November 2008 - change - Mailing Lists

USAID has launched GlobalDevelopmentCommons
by Yaw Anokwa 30 Nov '08

30 Nov '08

USAID has launched GlobalDevelopmentCommons at http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/gdc/ The Global Development Commons initiative seeks innovations that to make knowledge more accessible and affordable to help people in developing countries solve social and economic problems. The Commons seeks to catalyze the international development community to become more open and collaborative through information and communication technologies. The site profiles successful applications of technology that improve access to information in developing countries.

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www.hci4d.org
by Osvaldo Rodriguez 27 Nov '08

27 Nov '08

Hi ALL During the last months with my group in Argentina we have worked on the site: www.hci4d.org •www.hci4d.org (Human Computer Interaction for Development) is entended to provide a platform for exchange of information, ideas, opinions and experiences, for those in research, practice and education in the world of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D). •It should also serve prospect masters and PhD students to discover the different active groups and activities within research in ICT4D. A “Funding” slot will be maintained where possible grants, scholarships and employment offerings will be announced. •It will mostly reflect the information that circulates in mailing lists such as tier(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu, hci4d(a)googlegroups.com and change(a)cs.washington.edu •The idea of this site stems from the workshop on development carried out in April 2008 in Florence Italy. (HCI for community and international development workshop at CHI 2008). •At present the site is administrated and maintained by my group at Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina. It would be very useful to get your input on the groups you work and any relevant information on ict4d so as to include them. I would like to stress the importance on getting information, in particular, for the funding slot. Working in research in an undeveloped country is not simple and not missing possible opportunities really helps. Dr. Osvaldo Rodriguez Contact: editor(a)hci4d.org

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FW: [dub] TODAY @ dub: Kentaro Toyama from MSR India talks on "Human-Computer Interaction in Global Development"
by Saleema Amershi 22 Nov '08

22 Nov '08

-- Saleema Amershi PhD Student Computer Science and Engineering University of Washington http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/samershi From: dub-bounces(a)dub.washington.edu [mailto:dub-bounces@dub.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Saleema Amershi Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 9:54 AM To: dub(a)dub.washington.edu Cc: 'Natalie Linnell'; 'Kentaro Toyama' Subject: [dub] TODAY @ dub: Kentaro Toyama from MSR India talks on "Human-Computer Interaction in Global Development" TODAY at noon! -- Saleema Amershi PhD Student Computer Science and Engineering University of Washington http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/samershi From: dub-bounces(a)dub.washington.edu [mailto:dub-bounces@dub.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Saleema Amershi Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 10:32 AM To: dub(a)dub.washington.edu Cc: 'Natalie Linnell'; 'Kentaro Toyama' Subject: [dub] Wednesday @ dub: Kentaro Toyama from MSR India talks on "Human-Computer Interaction in Global Development" Hello Dubers! I'm very pleased to announce that this Wednesday, Kentaro Toyama, the assistant managing director of Microsoft Research India (MSRI), will be speaking at DUB on "Human-Computer Interaction in Global Development." In this talk, Kentaro will discuss several ongoing projects from MSRI's Technology for Emerging Markets Group which he leads in Bangalore, India. Since the opening of MSRI in January 2005, Kentaro and his team have done some amazing work applying both social-science research and technology innovation towards meeting the needs of people in emerging markets and in underserved communities throughout India and other developing regions worldwide. He is also a great speaker, so please come join us! Details below. Note that DUB will be held on Wednesday at our usual location in MGH 420. See you there! Thanks, Saleema ------------------------------------------------------------------- *Where:* MGH 420 (directions below) *When:* November 19th, 12-1:20PM *Who:* Intros by Natalie Linnell (CSE), Talk by Kentaro Toyama (Microsoft Research India) Food will be provided! TITLE: Human-Computer Interaction in Global Development ABSTRACT: In the young field of "information and communication technology for development" (ICT4D), the goal is to apply new computing and communication technologies for global socio-economic development. How do you design user interfaces for an illiterate migrant worker? Can you keep five rural schoolchildren from fighting over one PC? What value is technology to a farmer earning $1 a day? Ideas and methodologies from human-computer interaction research are critical to this work, and in this talk, I'll discuss relevant projects from the Technology for Emerging Markets group (http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem <http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fresearch.microsoft.com%2Fresearch% 2Ftem&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHxXX9sJiLiP-MDTsbqveaxBDMe2w> ) at Microsoft Research India. We have a multidisciplinary team of researchers exploring solutions in agriculture, education, healthcare, microfinance, and so forth, in the hopes of identifying new ways for technology to support the growth of the world's poorest communities. BIO: Kentaro Toyama is assistant managing director of Microsoft Research India (MSR India) <http://research.microsoft.com/india> , which opened in Bangalore in January, 2005; he played a critical role in establishing the lab and is responsible for helping guide its direction and growth. In addition to his responsibilities to MSR India overall, Kentaro leads the Technology for <http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem> Emerging Markets research group as a principal researcher, and is a co-founder of the IEEE/ACM <http://research.microsoft.com/workshops/ictd2007> International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD). Before being named assistant managing director of MSR India, Kentaro spent seven years in MSR Redmond, Washington, U.S.A., and in Cambridge, U.K., working on computer vision, multimedia and geographic information systems. Kentaro earned his Ph.D. in computer science at <http://cs-www.cs.yale.edu/homes/toyama/> Yale University and received a bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard University. During the autumn of 2002, he took personal leave from Microsoft to teach mathematics at Ashesi University <http://www.ashesi.edu.gh/> in Ghana. SPEAKER SCHEDULE You can see the entire speaker schedule for the quarter here: http://dub.washington.edu/events/meetings/. You can also subscribe to the Google Calendar feed by either searching for "dub group" within Google Calendar or adding designusebuild(a)gmail.com <mailto:designusebuild@gmail.com> in the Google Calendar interface. Please send me a mail (samershi(a)cs.washington.edu <mailto:samershi@cs.washington.edu>) if you are interested in giving a talk or have a suggestion for a speaker. SEMINAR LOCATION We are meeting in room 420 (on the 4th floor) of Mary Gates Hall (MGH). MGH is located north of Drumheller Fountain (see map below). South Central Campus Map south central map -- Saleema Amershi PhD Student Computer Science and Engineering University of Washington http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/samershi

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fundraiser dinner this Sunday for Bahia Street
by Alan Borning 20 Nov '08

20 Nov '08

Hi all - my older son Mo is on the board of directors for Bahia Street, which runs a school for economically-impoverished girls who live in the shantytowns in Salvador, Brazil (http:// www.bahiastreet.org) For the past 3 years or so they've been putting on a big fundraiser dinner, with lots of good food, at Agua Verde Restaurant. It's this Sunday, starting at 4:00, with dinner at 5:30 or so. Margaret Willson & Rita Conceição, Bahia Street founders, will be there. (Margaret won the Seattle PI's Jefferson Award last year for her work on this.) It's $40/person, or more if you can afford to donate it. If you're interested let me know and I'll put you on the evite list so that you can sign up. Alan

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Vodafone Americas Foundation
by Yaw Anokwa 18 Nov '08

18 Nov '08

seems to be a lot of companies doing prizes for mobile innovation this year... > The Vodafone Americas Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of our > Wireless Innovation Challenge, a new competition that seeks to identify and > fund the best innovations using wireless related technology to address > critical social issues around the world. > > > > We hope you will help spread the word to potential applicants by forwarding > the attached fact sheet and press release, and directing them to the > Foundation website at: http://www.vodafone-us.com/innovation.html and > pressing the "enter" button below it, or directly reach the Challenge > website at: http://challenge.vodafone-us.com > > > > Three winners will be awarded prizes of $300,000, $200,000 and $100,000 for > unique, late-stage wireless innovations that offer the best potential for > creating social change in the areas of education, health, economic > development, the environment and access to communication. > > > > The Vodafone Wireless Innovation Challenge is open to projects submitted by > applicants from universities and nonprofit organizations based in the United > States. Eligible projects must: > > · Demonstrate a multi-disciplinary approach that uses an innovation > in wireless related technology to address a critical global issue > > Hold the potential for replication and large scale impact > Include a business plan or basic framework for financial sustainability and > rollout > > Applications will be accepted online from November 17 to February 2 at > http://challenge.vodafone-us.com/. > > > > If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at > challenge(a)vodafone.com. > > > > More information is attached. Thank you very much for spreading the word > about the Wireless Innovation Challenge, and helping to discover innovations > that can change the world. > > > > Sincerely, > > > > Vodafone Americas Foundation > > Innovation Challenge

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FW: [dub] Wednesday @ dub: Kentaro Toyama from MSR India talks on "Human-Computer Interaction in Global Development"
by Richard Anderson 17 Nov '08

17 Nov '08

From: dub-bounces(a)dub.washington.edu [mailto:dub-bounces@dub.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Saleema Amershi Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 10:32 AM To: dub(a)dub.washington.edu Cc: Natalie Linnell; 'Kentaro Toyama' Subject: [dub] Wednesday @ dub: Kentaro Toyama from MSR India talks on "Human-Computer Interaction in Global Development" Hello Dubers! I'm very pleased to announce that this Wednesday, Kentaro Toyama, the assistant managing director of Microsoft Research India (MSRI), will be speaking at DUB on "Human-Computer Interaction in Global Development." In this talk, Kentaro will discuss several ongoing projects from MSRI's Technology for Emerging Markets Group which he leads in Bangalore, India. Since the opening of MSRI in January 2005, Kentaro and his team have done some amazing work applying both social-science research and technology innovation towards meeting the needs of people in emerging markets and in underserved communities throughout India and other developing regions worldwide. He is also a great speaker, so please come join us! Details below. Note that DUB will be held on Wednesday at our usual location in MGH 420. See you there! Thanks, Saleema ------------------------------------------------------------------- *Where:* MGH 420 (directions below) *When:* November 19th, 12-1:20PM *Who:* Intros by Natalie Linnell (CSE), Talk by Kentaro Toyama (Microsoft Research India) Food will be provided! TITLE: Human-Computer Interaction in Global Development ABSTRACT: In the young field of "information and communication technology for development" (ICT4D), the goal is to apply new computing and communication technologies for global socio-economic development. How do you design user interfaces for an illiterate migrant worker? Can you keep five rural schoolchildren from fighting over one PC? What value is technology to a farmer earning $1 a day? Ideas and methodologies from human-computer interaction research are critical to this work, and in this talk, I'll discuss relevant projects from the Technology for Emerging Markets group (http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fresearch.microsoft.com%2Fresearch%…>) at Microsoft Research India. We have a multidisciplinary team of researchers exploring solutions in agriculture, education, healthcare, microfinance, and so forth, in the hopes of identifying new ways for technology to support the growth of the world's poorest communities. BIO: Kentaro Toyama is assistant managing director of Microsoft Research India (MSR India)<http://research.microsoft.com/india>, which opened in Bangalore in January, 2005; he played a critical role in establishing the lab and is responsible for helping guide its direction and growth. In addition to his responsibilities to MSR India overall, Kentaro leads the Technology for Emerging Markets<http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem> research group as a principal researcher, and is a co-founder of the IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD)<http://research.microsoft.com/workshops/ictd2007>. Before being named assistant managing director of MSR India, Kentaro spent seven years in MSR Redmond, Washington, U.S.A., and in Cambridge, U.K., working on computer vision, multimedia and geographic information systems. Kentaro earned his Ph.D. in computer science at Yale University<http://cs-www.cs.yale.edu/homes/toyama/> and received a bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard University. During the autumn of 2002, he took personal leave from Microsoft to teach mathematics at Ashesi University<http://www.ashesi.edu.gh/> in Ghana. SPEAKER SCHEDULE You can see the entire speaker schedule for the quarter here: http://dub.washington.edu/events/meetings/. You can also subscribe to the Google Calendar feed by either searching for "dub group" within Google Calendar or adding designusebuild(a)gmail.com<mailto:designusebuild@gmail.com> <mailto:designusebuild@gmail.com> in the Google Calendar interface. Please send me a mail (samershi(a)cs.washington.edu<mailto:samershi@cs.washington.edu> <mailto:samershi@cs.washington.edu>) if you are interested in giving a talk or have a suggestion for a speaker. SEMINAR LOCATION We are meeting in room 420 (on the 4th floor) of Mary Gates Hall (MGH). MGH is located north of Drumheller Fountain (see map below). South Central Campus Map [cid:image001.gif@01C923AC.7A5A5FE0] -- Saleema Amershi PhD Student Computer Science and Engineering University of Washington http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/samershi

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TIER Workshop Talks are now online.
by Richard Anderson 14 Nov '08

14 Nov '08

http://www.citris-uc.org/events/TIER

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Digital StudyHall
by Richard Anderson 13 Nov '08

13 Nov '08

Here is the note from Randy Wang on the Tech Award ________________________________________ From: studyhall-discuss-bounces(a)lists.cs.princeton.edu [studyhall-discuss-bounces(a)lists.cs.princeton.edu] On Behalf Of Randolph Wang [rywang(a)CS.Princeton.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 11:58 PM To: Randolph Wang Subject: (dsh-discuss) (dsh-hubs) we won, again. DSH won the top slot of the education category in the Tech Awards gala and $50K cash tonight!! (The independent judges were managed separately by Santa Clara University. Before the secret decision was announced tonight, we "only" made the top 25 "laureates.") http://www.techawards.org/ I was supposed to give a short "acceptance speech." Here's the gist of what I said: [some joke about hillbillies now ready to loot Nieman Marcus coast-to-coast, a Sarah Palin joke in case you didn't know...] I thanked the award judges for recognizing the beauty in simplicity, for recognizing that sometimes, the ideas that could make a difference are not always the sexiest. We are honored and humbled etc. This is a recognition of so many people who have done the hard real work. I want to especially mention Dr. Urvashi Sahni, a co-founder, who unfortunately can't make to the ceremony, because she's running real schools, and I'm just sent here to do what I do best: eating. There are too many names to enumerate so I can only give you some examples of all the anonymous good people who do the real work. There are the teachers who stay after school everyday to film lessons; there's the staff who's holed up in a small non-AC'ed office in 40-degree heat to burn hundreds of DVDs overnight to beat a deadline; there's the village school teacher who opened an extra evening school for kids who can't make it during the day, for no extra pay, for no extra recognition; there're the volunteers who put equipment in their suitcases to smuggle to India for us. This award goes to all the people like them! And finally, please help Digital StudyHall. You can start by Googling "Digital StudyHall." And considering who's handing out the envelope (Microsoft is a sponsor), I think live.com might do nicely too. End lame speech. You can check out all the other projects featured at the Tech Awards. A lot of them are really brilliant. The dude who invented the non-reusable syringe (over a billion made!) won the top prize in the health category. Totally brilliant! --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ http://dsh.cs.washington.edu Studyhall-hub mailing list dsh-hubs(a)googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to dsh-hubs-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/dsh-hubs When replying to messages from this list, please consider changing the recipient address to studyhall-discuss(a)lists.cs.princeton.edu. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- _______________________________________________ http://dsh.cs.washington.edu Studyhall-discuss mailing list Studyhall-discuss(a)lists.cs.princeton.edu https://lists.cs.princeton.edu/mailman/listinfo/studyhall-discuss

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Digital Study Hall winns a Tech Museum Award
by Richard Anderson 13 Nov '08

13 Nov '08

Digital StudyHall just recieved a 2008 award for applying technology to benefit humanity. http://www.techawards.org/laureates/

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Human Centered Design Toolkit
by Yaw Anokwa 07 Nov '08

07 Nov '08

In collaboration with Gates Foundation and IDE, IDEO has created a Human Centered Design toolkit. This resource was created to help organizations working with smallholder farmers better understand the needs of the farmers and design appropriate tools, technologies, programs, or services for and with them. https://client.ideo.com/socialimpact/

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