February 2014 - change - Mailing Lists

Change seminar on Tuesday, March 4th
by Nicola Dell 03 Mar '14

03 Mar '14

Hi everyone, We *WILL* be having a Change seminar on Tuesday, March 4th. Our speaker will be Kalika Bali from the Technology for Emerging Markets lab at Microsoft Research, India. Please join us at 12pm in CSE 203. As usual, lunch will be provided. *Speaker Bio* Kalika Bali is a researcher in the Technologies for Emerging Markets and Multilingual Systems research areas at Microsoft Research India. Her interests are in speech and language technology for education, NLP and speech technology for Indian languages, linguistic resources and standards, and cognitive models of language processing. Her current research focuses on the use of non-standard language use in computer-mediated conversations, especially in social media. *Understanding Language in Emerging Markets* In emerging markets such as India and China, the typical user demography differs not only in the language used but also in the way languages might be used. Technology especially mobile and internet must cater to a user base that differs in many ways from those in North America or Europe. Taking India as a case study, this talk outlines major challenges in localizing technology and services vis-à-vis language technology, policy, and linguistics, as well as user demography and practices. Deeper research issues need to be addressed regarding issues of language use, such as the dominance of transliteration and code mixing in all spheres of computer-mediated communication. We will also discuss potential solutions that point towards an improved natural language user interface for these users.

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Fwd: [TIER] Community Cellular Writeup
by Yaw Anokwa 28 Feb '14

28 Feb '14

Good read on the community cellular work going on at Berkeley. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Kurtis Heimerl <kheimerl(a)cs.berkeley.edu> Date: Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 11:42 PM Subject: [TIER] Community Cellular Writeup To: tier <tier(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu> Hey TIER, Our Community Cellular/Village Base Station project was recently written up very nicely in Ars. Take a look: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/02/cellulars-open-source… _______________________________________________ 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: Reminder: CS, CSE, EE, Informatics Opportunity !
by Gaetano Borriello 27 Feb '14

27 Feb '14

FORWARDED MESSAGE ------------------------------------------------ Hi, My name is Kiah Lesher and I am a part of Engineers without Borders Student Chapter (EWB - UWS). Our chapter will be collaborating with the EWB Puget Sound Professional Chapter this year, and we are looking to start a Computer Science school for children in Uganda. We will be beginning this program soon and are having our first general meeting where we will learn more about the project on March 3rd @4:30 in More Hall Room 225. Please forward this email to your students to see if any will be interested in this opportunity! If any of the students have questions or inquiries they can email me either at kiahl(a)uw.edu -or-publicity.ewbuws(a)gmail.com Thank you for your time, Kiah Lesher Publicity Director EWB UWS

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Fwd: [SeattleTech] [JOB] Short term UI/UX Freelancer
by Yaw Anokwa 24 Feb '14

24 Feb '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Rob LaRubbio <rob(a)larubbio.org> Date: Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 2:31 PM Subject: [SeattleTech] [JOB] Short term UI/UX Freelancer To: "organize(a)seattletechstartups.com" <organize(a)seattletechstartups.com> Cc: Mary Jo Kochendorfer <mkochendorfer(a)grameenfoundation.org>, Lauren Lavoie <llavoie(a)grameenfoundation.org> I sent a (very similar) mail a couple of weeks ago asking for help finding a tech writer (thanks again to the community for the help). This time we're hoping for some UI/UX help. I work for Grameen Foundation, a non-profit in Seattle heading up the architecture or our open source mobile health technology. We're building a base platform that other developers and NGOs can use as the basis for their health projects in the developing world*. As a non-profit our resources are limited and there are many areas we can use help, but I feel the most pressing issue is the sorry state of our documentation. We're making a push this year to increase the "polish" on our product and have some funding available to help improve our end user experience. All of the UI within our system is developer UI, so we would love to find a paid freelancer who could help us by walking through our system and developing recommendations for improvements, developing a standard UI guide and potentially helping with specs/wireframes for some of our more complex tasks. If you know of someone who fits the description, or have ideas on how I can better find this resource please forward their information along to me. Thank you very much. -Rob LaRubbio *If you are interested in what we are doing you can check out our website which is more focused towards the NGO customer http://www.motechsuite.org/, or email me and I'll be happy to grab a beer or coffee to chat. _______________________________________________ Manage settings or unsubscribe: http://seattletechstartups.com/mailman/listinfo/organize_seattletechstartup…

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Fwd: [TIER] Change the World of Hardware + Enter to Win a Google Nexus 7 Tablet
by Yaw Anokwa 24 Feb '14

24 Feb '14

Here's a chance to change the world of hardware AND enter a lottery to win an Android tablet. How can you turn that down? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bruce Baikie <bruce(a)green-wifi.org> Date: Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 12:14 PM Subject: [TIER] Change the World of Hardware + Enter to Win a Google Nexus 7 Tablet To: "tier(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu" <tier(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu> Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.<http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=84e9f392a668e74df589375c7&id=ddf98c0c4d…> [image: Inveneo: Connecting Those Who Need It Most]<http://ictworks.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=84e9f392a668e74df589375c7…> You Can Change the World of Hardware and Enter to Win a Google Nexus 7 Tablet Practitioners in the developing world for years have known of the challenges that power, heat, humidity, unstable electrical systems, but hardware failure issues still happen . Why do these issues occur, and what could be engineered more efficiently to overcome these challenges? [image: Photo Credit: Google]<http://ictworks.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=84e9f392a668e74df589375c…> Photo Credit: Google Inveneo has teamed with Dr. Laura Hosman, from the Illinois Institute of Technology, to design a survey<http://ictworks.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=84e9f392a668e74df589375c7…> to help answer these questions. We need your help to uncover the solutions. USAID is a keen partner in this survey, and your answers will help interested ICT4Ders and manufacturers understand how ICT hardware could be designed more appropriately for developing countries and regions. Please participate by taking our survey<http://ictworks.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=84e9f392a668e74df589375c7…> - it will take less than 10 minutes. Your answers are confidential. Respondents who complete the survey<http://ictworks.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=84e9f392a668e74df589375c7…> will be entered in a drawing to win a *Google Nexus 7 Tablet*. One random winner will be selected and notified by email on March 6th, 2014. Also, everyone who is interested will receive a link to download the upcoming Hardware Challenges White Paper. Thank you for participating! Please click here<http://ictworks.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=84e9f392a668e74df589375c…> to begin the survey. Thanks for supporting Inveneo! *Our mailing address is:* Inveneo 972 Mission Street 5th Floor San Francisco, CA 94103 Add us to your address book<http://ictworks.us4.list-manage.com/vcard?u=84e9f392a668e74df589375c7&id=b5…> *Copyright (C) 2009 Inveneo All rights reserved.* [image: Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp]<http://www.mailchimp.com/monkey-rewards/?utm_source=freemium_newsletter&utm…> _______________________________________________ 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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Help with Open Data Kit research: Take a quick online survey
by Nicola Dell 24 Feb '14

24 Feb '14

Hi everyone, I am a PhD candidate in UW CSE and part of the Change and ODK research groups. We are conducting a short survey to learn more about how organizations currently use paper forms for data collection. If you work for (or are involved with) an organization that uses paper forms (school, university, NGO, company, Ministry etc.) then please take a few minutes and participate in our survey! It shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. - Survey link: https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/nixdell/224876 Thanks very much for your time! Nicki -

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Tomorrow at Change: Designing for the Deluge
by Trevor Perrier 24 Feb '14

24 Feb '14

What: Camille Cobb: Designing for the Deluge When: Tuesday, Feb 25 @ 12 noon (Every other Tuesday this quarter) Where: The Allen Center, CSE 203 Join us tomorrow for Change. This week Camille Cobb will be presenting recent work done at UW on designing for digital volunteers on social media. *Abstract* Social media is a potentially valuable source of situational awareness information during crisis events. Consistently, "digital volunteers" and others are coming together to filter and process this data into usable resources, often coordinating their work within distributed online groups. However, current tools and practices are frequently unable to keep up with the speed and volume of incoming data during large events. Through contextual interviews with emergency response professionals and digital volunteers, this research examines the ad hoc, collaborative practices that have emerged to help process this data and outlines strategies for supporting and leveraging these efforts in future designs. We argue for solutions that align with current group values, work practices, volunteer motivations, and organizational structures, but also allow these groups to increase the scale and efficiency of their operations. *About the Speaker* Camille Cobb is a second year PhD student in CSE co-advised by Kate Starbird and Gaetano Borriello. She graduated in 2012 from Washington and Lee University with a BS in physics and a BA in computer science. She is originally from Charlotte, NC. Camille's is interested in interdisciplinary projects that have a motivation or application beyond computer science and has been working on this crisis related project since she started at UW.

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Fwd: [TIER] CTED Summer Internships at NYU Abu Dhabi
by Nicola Dell 24 Feb '14

24 Feb '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jay Chen <jay.chen(a)nyu.edu> Date: Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 10:29 PM Subject: [TIER] CTED Summer Internships at NYU Abu Dhabi To: tier(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu Hi All, Each year we have a few summer internship positions that may be available at our Center for Technology and Economic Development (CTED) (http://nyuad.nyu.edu/cted/) at NYU. CTED is based out of NYU Abu Dhabi and we work actively in multiple countries including UAE, Ghana, Ethiopia, India and Pakistan. If you would like to work on an exciting ICTD project with us over summer, this could be an interesting opportunity. Attached is a brief job description. Cheers, Jay Chen CTED Summer 2014 Internship Job Description: The Center for Technology and Economic Development (CTED) is looking for graduate student interns for the summer of 2013. We are specifically looking for students with a mix of good programming skills and strong interest in field work. The range of possible project areas are broad and include: - Mobile applications and networked systems - ICTD systems for specific application areas including agriculture, health, and education - Large-scale data analysis, mining, and interactive visualization Requirements: - B.S./B.A. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Economics, or closely related field - Facility in C/C++, Python, Java and/or analysis tools like Matlab Depending on your summer schedule, the internship will run from 12-14 weeks. Only students who are eligible to intern in the UAE should apply. Please send your CV and a cover letter to jchen(a)cs.nyu.edu. The Center for Technology and Economic Development (CTED) is a multidisciplinary research center at NYU Abu Dhabi (UAE). Our mission is to develop tools that significantly impact economic development in emerging regions. Among other things, our goal is to bring services to rural communities including: access to health services, market information, and to improve education in rural areas. CTED draws from a broad multidisciplinary expertise available at NYU and NYU Polytechnic Institute in economics and economic development, computer science, user experience, foreign aid policy, management, microfinance, global health, politics, electrical engineering, materials science and engineering. _______________________________________________ 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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Upcoming Event: The Politics of Information in Myanmar (Burma)
by Melody Clark 23 Feb '14

23 Feb '14

What: The Politics of Information in Myanmar Who: Professor Mary Callahan When: Tuesday, February 25, 4:30PM-6:00PM Where: Thomson Hall, Room 101, University of Washington-Seattle About: Myanmar (Burma) has spent decades under authoritarian rule. It was isolated politically and economically from the rest of the world and home to one of the world's longest civil wars. In the last few years, Myanmar has begun a transformation from authoritarian to democratic rule, from economic isolation and underdevelopment to an integrated market economy, and from war to peace. Come hear Myanmar expert and Jackson School of International Studies Professor Mary Callahan speak about her experiences living, researching, and working in Myanmar as this process has unfolded. She will also discuss a new USAID/Microsoft-supported information literacy project, housed in the Jackson School<http://jsis.washington.edu/> and initiated in collaboration with Burmese civil society groups and the Information School's Technology & Social Change Group<http://tascha.uw.edu/>. More information about the event can be found in the attached flyer. -- 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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Talk by Anuraj Mairal of PATH - Thurs Feb 27 at 5:30p
by Gaetano Borriello 22 Feb '14

22 Feb '14

http://globalhealth.washington.edu/event/mairal WGHA Discovery Series: "Accelerating Innovation to Save Lives and Improve Health in Low-Resource Settings" Event date: Thursday, February 27, 2014 - 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm Location Foege Auditorium, Room S-060, (Foege Building South/Genome Sciences), 3720 15th Ave N.E. Description Please join us for this Washington Global Health Alliance Discovery Series featuring Anurag Mairal, PhD, MBA, MS, Program Leader of Technology Solutions at PATH on "Accelerating Innovation to Save Lives and Improve Health in Low-Resource Settings." Dr. Mairal oversees PATH's work on the design and development, commercialization, and advancement of medical devices, diagnostics, and other technologies to improve health. Dr. Mairal has extensive experience collaborating with partners in India, China, and other countries to advance development, manufacturing and distribution. His work has been published in more than 20 publications, and he has been issued seven patents. The 5:30 p.m. lecture will be followed by a networking reception from 6:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium lobby. All are welcome. Co-sponsored by: Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association (WBBA) and UW Department of Bioengineering. For more information about the Washington Global Health Alliance, visit www.wghalliance.org.

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