April 2008 - change - Mailing Lists

Fwd: [TIER] Fwd: Opportunity for a top student at the Grameen Technology Center -- Application Laboratory
by Brian DeRenzi 30 Apr '08

30 Apr '08

David is a really nice guy and just down the road here in Seattle... Brian ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Tapan Parikh <tapan(a)cs.washington.edu> Date: 2008/4/30 Subject: [TIER] Fwd: Opportunity for a top student at the Grameen Technology Center -- Application Laboratory To: tier(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu The Grameen Foundation AppLab is looking for interns for its AppLab project in Uganda - see attached for details. Please contact David Edelstein (contact details below) if you are interested. David Edelstein Director of ICT Innovation • Grameen Technology Center +1.206.229.0341 • Skype: david.seattle _______________________________________________ TIER mailing list Website: http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu TIER(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu https://www.millennium.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tier

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An interesting paper on Poverty
by Richard Anderson 29 Apr '08

29 Apr '08

I came across the following paper which gives interesting data on expenditures of poor people in developing regions. The economic lives of the poor. A. Banerjee and E. Duflo, MIT Working paper, October 2006. http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/csep590b/CurrentQtr/docs_p/b… It is worth reading. (For csep590b, I've put it as a supplementary reading for week 6. http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/csep590b/CurrentQtr/readings…) - Richard

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FW: April 25 event - UW activities in India
by Rohit Chaudhri 22 Apr '08

22 Apr '08

Hi, I came to know about this this event where UW folks will meet to talk about various projects being done in the UW for India. They've asked if someone from CSE could come and talk about our projects. Is someone up for doing this? At this point I don't know if they need a presentation/slideware, but am trying to find out. I could do this, if no one else does - but I don't know of all the dept activities for India, so would need to gather this information from the relevant people. Pl let me know about this. thanks! Rohit ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Mausam <mausam(a)cs.washington.edu> Date: Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 12:26 PM Subject: FW: April 25 event To: Rohit Chaudhri <rohitc(a)cs.washington.edu> Do you think the following forum is relevant to you? Would you like to go for this as a speaker? Mausam *From:* snodgrassuw(a)gmail.com [mailto:snodgrassuw@gmail.com] *On Behalf Of *Keith Snodgrass *Sent:* Friday, April 18, 2008 12:24 PM *To:* mausam(a)cs.washington.edu *Subject:* April 25 event Dear Mausam, We have met at a couple of South Asia events. We'd like to have you or someone from CS who is doing some work in India come to our April 25 event (details below) for our final session on UW activities in India. We expect a turnout of 50-100 people, as this is listed in the Washington Weekend program as well as through our usual publicity avenues. We would like to have you be around from about 6:45 PM til 7:30 so that attendees can discuss your project. I am happy to answer any questions, so please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you. India's New Economy Friday, April 25, 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm, Bank of America Executive Education Center - Douglas Forum - Contact: Keith Snodgrass, snodgras(a)u.washington.edu, 206-543-4800 The Foster School of Business and the South Asia Center of the Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, present The New Economy in India. This event will offer diverse viewpoints on recent economic developments in this dynamic country, views on its position within the global economy, and information on activities currently being undertaken in relation to India by UW faculty, staff and students. We will open the session with a presentation by UW Business Professor Suresh Kotha on The Macro Perspective: Why Talk About India in this Context? Also on the program is The View from the Ground: Multiple Perspectives on India's New Economic Position by entrepreneurs and others directly involved in India's economy. With Dinesh Keskar of Boeing and Pradeep Singh. There will be refreshments and the opportunity to attend a poster session and meet students and faculty on the topic of "The UW in India and India in the UW." This event is part of the University of Washington's Washington Weekend. For a full schedule of events, see http://www.washington.edu/alumni/weekend/ -- Keith Snodgrass Associate Director and Outreach Coordinator South Asia Center Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies University of Washington w: http://jsis.washington.edu/soasia/ p:206.543.4800 f: 206.685.0668 e: snodgras(a)u.washington.edu

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[Fwd: [BHI-Student] FW: Announcement-- PHI2008: Global Partners in Public Health Informatics Conference]
by Richard Boyce 21 Apr '08

21 Apr '08

FYI - Sorry if this is a repeat

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NGO in India looking for info management solutions
by Sunil Garg 18 Apr '08

18 Apr '08

Hi all, I'm currently studying abroad in India, where we're working closely with a development organization called Chirag (www.chirag.org) They've asked me to look into solving the following two issues -- if any of you have ideas or know of relevant software packages, preferably open source, please let me know. 1. Collection, management, and analysis of area reports: each area team would periodically fill out a template, which would then be sent to organization leaders who want to compare any given template field across different areas or over time. Data is generally qualitative and input needs to be in Hindi. 2. Tracking student progress over time. If there are any open source packages available that allow schools to manage and track student information and progress (like the medical records package described in last quarter's talk), that would be really helpful. Data is generally quantitative, so Hindi support isn't necessary but would be nice. Thanks, Sunil

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CSEP 590b - computing and the developing world
by Richard Anderson 17 Apr '08

17 Apr '08

This term I am teaching a course on Computing and Developing World in the UW Professional Master's Program: http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/csep590b/CurrentQtr/ There is a rapidly growing reading list for the course, which may be of interest to members of this mailing list. http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/csep590b/CurrentQtr/readings… The readings are password protected. To access them use: user: csep590b password: student

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3 Programming Mentor Positions in Rwanda for Partners In Health
by benson limketkai 16 Apr '08

16 Apr '08

I ran the pilot project. The program is great. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me. The start date is somewhat flexible. If you also know anyone who might be interested, please pass this along. benson ------------------------------------ Save the world, one click at a time! http://www.thehungersite.com "Safeguard the helpless."

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CFP - WiNS-DR @ MobiCom
by Tapan Parikh 15 Apr '08

15 Apr '08

Wireless Networks and Systems for Developing Regions (WiNS-DR) Workshop to be held in conjunction with ACM MobiCom 2008 September 19, 2008 http://moment.cs.ucsb.edu/winsdr08 ****** Call for Papers ****** Information and communication technologies have been widely hailed as an important component in the advancement of the rural and underserved regions of the developing world. While technology alone cannot be a panacea for the diverse and myriad challenges in these regions, there is increasing evidence that communications technologies and access to information, far from being a luxury, can have direct and vital benefits to the economic and social well-being of the population in these regions. In particular, studies indicate that access to communication and information can contribute to specific measures such as increased GDP and living standards. Moreover, anecdotal evidence as well as pilot projects indicates that such access can lead to specific benefits, such as new economic opportunities and better medical information and intervention. This workshop focuses on the technology required to provide communications and information access to rural regions in the developing world, and in particular technical aspects of wireless networking, systems and communication. This target environment poses unique system-wide challenges that require the development of new research approaches and innovative designs and techniques. These challenges include infrastructure issues, such as power and connectivity limitations, as well as particular user needs, including cost, literacy and language issues. Thus in addition to considering the specifics of networking protocols and architectures, the aim of the workshop is to consider the entire system by which networking and communication is provided, all the key technical stakeholders, and the overall system lifecycle from economic modeling to deployment. AUDIENCE: The workshop aims to bring together a diverse group of technical researchers, including: - network planners and economists, - user experience researchers, - network architecture and protocol specialists, - networked application and middleware developers. We believe it is this comprehensive approach that will lead to breakthroughs in understanding the key challenges and research required to build practical, deployable, innovative systems. TOPICS: We solicit original, unpublished, technical papers in the relevant areas of interest including, but not limited to: - Economics of rural access networks, including case studies, tools and models - Rural network planning and spectrum management protocols and techniques - User experience research, including impact of language and literacy barriers on networked applications - Shared access devices and infrastructure, including personalization and privacy concerns - Delay tolerant networking - Low-power and intermittent-power protocols - Energy-efficient and intermittent-energy devices, networks and systems - Mechanisms for emergency and urgent communications - Middleware and mechanisms for minimizing energy, latency and storage - Networked applications and services - Testing, deployment and evolution: techniques and in-depth case studies SUBMISSIONS: All papers will be peer-reviewed by a multidisciplinary program committee of technical experts. Submissions are limited to 6 pages in length, with a minimum 10pt font and 1 inch margins, including all references and figures. Submissions will be handled by the EDAS system. IMPORTANT DATES May 8: Abstract registration deadline May 12: Submission deadline June 15: Acceptance notification July 1: Camera ready versions due Sept 19: Workshop date CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS General Chair: Charles Perkins TPC Co-Chairs: Elizabeth Belding, UC Santa Barbara Ravi Jain, Google TECHNICAL PROGRAM COMMITTEE Daniel Appelquist, Vodafone, UK Ken Banks, Kiwanja.net, Uganda Ian Chakeres, Motorola Labs, India Jon Crowcroft, Univ of Cambridge, UK Nathan Eagle, MIT and Univ of Nairobi, Kenya Prasant Mohapatra, UC Davis, USA Giovanni Pau, UC Los Angeles, USA Tapan Parikh, UC Berkeley, USA Bhaskaran Raman, IIT Bombay, India Kobus Roux, Meraka Institute, South Africa Charles Warren, Google, USA Richard Wolff, Montana State University, USA (further invitations pending)

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congrats to brian (again)
by Yaw Anokwa 12 Apr '08

12 Apr '08

brian is too modest to announce this himself, but he just got the announcement for the fulbright scholarship. for those keeping track, this means he is both an nsf and fulbright scholar! yaw

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Jeffrey Sachs talk on "Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet"
by Valentin Razmov 11 Apr '08

11 Apr '08

I attended a talk by Jeffrey Sachs given to an audience of several hundred at Microsoft yesterday, and I thought I'd share my notes with people on this list. (Any misrepresentations and omissions are, obviously, my mistake.) The talk was centered on ideas from his new book "Common Wealth..." as well as his experiences of implementing those ideas, that people in the audience asked him about. I found it enlightening and at the same time heart-breaking to hear some of the stories he had to tell - of the huge gaps in what's possible versus what's being done in reality. Valentin --- "Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet" Jeffrey Sachs Apr 10, 2008 The poorest of the poor in the world are farmers, subsistence farmers, who can't grow enough -- mostly due to lack to technology. The technology they miss is largely fertilizer and high-yield seeds. The bottom of the pyramid is not represented by India, but rather villages in Africa. The developing world is characterized by annual incomes from $0-$10K. This is a very broad range -- people at the very bottom live in radically different conditions from those near the top of that range. Microfinance tends to not work well at the very extreme bottom of the pyramid. The reason is that the associated risks cannot be assumed successfully at that level: for those at the very bottom, there is no buffer, as any natural disaster can mean wiping out large portions of a population. Poor people can't get credit (they're not creditworthy), can't save (because they need every bit of what they make for sustenance), even systematically reduce the quality of resources (extracting more than can be recovered), and having extra high fertility rates (in hopes of overcompensating for the risks of children dying; 1 out of 5, typically). Turf wars -- fighting over nothing of substance -- and politics block most of creative initiatives for helping solve the problems for the poorest of the poor. The world is richer than ever before, and has been getting richer faster than ever before. This would continue due to increased productivity and technology. There are two problems with that (detailed in Sach's book "Common Wealth"): - The technologies now are heavily resource-using technology (e.g., electricity, etc.). - The technologies don't reach the poorest of the poor. Markets have no incentive to manage the commons. The atmosphere and oceans have become dumping grounds. As one example, malaria bed nets cost $5 each, last 5 years, and there are 300M of them required in the malaria regions of Africa. This amounts to $1.5B over 5 years, compared to $1.9B of Pentagon budget each day (!). The world economy is $65T, but somehow people aren't able to see how to convert a small portion of that to aid the poorest of the poor and help them lift themselves out of poverty. 10M children die each year of poverty-related causes, half of those in Africa. The claim is that there are enough resources -- solar energy, aqua cultures, etc. -- to solve the problems of the poorest of the poor. But purely market forces won't reach that goal by themselves. Ultimately, there is nothing intrinsic that stops these problems from being solved, but getting an agreement and a plan for moving forward -- from the rich countries -- has been stopping progress. Technology has a role in providing solutions -- opening up kiosks that would ensure higher accountability of distribution channels. The ultimate problem is not corruption but lack of systems (that support transparent operations). Information flow combined with mobile phones is the technological enabler of solving these problems. With that foundation, the rest would flow more easily. Health, education, agriculture, and infrastructure (power and connectivity) represent the basic pillars of where help can be provided. These core investments would cost (an estimated) $60-$70 per person per year.

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