The Enabling Writers prize competition seeks to drive the creation of new software technologies—and the improvement of existing programs—that make it easier, more cost-effective and efficient to write high-quality early grade reading materials that follow tested reading instruction methodologies.

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