When campuses across the U.S. were starting to shut down because of COVID-19, Shravya Gurrapu and Elena Mosse realised that this was only a glimpse of the challenges that people, especially students like them, around the globe were confronting. In a bid to contribute in these physically isolating times, they helped launch CoviDB.org (https://covidb.org/), a crowdsourced education platform, which works a bit like Wikipedia, to serve as a directory of verified information pertaining to various topics ranging from health to the pandemic’s effects on the economy to country-specific statistics. For example, if you are looking for different low-tech solutions people in India were using to combat the COVID-19, you will find various resources from the Medical Council of India as well as links from trusted media sources providing information.
Launched on April 6, with students and alumni from Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Dartmouth College, and the University of Colorado at Boulder, as well as others around the world, CoviDB.org has more than 123 active members globally, involved with the execution and maintenance of the site and future initiatives. Among the plethora of information found online, CoviDB stands out because it seeks to be a one-stop hub with verified information from all parts of the world. The key is the fact-checked information that the site makes available.
Student- inspired
CoviDB evolved out of a student-driven project at Stanford University, and is now being supported by TeachAids, a global health education non-profit that operates in over 80 countries. As undergraduate students of Computer Science at Stanford University, Shravya and Elena were part of a student-created project called Stanford Mutual Aid, which helped compile and distribute resources for Stanford students affected by the campus closures. “Being sheltered in our homes, it felt like there was so little we could do to help with the incomprehensibly massive problems,” they say. “We wanted to support our communities in ways we were equipped to during these challenging times.”
Shravya and Elena reached out to their mentors at TeachAids who encouraged them to think big. “Given the international urgency, TeachAids was also contemplating various projects to support COVID-19. Together, we created CoviDB,” they say. This initiative was conceived, built, and launched in one week by a group working entirely remotely while social distancing. Launching under the TeachAids infrastructure meant that CoviDB could build upon a diverse array of skill sets and expertise that their volunteers, researchers and industry experts would bring to the project. Their team consists of programmers coding as early as ninth standard, senior citizens contributing resources on ways to protect the elderly, and dozens of professionals in between. There is no age limit on who can submit information but TeachAids subject matter experts ensure that the content on the site is reliable and trustworthy.
Resources such as the WHO, CDC, and other government sites serve the latest information regarding COVID-19 from a mostly medical and public health perspective. But, as Dr. Piya Sorcar of TeachAids, says, “COVID-19 is affecting people more than just medically; it’s impacting education, finances, the economy, mental health, and more. People need to find resources to help support the parts of their lives that are being impacted, and CoviDB serves to fill that need.” For example, a recent link provides information on a consortium that seeks to assist families coping with the fallouts of the pandemic. Participants are encouraged to submit resources online through the site through the “Add a resource” link (https://covidb.org/Add) or email the team at info@covidb.org.
Students, interns and volunteers are an integral part of TeachAids. Together, they worked night and day taking a simple idea and transforming it into a growing movement. Dr. Sorcar says students in particular play a key role in spreading information during this time. “Our young TeachAids volunteers are well-versed in online technologies and are poised to reach out to their friends despite where they live.”
With the immediate challenges around COVID-19, Shravya and Elena were recently asked to speak at a graduate level course at the University of Nevada, Reno, where a group of students were eager to help and spread the word about this initiative. “The discussions on how we could make the CoviDB database even more accessible to the global population was insightful,” they said. Leadership at CoviDB is eager to have participants from India and say, “Our team’s plan is to create a hub of information about COVID-19 that cuts across boundaries and is ultimately of help to anyone seeking real, verified information about the virus across the globe.”
Timely and verified
Given the urgency of the matter, the team also had to overcome a number of challenges. As Dr. Sorcar explains, “We were working against ever-changing information on the disease. The taxonomy was built to answer today’s questions, but tomorrow is still unknown and unanswered.” They will continue to plan additional features and filters in the coming weeks and months. To be most impactful, CoviDB needs as much verified content as possible. This is particularly important from around the world where countries have been able to reduce infection rates quickly as well as locations where the virus has not peaked yet. Making critical resources available in English, and expansions into other languages, will be an ongoing challenge during this time. That’s why CoviDB needs your help. All resources can be easily uploaded via their website where the content is then vetted by global experts.
The writer is an Assistant Professor, Global Media Studies, University of Nevada, Reno. https://paromitapain.com/
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