Teshkeel joins Avallain in contributing to groundbreaking humanitarian effort

Naif Al-Mutawa, CEO of Teshkeel Media Group, KSC, announced that the company would collaborate with Avallain to contribute interactive artwork and design assets to the One Laptop Per Child project, which focuses on providing low-cost computers to children in the developing world.

Artwork created by the illustrators of Teshkeel's original comic book series, THE 99, will be incorporated into Avallain interactive content and made available for download to each laptop. A tool will also be provided that will allow children who receive the computers to create their own comic stories and digital illustrations. "Teshkeel gave individual characters and illustrations for modification by kids," said Avallain's Ignatz Heinz. "Avallain will develop a variety of learning interactions based on its e-learning authoring software, the first being a comic builder with which kids can create their own stories using artwork similar to THE 99 characters," he added. The entire product is released for free use and modification under a so-called Creative Commons license.

As part of One Laptop Per Child's large-scale humanitarian effort to educate needy children, the interactive e-learning software will be made available to all participants in the One Laptop Per Child program. This ambitious program aims to provide laptop computers for underprivileged children in countries ranging from Argentina to Pakistan to Rwanda.

"One of the driving forces behind THE 99 - and Teshkeel as a whole - is the desire to influence children all over the world in a positive way," said Al-Mutawa. "That's why we're very excited to be joining with Avallain to take part in this innovative effort to supply kids in developing countries with the tools they need to get an education."

Today's announcement marks the first collaboration between Teshkeel, which publishes comics and other children's entertainment properties around the world, and Avallain, which provides e-learning services to customers internationally.

Founded by Chairman Emeritus of MIT's Media Lab, Nicholas Negroponte, One Laptop Per Child is a US-based non-profit organization that plans to provide their pioneering, highly efficient computers to governments around the world later this year.