October 2011 - change - Mailing Lists

FW: [TIER] Inveneo is hiring a COO
by Richard Anderson 14 Oct '11

14 Oct '11

-----Original Message----- From: tier-bounces(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu [mailto:tier-bounces@tier.cs.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Eric Blantz Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 10:01 AM To: TIER Subject: [TIER] Inveneo is hiring a COO Inveneo is Hiring: Chief Operations Officer http://www.inveneo.org/newsfeed/chief_operations_officer Cheers, ---------------------------------------- Eric Blantz Sr. Program Director Inveneo (www.inveneo.org) email: eric.blantz(a)inveneo.org tel: 415-901-1969 x1275 cell: 415-847-1232 AIM/Yahoo/Skype: eblantz fax: 415-449-6073 ............................................................... Watch Inveneo in action on CNN http://www.inveneo.org/?q=CNNPrincipalVoices Subscribe to Inveneo via: - Email: http://bit.ly/inveneo-email - RSS: http://bit.ly/inveneo_rss - Twitter: http://bit.ly/inveneo-twitter ............................................................... _______________________________________________ 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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TASCHA Talk -- October 20 -- Development and implementation of the Global Impact Study surveys
by Karen Hirst 14 Oct '11

14 Oct '11

TASCHA TALK: Araba Sey and Chris Rothschild October 20, 2011, from 3:30 to 4:30pm Roosevelt Commons Building, 4311 11th Ave NE Fourth floor multi-purpose room The Global Impact Study surveys were designed to collect comparable data on uses and outcomes of public access ICT use in five countries on three continents. This TASCHA Talk will reflect on a range of research design and project management issues encountered during various stages of the survey project. About the presenters Araba is the research lead for TASCHA's Global Impact Study. She is interested in the social and economic implications of information and communication technologies in developing countries. Araba holds a PhD in Communication. Chris is a Research Analyst working on the Global Impact Study. His research focus is on the impact of information access users and non-users of technology venues. Chris holds Master's degrees in Public Administration and International Studies. TASCHA Talks are bi-weekly sessions to share, discuss, and advance new ideas around topics related to technology and social change. Learn more at tascha.uw.edu/taschatalks<http://tascha.uw.edu/what-we-do/tascha-talks/>.

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Global Impact Study - October 2011 newsletter
by Melody Clark 14 Oct '11

14 Oct '11

Hello, Change friends! The latest newsletter from the Global Impact Study is out! Learn more about our upcoming survey data analysis reports on public access users, uses, and perceived impacts, our communications strategy and upcoming new Knowledge Sharing section of our website, and some emerging findings from the Philippines and the Interpersonal Communications in-depth study. You'll also find our report from the June 2011 project-wide workshop. Download the newsletter<http://bit.ly/mUYD7p>. Follow us on Twitter.<http://twitter.com/#!/ICTimpact> Sign up for the newsletter.<http://www.globalimpactstudy.org/resources/newsletter/> As always, we welcome your feedback! Cheers! Melody -- Melody Clark Research Coordinator | Global Impact Study Technology & Social Change (TASCHA) melclark(a)uw.edu<mailto:melclark@uw.edu> | 206.685.7819 Twitter: @ictimpact<http://twitter.com/#!/ICTimpact> www.globalimpactstudy.org<http://www.globalimpactstudy.org/>

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Phone Tech Transforms African Business and Healthcare (New Scientist)
by Gaetano Borriello 12 Oct '11

12 Oct '11

Phone Tech Transforms African Business and Healthcare New Scientist (10/10/11) Melissae Fellet Homegrown innovation in the developing world is leading to new technologies that are helping less advantaged societies improve the lives of their citizens. For example, the MedAfrica mobile application, developed by Kenyan computer scientists, provides Africans with medical advice and direct communication with doctors. Other apps include mFarm, which connects farmers with current market prices for produce using text messages, and an app that provides community health workers with instructions on how to treat common problems during pregnancy and childbirth. Meanwhile, the number of local developers building software for cell phones is growing, especially with the launching of several innovation labs, known as mlabs, in Kenya and South Africa. The goal of mlabs is to teach programming and business skills, as well as connect young developers with mentors. Similar centers are expected to open in Pakistan and Vietnam. "The mobile phone has revolutionized the [developing] world much more subtly and profoundly than people really know," says Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. NOTE: the crop disease app is based on ODK (http://cropmonitoring.appspot.com/methodology.html) THE cellphone has revolutionised life in the western world. Now, thanks to plummeting hardware prices and homegrown innovation, the developing world is poised to reap the benefits of this game-changing technology. Take MedAfrica, an app that can be used on almost any cellphone, whether it uses a sophisticated operating system like Android or just SMS messaging. The idea is to provide people in far-flung areas of the continent with medical advice and direct communication with doctors. Last month, Steve Mutinda and Mbugua Njihia took to the stage at the DEMO conference in San Francisco to ask potential investors for millions of dollars to develop MedAfrica. Njihia argued that it could offer 200 million people reliable, user-friendly and affordable healthcare. Such lofty goals are commonplace in Silicon Valley. But Mutinda and Njihia are an unusual case: they hail not from California but Nairobi, Kenya. In Africa, cellphone penetration - the number of phones as a percentage of the population - is still the lowest in the world, but it is growing quickly. In 2010, an estimated 41 per cent of the population on the continent had cellphones, compared with 76 per cent globally. That's double what it was in 2005. Just as importantly, the number of local developers building software for cellphones is growing too. Innovation labs called mobile development labs, or "mlabs", have opened in Kenya and South Africa as a way to bring burgeoning numbers of developers together. Funded by Nokia, the Finnish government and the World Bank-backed business development organisation infoDev, the goal of mlabs is to teach programming and business skills, as well as connect young developers with mentors. They help entrepreneurs identify community needs, craft a product and a business plan, and allow for product testing. The Nairobi mlab, called iHub, has been open for just over a year. In June, the organisation invited developers in Kenya and Uganda to compete for a $25,000 prize to start their business. It received more than 100 entries, including an early version of MedAfrica specifically for use in Kenya. That idea won, springboarding Mutinda and Njihia towards what Njihia told the DEMO conference could generate $2 billion in revenue in the next five years. Such initiatives aren't limited to Africa - similar centres are expected to open in Pakistan and Vietnam as well. Firms like Google and Nokia are partnering with the World Bank on these and other efforts to train and nurture budding technologists. But such centres are only truly successful when the community of entrepreneurs they help to create can stand on its own feet, even in the absence of outside funding, says Oscar Salazar, founder of Citivox, a software platform designed to collect and share data between citizens and their government. "When the money runs out, the project [often] dies," he says. "We're pushing to create an ecosystem where people can benefit from the technology on a long-term basis." MedAfrica is an example of this. Part phone book and part basic medical reference text, the app has a symptom checker and lists nearby doctors and hospitals based on the user's location. It is based on a software platform, called Tuvitu, that Mutinda designed to provide news and entertainment on feature phones like the Nokia C3, one of the most popular models in Africa. Since 2009, Mutinda has used the platform to build 27 different apps that, as of last month, have been downloaded 700,000 times around the world. There's plenty of innovation outside the internationally backed mlabs, too. An app called mFarm, developed by a group of female coders from Kenya, connects farmers with current market prices for produce using SMS messages. And Daniel Stern, founder of UConnect in Kampala, Uganda, is working to create an app that provides community health workers with instructions on how to tackle common problems during pregnancy and childbirth. "It's like the first days of movable type," Stern says. "We are all trying to put together a printing press and we have a sense of mission. We know there's a tremendous need for products yet to be developed, especially in rural areas." Beyond developing apps to improve healthcare, agriculture and other aspects of life, the cellphone has also brought with it more rigorous time-keeping. "The mobile phone has revolutionised the [developing] world much more subtly and profoundly than people really know," says Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. People in developing countries used to spend a lot of time waiting for taxis and appointments. Now scheduling apps enable them to organise their time effectively, thus increasing productivity. "The question is: what else can it do?" Zuckerman says. The answers are myriad. The vast majority of phones in use in the developing world are basic phones like the Nokia 1100, rather than the more expensive smartphones. Such phones have limited web-browsing capability, but developers have learned to squeeze huge amounts of performance from them. It is possible to check bank accounts and transfer money over SMS, for example, or even to pop in a specially designed SIM card to gain access to Facebook. Earlier this year, Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei released an $80 Android phone in Kenya, putting smartphones at a price reachable for many middle-class Africans, says Zuckerman. London-based consultancy firm Balancing Act projects that such price decreases will drive smartphone penetration in Africa from today's levels of between 3 and 5 per cent to between 10 and 15 per cent in the next five years. With ever-increasing computing power available in cheap, rugged handsets, the rapid growth in cellphone-based innovation is likely to continue apace. Local developers and entrepreneurs are looking for ways to improve quality of life and boost the economy. On the back of their ingenuity will be built the business, economic and infrastructural development that could one day change the face of the developing world. Smartphones keep an eye on crops A handful of workers armed with just 10 smartphones could monitor an entire country for crop disease. An app can extrapolate information on disease severity in cassava crops collected at a limited number of sites to the whole of Uganda. Cassava, or tapioca, is widely used as a staple crop across the developing world as it is resistant to drought. But when disease hits, farmers need to find healthy plants as replacements. Each year, the Ugandan government sends survey teams into the countryside to measure plant health and bug infestation. Using data from 30 sites, workers map the levels of disease across 80 districts. But it takes five months to produce a nationwide map. Smartphones could radically speed up the process. John Quinn at Makerere University in Uganda has developed an app that workers can use to record the severity of the crop disease. Their report is linked to the GPS coordinates on the phone and uploaded within minutes to an online map. An algorithm then extrapolates the information across the country. Workers can also use the phone's camera to take a photo of whiteflies - which spread the African cassava mosaic virus - on the underside of a leaf. Software on the phone then counts the number of bugs. The software can also estimate the degree to which cassava is infected with other diseases by analysing images of yellow, diseased leaves. The pilot project, set to begin this month, will involve trained survey teams, but Quinn hopes that untrained farmers will be able to use the app in the future.

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Prof. Craig Warren Smith on the Second Wireless Revolution: Bringing Broadband to the "Next Two Billion" in Asia's Emerging Markets
by Nicola Dell 10 Oct '11

10 Oct '11

This Thursday at Change we will be hosting a talk by Professor Craig Warren Smith, Chairman of the Digital Divide Institute, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. Now that cell phones have reached even remote villages in Asian emerging markets, Asia's commercial supply chains and governments are now intent on achieving "broadband for all." Can this "Second Wireless Revolution" be achieved? If so, will it be beneficial or harmful to individuals, to their communities and the environment? In this talk, Craig will present a model called "meaningful broadband" which combines innovations in technology-design, public policy, finance, and ethics. Embraced by governments and ICT stakeholders in Indonesia and Thailand, this model is the basis of new public private partnerships and strategic alliances that aim to help bring balance and sustainability to the global economy. Prof Smith will focus in particular on Indonesia, which is preparing to deploy a $9.4 billion public private partnership plan, overseen by President SBY, to bring broadband meaningfully to 65 million low income Indonesians by 2014. For more on his work and Digital Divide Institute, see www.DigitalDivide.org<http://www.digitaldivide.org/> . Craig Warren Smith, born in Seattle, has been a leader of the worldwide movement to close the "digital divide" since he co-organized a major conference in Seattle hosted by Bill Gates Sr. in 1999. An expert in CSR, he was asked in 1996 to help Microsoft design its global system of corporate community relations. Since 2000 he has led efforts to formulate solutions to bring digital divide for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, as a Harvard/MIT researcher with Jeff Sachs and Nicholas Negroponte, and as a lecturer in technology policy at National University of Singapore. For the past 30 years his avocation has been the teaching and practicing of Buddhist meditation. His lectures on"spiritual computing" have been received worldwide by Google, Nokia Research, Microsoft Research, IBM Research (Almaden), Yahoo! and universities around the world. He currently teaches a training program called Mindfulness 24/7" to high tech corporate employees in Thailand. Since, 2006, he has been Senior Advisor to UW's Human Interface Technology Laboratory. Please join us for sandwiches, and to learn more about the Second Wireless Revolution: Bringing Broadband to the "Next Two Billion" in Asia's Emerging Markets! *What:* Craig Warren Smith on the Second Wireless Revolution: Bringing Broadband to the "Next Two Billion" in Asia's Emerging Markets *When:* Thursday, Oct 13th at noon *Where:* Paul Allen Center, Room 203

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TASCHA Talk: Araba Sey and Chris Rothschild
by Yaw Anokwa 10 Oct '11

10 Oct '11

TASCHA TALK: Araba Sey and Chris Rothschild October 20, 2011, from 3:30 to 4:30pm Roosevelt Commons Building, fourth floor multi-purpose room The Global Impact Study surveys were designed to collect comparable data on uses and outcomes of public access ICT use in five countries on three continents. This TASCHA Talk will reflect on a range of research design and project management issues encountered during various stages of the survey project. Araba is the research lead for TASCHA’s Global Impact Study. She is interested in the social and economic implications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in developing countries. Araba holds a PhD in Communication. Chris is a Research Analyst working on the Global Impact Study. His research focus is on the impact of information access users and non-users of technology venues. Chris holds a Master of Public Administration and International Studies. TASCHA Talks are bi-weekly sessions to share, discuss, and advance new ideas around topics related to technology and social change. Learn more at tascha.uw.edu/taschatalks.

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Bill Gates III at UW CSE, October 27
by Yaw Anokwa 10 Oct '11

10 Oct '11

Bill Gates III will deliver the UW Computer Science & Engineering Distinguished Lecture at 3:30 p.m. on October 27 in the Microsoft Atrium of the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering: The Opportunity Ahead: A Conversation with Bill Gates Thursday, October 27, 2011 3:30pm, Microsoft Atrium, Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering Reception to follow Although space is limited, the event will be webcast live, and web archived. Additional information here. Abstract Advances in both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of computing offer remarkable opportunities for contributions in every sphere. Coupled with advances in natural user interfaces and pervasive computing, the next decade could see significant breakthroughs that improve our world, particularly for the poorest two billion people on earth. http://news.cs.washington.edu/2011/10/10/bill-gates-iii-at-uw-cse-october-2…

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Dimagi Field Fellow Positions in India
by neal.lesh＠gmail.com 09 Oct '11

09 Oct '11

Hi everybody, We're looking to hire one or more people for our work in India. We're flexible on start time, though sooner the better. take care, neal Dimagi[1] is looking for Field Fellows for our expanding work in India. We are looking for adventurous individuals with an eagerness to work with frontline health workers and help us deploy technologies to improve health care delivery in urban and rural communities. As a field fellow, you will travel extensively in India to help deploy CommCare[2], a mobile application for community health workers. We have an extensive range of partner organizations across 8 states in India and as a fellow you will travel to field sites from the cloud forests of Maharashtra to the arid deserts of Rajasthan and the dusty plains of Uttar Pradesh to meet with them and their health workers. Your work will include leading trainings, conducting research, and providing support for the CommCare program. You'll join our team of international fellows and share lessons learned and expertise from across the globe. Our Field Fellow program is designed for people seeking field experience. Fellows will receive a small, volunteer stipend to cover living costs, all travel expenses, and a healthcare plan. We request a 12 month commitment. We require English fluency as well as working knowledge of Hindi or another Indian language. The only other requirements are that you be an outstanding communicator and problem solver. Any technical skills, research experience, or other foreign languages are plusses. The profile of a candidate who will be happy in this position is someone who easily adapts to new environments, enjoys travel and field work, likes to tinker with things, and prefers independence and improvisation to super specific tasks. At Dimagi, you will have freedom to pursue your own interests and grow your skill set as well as make a real impact around the world. If interested, please send your resume and cover letter to jobs(a)dimagi.com. [1] http://www.dimagi.com [2] https://www.commcarehq.org/

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Fwd: [Cs-grads] UW-One Laptop Per Child student organization
by Yaw Anokwa 07 Oct '11

07 Oct '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lindsay Michimoto <lindsaym(a)cs.washington.edu> Date: Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 16:39 Subject: [Cs-grads] UW-One Laptop Per Child student organization To: cs-grads(a)cs.washington.edu -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: OLPC Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:19:50 -0700 From: Daniel MT <damt(a)uw.edu> To: S. Morris Rose <rose(a)cs.washington.edu> Dear Sir/Madam, I'm one of the officers of the UW-One Laptop Per Child student organization. We are also part of the Engineers Without Borders UW Chapter and we truly believe your students could benefit from our activities, so we were wondering if you could please forward the following message to your students mailing list. Thanks in advance. We are the One Laptop per Child group at the University of Washington. Our group develops apps for the XO laptop, a simple computer distributed to schoolchildren in the developing world. These laptops foster self-empowered learning and are supplied by the One Laptop per Child Association. Our work helps increase the educational, social, and practical value of these laptops by developing new applications for them. Currently we are recruiting for new members. All students regardless of background or programming experience are welcome to join us. There are many opportunities available in our group: visual user-interface design, application design, learn how to program in Python, improving programming skills, leadership possibilities, making new friends and many more! We've already made a Checkers game app, and we are working on a Geography quiz app. The next application we make could be your idea! On every Monday at 5:30 pm, we are meeting at the Electrical Engineering Building, room 026. Our first few meetings will have everyone participating in making a simple little app to get everyone comfortable and friendly. People interested in developing will be able to learn Python from scratch (CSE 142 experience recommended). People interested in design will get to practice the process of user-centered UI design and development. After the ramp-up period, we'll start tackling the real applications we want develop for the year! See you next Monday ;-) students.washington.edu/olpc

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Fwd: Grant opportunity for optimizing immunization systems in low- and middle-income countries
by Nicola Dell 07 Oct '11

07 Oct '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Balderston, Beth <bbalderston(a)path.org> Date: Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 6:44 PM Subject: Grant opportunity for optimizing immunization systems in low- and middle-income countries To: "nixdell(a)cs.washington.edu" <nixdell(a)cs.washington.edu> Dear Nicki,**** ** ** Would you be able to share this announcement with the Change mailing list? Just let me know if I should send this to someone else. **** ** ** Questions should be directed to Grand Challenges Explorations ( www.grandchallenges.org/path).**** ** ** Thanks!**** ** ** ~Beth Balderston**** ** ** = = =**** ** ** *Grant opportunity for optimizing immunization systems in low- and middle-income countries* ** ** The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges Explorations initiative is offering US$100,000 grants to pursue unconventional ideas that could transform immunization supply systems in the world's poorest countries. **** ** ** The availability of new vaccines and the funding to rapidly introduce them into developing country immunization programs offers a great opportunity to save millions of lives. However, with these opportunities, come challenges. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations aims to ensure that systems entrusted with delivering these vaccines are up to the task.**** ** ** "This is the time to think outside the box if we want to ensure new vaccines reach the millions of people in the poorest countries. The time for 'business as usual' has passed—it's time for bold ideas," says Michel Zaffran, Director of PATH’s project Optimize and Senior Adviser in the World Health Organization's Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals.* *** ** ** *Grant priority areas* ** ** The Grand Challenges Explorations Round 8 covers several topics including innovations that “Design New Approaches to Optimize Immunization Systems.” Scientists, inventors, non-governmental organizations, ministries of health, and entrepreneurs from around the world are invited to apply. Grants of US$100,000 will be awarded to promising two-page proposals that address one or more of the following priority areas:**** ** ** 1. Vaccine characteristic prioritization.**** 2. Immunization supply system design.**** 3. Environmental impact.**** 4. Information systems.**** 5. Human resources.**** 6. Vaccination acceptance.**** ** ** Projects demonstrating success will have the opportunity to receive additional funding up to US$1 million.**** ** ** Proposals are being accepted online and the closing date for submission is *November 17, 2011*. For more information or to apply, visit: * www.grandchallenges.org/path***** ** **

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