August 2013 - change - Mailing Lists

Fwd: [TIER] iHub Research's 3Vs Framework for Crowdsourcing During Elections Released
by Yaw Anokwa 30 Aug '13

30 Aug '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Angela Crandall <angelac(a)ihub.co.ke> Date: Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 12:09 AM Subject: [TIER] iHub Research's 3Vs Framework for Crowdsourcing During Elections Released To: crisismappers(a)googlegroups.com, TIER(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu, ictd-researchers-in-africa-network(a)googlegroups.com Dear fellow researchers, crowd mappers, and media stakeholders, On behalf of the iHub Research <http://www.ihub.co.ke/research> Crowdsourcing Research Group, I am happy to announce that the results of our research on developing a crowd sourcing framework for an election context are now out. Over the past 6 months we have been looking at a commonly held assuption that crowd sourced information captures more information about the on-the-ground reality than traditional media outlets like television and newspapers. We used the Kenyan General Elections in March 2013 as a case study to compare information collected from the crowd with results collected by traditional media and other sources. You can download the final report<http://www.ihub.co.ke/ihubresearch/jb_VsReportpdf2013-8-29-07-38-56.pdf> , framework document<http://www.ihub.co.ke/ihubresearch/jb_CrowdsourcingFrameworkpdf2013-8-29-13…>, and framework visual<http://www.ihub.co.ke/ihubresearch/jb_CrowdsourcingInfographiceditpdf2013-8…> at the indicated links. A special thank you to Canada's International Development Research Centre for their funding support. We look forward to receiving any comments and questions. Cheers, -- Angela Crandall iHub Research - Driving local tech research in East Africa Discovery, Knowledge, Sharing - www.ihub.co.ke Twitter: @iHub | @iHubResearch +254 735 070 518 / +1 808 358 8563 | Skype: angela_crandal www.research.ihub.co.ke | Twitter: @Honoluluskye _______________________________________________ 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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Fwd: ICT4D Officer position at Jhpiego
by Yaw Anokwa 30 Aug '13

30 Aug '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <ict4chw(a)googlegroups.com> Date: Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 7:39 PM Subject: ICT4D Officer position at Jhpiego "Alice T. Liu" <alice.t.liu(a)gmail.com> Aug 29 01:41PM -0400 Hi folks! This job is still available - see https://jobs-jhpiego.icims.com/jobs/1782/ict4d-officer/job. We're looking for someone with an eHealth or mHealth background, with a few years of implementation experience in low-income countries in one or more areas: eLearning, ICTs for monitoring and evaluation, mobile technologies, project management of ICT4D projects or software development projects, systems architecture, and health information systems, to name a few. Jhpiego is headquartered in Baltimore so we are open to having the position based there. It is a time-limited position but has the possibility of extension pending new business. Last but not least, we are also looking for an mHealth officer for a project in Mindanao, Philippines that started recently and in Nairobi, Kenya to support several projects, so feel free to contact me if you're interested so I can put you in touch with the recruiter in those offices. They will forward you a copy of the job description and instruct you on how to formally apply. Local hires only. Best of luck to you all! -alice

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Speakers for Fall quarter
by Nicola Dell 27 Aug '13

27 Aug '13

Hi everyone, As summer comes to a close, we're excited to soon kick off the 2013-2014 academic year. We'd love to have a diverse group of speakers come and present their work at Change and so we're looking for volunteers, suggestions and nominations for speakers this fall. Let me know if you or someone you know is doing interesting work in the space - academic or industrial - and I'd be happy to get in touch and try to arrange a time for them to come in and speak. Thanks Nicki

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Fwd: [ACM DEV-4] CFPoster: 4th Symposium on Computing for Development
by Brian DeRenzi 27 Aug '13

27 Aug '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <br(a)cse.iitb.ac.in> Date: Tue, Aug 27, 2013 at 3:51 AM Subject: [ACM DEV-4] CFPoster: 4th Symposium on Computing for Development To: bderenzi(a)cs.washington.edu (Please circulate; sorry if you receive multiple copies) ACM DEV-4 4th Symposium on Computing for Development Co-located with ICTD December 6-7, 2013 Cape Town, South Africa http://dev4.acmdev.org/ Call for Posters Poster submissions for DEV-4 are due Sept 13, 2013 (extended deadline). Posters are displayed during the Conference and are a great forum for highlighting new or ongoing work of interest to the DEV community! Poster submissions should be 2-page written abstracts in ACM format submitted as a PDF via the posters submission site (http://posters.acmdev.org/) Any full-length paper submission not accepted as full paper will be considered as poster submission, with author permission. In that case, no additional poster abstract submission is required. Posters accepted to the conference will have a 2-page abstract summary indexed in the ACM Digital Library. About ACM DEV-4 DEV-4 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. 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 Mixed networks, e.g., telephony and IP Special-purpose sensor systems 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 posters outside of these topics that address the DEV focus on computing innovations supporting social and economic development. For more information, see the webpage (http://dev4.acmdev.org/) or contact the Program Co-Chairs (Margaret Martonosi, Princeton and Bhaskaran Raman, IIT Bombay).

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Dev Lead Opportunity at Regalii
by Amer Dahmash 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

Regalii is an early stage Y-Combinator startup in the social impact space. Regalii is a revolutionary new way for immigrants to support their families in their countries of origin by circumventing dangerous and costly cash transfers and prepaying for the products and services their families need via SMS. We are funded by Banco Itau, Y-combinator, Maverick Capital and Echoing Green. We are currently hiring for a Senior Software Engineer/Technical Team lead. The position is based in NYC. The role involves building out new features, scaling the existing platform, making decisions on technical infrastructure and managing a 2-3 person dev team. Requirements: 1+ years of experience in a technical lead role 2+ years of Ruby on Rails experience including knowledge of Resque 2+ years of experience with Redis or other NoSql stores 2+ years of HTML5/CSS3 and JQuery Experience building and consuming RESTful and SOAP APIs Knowledge of Postgresql and Mysql and experience with tuning database queries Experience with Scrum/Agile software development practices Experience of building SMS based apps Experience with POS integration highly desired Experience with Erlang and or Scala/Clojure is also highly desirable. https://angel.co/regalii -amer

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Fwd: [TIER] Rural Cell Coverage in Mexico
by Yaw Anokwa 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

Pretty neat project from Rhizomatica. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Kurtis Heimerl <kheimerl(a)cs.berkeley.edu> Date: Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 10:45 AM Subject: [TIER] Rural Cell Coverage in Mexico To: tier <tier(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu> Our friends at Rhizomatica (http://rhizomatica.org/) just got profiled by CCTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g1Na3SecHY In short, they're bringing full-on cooperatively owned autonomous cellular networks to Oaxaca, Mexico. _______________________________________________ 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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New report from New America Foundation Open Tech Institute on mobile phones + development
by Melody Clark 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

Washington, DC - Mobile phones have become increasingly prominent features in global development projects, offering innovative and effective ways to address development challenges. Sustaining the positive benefits of mobile-centric projects, however, requires international organizations and non-profits to also address the risks involved in the use of mobile technology. A new report from the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute finds that international organizations have often overlooked many of the hazards associated with mobile technology usage, and failed to provide the necessary digital privacy and security safeguards. The report, "Dialing Down Risks, Mobile Privacy and Information Security in Development Projects<http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/dialing_down_risks_mobile_privacy…>," investigates the tangible short-term privacy harms as well as long term privacy concerns posed by ICT4D in the developing world. Drawing specific examples and lessons from public health, financial inclusion, and transparent governance projects, the analysis finds that the risks associated with mobile technology usage are often amplified in the unstable and resource-scare communities in which they operate. According to the report's author, Hibah Hussain, "In order to achieve lasting and positive socioeconomic change, the deployment of mobile technology in the developing world must occur in tandem with thoughtful, well-researched policies, informed design, and community engagement." Technology policy and human rights groups have advocated for greater privacy and security, but organizations have yet to meaningfully address these concerns. The report recognizes that while no single policy or technical solution can guarantee full privacy and information security, organizations must nonetheless take steps to protect user data. http://oti.newamerica.net/pressroom/2013/new_report_mobile_technology_raise… -- Melody Clark Communications Specialist Technology & Social Change (TASCHA) melclark(a)uw.edu<mailto:melclark@uw.edu> | 206.303.7910 Twitter: @taschagroup<https://twitter.com/taschagroup> | @melodyrclark<https://twitter.com/#!/melodyrclark> tascha.uw.edu<http://tascha.uw.edu/>

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CFP: Robust Socio-technical Architectures in Support of Displaced Persons 2013
by Mariya Zheleva 19 Aug '13

19 Aug '13

*CALL FOR PARTICIPATION – CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - DEC. 4-5, 2013* *Workshop on Robust Socio-technical Architectures in Support of Displaced Persons (DPEW ‘13).* Submission deadline: *September 9, 2013* Acceptance notification: *September 25, 2013* Workshop dates: *December 4-5, 2013* * * *For more information visit our website<https://sites.google.com/site/dpew13/> .* Population displacement is a growing problem, with 41.3 million persons displaced globally in 2011. Whether driven from their homes by armed conflict, natural disasters, or climate change, the displaced experience acute demands for connectivity, communication and connectedness. This workshop will define a research agenda with the goal of helping displaced persons meet their information and communication needs. By defining research goals in areas spanning technical designs, theories of information needs and organizational IT governance, the resulting socio-technical architecture will promote development of robust and rapidly deployable technologies. We seek talented and imaginative academics and practitioners from a variety of scientific disciplines, including computer, information, organization and geographic information sciences, communication and refugee studies, as well as practitioners with experience related to shelter or refugee camp management. Examples of topics of interest include, but are not limited to: - Wireless network access technologies for limited power and backhaul in dense populations - Social network and self-organization technologies for displaced persons - Conflict and convergence in meeting aid organizations’ and individuals’ information needs - Integrated mapping and social networks for personal safety - Challenges for implementing research on displaced persons The workshop will be held in *Cape Town, South Africa on Dec. 4-5, 2013*, in advance of the joint ACM DEV Conference and 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD2013), being held jointly at the University of Cape Town, Dec. 6-10, 2013. The workshop will be small (~25 participants) and highly participatory. Applicants are asked to submit 1) a 1-page, single-spaced position paper highlighting their intellectual contribution to the workshop, 2) a 1-page biography or 2-page CV, including a website link where available, and 3) up to three published articles. Submissions are due *Monday, September 9th* and notifications will be made by *Wednesday, September 25th*. For those invited to participate, the workshop will provide hotel rooms (double occupancy) and meals for all participants. Additionally, participants will receive full or partial travel reimbursement, with the amount dependent on country of residence. Non-U.S. participants will receive $800, and U.S. participants will receive a maximum of $1,970 for allowable expenses. Prior to workshop attendance, participants will be required to submit payment forms, with all payments to be made following the workshop. For more information and submission instructions see the workshop website<https://sites.google.com/site/dpew13/> or email the organizers (Carleen Maitland, Penn State University and Elizabeth Belding, UC Santa Barbara) at displaced-workshop(a)ist.psu.edu. -- Mariya Zheleva Department of Computer Science University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5110 http://cs.ucsb.edu/~mariya/

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Fwd: "Tech For Good" meetup - Tue 08/20 at HUB Seattle
by Yaw Anokwa 19 Aug '13

19 Aug '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Seattle Tech Meetup, Seattle's largest ongoing monthly event, happens on the 3rd Tuesday of every month. This month we're focusing on Seattle companies who are making the world a better place through their Tech For Good. We believe that Seattle has the greatest tech community in the country, and the more we support our full tech ecosystem the more greatness we'll all experience and create together! If you can't make it or if you aren't in the Seattle area you can watch the live stream (http://lks.gd/STMLive) and follow the Twitter hashtag #STMeetup at 7pm PST on the 3rd Tuesday of every month! Agenda 6:00pm - Doors Open/Buffet/Drinks/Get to know your community 7:00pm - Event Begins! - Community Announcements: Events, Jobs, etc. (20 seconds/ea) - Pres. #1: Survive the Streets - Pres. #2: Moving Worlds - Pres. #3: PathForcedx - Pres. #4: ActivelyLearn - Pres. #5: Jolkona - Pres. #6: Vittana 8:00pm - Vittana sponsored after-party at Fuel Sports Bar. When you order a pint $1 will be donated to Vittana - so you can drink for a great cause! Details at http://www.meetup.com/SeattleTechMeetup/events/127138462

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Upcoming CommCare Workshops in Thailand and Kenya
by Nicola Dell 19 Aug '13

19 Aug '13

Dimagi is pleased to announce two upcoming workshops that will teach participants how to use CommCare <http://www.commcarehq.org/home/>, Dimagi’s open source, mobile platform for frontline workers. Dimagi has had great success introducing CommCare to organizations in previous workshops in Senegal, Mozambique, Guatemala, and India. The two upcoming CommCare workshops will take place in: - *Nairobi, Kenya:* September 19 to Friday, September 20 (application deadline is Sept 1) - *Bangkok, Thailand: *Monday, September 30 to Tuesday, October 1st (application deadline is Sept 10). *WHY COMMCARE? *With CommCare, anyone can deploy their own mobile applications that can be loaded into inexpensive phones and used by community-based workers in the field. CommCare is being deployed in 30 countries and is used by thousands of frontline workers to track and support their clients with registration forms, checklists, SMS reminders, and multimedia. This leads to better data collection, reporting, client and frontline worker management, community education, and community-level service provision. *WHAT WILL THE WORKSHOP COVER?* Each workshop will last two days. The first half of the first day will be a general overview of mHealth and Dimagi’s open source tools. The rest of the workshop will focus on building participants' technical capacity to use CommCare’s online authoring tools to create CommCare applications. Workshop participants will be walked through the basic steps of how to use these freely available, online tools. *WHAT WILL IT COST?* All workshops are free, however Dimagi will not provide per diems or travel stipends. Lunch and coffee will be provided daily. *WHO SHOULD ATTEND? *Staff with basic computer literacy from NGOs, IGOs, funding organizations, research institutions, and government agencies. *HOW DO I APPLY? *Please fill out the online application forms for the Nairobi Workshop<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16S9HaQAAnuNm8VJyZ9pdxUV7gbAZ6aIjBn3rlF8-Px…> (due September 1st) or the Bangkok Workshop<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Af-qIUvpr43Bp6DUs-LtK83KpcPazDDTXezgZOg6rW…> (due September 10th). Note that attendance may be limited due to space availability. Please contact workshops(a)dimagi.com with any other questions.

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