As the applause fell away, and the crowd hushed in anticipation of the final award of the night, our team felt only defeat. The ASU SolarSPELL Initiative had been a finalist for the SXSW Innovation Awards’ community empowerment category, for the patent-pending digital library hardware we launched last year. When we lost our category earlier that evening to Feeding America’s food donation matching platform Share@MealConnect, we assumed our night was over. Up against large nonprofits and flashy technology startups, surely we didn’t stand a chance for ‘Best in Show.’
But then the announcer said something that rekindled that small spark of hope in our hearts: he said it was time to honor an innovation that would truly benefit all of us.
A year earlier a colleague at ASU had suggested we apply to speak at South by Southwest (SXSW), a massive annual conference that brings together a global community of leaders across technology, film, culture and music. Much like ASU, SXSW “proves that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together.”
Our team decided to go all in and apply for their Innovation Awards as well, unsure what our chances would be. (One of last year’s awards was accepted by Entourage actor Adrian Grenier, after all.) So we quite literally jumped for joy after being named as one of the 55 finalists out of 400 applicants. This alone was a huge achievement that meant a chance to present SolarSPELL digital libraries to conference judges and attendees at the Innovation Awards Finalist Showcase.
When the day of the showcase arrived, we set up our gorgeous new pop-up banner (courtesy of graphic design intern Josiah Rogers), pulled up the library on one of our laptops, and watched as elaborate installations went up around us. To our right, BetterWay was setting up a blood testing station; on our left The Daylight Computer team had brought a cabana and potted plants. And in front of us, Planned Parenthood was showing off a tool that connects patients to financial assistance for abortion care, a timely innovation from an established nonprofit. We crossed our fingers that the judges would be able to find us amidst all the hubbub; we knew once they had a chance to explore the library for themselves, they’d see the power it held.
“The SolarSPELL magic really happens when you connect to the library in person,” said co-founder and co-director Laura Hosman. “Once you experience the library for yourself, see how easy it is to connect to it with your own smartphone, and comprehend the possibilities of tens of thousands of offline resources at your fingertips, then an a-ha moment happens where you start to think about all of the ways in which this library could transform lives around the world.”
As the day progressed, we had the chance to talk to so many incredible people — many innovators in their own right — who asked thoughtful questions and shared ideas for how SolarSPELL libraries might address challenges in their fields and communities. One judge put our libraries to the test by searching the word ‘potato’ and was impressed to find that even our education library turned up a resource about potatoes.
Two days and one heartbreak later, our team was at the Innovation Awards Ceremony, lifting our heads at the announcer’s words. He couldn’t be talking about us, could he? Heck, Mark Cuban had just been on stage a few minutes prior, having been inducted to the SXSW Hall of Fame. An honor of this magnitude would be game changing for a team as small as ours. It could lend our initiative the recognition and credibility to find the support we’d need to work with the many nonprofits, school systems, clinics and Peace Corps posts wanting to bring SolarSPELL libraries to their communities. It could give us the boost to reach 10 million more learners.
More than that, this award would be a rallying cry to the whole SXSW community that it isn’t enough to rest on their laurels, waiting for the internet to reach the 50% of the population that’s still offline, that it isn’t enough to think of internet access alone as a solution. This award would signal that there were others in our corner ready to advocate for the transformative power of libraries, of offline internet, of information literacy training. This award would signal that we weren’t alone.
We snapped back into focus, barely daring to hope. “And the winner of Best in Show is… SolarSPELL!”
As our intro video began playing on screen and communications specialist Abby Johnson snatched her camera back up to begin recording, co-founders Laura Hosman and Bruce Baikie made their way to the stage. Breathless and teary-eyed, Abby and project manager Rachel Nova watched Laura express so beautifully what we were feeling.
“I’m so excited for the future because of this recognition and how we’ll be able to bring localized libraries to hundreds of millions of people around the world, building empowering skills and improving people’s quality of life,” she told the crowd in her acceptance speech. “Thank you for believing in the power of libraries to empower everyone around the world.”
The ASU SolarSPELL Initiative empowers offline communities globally by providing localized libraries and building the 21st century skills that people need to make informed decisions, increase their self-reliance and improve their quality of life.
