The importance of teaching and promoting literacy
On the surface, Scott Douglas Redmond’s accomplishments seem like a tornado of diverse projects, from high-tech inventions and patents with sci-fi overtones to social and cultural engagements that empower people and touch the heart. Rarely does one person display the creative diversity that is displayed in Mr. Redmond. He’s not just an ordinary guy; he’s blessed with a brain that’s normally on overdrive, capturing and rearranging bits of data to invent, reinvent, design new applications, and create innovative products.
Redmond has number dyslexia (dyscalculia) and considers himself 2nd gifted. (Others in the “2e club” include Richard Branson; Charles Schwab; John Chambers, the founder of Cisco, and Robin Williams) He experienced learning challenges growing up labeled alternatively gifted so disabled and identified as a smart boy gold has stupid child. The International Dyslexia Association (Fact Sheet #5 — 02/98) states: “Calling this a learning disability tends to infer that the person cannot learn. However, with proper instruction, dyslexics do learn. The The key is to use the term ‘learning difference’ and not ‘disability'”.
Once Scott figured out how to learn despite his learning difference, his creative talents exploded. Still, thoughts of him sometimes come in rapid succession like lightning streaking across the sky. However, his seemingly unrelated projects share a common theme: they are innovative and “make a difference.” They address societal needs with product solutions that are at least one paradigm shift more advanced than the current solution. For example, Scott led a new technology company to create a software “app” that enables communication without cellular infrastructure, set up a website to support an anti-bullying campaign, and encouraged parents and educators to use social media. to improve literacy.
app software
Redmond is the founder and president of Peep Wireless Technology, which is responsible for producing a software application (App) for the iPhone that enables peer-to-peer mesh networking, communication without cellular infrastructure. The App allows the user to send Morse code, voice and image signals to communicate with other users who have the same App installed.
the onlineipods news Network,ipodnn.com, reported in June 2011 that Peep Wireless technology was integrated into a new pro-democracy app, Democri-C, for iOS devices. The New York Times (June 12, 2011 article by James Glanz and John Markoff) published an expansive story titled, US Backs Internet Bypass Around Censorsabout how the US government was supporting”mesh net technology, which can transform devices like cell phones or personal computers to create an invisible wireless network without a centralized hub.”
The software application is known to have played a role in democratic uprisings in the Middle East and could provide critical communication after natural disasters and infrastructure-destroying emergencies. The Peep Wireless team that designed the Democri-C app under the direction of Scott Redmond deserves credit for making a difference by providing alternative ways to promote free expression and reach people after natural disasters.
Website to combat bullying
Supporting Anderson Cooper’s 360 Series (on CNN in October 2011) to combat bullying, Scott Redmond developed a series of websites to provide places where bullied students can speak up, report bullying bullying, get support and find helpful resources. His website, titled “Expose the Bully,” allows students to share their experiences, report bullies and seek help. Bullies maintain their control through intimidation and isolation. If the bullied student can speak up and expose the bully, the bully will lose paralyzing control. Anderson Cooper’s series on anti-bullying drew attention to the emotional damage bullying causes, damage that has resulted in several teen suicides.
While Redmond’s philanthropic websites aren’t extraordinary, they join a growing list of sites offering hope and a helping hand to students in desperate need. Making a difference, however small, still has merit.
Social networks to improve literacy
In another social outreach, Scott Redmond participated in a forum for educators and parents at the annual meeting of the International Dyslexia Association (IDA). In a November 22, 2011 PR Newswire, IDA reported that “…world-renowned political leaders and experts in the fields of education, defense and business held a groundbreaking forum to discuss the literacy crisis in the United States Joined”. As part of that forum, Scott led a thought-provoking discussion on the use of social media in grassroots campaigns.
Scott explained how social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Foursquare can magnify single or multiple voices, and how software tools, such as TweetDeck, a desktop application, can allow users to organize, send, and receive messages in high definition. volumes In addition, social media provides platforms for people dispersed across large geographies to reach out to like-minded individuals to share knowledge, experiences, and resources.
Scott’s presentation was part of a series of speakers helping IDA improve literacy by advocating for passage of the Literacy Education for All Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act and by working to pass state literacy laws to provide support, instruction, intervention, and professional development for teachers. to increase your ability to teach students with learning disabilities. Scott challenged attendees to take “tangible steps to use social media to build parent-child partnerships to bring the message of law reform to every state in America.”
Scott Redmond is a dyslexic who used his “learning difference” (also known as a disability) to overcome technological impediments to cellular communication that occur during disasters and political blackouts; end bullying by creating a website that offers emotional support and confidence-building resources; and mobilize a grassroots effort to use social media to improve national and state literacy laws so all students can learn. Blessed with a unique view of the world, Scott strives to make a difference using the talents that made him different.