- change - Mailing Lists

WinSenga: A mobile ear for pregnancy problems
by Gaetano Borriello 10 Oct '12

10 Oct '12

WinSenga: A mobile ear for pregnancy problems A new smartphone app aims to provide a cheaper alternative to ultrasound in Africa by bringing an old technique into the 21st century. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120927-mobile-ear-for-pregnancy-problems

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Tech Challenge for Atrocity Prevention Website Goes Live — Spread the Word!
by Melody Clark 10 Oct '12

10 Oct '12

From: tascha-share-bounces(a)mailman1.u.washington.edu [mailto:tascha-share-bounces@mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Christine Prefontaine Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 8:23 AM To: tascha-share(a)uw.edu; Silvia Caicedo Subject: [Tascha-Share] Tech Challenge for Atrocity Prevention Website Goes Live — Spread the Word! >From my friend over at USAID's Office of Transitional Initiatives. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Gattorn Date: Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 10:48 AM Subject: Tech Challenge for Atrocity Prevention Website Goes Live - Spread the Word! Hi, I have been only a bit involved with this through sitting in the USAID working group. It's a good opportunity and pretty noble. If you know of some people with tech skills and passionate about atrocity prevention, let them know! =================== Friends and Partners, We’re excited to tell you that USAID and Humanity United’s Tech Challenge for Atrocity Prevention website, www.thetechchallenge.org<http://www.thetechchallenge.org/>, has gone live today. The website identifies five specific challenges around atrocity prevention, the first two of which will launch on October 31st. We’re grateful for the support of everyone who helped us craft these problem statements, paving the way for us to solicit exciting and innovative ideas. In supporting President Obama’s vision of preventing atrocities worldwide, the Tech Challenge for Atrocity Prevention encourages individuals from all backgrounds to bring new perspectives to some of the most daunting issues in this arena. We are looking for those who can contribute innovative tech tools and solutions -- big and small -- to make real advances in preventing atrocities. Humanity United and USAID will award prizes as large as $10,000 per challenge for creative ideas and prototypes that respond to the problem statements. We hope that new or existing solutions in fields such as global health, education, and the private sector can be transformative when applied to preventing atrocities. We need your help in spreading the word about this challenge! Please share the website <http://thetechchallenge.org/> and the short video<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tGo867Qs2g> as far and wide as you can on your social media networks and particularly to your networks of dedicated and passionate activists, techies and innovators. Thank you for your support, Donald Steinberg Deputy Administrator USAID <http://www.thetechchallenge.org/>Please contact Mark Goldenbaum at USAID (mgoldenbaum(a)usaid.gov<mailto:mgoldenbaum@usaid.gov>) or Abby Long at Humanity United (along(a)humanityunited.org<mailto:along@humanityunited.org>) for more information.

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Fwd: Nominations Open For Nation's Top Honor In Public Interest Computing
by Yaw Anokwa 08 Oct '12

08 Oct '12

If you know an open source software developer whose work is helping non-profit activists succeed, please forward on this opportunity for the $10,000 Pizzigati Prize. The Open Data Kit team received this prize a few years back and the support and attention we received were fantastic! ---------- Forwarded message ---------- September 16, 2012 - Nominations have now opened for the seventh annual Antonio Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest, the nation's highest honor for software developers working with nonprofits to help advance innovative social change. Tides is now accepting nominations for this year's $10,000 prize through December 1st. The 2013 winner will be announced in April at the Nonprofit Technology Network annual conference in Minneapolis. The Pizzigati Prize honors talented and creative individuals who develop open source software products that demonstrate impressive value to the nonprofit sector. Tides welcomes nominations from both developers and the nonprofits who work with them. The most recent Pizzigati Prize winner, Nathan Freitas, leads the Guardian Project, a team of software developers working on new mobile technology programs that can help activists "coordinate, protest, and campaign" more efficiently and effectively, no matter where they may be on the planet. His flagship "Secure Smart Cam" app enables human rights defenders to safely capture and distribute human rights digital media. The 2011 Pizzigati Prize winner, Ken Banks, has created software that turns even the simplest mobile phones into grassroots organizing tools for everything from mobilizing young voters to thwarting thieving commodity traders. "Software developers like these are making an enormous difference," notes Tides CEO Melissa Bradley. "The Pizzigati Prize aims to salute their contribution - and encourage programmers to engage their talents in the ongoing struggle for social change." The Pizzigati Prize also honors the brief life of Tony Pizzigati, an early advocate of open source computing. Born in 1971, Tony spent his college years at MIT, where he worked at the world-famous MIT Media Lab. Tony, an early champion of open-source computing, died in 1995, in an auto accident on his way to work in Silicon Valley. Full details on the Tides Pizzigati Prize, the largest annual award in public interest computing, appear online at www.pizzigatiprize.org.

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Edgar Sioson on Community and Alternative Currencies in a Development Context
by Nicola Dell 07 Oct '12

07 Oct '12

This Tuesday at Change, Edgar Sioson will talk about his work on community and alternative currencies in a development context. Community currencies and other alternative means of exchange have a long, under-the-radar history. Various implementations demonstrate the public's openness to change especially in times of economic hardship, such as during Argentina's currency collapse at the turn of the century. In this talk, I will present in-the-wild examples from simple voucher system that help promote local trade within a slum area, to more technical approaches that are heavily influenced by computing technology. I will also talk about various prototypes for TraceEval, an accounting and reputation framework for socioeconomic development. I hope this talk contributes positively to the audience' motivation and tools for ICT4D research. Edgar Sioson supports data visualization and research archiving at the UW-Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. He has a BS in Biochemistry from the UW and a MS in Information Systems from the University of Maryland - Baltimore County. He has worked in the biotechnology industry before getting involved in socioeconomic advocacy. His research interests include decentralized currencies, ICT4D, and social simulation. What: Edgar Sioson on Community and Alternative Currencies in a Development Context When: Tuesday, October 9th at 12 noon Where: The Allen Center, room CSE 203

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DEV 2013 call for posters: Deadline Oct 19th 2012
by Richard Anderson 04 Oct '12

04 Oct '12

ACM DEV 2013 3rd Symposium on Computing for Development Co-located with COMSNETS January 11-12, 2013 Bangalore, India http://dev2013.org/ Important Dates: Poster abstracts due: October 19, 2012 (11:59pm UTC) - firm deadline Author notification: October 26, 2012 Camera-ready: December 7, 2012 Conference: January 11-12, 2013 DEV 2013 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. The poster deadline for DEV 2013 is still open. Poster abstracts are limited to 2 pages and should describe original and previously unpublished research, innovative experiments, and work in progress. All DEV poster 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 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 submissions outside of these topics that address the DEV focus on computing innovations supporting social and economic development. Conference co-chairs: Bill Thies, Microsoft Research India <thies(a)microsoft.com> Amit Nanavati, IBM India Research Labs <namit(a)in.ibm.com> PC co-chairs: Richard Anderson, University of Washington <anderson(a)cs.washington.edu> Aaditeshwar Seth, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi <aseth(a)cse.iitd.ernet.in>

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2012 Stephen Stewart Gloyd Endowed Lecture: Friday, Oct 5, 3:30p Hogness Auditorium!
by Gaetano Borriello 04 Oct '12

04 Oct '12

2012 Stephen Stewart Gloyd Endowed Lecture with Anne-Emanuelle Birn, MA, ScD, Professor and Canada Research Chair in International Health at the University of Toronto. “From Rockefeller to Gates: Philanthro-Capitalism, Cooptation, and the Politics of Global Health Agenda-Setting.” When: Friday, October 5, 2012; lecture from 3:30-5pm, with a reception from 5-6 p.m. Where: Lecture: Hogness Auditorium, Magnuson Health Sciences Building, Room A420, University of Washington. Reception to follow: Health Sciences Lobby. -- Anne-Emanuelle Birn, MA, ScD, is Professor and Canada Research Chair in International Health at the University of Toronto (with appointments in International Development Studies and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health). Her research explores the history of public health in Latin America and the history and politics of international health. She has published widely in North American, Latin American, African, and European journals and has authored two books, the Textbook of International Health, and Marriage of Convenience: Rockefeller International Health and Revolutionary Mexico. For information on past Gloyd lectures, please visit: http://globalhealth.washington.edu/news-events/recurring-events/stephen-ste…

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Reminder: WISH2012 registration
by Nicola Dell 04 Oct '12

04 Oct '12

*The Workshop on Interactive Systems in Healthcare (WISH 2012) *is right around the corner –and if you plan to also attend AMIA - please note: ** **** *Advance registration deadline is October 4, 2012* – Register at: http://www.amia.org/amia2012/registration**** *WISH is listed under "Tutorials and Working Group PreSymposia"**** **** WISH 2012 is co-located with the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Annual Symposium <http://www.amia.org/amia2012> November 3-4 in Chicago . *You may attend both AMIA and WISH, or WISH alone.***** ** ** *WISH 2012 features Keynotes from Ben Sneiderman and Ted Shortliffe, mentoring program, and a strong technical program with panels on NSF Smart Health and Wellbeing projects, Interactive Systems for Patient-Provider Communication, and Supporting Patients with Chronic Illness, including over 30 posters featuring innovative work on interactive systems in healthcare. * **** **** See the WISH 2012 website for program details: http://wish2012workshop.wordpress.com/**** **** We look forward to seeing you soon at WISH 2012!**** **** Wanda Pratt, Katie Siek, and Andrea Hartzler

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Public access and development: New Global Impact Study brief released
by Melody Clark 02 Oct '12

02 Oct '12

The Global Impact Study is excited to release a new brief based on some of our emerging findings! Does public access to computers and the Internet make a difference in people's lives? Do public access venues contribute to development? A brief, Public access and development: The impact of public access venues and the benefits of libraries<https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/2091…>, has just been released. This two-page brief describes findings about the impact of public access venues on development, including the unique benefits successful public libraries offer. This brief is based on data from the surveys <http://www.globalimpactstudy.org/surveys/> of over 5,000 public access venue users in five developing countries. Abstract Public access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) can play an important role in development. Communities benefit when people can access information and communicate with experts and people in their social networks to learn about health, jobs, education, leisure activities, or whatever inspires them. When access to ICTs is public and available to everyone in the community, such as in public libraries, telecenters, and cybercafés, it can be an effective tool for those that need it most. The findings in the brief are evident at all venues in the public access landscape, including libraries. However, in some instances, libraries may offer users unique benefits. Download Two-page brief: Public access and development: The impact of public access venues and the benefits of libraries<https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/2091…> Recommended Citation Clark, M., Sey, A., & Sullivan, J. (2012). Public access and development: The impact of public access venues and the benefits of libraries. Seattle: Technology & Social Change Group, University of Washington Information School. About the Global Impact Study The Global Impact Study of Public Access to Information & Communication Technologies is a five-year project (2007-2012) to generate evidence about the scale, character, and impacts of public access to information and communication technologies. Looking at libraries, telecenters, and cybercafes, the study investigates impact in a number of areas, including communication and leisure, culture and language, education, employment and income, governance, and health. The research is supported by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Learn more at globalimpactstudy.org. -- Melody Clark Research Coordinator | Global Impact Study Technology & Social Change (TASCHA) http://about.me/melodyclark melclark(a)uw.edu<mailto:melclark@uw.edu> | 206.685.7819 Twitter: @ictimpact<http://twitter.com/#!/ICTimpact> | @melodyrclark<https://twitter.com/#!/melodyrclark> www.globalimpactstudy.org<http://www.globalimpactstudy.org/>

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Fwd: Launch of GSMA mWomen Design Challenge
by Gaetano Borriello 02 Oct '12

02 Oct '12

** On Sunday, September 23rd at the Social Good Summit<http://mashable.com/sgs/>in New York, USAID Chief Innovation Officer Maura O’Neill joined partners from GSMA, Qtel Group, AusAID and the design firm Huge to launch<http://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/usaid-qtel-ausaid-and-…>the *GSMA mWomen Design Challenge: Redefining the User Experience*. The Design Challenge <http://designchallenge.mwomen.org/> aims to attract interest from the global design and developer communities to come up with a more intuitive mobile user experience for illiterate populations, particularly women.**** ** ** ** <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFodJOSqr5c>**The event began with a brief video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFodJOSqr5c> (click image on the left) highlighting the key challenges women face in accessing and owning mobile phones. It was followed by a live demo that showcased how mobile ‘launchers’ can be made more intuitive to meet a variety of needs. Then, Maura had a brief conversation with Qtel Group CEO Dr. Nasser Marafih and Huge Partner of User Experience, Michal Pasternak, to discuss the opportunities surrounding this Challenge. Dr. Nasser emphasized Qtel’s work in Iraq and Indonesia in expanding mobile ownership among women. You can view the entire event here<http://mobilenepal.net/news/gsma-mwomen-design-challenge-launch-redefining-…>(run time 24:16). **** ** ** >From our work through the GSMA mWomen Global Development Alliance<http://www.mwomen.org/News/usaid-ausaid-gsma-and-visa-partner-in-gsma-mwome…>, we know that mobile phone use in the developing world is exploding, yet women risk being left behind. 21% fewer women than men own a mobile phone in low- to middle-income countries. We also know based on our research<http://www.mwomen.org/Research/striving-surviving-exploring-the-lives-of-wo…>that technical literacy skills, limited understanding of full mobile potential, cultural barriers, cost of handsets and limitations in electrical power prevent women from fully accessing and owning mobile phones. In fact, 22% of resource-poor women who did not want a mobile phone said it was because they ‘wouldn’t know how to use it.’ We hope to eliminate this barrier, in part, through the Design Challenge.**** ** ** ** ** Consider, for a moment, having limited reading and technical literacy skills and picking up a smartphone to locate the camera icon – assuming you were familiar with what the icon looked like. You might be able to take a few pictures, but if you’ve had no experience navigating the mobile device, you may grow frustrated trying to find where the photos were saved, or how they can be shared. What if there was a more intuitive way of performing these actions? Now, extrapolate this example to any number of useful functions on the phone – for educational opportunities, to find jobs, or to seek healthcare. If you cannot use the phone, you will have a difficult time taking advantage of these services. Make the user experience easier, and you open up a multitude of possibilities. **** ** ** Today, developing markets rely on feature phones, or standard mobile phones with basic functionality (largely voice and SMS). Smartphones, however, are growing in scale and market share in developing countries; their price points are lowering and they will soon become the main way people in these regions will access the internet and its associated benefits. As such, this Challenge is prioritizing smartphones – and, in particular, those using the Android operating system – as the phone of the near future. As of June 2012, for example, Android represented 47% of developers’ primary platform in Africa. **** ** ** ****Individuals and organizations are invited to submit their ideas through *December 14, 2012*. A panel of expert judges will evaluate each submission. Winners will be announced in February 2013 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona:**** ** ** **· ***Grand prize winner*: The winning entry will receive US$20,000 and a meeting with potential investors to discuss options for commercializing the concept.**** **· ***2nd place winner*: The 2nd place entry will receive US$10,000.**** **· ***Emerging talent winner*: This award will be reserved to an entry from an individual entrepreneur or academic institutions in a low- or middle-income country. The winner will receive US$10,000.**** ** ** Attached is a fact sheet that details the Design Challenge in more specificity. Further information<http://blog.usaid.gov/2012/09/building-a-better-user-experience-the-mobile-…>can be found on USAID’s IMPACTBlog<http://blog.usaid.gov/2012/09/designing-smartphones-for-resource-poor-women/> .**** ** ** We encourage you to share this message with your colleagues, particularly those at the Mission and field levels, and ask that they pass the announcement on to local designers and developers. We are hopeful that this Challenge will receive a wide and creative range of submissions.**** ** ** Many thanks, Chris**** ** ** *Christopher Burns * *Economic Growth & Agricultural Development Advisor* *U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)* *Office of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment* *1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 20523***** Tel. 202-712-0226 | chburns(a)usaid.gov **** ** ** [image: Description: Description: Description: GenDev Signature]**** Intranet <http://inside.usaid.gov/EGAT/off-wid/index.html> | External<http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/wid/> **** ** **

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“Getting Started in mHealth.” Grant Opportunity. Applications due Dec 1.
by Nicola Dell 01 Oct '12

01 Oct '12

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: neal lesh <neal.lesh(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, Oct 1, 2012 at 7:36 PM Subject: [TIER] “Getting Started in mHealth.” Grant Opportunity. Applications due Dec 1. To: tier(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu Hi everybody, Dimagi just released an RFA to support organizations in India to launch CommCare, our mHealth platform. Please see below if interested, and let us know if you have any ideas for how to best use our resources here. thanks much, neal ---------------------------------------------------------------- *Are you an organization in India looking to improve your health programs through the use of mobile phones? *Dimagi <http://www.dimagi.com/> is seeking partners in India to launch new mHealth (mobile health) programs with *CommCare*, its innovative mobile phone-based software application that transforms the way community health workers work. If selected, your organization will receive free software, mobile phones, server space, and field support to help you launch your own customized *CommCare *project. Starting an mHealth project has never been easier! *Why CommCare?* Mounting evidence suggests that equipping community health workers with phone-based tools improves access, quality, experience, and accountability of care. CommCare is an open-source mobile software platform being deployed in 25 countries and used by thousands of community health workers to track and support their clients with registration forms, checklists, SMS reminders, and multimedia. This leads to better reporting, better patient care and education, and better health. Check out our *revamped website (**www.commcarehq.org* <http://www.commcarehq.org/>*) *to view online videos, read papers on the effectiveness of CommCare, and learn about how any organization can design its own mHealth application using our online tools. *What will be awarded?* With the support of the USAID Development Innovation Ventures fund, Dimagi is expanding CommCare in India* *to 40 new programs in health and other social sectors* *over the next two years. In the current round of grants, we anticipate awarding our startup package to 10 organizations in India. Awardees will each receive *10 free phones installed with CommCare, free unlimited access to the CommCareHQ cloud-based server, and one month (cumulative) of free in-country field support* from Dimagi’s experienced Field Managers who have already launched CommCare in more than 15 community health programs in India. *How to apply? *Download the short application on our *RFA website*<http://tinyurl.com/commcare11rfa>and read about successes from previous partners in India who received similar support. Round 1 closes on *December 1, 2012*, but applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and we expect to respond to each application within two weeks of submission. All decisions will be made by December 17, 2012. Successful applicants will be supported to launch their projects within six months of the award date.

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