July 2011 - change - Mailing Lists

The alternative Internet, WiFi based (Project Kleinrock)
by ashish makani 18 Jul '11

18 Jul '11

Hi An interesting idea & some insightful discussion, on creating a utopian layer of the internet which is independent of ISPs. http://wiki.omegasdg.com/index.php?title=Project_Kleinrock via http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2668887 Best, ashish On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 3:10 AM, ashish makani <ashish.makani(a)gmail.com>wrote: > Hi Folks > > GNU Free Call is a new project to develop and deploy secure self-organized > communication services worldwide for private use and for public > administration. > It uses the open standard SIP protocol and GNU SIP Witch to create secured > peer-to-peer mesh calling networks . > > It may have interesting applications for truly secure, open & decentralized > communications, which can stay up, in the event of a natural disaster etc. > > http://planet.gnu.org/gnutelephony/?p=14 > > via http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2322881 > > Best, > ashish >

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FW: The Dark Side of ICT - 3rd in a series of lectures on technology and communications in development
by Chris Coward 14 Jul '11

14 Jul '11

From: Global Washington [mailto:admin@globalwa.org] Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 4:50 PM To: Chris Coward Subject: The Dark Side of ICT - 3rd in a series of lectures on technology and communications in development Having trouble viewing this email? View as a web page<https://bos.etapestry.com/prod/viewEmailAsPage.do?databaseId=GlobalWashingt…>. [http://content.delivra.com/etapcontent/GlobalWashington/youareinvited_banne…] [http://content.delivra.com/etapcontent/GlobalWashington/invite%20side%20gra…] FOLLOW US! [http://content.delivra.com/etapcontent/GlobalWashington/facebook.gif] Facebook<http://tracking.etapestry.com/t/19764616/612681688/54086442/0/> [http://content.delivra.com/etapcontent/GlobalWashington/linkedin_icon.png] Linkedin<http://tracking.etapestry.com/t/19764616/612681688/54086443/0/> [http://content.delivra.com/etapcontent/GlobalWashington/twitter.gif] Twitter<http://tracking.etapestry.com/t/19764616/612681688/54048098/0/> OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS July 6th Global Washington Member Meet-Up<http://tracking.etapestry.com/t/19764616/612681688/54445386/0/> July 19th Back to the Future: Recent Evolutions in EU Development Policy<http://tracking.etapestry.com/t/19764616/612681688/54458929/0/> The Dark Side of ICT Global Washington presents the third in a series of lectures and panels on information and communication technology and global development Session 3: The Dark Side of ICT Speakers: Emily Bancroft (VillageReach) David Lubinski (PATH) Kentaro Toyama (University of California, Berkeley) Information and communication technologies hold out the tantalizing potential to catalyze international development. The Internet can connect remote smallholder farmers with agricultural experts. The mobile phone can increase incomes of low-income fishermen. The personal computer can streamline data collection in rural healthcare. But, "can" is seldom "does." While the potential for positive impact through information technologies is significant, this potential is rarely realized in practice. What's worse, there are cases when the technology causes more harm than good. In this panel discussion, the speakers will draw on existing research and personal experience to highlight the dark side of ICT in global development. They will present examples of well-intentioned ICT gone badly, discuss the mechanisms of negative impact, and share thoughts on how negative impacts can be minimized. Space is limited! Register<http://tracking.etapestry.com/t/19764616/612681688/54458928/0/> today! When: Tuesday, August 9th, 2011 4:00pm - 5:30pm Where: Global Washington Office 500 Union St., Suite 801 Seattle, WA 98101 Price: FREE for Global Washington members (members, contact admin(a)globalwa.org<mailto:admin@globalwa.org> for a discount code) $15 for non-members Register: Global Washington website<http://tracking.etapestry.com/t/19764616/612681688/54458928/0/> ________________________________ Speaker Bios Emily Bancroft is a Program Manager and the Health Systems Group Lead at VillageReach. She is responsible for the design, development and management of health system intervention programs at VillageReach, a global health organization focused on improving health sector infrastructure at the “last mile” in low-income countries. Improving access to data from last mile communities is a key component of VillageReach’s work, and Emily acts as an interface between the Health Systems and Information Systems groups within the organization. Emily has worked with health workers and program staff in rural health facilities across a number of countries in Eastern and Southern Africa and has direct experience with how the use of information technology at the facility and community level can both support and harm efforts to improve data quality and health system performance. Prior to joining VillageReach, Emily worked with I-TECH, Physicians for Huma! n Rights, and NPower. Emily has an MPH from the University of Washington’s School of Public Health and Community Medicine and a BA from Princeton University. David Lubinski leads the global health management information systems (HMIS) program at PATH in Seattle, Washington. The HMIS program seeks to unlock the full potential of information and communication technology to improve population health and strengthen health systems in the world’s poorest countries. Current partners include leaders in telecommunications, device manufacturing, computing platforms, software development, and system integration. Representative HMIS projects include: (1) the redesign of logistics management information systems in Zambia, Senegal, Vietnam, and Rwanda, (2) a mobile device platform for community health workers in Zambia, India and Tanzania, and (3) the development of common requirements and standards for national health insurance information systems in Thailand, India, Ghana, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Prior to his work at PATH, Mr. Lubinski was chief technical officer for the World Health Organization&! rsquo;s Health Metrics Network. Previously he was general manager of the health industry business unit at Microsoft. He has also held senior positions in health policy and finance at the state level. Kentaro Toyama is a visiting scholar in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley. He is working on a book that argues that increasing wisdom should be the primary focus of global development. In 2004, Toyama co-founded Microsoft Research India, where he started an interdisciplinary research group to understand how electronic technology could support the socio-economic development of the world’s impoverished communities. The group’s award-winning projects – including Digital Green, MultiPoint, and Text-Free UI – have been seminal in ICT-for-development research. Since 2009, he has been active as a vocal critic of the hype that pervades technology projects in international development. Prior to his time in India, Toyama did computer vision and multimedia research at Microsoft Research in Redmond, WA, USA and Cambridge, UK, and taught mathematics at Ashesi University in Accra, Ghana. He received a PhD in C! omputer Science at Yale and his bachelors from Harvard in Physics. http://www.kentarotoyama.org<http://tracking.etapestry.com/t/19764616/612681688/54355895/0/> Would you like to forward this email to a friend? Click here<https://bos.etapestry.com/prod/forwardToFriend.do?databaseId=GlobalWashingt…>. Remove my name from all future email correspondence <https://bos.etapestry.com/prod/optOut.do?databaseId=GlobalWashington&jobRef…> Address postal inquiries to: Global Washington 500 Union St. Ste. 801 Seattle, WA 98101 Powered By [eTapestry]<http://www.etapestry.com> [Delivra] <http://www.delivra.com>

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ICTD2012 Open Sessions Call
by Yaw Anokwa 13 Jul '11

13 Jul '11

Call for Open Sessions, ICTD2012 The Fifth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD2012) is taking place at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA, from 12th to 16th March 2012. We invite you to propose an Open Session at ICTD2012! Accompanying the full papers program on the 13th and 14th March are two further days of events with a less formal flavor to take place before and after (on the 12th and 16th). These lively and diverse sessions made a major contribution to the spirit of the conference in London in 2010 and, with your input, they can be an exciting and integral part of the experience in Atlanta. Open Sessions vary widely in theme and style, including panels, discussions, SIGs and workshops. They may be a whole day, or run for just 90 minutes. They may be run in a language other than the official conference language of English (we are particularly interested in a French and/or Spanish program). And the application process is simple and quick. Openness is an important part of what makes these sessions special. Organisers choose the structure, theme and approach of their program while anyone registered for the conference can attend as many open sessions as they wish, without the need to pre-register for them. We ask you to present your proposal on the Open Sessions form (at the URL below), giving us details of who is involved and what you want to do. We are happy to approve a wide range of sessions providing they meet the minimum criteria, listed below (although we may have to adjust the time we offer each team, based on number of accepted submissions). If accepted, we ask you to be creative, entertaining and thought-provoking and to work with us to fit a tight agenda. Types of session might include: - Workshops - Panels/Debates - Special Interest Groups (SIGs) - Roundtable Discussions/Fishbowls - Open Spaces/Unconferences/Wildcard sessions - Performances/Storytelling - Anything you design that engages a range of people over a short, focussed session Previous themes have included creativity, ethics, accountability, practitioner roles, reflections on the conference, development theory, climate change, gender, area studies, burning topics, new directions, notions of knowledge, language specific mini-conferences, report consultations, technology practicums, and more (see http://www.ictd2010.org) ICTD2012 can include an even wider range of content, all related to ICT and Development. Open sessions proposal submission deadline: Oct 7th 2011 (11:59pm UTC) For more on the main conference, see our website at: http://www.ictd2012.org or follow us on Twitter: @ICTD2012 and Facebook: ICTD 2012 Atlanta Contact us with any questions at: opensessions(a)ictd2012.org Criteria for acceptance and review process Proposals for sessions will be reviewed by the open sessions committee and judged on the following criteria. Each session should be: - Open to any interested conference attendees, up to a specified maximum number - Accessible to a highly interdisciplinary ICT and development audience - Lively, participatory and inclusive in style and content as appropriate - Relevant to the themes of the conference - Demonstrating careful planning and a clear structure - Neatly summed up in a 50 word description, as well as a longer explanation of how your intentions will be achieved (as suggested on the form provided) - Designed so that you leave the session space tidy afterwards (Note: working outside in a range of spaces may be possible, but will need backing up in case the weather is unseasonal) - Presented on the Open Sessions form available at: http://www.ictd2012.org/opensessions Key dates: - Proposals submitted: October 7th 2011 to opensessions(a)ictd2012.org - Results announced: December 9th 2011 - Revisions and detailed planning: January-February 2012 - Conference: March 12-16th 2012 Open Sessions Committee Chair Ann Light, Sheffield Hallam University opensessions(a)ictd2012.org Open Sessions Committee: Benjamin Akinmoyeje, Management Sciences for Health Arul Chib, Nanyang Technological University Jill Dimond – local liaison, Georgia Institute of Technology Helani Galpaya, LIRNEasia Ricardo Gomez, University of Washington Dorothea Kleine, Royal Holloway University of London Robin Mansell, London School of Economics Gillian Marcelle, Wits Business School Judith Mariscal, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas Thomas Smyth – local liaison, Georgia Institute of Technology Eduardo Villanueva Mansilla, La Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú General Conference Chairs: Michael Best, Georgia Institute of Technology Ellen Zegura, Georgia Institute of Technology

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UW Students Design Smartphone Apps for the Underserved
by Yaw Anokwa 12 Jul '11

12 Jul '11

Smartphones are becoming and important tool in helping underserved populations improve their healthcare, citizen groups increase their reach, small entrepreneurs improve their businesses, and much more. Six UW projects – all connected to real users – are tackling some interesting problems for which existing commercial products are inadequate, inflexible, or just too expensive. In the ‘Designing Technology for Resource-Constrained Environments‘ course CSE and HCDE students teamed up over the winter and spring quarters. First, HCDE students took the lead in developing project ideas and their requirements. Then, CSE students took those project ideas to working prototypes. Below are links to the posters from the project demos. > Global 2 Local Helping health clinics coordinate interpreter services for the over 60 languages spoken in the SeaTac community (with the Global2Local program from the Washington Global Health Alliance, Swedish Hospital, HealthPoint, and the King County Dept. of Public Health). http://change.washington.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/g2l_poster_spring_2… > Milk Bank A low-cost sensor (built from UW’s FoneAstra) for guiding the flash-heat pasteurization of human breast milk to eliminate HIV (with PATH – a large local NGO with activities in many countries). http://change.washington.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/milkbank_poster_fin… > ODK Tables A new tool in the Open Data Kit suite developed at UW, allows the SMS population and queries of an on-phone database and presents a phone-optimized table viewing interface (intended to lower the barrier to entry by providing an alternative to cloud-hosted servers). http://change.washington.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ODKTablesPoster.pdf > Nature Mapping Extensions to ODK Collect (a tool in Open Data Kit) to allow data collection and decision support to extract choices from a database (local or remote) based on data already entered – think advanced field guide (with the Nature Mapping project in UW’s Dept. of Forestry). http://change.washington.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/NatureMappingPoster… > Water Use Using low-power sensing to precisely determine the pattern and duration of water gathering activities in rural Ethiopia (in collaboration with Prof. J. Cook, an economist in the Evans School). http://change.washington.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/WuhaGizePosterFinal… > Paper 2 Digital Using smartphone cameras to translate optical mark forms to spreadsheets automatically (a Gates Foundation funded project with VillageReach – a local NGO working in health clinics in Mozambique). http://change.washington.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/p2d_poster-final-th… Find out more at http://change.washington.edu/2011/07/uw-students-design-smartphone-apps-for…

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An innovative smartphone(WP7) app & microscopy lens to detect malaria
by ashish makani 08 Jul '11

08 Jul '11

Hi Folks from http://bostinnovation.com/2011/07/08/hbs-student-creates-smartphone-app-to-… via http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2743258 {{ Enter Cy Khormaee <http://cykho.com/>, a Harvard Business School student, and his team at Lifelens <http://thelifelensproject.com/blog/>. According to their website, “Lifelens introduces an innovative point-of-care smartphone application to address child mortality rates caused by the lack of detection and availability of treatment for malaria.” The Lifelens system is made up of a hardware element and a software one. The specific hardware in the system is a microscopy lens that is attached to the back<http://bostinnovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/microscopy_windows_7-3…>of Windows 7 mobile device. The software application, which is developed in Silverlight <http://www.silverlight.net/>, can visualize samples placed on the lens as if it were a micrscope. Using the system is relatively simple. A single drop of blood from the patient is required then smeared on the microscopy lens. Next, the application visualizes the blood sample at a higher maginification (like a micrscope). The application’s user simply has to know the difference between a healthy blood sample and one infected with malaria at high magnification, which is quite easy when looking at the images below, although the software is capable of analyzing the sample computationally as well. <http://bostinnovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/heathly_blood_sample.p…> Healthy Blood Sample <http://bostinnovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/malaria_blood_sample1.…> Malaria-infected Blood Sample }} Happy Friday cheers ashish

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Two exciting new healthcare related technologies
by ashish makani 06 Jul '11

06 Jul '11

Hi Folks Came across these two very exciting new technologies 1. MIT smartphone clip-on detects cataracts in minutes http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/netra-cataracts-app-0701.html via http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2731755 2. This one might be interesting to the mental health project Pablo & Javier are working on. <http://news.ycombinator.com/vote?for=2727960&dir=up&by=tuxguy&auth=e2b8eaf4…>MIT lab develops glasses that can read another person's emotional state<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128191.600-specs-that-see-right-thr…> via http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2727960

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FW: Call for Expressions of Interest - Microsavings and Payments Innovation Initiative
by Ed Cutrell 01 Jul '11

01 Jul '11

Please forward along to anyone you think might be interested! -ed ---------------- Call for Expressions of Interest - Microsavings and Payments Innovation Initiative Deadline for Submission: August 5th 2011 The Microsavings and Payments Innovation Initiative (MPII) invites Expressions of Interest (EOI) for funding to conduct rigorous, field-based research on savings products and services as well as payments and money transfer channels for the world's poor and financially excluded. EOI submissions are due Friday, August 5th 2011 at 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Selected expressions of interest will be invited to submit full proposals. EOI submissions are invited under two categories: (1) Randomized controlled trials, and (2) Diagnostic or descriptive studies. Applicants must either hold a PhD or be a current PhD candidate in a relevant discipline. They must also demonstrate experience in field research. All qualified researchers affiliated to universities, think tanks, and other research institutions from around the world are welcome to apply. For more details and to apply online, please visit http://www.poverty-action.org/microsavings/opportunities/eoi2011 . Alternatively, please refer to the attached EOI document, and email your completed application to mpii(a)poverty-action.org . Please direct all questions to mpii(a)poverty-action.org . -- Aishwarya Ratan Director, Microsavings and Payments Innovation Initiative (MPII) Yale University & Innovations for Poverty Action www.poverty-action.org/microsavings<http://www.poverty-action.org/microsavings>

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