June 2010 - change - Mailing Lists

MSR Summer School on Computing for Socio-Economic Development
by Yaw Anokwa 01 Jul '10

01 Jul '10

roman rohrer has written up a nice review of the summer school on computing for socio-economic development by microsoft research india at http://ict4d.at/2010/06/29/msr-summer-school-on-computing-for-socio-economi…. the folks from the technology for emerging markets group will be posting slides from the talks and i'll send those out when i get them.

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Advertising new position for D-tree
by Brian DeRenzi 30 Jun '10

30 Jun '10

>From our friends at D-Tree... Hi friends and colleagues, We are currently advertising for a new position in the Boston office of D-tree, seeking to hire a Finance and Administration Officer to assist on grants management, fundraising, communications and other duties. Please forward to any networks or candidates you may know. Thanks, Molly -- Director of Administration and Finance D-tree International

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kentaro toyama on the myth of scale
by Yaw Anokwa 30 Jun '10

30 Jun '10

we covered kentaro's ten myths of ict4d a few weeks back (http://is.gd/da4vY) but i wanted to point out that he gave a talk at tedxtokyo which you can watch at http://www.youtube.com/v/cxutDM2r534. he also blogs about his views at http://ict4djester.org/blog. http://change.washington.edu/2010/06/kentaro-toyama-on-the-myth-of-scale/

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Fwd: ICTs, Climate Change and Development: New Concept Paper and Scoping Study
by Yaw Anokwa 30 Jun '10

30 Jun '10

always interesting work from heeks... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Richard Heeks <richard.heeks(a)manchester.ac.uk> Date: Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 06:15 Subject: ICTs, Climate Change and Development: New Concept Paper and Scoping Study To: "richard.heeks(a)manchester.ac.uk" <richard.heeks(a)manchester.ac.uk> Two new documents on ICTs, climate change and development are available online at: http://www.niccd.org/resources.htm Concept Paper: builds four new conceptual models - i) Climate change vulnerability in developing countries; ii) Climate change adaptation and adaptive capacity of communities and wider 'livelihood systems'; iii) Climate change resilience; iv) The contribution of ICTs to 'e-resilience' and 'e-adaptation'. The models can be used as the foundation for research, consulting and strategy on ICTs and climate change. Scoping Study: charts strands and trends in the literature on ICTs, climate change and development, and develops an overview model of the key ICT application areas - mitigation, strategy, monitoring and adaptation. The scoping study identifies priorities for future research in this field, provides a glossary of field terms, and includes an annotated bibliography of key documents from 1997-2010. These documents are the product of the University of Manchester's "Climate Change, Innovation and ICTs" research project, funded by Canada's International Development Research Centre (http://www.idrc.ca) and managed by the University's Centre for Development Informatics (http://www.manchester.ac.uk/cdi) We encourage you to share ideas on ICTs, climate change and development via http://groups.google.co.uk/group/niccd and comment on key issues at: http://niccd.wordpress.com Richard Heeks & Angelica Ospina Climate Change, Innovation and ICTs Research Project Centre for Development Informatics School of Environment and Development University of Manchester, UK http://www.manchester.ac.uk/cdi

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Job: Director of Information Technology at the Grameen Foundation
by Melody Clark 29 Jun '10

29 Jun '10

*Position Title:* Director , Information Technology *Status:* Full-Time, Regular *Location: *Washington DC** *FLSA:* Exempt (not eligible for overtime) *Date:* June 2010 *Job Summary*: The Director of Information Technology (Director, IT) is primarily responsible for developing and executing a robust IT strategy and roadmap for Grameen Foundation USA and all of its international branch offices and subsidiaries to achieve stated business objectives. The Director, IT will work to ensure that GF’s enterprise information and communication systems provide a strong return on investment and ultimately serve to enable a global workforce to achieve the organization’s double bottom line objectives. Responsibilities include leading the development and execution of strategic and annual plans for the IT department, ensuring GF’s software, peripheral and back-end infrastructure are optimally configured to support the global information; knowledge management; communication; and collaboration needs of Grameen Foundation. *Reporting: *The Director, IT will report to the Chief of Staff/Chief Strategy Officer, and manage the staff of the IT Department. *Availability: *The Director, IT is expected to work a standard work week of 37.5 hours plus additional hours as necessary to get the job done. The position will require 10-15% travel within the US and abroad, as needed. *Essential Job Functions* - Owns and drives the strategic planning of information and communication technology systems for Grameen, evaluating emerging needs across the organization, and planning, coordinating and executing IT resources to support those needs - Responsible for executing GFs information and communications technology strategy - Serve as the organization’s IT expert, providing direction and recommendations on which technology solutions are sound investments for GF to achieve its double bottom line objectives and working with IT and other GF staff to execute those solutions - Aligns IT operations with the needs of a decentralized, global organization including, but not limited to establishing 24/7 global support, effective communications, reliable and accessible system platforms and infrastructure, and the use of field-based support resources to leverage local cost structures and service levels - Develops knowledge management strategies, platforms and processes to enable effective collaboration, knowledge sharing and learning across functional areas, programs, and regions - Manages all of GF’s information technology solution assets, ensuring all applications and tools directly support the current and future business needs of Grameen - Develops and manages the IT budget and performance measurement activities to ensure business objectives are achieved and internal service level agreements are met in a cost effective manner - Supervises Grameen’s technology infrastructure across U.S. and international offices, evaluates and manages system performance, security, back-up procedures, disaster recovery plans and ensures alignment with Grameen-wide risk management practices - Owns in-house vs. outsourced service decisions and manages strategic service provider partnerships and vendor relationships - Supervises the staff of the IT department, to create a responsive, solution-oriented culture; provides mentorship through the establishment of professional goals; and promotes accountability among the team through consistent performance evaluation - Other duties, as assigned *Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities* - Deep commitment to eradication of poverty and alignment with Grameen Foundation’s mission - Demonstrated experience supporting the IT needs of a geographically decentralized international organization - Proven experience in managing the IT operations of a medium sized organizations (100 – 500 employees), including P&L responsibilities and the implementation of enterprise-wide systems - Proven track record of managing infrastructure, application support, and help desk operations with significant improvements in service levels year over year - Experience managing an outsourced or co-sourced operational IT model - Demonstrated medium/large scale technical project management experience - Ability to effectively translate business needs into sustainable technology solutions - Demonstrated ability to work in a fast paced environment with flexibility, efficiency, and diplomacy both individually and as part of a complex team effort - Exceptional written and oral communication skills, in positions requiring culturally sensitive communication with a broad and diverse audience - High level interpersonal skills; ability to build global relationships internally and externally ** * * *Education and/or Experience* - Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a degree in a related field; - Eight to ten (8-10) years of experience in related IT field . - Experience with project management: building work plans, timelines, documenting plans and developing processes and procedures. - Leadership experience in the designing and implementing information management platforms. - International work experience in emerging markets, desired. - Experience designing and managing cloud, intranet, and open source application solutions, preferred. *Physical and Environmental Conditions:* This position does not require unusual demands for physical effort. This position may occasionally require physical effort to lift and transport boxes weighing no more than 50 pounds. Work environment involves everyday risks or discomforts that require normal safety precautions typical of places such as offices, meeting or training rooms, residences, or commercial vehicles; e.g., use of safe work place practices with office equipment, and/or avoidance of trips and falls, and observance of fire regulations and traffic signals. * * *Additional Comment:* The above job description is not intended as, nor should it be construed as, exhaustive of all responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made in appropriate circumstances to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job. For more information about Grameen Foundation please visit our website at grameenfoundation.org. Interested candidates may send cover letter and resume by email to '+'jobs'+'@'+'grameenfoundation.org'+' jobs(at)grameenfoundation.org jobs(a)grameenfoundation.org by July 15, 2010. Applications that will not include both cover letter and resume will not be considered. Please put “IT Director ” in the subject line. No Calls Please. -- Melody Clark, MLIS Gates Foundation Global Libraries Graduate Research Assistant mobile: 206.303.7910 personal email: melody.r.clark(a)gmail.com or melclark(a)uw.edu

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UNICEF seeks Blackberry Developer
by Yaw Anokwa 26 Jun '10

26 Jun '10

UNICEF, NYU ITP, and ThoughtWorks Social Impact have been working implementing a system to improve the critical and very manual task of reuniting children with there families in crisis zones. This work today is still done primarily through physical _photo_ walls like this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/unhcr/4127264233 RapidFTR is a _secure_ backend (privacy and safety of children is paramount) flexible, searchable, matchable DB of children (Rails/CouchDB) and a secure RESTful API for mobile clients to input, search, and match info from the field--e.g. moments after a disaster like the Haiti earthquake. UNICEF field works are issued Blackberries, so while eventually the project will have clients for all smartphones (Symbian, Android, iOS etc...), the most important client to implement is Blackberry. The RapidFTR project is looking to contract a developer with deep Blackberry client experience ASAP to complete the BB client. The job description is below. -------------- To apply: send code sample/link to repo + cover letter + cv to jorgejust(a)gmail.com with subject line: "RapidFTR BlackBerry DEV Job" Overview: We are seeking a mobile developer to create a BlackBerry application for RapidFTR (http://rapidftr.com) an open-source mobile application and data storage system that helps aid workers collect, sort and share information about unaccompanied children in emergency situations so they can be registered for care services and reunited with their families. Because RapidFTR is an existing and ongoing open source project, the developer will be responsible for coordinating his or her efforts with work that is already in progress from a distributed team of volunteers. RapidFTR developers work in a Test Driven Development (TDD) and Behavior Driven Development (BDD) fashion, using Agile methodologies. Timeframe for this work is five weeks. Objective: Create a fully functioning prototype of a BlackBerry client application for the RapidFTR API, with all necessary documentation. More information: Learn more about RapidFTR: http://rapidftr.com Join the RapidFTR Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/rapidftr Explore the RapidFTR codebase: http://github.com/jorgej/rapidftr Watch a 20 minute presentation about RapidFTR: http://bit.ly/jjustthesis Specific Activities: The developer would: Lead development and deployment of a BlackBerry application for RapidFTR, based on the RapidFTR API and a list of specifications to be determined by the RapidFTR team and UNICEF. Oversee main RapidFTR repo, including testing and merging commits from volunteers. Work closely with distributed team of developers, including monitoring the RapidFTR Google Group, skypeing into planning meetings, and partitioning user stories for work by other developers Provide live support and development during testing and deployment, since all specifications cannot be predefined, and more development or customization may be necessary in the field. Oversee deployment plan for RapidFTR, including helping create documentation outlining necessary steps for deploying RapidFTR in emergencies. Oversee RapidFTR server and TeamCity install Be available for volunteer "code jams" if necessary Work Products / Performance Indicators Sample User Scenario: Users are registered through administrative page of RapidFTR Zubair Elkin is a Child Protection Specialist at an IDP camp in Uganda. He discovers three unaccompanied children who have been living in a child headed household in an area of the camp. Zubair launches the RapidFTR Application on his BlackBerry to create a new child record. He takes a photo of the first child, enters her name, current location, and whatever other information the child provides him. Upon saving the record to the phone, a unique child ID is generated for the record. If there is connectivity, the RapidFTR Application attempts to submit the record to the API. If there is no connectivity, the RapidFTR application remembers this and does not attempt to connect again until the application is relaunched. Zubair repeats these steps for each child. When the BlackBerry application connects to the RapidFTR API, it downloads new a new "medical information" in the background and includes it in each child record. A pop-up alerts Zubair that this new form has been added. If there is no network connection: Upon returning to his headquarters, Zubair opens his netbook and syncs the BlackBerry application to a local instance of RapidFTR. He then prints a PDF photo of each child for addition to a 'photo wall.' Because RapidFTR will be used in situations where access to electricity and network connectivity are not guaranteed, the application will need to take battery conversation and local data storage into account. Data security is another important concern, and user stories will reflect the need for password protected accounts and onboard data encryption. Delivery Dates Daily: Publishing of all work-in progress code to a forked repository. Weekly: Merge all commits to main repo on a weekly basis. Knowledge and Skills Candidates must have experience developing mobile apps for BlackBerry, and proficiency in Java. Strong preference given to candidates with experience in agile development and familiarity with test driven development and continuous integration practices, including tools like J-Unit and TeamCity. Strong preference given to candidates with experience developing software as part of a distributed team using GitHub, especially in open-source environments. Strong preference given to candidates who are authors, maintainers, contributors, or otherwise active members of at least one open-source project. Some knowledge or experience in developing and maintaining applications using Ruby and Ruby on Rails would be helpful but not required. Travel may be required towards the end of the term. Start date: Immediate

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DEV 2010 Submission Guidelines
by Eleanor O'Rourke 25 Jun '10

25 Jun '10

Some notes on the submission guidelines for the ICTD DEV 2010 conference from Lakshmi Subramanian ------------------------------------------------------ Hi all, Apologies if you receive multiple copies. The submission site for DEV 2010 is up. The paper submission deadline is July 10th, 11:59:59 PM PST and the paper registration deadline is July 5th 11:59:59 PM PST (title, abstract, authors). The submission site and the submission guidelines are posted in the conference site at: http://dev2010.news.cs.nyu.edu We encourage you to register your papers early. Thank you, Tapan Parikh and Lakshmi Subramanian.

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Call for Participation: iConference 2011
by Christine Prefontaine 16 Jun '10

16 Jun '10

Call for Participation: iConference 2011 An open conference sponsored by Information Schools of North America, Europe, and Asia Seattle, Washington, USA February 8 - 11, 2011 http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/2011index/ ***PAPER SUBMISSION DEADLINE: August 30, 2010*** Greetings to everyone interested in HCI and Information! Please forward to your colleagues! We invite you to participate in the sixth annual conference sponsored by the iCaucus, a growing association of over 25 Schools, Faculties, and Colleges in North America, Europe and Asia that focus on Information. The iConferencegathers researchers and professionals who share the goal of making a difference through the study of people, information, and technology. Under the banner "Inspiration - Integrity - Intrepidity" we seek to showcase diversity in research interests and approaches, and demonstrate how the field creates leadership and impact on a global scale. The four days will include peer-reviewed papers, posters, and alternative events. Also being organized is a Doctoral Student Colloquium and a Junior Faculty & Postdoc Colloquium, popular venues at past iConferences. Papers and poster abstracts will be published in the ACM Digital Library. The aim is to build community and promote and share excellence in research on information challenges and opportunities. We have identified cross-cutting themes: social inclusion, context, materiality, personalization, memory. The 2011 iConference should be an exceptional venue for sharing insights and collaborating with others who share your passion and research interests. For more information on the range of topics visit the iConference web site, which includes more detail and paths to past iConferences. But do not feel constrained, this is a dynamic field that you will help shape! The conference will be held at Seattle's Renaissance Hotel. The local host is the University of Washington Information School. Timeline: August 30, 2010: Papers, Poster Abstracts, Alternative Event proposals, Preconference Workshops November 1: Authors notified December 1: Final versions submitted Links and Contact Information: * CFP: http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/participation/ * Conference: http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/2011index/ * iCaucus: http://www.ischools.org/site/ Conference Co-Chairs * Harry Bruce, University of Washington * Jonathan Grudin, Microsoft Research Program and Papers Co-Chairs * Karen E. Fisher, University of Washington * Jens-Erik Mai, University of Toronto Poster Co-Chairs * Paul Dourish, University of California, Irvine * Ping Zhang, Syracuse University Alternative Events Co-Chairs * Allison Druin, University of Maryland * Andrea Forte, Drexel University Doctoral Colloquium Co-Chairs * Eliza Dresang, University of Washington * Bonnie Nardi, University of California, Irvine * Howard Rosenbaum, Indiana University, SLIS Junior Faculty and Postdoc Colloquium Co-Chairs * Eileen Abels, Drexel University * Jack Carroll, The Pennsylvania State University Program Committee * Eileen Abels, Drexel University * Alessandro Acquisti, Carnegie Mellon University * Bill Aspray, University of Texas, Austin * John Bertot, University of Maryland * Harry Bruce, University of Washington * Jenna Burrell, University of California, Berkeley * Nadia Caidi, University of Toronto * Jack Carroll, The Pennsylvania State University * Coye Cheshire, University of California, Berkeley * Andrew Clement, University of Toronto * Chris Coward, University of Washington * Ed Cutrell, Microsoft Corporation * Paul Dourish, University of California, Irvine * Eliza Dresang, University of Washington * Allison Druin, University of Maryland * Barbara Endicott-Popovsky, University of Washington * Melanie Feinberg, University of Texas, Austin * Andrew Fiore, University of California, Berkeley * Andrea Forte, Drexel University * Jonathan Furner, University of California, Los Angeles * Maria Garrido, University of Washington * Sean Goggins, Drexel University * Elke Greifeneder, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin * Jacek Gwizdka, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey * Margaret Hedstrom, University of Michigan * Julia Hersberger, University of North Carolina, Greensboro * Jette Hyldegaard, Danish Royal School * Steven J Jackson, University of Michigan * Julie Kientz, University of Washington * Paul Marty, Florida State University * Eric Meyers, University of British Columbia * Bonnie Nardi, University of California, Irvine * Geoffrey Nunberg, University of California, Berkeley * Megan Oakleaf, Syracuse University * Tapan Parikh, University of California, Berkeley * Matt Ratto, University of Toronto * David Ribes, Georgetown * Howard Rosenbaum, Indiana University, SLIS * Araba Sey, University of Washington * Ramesh Srinivasan, University of California, Los Angeles * Andrea Tapia, The Pennsylvania State University * Joe Tennis, University of Washington * Andrea Wiggins, Syracuse University * Kate Williams, University of Illinois * Jacob Wobbrock, University of Washington * Ping Zhang, Syracuse University

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IHME Post-Graduate Fellowship opportunity
by Yaw Anokwa 15 Jun '10

15 Jun '10

ihme does really interesting work in health care. if you are interested in their fellowship program, the attached pdf has a lot more information. ________________________________ I am contacting you from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington with an announcement that we are now accepting applications for our Post-Graduate Fellowship program fall 2011 cohort. It would be greatly appreciated if you disseminated this announcement on your listservs’, mailings lists, and to anyone who would be interested in this position. I am attaching the program description for your reference. Thanks in advance! Sincerely, Jessica Eckstrom Education & Training Coordinator Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation | University of Washington 2301 5th Avenue, Suite 600 | Seattle, WA 98121 Tel: +1.206.897.2807 pgf(a)healthmetricsandevaluation.org http://healthmetricsandevaluation.org

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CFP: ACM DEV 2010
by Tapan Parikh 14 Jun '10

14 Jun '10

ACM DEV 2010: First ACM Annual Symposium on Computing for Development The First ACM Annual Symposium on Computing for Development (DEV 2010) will be co-located with ICTD 2010 and the focus of the symposium will be on new computing innovations for development. The scope of DEV 2010 is broad covering a wide range of research areas within computer science with a direct focus on development. ACM DEV 2010 aims to bring together all CS researchers with an interest in computing for development. The deadline for paper submissions is July 10th, 2010. We strongly encourage you to submit your best works here. The conference website is: http://dev2010.news.cs.nyu.edu Call for Papers DEV 2010 provides an international forum for research in the design and implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for social and economic development. In particular, we focus on emerging contexts where conventional computing solutions are often inappropriate due to various contextual factors - including, but not limited to, cost, language, literacy, and the availability of power and bandwidth. Focusing on innovative technical solutions to these unique application, infrastructure and user challenges, DEV fosters exchange between computer scientists, engineers, and other scholars and practitioners interested in the use of ICTs for development. DEV provides a high-quality, single-track forum for presenting results and discussing new ideas. We expect paper contributions from different existing sub-areas of Computer Science and Engineering with a direct relevance to development. Papers should describe original and previously unpublished research. Three metrics will be applied to judge papers: (a) Relevance of the problem for development; (b) Novelty of the technical solution; (c) Evaluation of the solution, making a case for development-focused impact. All ACM DEV paper submissions should either provide or directly motivate a novel technical solution that has direct implications for development. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: Networks/Systems/Security/Architecture * Low-cost wireless connectivity * Intermittent networks and systems * Power-efficient systems * Low-cost computing devices * Mobile systems and applications * Security challenges in developing regions HCI/Applications * User interfaces for low-literacy populations * Multi-lingual computing * User-interfaces for low-cost devices * Participatory methods and user-centered design * Accessibility to disabled populations in developing regions * Design and evaluation of applications for health, microfinance, education, agriculture, entertainment AI/NLP/Data Mining/Speech/Vision * Machine learning techniques for large-scale data analysis in development contexts * Adapting content and applications to local languages and education levels * Understanding social relationships and information flows in disadvantaged societies * Speech interfaces and speech recognition for low-resource languages * Development of new AI-centric tools/solutions for development * Computer vision challenges in development We also welcome papers outside of these topics that address the DEV focus on computing innovations supporting social and economic development. Important Dates Registration Deadline July 3, 2010 Submission Deadline July 10, 2010 Paper Acceptance September 5, 2010 Final Version October 5, 2010 Conference December 17-18, 2010 General Chair Andrew Dearden, Sheffield Hallam University PC Chairs Tapan Parikh, UC Berkeley Lakshminarayanan Subramanian, NYU Steering Committee Saman Amarasinghe, MIT Gaetano Borriello, University of Washington Eric Brewer, UC Berkeley Deborah Estrin, UCLA Margaret Martonosi, Princeton Roni Rosenfeld, CMU Kentaro Toyama, UC Berkeley Program Committee Muneeb Ali, Princeton, USA Saman Amarasinghe, MIT, USA Richard Anderson, Univ of Washington, USA Ravin Balakrishnan, Univ of Toronto, Canada Simone Barbosa, PUC - Rio, Brazil Etienne Barnard, University of Pretoria, South Africa Michael Best, Georgia Tech, USA Gaetano Borriello, Univ of Washington, USA Eric Brewer, UC Berkeley, USA John Canny, UC Berkeley, USA Ed Cutrell, MSR India, India James Davis, UC Santa Cruz, USA Andrew Dearden, Sheffield Hallam University, UK Nathan Eagle, MIT & Santa Fe Institute, USA Deborah Estrin, UCLA, USA Neil Ferguson, Imperial College, UK Beki Grinter, Georgia Tech, USA Eric Horovitz, MSR Redmond, USA Ravi Jain, Google, USA Matt Jones, Swansea, UK Matthew Kam, CMU, USA Srinivasan Keshav, University of Waterloo, Canada Zhengjie Liu, Dalian Maritime University, China Gary Marsden, Univ of Cape Town, South Africa Vanessa Frias Martinez, Telefonica Research, Spain Margaret Martonosi, Princeton, USA Srini Narayanan, UC Berkeley, USA Bonnie Nardi, UC Irvine, USA Tapan Parikh, UC Berkeley, USA Balaji Prabhakar, Stanford, USA John Quinn, Makerere University, Uganda Nitendra Rajput, IBM Research India, India Bhaskaran Raman, IIT-Bombay, India Roni Rosenfeld, CMU, USA Umar Saif, LUMS, Pakistan Lakshmi Subramanian, NYU, USA Bill Thies, MSR India, India Kentaro Toyama, UC Berkeley, USA Terry Winograd, Stanford, USA

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