- change - Mailing Lists

World Bank Launches Apps for Development Competition
by Yaw Anokwa 09 Oct '10

09 Oct '10

The World Bank launched its Open Data Initiative in April, 2010. This initiative made an array of data sets, including the World Development Indicators, Africa Development Indicators, and Millennium Development Goal Indicators – free for all. The Apps for Development Competition aims to bring together the best ideas from both the software developer and the development practitioner communities to create innovative apps using World Bank data. The Competition challenges participants to develop software applications related to one or more of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Submissions may be any kind of software application, be it for the web, a personal computer, a mobile handheld device, console, SMS, or any software platform broadly available to the public. The only other requirement is that the proposed application use one or more datasets from the World Bank Data Catalog available at data.worldbank.org. The competition ends in 3 months and there are $45k in prizes available. http://appsfordevelopment.challengepost.com/

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Fwd: FW: updated CFP for NetHealth - web site will be updated by Monday
by Rohit Chaudhri 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

Fyi, some updates to the CFP for the NetHealth workshop in India. ** New deadlines! Papers due 22 October, Poster abstracts due 1 December ** Poster submissions need to be 1-page abstracts in IEEE format. -----Original Message----- From: Prof. David Kotz [mailto:kotz@cs.dartmouth.edu] Sent: Friday, October 08, 2010 6:43 PM To: Satish Rath; Satish Rath Cc: Dr Sudipta Mukhopadhayay; K. Gopinath; Shyam Vasudevarao; Bill Thies; Sangeeta Bhattacharya; Kumar Rajamani; Vinayak Naik; mmaha2(a)gmail.com; divya ramachandran Subject: updated CFP for NetHealth - web site will be updated by Monday WORKSHOP ON NETWORKED HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY (NetHealth) January 4, 2011 in Bangalore, India -- Co-located with COMSNETS 2011 http://www.comsnets.org/nethealth.html ** New deadlines! Papers due 22 October, Poster abstracts due 1 December ** The world's pressing healthcare needs may benefit from judicious application of networked information technology. Future networked information systems will support, for example, clinical workflow, remote diagnosis and consultation, e-prescribing, and mobile data collection and surveillance, disease outbreak identification and patient participation in their own wellbeing and care. Mobile-computing technology may be particularly helpful in improving access to healthcare (geography, monetary and informational), by encouraging personal health management, and by enabling patient and provider mobility. Wearable medical devices are emerging, to measure essential vital signs like pulse, respiration, ECG, blood glucose level, and patient mobility. Handheld devices support clinicians in urban hospitals, and portable diagnostic kits allow remote healthcare teams to more easily reach rural villages. The widespread availability of mobile phones, and recent experiments with low-cost, long-range broadband wireless networks, bring connectivity to all these opportunities. We encourage papers that present novel ideas for networked computing technology in support of healthcare, and which are likely to invoke thoughtful discussion at the workshop. Research papers should focus on all aspects of networked healthcare technologies. Of interest, though not exclusively, are the following topics: - remote diagnosis and remote consultation - clinical applications of mobile or networked healthcare - mobile and wearable medical sensing applications - design of wearable and home-care health devices - sensor networks for public health monitoring and surveillance - networked mobile technology for rural healthcare - security and privacy in healthcare application - experience from technology deployments - usability of mobile health applications and devices - applications to emergency response and disaster response - cost-efficient and energy-efficient networking for remote healthcare - remote access to electronic health records Papers should be limited to 6 pages in IEEE format, not submitted concurrently elsewhere in any form, and present new contributions regarding either technology or experience in deploying technology. Papers should be submitted via EDAS. The workshop will also include a poster session, where researchers are encouraged to present work-in-progress on any of the topics above. Posters regarding experience with NetHealth or mHealth prototypes or pilot deployments are particularly encouraged. To be considered for the session, please submit a 1-page abstract in IEEE format according to the deadlines below. Instructions for poster preparation will be sent to accepted authors. Paper submission deadline 15 October 2010 Notification of acceptance 21 November 2010 Poster/demo abstract submission deadline 1 December 2010 Camera ready submission 19 December 2010 Workshop 04 January 2011 PC chair : Satish Rath, Wipro Technologies PC members : Sangeeta Bhattacharya, Intel labs K. Gopinath, Indian Institute of Science David Kotz, Dartmouth College Divya Ramchandran , UC Berkeley M Mahadevappa, SMST IIT Kgp Sudipta Mukhopadhyay , IIT Kgp Kumar Rajamani, GE Research Srinivas A, PES Vinayak Nayak, IIITD Satish Rath, Wipro Technologies, Bill Thies, Microsoft Research India Shyam Vasudeverao, Philips Healthcare India Steering committee: David Kotz, Dartmouth College K. Gopinath, Indian Institute of Science Satish Rath, Wipro Technologies, Bill Thies, Microsoft Research India Shyam Vasudeverao, Philips Healthcare India

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Internships with Jolkona - Small donations having measurable impact
by Yaw Anokwa 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

Jolkona (www.jolkona.org) is a start-up non-profit organization that lets people choose how to impact the world through small donations (starting at just $5!), and unlike other micro-giving websites, they provide tangible proofs of impact for every donation. For example, if you spend $40 to educate a girl in Afghanistan for 1 year, you will receive a photo of the girl being sponsored by your donation and at the end of the year receive a copy of her report card, all done over the web on their platform. Their mission is to connect people with global philanthropic opportunities and show the impact of one’s donations. They launched their website to the public in June 2009 with a goal of making giving more fun, transparent and engaging for all donors, regardless of age or income. Today they have over 75 projects in more than 35 countries around the world and leverage the support of over 20 skilled young professional volunteers who are passionate turning Jolkona's mission into reality. I recently spoke with Jolkona's co-founder, Adnan Mahmud, and he has got a ton of great ideas for possible internships with Jolkona. They are looking for very motivated students who want to apply their technical skills for social good. Jolkona is building a giving platform that shows donors tangible proof of impact for what is happening to their donation dollars. Ideal candidates will be self starters and interested in working in a startup mode. They have opportunities in the following areas: · Database · Mobile · Visualizations · Experience design · Web development If this sounds interesting to you, please don't hesitate to contact them at volunteer(a)jolkona.org. You can also check out www.jolkona.org for more information.

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This Thursday: Introduction to ICTD Faculty
by Eleanor O'Rourke 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

This Thursday at Change, we will be hearing introductions from the UW faculty members involved in ICTD research. Each faculty member will give a short overview or his or her current work, and will take a few questions. This will be a great opportunity for us to hear more about ICTD projects on campus, and to learn about the various departments involved in this research. Participating faculty include: Beth Kolko, HCDE Chris Coward, iSchool Gaetano Boriello, CSE Ricardo Gomez, iSchool Richard Anderson, CSE Please come by to learn more about current ICTD research at UW! What: Introduction to ICTD Faculty When: Thursday, October 7 at noon Where: Paul Allen Center, Room 203

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Sana (from MIT)
by Gaetano Borriello 05 Oct '10

05 Oct '10

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/itw-sana-0927.html

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Exciting new research seminar with TASCHA
by Melody Clark 01 Oct '10

01 Oct '10

Need 2 credits for Autumn 2010? Check out the exciting new offering from TASCHA! TASCHA Research Seminar Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) research seminars offers students an opportunity to gain practical research experience with one of our many projects investigating the design, use and impact of information and communication technologies in communities facing social and economic challenges. The Fall 2010 section (INFX598g/h) focuses on the Global Impact Study of Public Access to Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs), a five-year, $7.2-million international research project sponsored by the Global Libraries initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The goal of the study is to generate evidence about the scale, character, and impacts of public access to information and communication technologies. Looking at libraries, telecenters, and cybercafés, the study investigates impact in a number of areas, including communication and leisure, culture and language, education, employment and income, governance, and health. This course will bring students together to help with the development of a web application and database of an inventory of public access information and communication technology (ICT) venues in Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Lithuania, and the Philippines. The inventory is an activity within the study and has collected location, classification, and other descriptive data associated with each venue. As a part of the study's open access research approach, we have developed the site to publicly share the inventory data and to add power to the user viewing experience by providing mapping and data visualization tools. You can see the current version of the application here: http://database.globalimpactstudy.org/. Students will work with a team to enhance web access to the Global Impact Study data. Student Expectations Students may contribute by doing research, software or database design, software implementation, or a combination of these tasks. Students will define a specific project in the second week of the quarter, with a rough schedule and definition of deliverables. During the quarter students are required to submit weekly status reports; deliverables are due at the end of the last week of classes. Students may propose a longer-term project if they wish to enroll for multiple quarters. Alternatively, students may participate as a junior developer by implementing new features and bug fixes. While students will gain new skills in working on this project, this seminar is not intended primarily to be a learning experience but rather an opportunity to apply and enhance skills students already have. Another primary goal of the class is to produce tangible outputs for the project. Potential project ideas: The following are potential student project topics based on priorities of the study. Students may propose other projects based on their skill sets and interests. The project manager and lead developer will review student proposals and help to define a specific task that will be useful for the project as a whole. . Devising a generic data model for hierarchical administrative districts in geographical data . Integration with third-party data analysis tools . Refactoring code for localization, to offer a multi-lingual UI . Improving the implementation of map marker "clustering" in the mapping user interface . Implementing a user administration and activity tracking UI for project admins Necessary skills for the course Skills required will depend on the task proposed. Some tasks may be only research and analysis with written deliverables, but most will require software development skills. As for more general skills, you should have at least some of the following experience: . Web application development using PHP . Use of web application frameworks- Symfony preferred . HTML and styling/layout using CSS . Javascript and use of third-party widget libraries like Dojo/Dijit, YUI, or similar . Database/SQL - basic concepts, relational modeling, complex queries - MySQL preferred . Object-relational mapping - Doctrine preferred . Taxonomies and other forms of information modeling . Basics of web server administration (Apache) . Linux or Unix - basic skills, shell scripting a plus . Familiarity with software engineering process and the use of standard development tools - revision control (cvs), bug tracking, documentation In addition, familiarity with quantitative social science research is a huge plus. For questions or more information on the seminar, including registration, contact Chris Rothschild (chriskr(a)uw.edu) Melody Clark Research Coordinator | Global Impact Study Technology and Social Change Group (TASCHA) melclark(a)uw.edu | 206.685.7819 globalimpactstudy.org Twitter: @ictimpact

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Fwd: Commercial Microcredit = Just Profit or Unjust Profiteering?
by Yaw Anokwa 01 Oct '10

01 Oct '10

yael's message didn't go through, so here it is... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Yael Schwartzman <yaelsf(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 09:41 Subject: Re: [change] Commercial Microcredit = Just Profit or Unjust Profiteering? To: Colin Dixon <ckd(a)cs.washington.edu> Cc: Yaw Anokwa <yanokwa(a)gmail.com>, Change Group < change(a)change.washington.edu> I've been talking to a few microfinance institutions here in Mexico, where this debate has been going on for a while<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/business/worldbusiness/05micro.html> . Here in Mexico we have talked to Compartamos, that had a very successful IPO<http://www.nextbillion.net/news/compartamos-ipo-sparks-ideological-debate-o…>and has around 1 million clients and no longer needs non-profit seeking funding. We have also talked to a few other MFIs who still need external funding. Their main problem is that they need proof of social impact to continue getting money from this non-profit seeking investors. However, how are they going to get that data if there's very little record-keeping going on in their client's businesses? Tools like ODK are a great way to help! We're also trying to help through our software <http://www.frogtek.org/>;) I can't decide which way is better.. there's certainly a lot of benefit of having money when you want it without having to collect data or proof anything beyond profitability. However, this always comes at the expense of higher interest rates for the MFI clients so... -Yael On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 11:16 AM, Colin Dixon <ckd(a)cs.washington.edu> wrote: > Having just listened to the podcast, it sounded like a big part of making > the bank model work was the cost of banking computers and software. > > Is this a big chance to do an OpenMRS/ODK-style thing for banking? > > --Colin > -- Sent from my Palm Pre > > ------------------------------ > On Sep 30, 2010 8:50 AM, Yaw Anokwa <yanokwa(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Say you want to make loans to millions of poor women in the developing > world, to help them climb out of poverty. Is it OK to raise money from > rich investors, who expect to make a profit? > > Muhammad Yunus, the father of microfinance, says no. If you have > investors who expect profits, you'll ultimately turn into something > more like a loan-shark than a do-gooder. > > Vikram Akula, founder of SKS Microfinance — a company that had an IPO > earlier this year — says raising money from profit-seeking investors > is the only way to spread microfinance quickly around the world. > > NPR's Planet Money did a great podcast on the different viewpoints at > http://is.gd/fCo5h. You can also watch the video of Clinton Global > Initiative debate at http://is.gd/fCnWl. > > _______________________________________________ > change mailing list > change(a)change.washington.edu > http://changemm.cs.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/change > > > _______________________________________________ > > change mailing list > change(a)change.washington.edu > http://changemm.cs.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/change > >

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South>North: A fishbowl on the transferability of ICTD innovations from income-poor to income-rich countries
by Yaw Anokwa 30 Sep '10

30 Sep '10

Chris Coward and Karen Fisher will be organizing a fishbowl session on the transferability of ICTD innovations from income-poor to income-rich countries at ICTD 2010 on December 16th, from 3:30 to 5:00PM at Royal Holloway College, University of London. Most low-cost, easily implementable ICTD innovations are designed for developing-country contexts. Examples include mobile money, SMS (e.g. Ushahidi, Frontline SMS), and e-skills training programs. This interactive session focuses on the factors that facilitate or mitigate the transfer of these innovations to communities facing economic and social challenges in richer countries. Participants will identify innovations, discuss what makes them portable (or not), and explore steps that might encourage replication or uptake outside the developing world. Questions include: To what extent is the proposition that most low-cost, easily implementable ICTD innovations are designed for developing-country contexts correct? What are examples and counter examples? Which ICTD innovations have already spread from the South? Which others could potentially transfer? Do ICTD innovations that have spread from South to North share any common characteristics? Do they only benefit the poor, or have they been more widely adopted by richer segments of society (e.g. mobile money)? Which contextual factors — ranging from determining needs, design/build, implementation, and adoption — influence transferability? How are the methodologies applied to developing ICTD innovations in the North similar to or different from those in the South? What would a more-focused effort to design and implement ICTD innovations in richer countries look like? How would such an effort appeal to or draw on the expertise of the ICTD community? Find out more at http://cis.washington.edu/2010/09/30/ictd2010-innovation-fishbowl/

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Commercial Microcredit = Just Profit or Unjust Profiteering?
by Yaw Anokwa 30 Sep '10

30 Sep '10

Say you want to make loans to millions of poor women in the developing world, to help them climb out of poverty. Is it OK to raise money from rich investors, who expect to make a profit? Muhammad Yunus, the father of microfinance, says no. If you have investors who expect profits, you'll ultimately turn into something more like a loan-shark than a do-gooder. Vikram Akula, founder of SKS Microfinance — a company that had an IPO earlier this year — says raising money from profit-seeking investors is the only way to spread microfinance quickly around the world. NPR's Planet Money did a great podcast on the different viewpoints at http://is.gd/fCo5h. You can also watch the video of Clinton Global Initiative debate at http://is.gd/fCnWl.

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Fwd: 10/7: invite-Social Return on Investment reception & session
by Gaetano Borriello 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Wren McNally <wrenmc(a)uw.edu> Date: Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 3:50 PM Subject: 10/7: invite-Social Return on Investment reception & session To: Gaetano Borriello <gaetano(a)cs.washington.edu> Dear Gaetano, As a GSEC supporter, I would like to offer you a special invitation to our reception and event on October 7: Social Return on Investment: A Global Perspective, from 6-9 pm at the UW Foster School. Details are below; Please register – space is limited. I would also like to share an exciting update from the 2010 Judges’ choice team, Malo Traders, below. Please mark your calendars for GSEC Week (Feb 15-18, 2011) and help spread the word – forward the GSEC announcement to your networks! Measuring Social Impact Join us on October 7, at UW for a special workshop on social ROI and social impact in developing economies, featuring Drew Tulchin, Managing Partner, Social Enterprise Associates. Social Return on Investment: A Global Perspective Register Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 6:00 – 7:00 pm, Reception 7:00 - 9:00 pm Paccar Hall 392, UW Foster School of Business 7th annual Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition Updates & Open Application Since GSEC 2010, Malo Traders founders have continued on to other competitions, worked with PATH in Mali and Senegal, and incorporated their business. “If it was not for GSEC and the judges we met during the event we would miss out on a opportunity of collaborating with such an innovative NGO such as PATH. Malo Traders incorporated this week as an LLC. We spent the summer conducting a feasibility study for PATH on the introduction of fortified rice in Mali and Senegal.” Read more below... Save the Date for GSEC 2011 GSEC Week: February 15-18, 2011 GSEC Awards Banquet - Feb 17, 2011. Registration will open December 2010. Organized by the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, GSEC invites student teams to create innovative social businesses that seek to alleviate a problem(s) of poverty in developing economies. Application deadline: November 4, 2010 We will award at least $30,000 in prize money to 2011 GSEC teams that develop innovative business models with the best integration of financial and social returns on investment targeting poverty reduction in developing economies. GSEC is open to currently enrolled students at any academic institution of higher education worldwide. GSEC 2011 will build on the success of last year: 2010 GSEC teams participated in tailored company visits, pitched their business to over 600 professionals, and competed for $30,000 in prize money and in-kind awards. In addition to prize money, GSEC provides cross-cultural, transformational practical learning experiences for student participants to hone their business skills, expand their networks, and access new resources. 2010 GSEC Team Malo Traders Update, (cont): 2010 Judges’ Choice winning team, Malo Traders, embarked on a successful competition tour following GSEC 2010 and today is exchanging ideas with PATH on how to bring Ultra Rice, a strain enriched with iron, zinc and Vitamin A, to Africa to combat the anemia that afflicts over 60% of Mali’s people. Their business plan also includes building processing plants to clean, polish and package farmers’ rice before it rots in the fields or is sold at a loss to opportunistic middlemen. A 2010 Opportunity Collaboration delegate, Malo Traders CEO and GSEC team member Mohamed Ali Niang, noted “GSEC was a world class competition, [and] we were truly inspired by the knowledge and the generosity of each and every person we met. GSEC was the stepping stone that propelled Malo Traders to the next stage by establishing our credibility and sparking media attention.”

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