- change - Mailing Lists

FW: [dub] dub seminar 11/16 Neil Patel : Voice-based Social Media for Rural Communities
by Richard Anderson 14 Nov '11

14 Nov '11

From: dub-bounces(a)dub.washington.edu [mailto:dub-bounces@dub.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Morgan Dixon Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011 11:13 AM To: dub(a)dub.washington.edu; Neil Patel Subject: [dub] dub seminar 11/16 Neil Patel : Voice-based Social Media for Rural Communities Hello dubbers! Please join us on Wednesday for our weekly DUB seminar. Speaker: Neil Patel (Stanford / Awaaz.De) Wednesday, November 16 12:00-1:20pm EEB 403 (map<http://washington.edu/maps/?EEB>) Title: Voice-based Social Media for Rural Communities Abstract: Online communities enable people to access and share information, but they are out of reach for poor and isolated communities around the world. Mobile phones have the potential to overcome the PC's accessibility, affordability, and familiarity barriers. However, most mobile information services limit rural populations to being passive knowledge consumers, not active producers. My dissertation explored the design and usage of voice-based social media for rural communities. My collaborators and I designed Avaaj Otalo ("voice stoop") a voice message board application that allows small-scale farmers in India to share agricultural advice by posting, listening to, and replying to others' messages using any phone. AO has been live and accessed by thousands since 2009. In all, we have deployed voice message boards with 8 partners in 6 states across India working in agriculture, labor rights, women's empowerment, and education, logging over 100,000 calls from over 10,000 callers. Bio: Neil Patel is co-founder and CEO of Awaaz.De, a company that develops social information platforms for the majority of world's people who do not have access to the Internet. He completed a Ph.D in Computer Science from Stanford University, and B.S. degrees in Computer Science and Business Administration from UC Berkeley. He currently commutes between his homes in California and Ahmedabad, Gujarat. -- Morgan Dixon Ph.D. Candidate Computer Science & Engineering University of Washington cs.uw.edu/homes/mdixon<http://cs.uw.edu/homes/mdixon>

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Fwd: Software Engineering Postitions
by Yaw Anokwa 14 Nov '11

14 Nov '11

the modi group at columbia does some really great work. if you are a dev interested in ictd, it's definitely worth a close look. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Matt Berg <mlberg(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, Nov 14, 2011 at 12:06 Subject: Software Engineering Postitions To: Gaetano Borriello <gaetano(a)cs.washington.edu> Cc: Yaw Anokwa <yanokwa(a)gmail.com> Dear Gaetano and Yaw, We have some open software engineering positions we're hoping to fill incase you know of some candidates. https://github.com/modilabs/jobs Thanks, Matt We are looking for various positions to join us at the Modi Research Group at the Earth Institute in Columbia University. Current positions include: Senior Software Engineer - https://github.com/modilabs/jobs/blob/master/Senior_Software_Eng.rst Front-end Software Developer - https://github.com/modilabs/jobs/blob/master/Frontend_Software_Dev.rst We make software to make development process smarter and to bring new services (health and energy) to people that need them most (primary focus on Africa and India). The tools we build incorporate geospatial planning, open-data webservices, mobile phone-based data collection and service delivery, and management dashboards used by governments. We are primarily a Python and Javascript shop but looking primarily for people with deep software engineering experience and desire to tackle challenging global problems with code. You will get to work with a dynamic team in New York, and travel to field sites in Africa and India to develop and implement solutions with clients on the ground. This is critical to our process as we do agile development heavily based on iterative user feedback. Some projects we’re currently engaged on include: SharedSolar.org - A pre-paid solar energy solution being deployed in rural Africa (http://sharedsolar.org) Assisting the government of Nigeria to map all their clinics, schools and waterpoints (30,000+ and counting!) ChildCount.org - An SMS based approach for improving child and maternal health formhub.org - a mobile data collection community Network Planner - spatial planning software used for infrastructure (electrification) planning. Currently, being used by countries across Africa.

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FW: HCDE 521, November 16th - Beth Kolko
by Richard Anderson 14 Nov '11

14 Nov '11

From: dub-bounces(a)dub.washington.edu [mailto:dub-bounces@dub.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Jan H. Spyridakis Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011 11:00 AM Subject: [dub] HCDE 521, November 16th - Beth Kolko Hello, Please come and hear Beth Kolko present at the HCDE Autumn Seminar Series (HCDE 521) this Wednesday, November 16, from 5:00 to 5:50 p.m. in Mary Gates Hall 241. Details of her talk are listed below. More information about the HCDE 521 seminar series is available online: http://hcde.uw.edu/521. Seminar Title: Design, Diversity, and Innovation Abstract: How do expertise and innovation contribute to one another? Or do they conflict? In this talk, I will discuss some of the projects from the Design for Digital Inclusion group, including our collaboration on a low-cost ultrasound system for midwives, that demonstrate potential pathways to innovation. Hope to see you there! Jan Jan Spyridakis Professor and Chair Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering University of Washington Box 352315 Seattle, WA 98195 206-685-1557 (fax 206-543-8858) http://www.hcde.uw.edu/jansp

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TASCHA Talk -- THURSDAY -- Evaluating the impact of public access technology in U.S. Libraries: The IMPACT Web Survey, a U.S. IMPACT Study project
by Karen Hirst 14 Nov '11

14 Nov '11

TASCHA TALK: Cortney Leach Thursday -- November 17, 2011, from 3:45 to 4:45 pm Roosevelt Commons Building Fourth floor multi-purpose room Conducted in 2009, the U.S. IMPACT Study provided evidence that use of public access technology services offered at U.S. public libraries has a profound and measurable impact on individuals and communities. The IMPACT Survey project aims to extend the benefits of the study by making its patron web survey component available for all public libraries to use in their local data collection, evaluation, and advocacy efforts. This TASHA Talk will report on the frameworks underpinning the web survey project, provide a progress update, and discuss design challenges and lessons learned. About the presenter Cortney is a research analyst with the U.S. IMPACT Study Research Group and holds a Masters of Public Administration and Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington. Her research interests include design thinking, program evaluation, public 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/tascha-talks<http://tascha.uw.edu/what-we-do/tascha-talks/> .

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Re: [change] $35 touchscreen tablet launched in India
by Rohit Chaudhri 12 Nov '11

12 Nov '11

heh & i thought the guy's talking about roti - the old old bollywood movie starring rajesh khanna & mumtaz :) http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0176105/ On Nov 9, 2011 11:56 PM, "Rahul Banerjee" <banerjee(a)cs.washington.edu> wrote:

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Fwd: [CCC Blog] NSF Unveils Cross-Cutting Smart Health & Wellbeing Program
by Ed Lazowska 10 Nov '11

10 Nov '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Erwin Gianchandani <erwin(a)cra.org> Date: Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 7:04 AM Subject: [CCC Blog] NSF Unveils Cross-Cutting Smart Health & Wellbeing Program To: erwin(a)cra.org CCC Blog has posted a new item, 'NSF Unveils Cross-Cutting Smart Health & Wellbeing Program' You may view the latest post at http://www.cccblog.org/2011/11/10/nsf-unveils-cross-cutting-smart-health-we… Excerpt ------------ The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Engineering (ENG), and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) have joined forces to co-sponsor a new, interdisciplinary Smart Health and Wellbeing (SHB) program for FY 2012. The solicitation just out today broadens a program first implemented by CISE in spring 2011 -- and is consistent with an outline in last winter's President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report on networking and information technology R&D as well as a prior Computing Community Consortium (CCC) health IT research roadmap: Through the Smart Health and Wellbeing (SHB) Program, NSF seeks to address fundamental technical and scientific issues that would support much needed transformation of healthcare from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, person-centered and focused on wellbeing rather than disease. The issues to be addressed include, but are not limited to, sensor technology, networking, information and machine learning technology, modeling cognitive processes, system and process modeling, and social and economic issues. Effective technology-based solutions must satisfy a multitude of constraints arising from clinical needs, social interactions, cognitive limitations, barriers to behavioral changes, heterogeneity of data, semantic mismatch and limitations of current cyberphysical systems. The high degree of complexity and broad range of the problems require multidisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers to identify and address barriers limiting quality of life, independence for chronically ill and elder individuals, and other aspects of wellbeing. Fundamental technological advances are also needed to understand the impediments that prevent people from engaging in health-promoting life styles including diet and exercise and from participating in their healthcare decisions. The solicitation calls for two types of projects (after the jump...): You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are posted. Best regards, Erwin Gianchandani erwin(a)cra.org

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UW Work Nominated in HealthUnbound's Innovators Challenge
by Yaw Anokwa 08 Nov '11

08 Nov '11

HealthUnbound has nominated 30 individuals who have contributed innovations to the mHealth field. Of the 30 projects, 6 are UW-affiliated. Below are the projects and a short description about their connections to UW. We need your help to get down to the winners. Go to http://healthunbound.org/top11_vote to learn more about each project and then vote on your favorite. Congratulations to all the nominees, and please do vote now — the deadline is this Friday! # Derek Treatman: CommCare-Sense UW-CSE's Brian DeRenzi led much of the original field work to develop CommCare. # Joaquin Blaya: MiDoctor MiDoctor uses UW's Open Data Kit for their interactive voice response functionality. # Julius K.A. Awakame: OpenMRS-based telepsychiatry using mobile phones Julius spent a quarter at UW-CPHI working with Sherrilynne Fuller and Bill Lober. # Marc Mitchell: D-Tree International Brian DeRenzi worked closely with D-Tree on implementation and study of IMCI in Tanzania. # Martin Were: AMPATH's mHealth Programs UW-CSE's Yaw Anokwa and Carl Hartung work closely with AMPATH on their CHW and decision support work. # Thomas A. Odeny: Text Messaging Improves Attendance at Post-Operative Clinic Visits Thomas received his MPH at UW and is a part of the Kenya Research Program.

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Discussion: Is local participation and decentralization of development work necessary to make it sustainable?
by Nicola Dell 08 Nov '11

08 Nov '11

This Thursday at Change Mayank Goel and Praveen Shekhar will be leading a discussion on local participation and the decentralization of development work. *Is local participation and decentralization of development work necessary to make it sustainable?* In Rajasthan, India, there is school: Barefoot College, that trains local people from the villages to become solar engineers, artisans, dentists and doctors. Most of the students in the college are illiterate women. They help in these communities to become self-sufficient and gives the locals in the village the ownership of their projects. The movement has spread to many parts of India, Afghanistan and Africa. Is this model of training people in fields that would directly affect them, giving them the ownership of their projects and letting them come up with their own unique solutions more sustainable than introducing them to new infrastructure abruptly? *What:* Discussion led by Mayank Goel and Praveen Shekhar *When:* Thursday, Nov 10th at noon *Where:* Paul Allen Center, Room 203

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IDEO.org Seeking 2013 Fellowship Candidates
by Yaw Anokwa 07 Nov '11

07 Nov '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: IDEO.org <info(a)ideo.org> > Subject: IDEO.org Seeking 2013 Fellowship Candidates > Date: November 7, 2011 11:36:27 AM PST > To: <jwishnie(a)thoughtworks.com> > Reply-To: IDEO.org <info(a)ideo.org> > > We're asking for your support in helping us find outstanding candidates and spreading the word to potential applicants. > Is this email not displaying correctly? > View it in your browser. > > Hello Friends of IDEO.org, > > We're excited to announce that we've opened the application process for next year'sIDEO.org Fellowship Class. We're asking for your support in helping us find outstanding candidates and spreading the word to potential applicants. > > The IDEO.org Fellowship Program enables future global leaders from the design, business, and social sectors to spend one year working with experienced IDEO designers to address poverty-related challenges using the tools of human-centered design. IDEO.org is looking for inspiring individuals with backgrounds in design, business, the social sector, and social enterprise. Individuals with experience working in developing countries and/or with low-income communities are encouraged to apply. We seek candidates with minimum of 5 years work experience or a graduate degree + 3 years experience. Passion for the challenges of poverty and design thinking are a must! > > Please forward this job description to qualified candidates and we?d appreciate your help by publicizing the application through your Twitter, Facebook and/or other networks. > > > Thanks for your support! > > Patrice, Jocelyn + the IDEO.org Team > > forward to a friend > Copyright ? 2011 IDEO.org, All rights reserved. > You are receiving this email because you opted in at ideo.org > Our mailing address is: > IDEO.org > 100 Forest Ave > Palo Alto, CA 94301 > > Add us to your address book > unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

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"ict4d" as a term
by Yaw Anokwa 04 Nov '11

04 Nov '11

in erik hersman's post at http://whiteafrican.com/2011/11/02/the-subtle-condescension-of-ict4d, he says: "...we’re doing ourselves a disservice with this terminology and that it has a negative perception in the tech startup culture in Africa. Technology is about overcoming inefficiencies in the system, and products succeed because they solve real needs within communities. In Africa, as in the West, some of these solutions are for-profit and some not-for-profit. It’s important to invest in the local startups involved in trying to solve these problems and come at it from a more objective view, instead of labeling innovative technology solutions from Africa automatically as ICT4D." erik's thoughts have sparked a debate on the term "ict4d" that might be interesting to folks on this list. if you want other perspectives on the issue, jonathan donner has a nice overview at http://jonathandonner.com/archives/242. yaw

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