The Generations Online 2010 study suggested that one of the top uses of the internet, regardless of your age group, is to search for health information. This makes perfect sense, considering the importance of accessing information quickly and the high expense of doctor visits. And while Google doesn’t pretend to be replacing certified experts who have gone through the full education process, they are aware that their search results are being used to help in this way. Sadly, one strong limitation is present: very few articles are available in certain languages.
That’s why Google.org, Google’s charitable front, created an initiative to help get health information articles translated into Arabic, Hindi, and Swahili — three languages spoken in regions that showed a great need for accessible health data.
The initiative, known as Health Speaks, began in September and has now come to a close. It’s focus was to translate basic articles — such as Wikipedia articles or other basic information — in a way that makes the data reachable from a local level. The company donated $0.03/word of translated content to non-profit health organizations serving in the aforementioned languages. The end result was 266 articles (with ten in Swahili, seventy-nine in Hindi, and an impressive 177 in Arabic).
Health Speaks saw hundreds of volunteers working hard on these articles, and their efforts have certainly paid off. In addition to helping the NPO groups receive substantial funding (Google added $30,000 beyond their initial committed amount, bringing the total to over $47,000 in donations), the articles have already seen an amazing number of views. Some translated in the pilot phase of the program have seen nearly 150,000 views, while others translated more recently have already breached into the tens of thousands. Google also states that they learned many valuable lessons about language and translation tools.
