- change - Mailing Lists

Tues 6/8, 4:30pm, Project Demos: CSE 490D/HCDE 496 and CSE 477
by Ruth Anderson 06 Jun '10

06 Jun '10

Please join us on Tuesday to see the final products of the three projects presented in the Change seminar back in April! ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 22:02:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Ruth Anderson <rea(a)cs.washington.edu> To: faculty - Mailing List <faculty(a)cs.washington.edu>, cs-grads - Mailing List <cs-grads(a)cs.washington.edu>, cs-ugrads-urgent - Email Alias <cs-ugrads-urgent(a)cs.washington.edu>, cs-staff - Mailing List <cs-staff(a)cs.washington.edu> Cc: bkolko(a)uw.edu, Shwetak Patel <shwetak(a)cs.washington.edu>, Ruth Anderson <rea(a)cs.washington.edu> Subject: Tues 6/8, 4:30pm, Project Demos: CSE 490D/HCDE 496 and CSE 477 Please join us in the atrium of the Allen Center this Tuesday, June 8th from 4:30-6pm for a poster/demo session from two Spring CSE capstone courses: CSE 490D/HCDE 496 is the final quarter in a year-long design and implementation sequence held jointly between CSE and HCDE. In fall, students read papers on technology in resource-constrained environments (RCEs). In winter, CSE 490d and HCDE 419 students formed interdisciplinary project groups to scope and design projects for RCEs. In spring 2010, students from CSE 490d and HCDE 496 implemented and evaluated the projects designed in winter quarter. In CSE 477 Digital System Design (aka Hardware Capstone aka Embedded Systems Capstone), students worked in groups on a single project that paralleled the experience of working for a real company or customer. Students prototyped a substantial project that mixed hardware, software, and communication components. Please join us to learn more about these projects and view posters and demos at a poster session in the Allen Center Atrium on Tuesday 6/8 from 4:30-6pm! Ruth Anderson, CSE (rea(a)cs.washington.edu) Beth Kolko, HCDE (bkolko(a)uw.edu) http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/cse490d/10sp/ Shwetak Patel, CSE (shwetak(a)cs.washington.edu) http://abstract.cs.washington.edu/~shwetak/classes/cse477/ --------------------------------------------------- CSE 477 Projects (a subset) The Green Strip is an advance in smart power management. It identifies the load characteristics of connected electronic devices and allows you to switch them on and off based on timer events and changes in the load. It also records the power usage of connected devices, so that you can see more precisely how much power each device uses. The Power Pulse Passively Powered Energy Measuring System uses harvested energy from a circuit breaker box to power up a micro-controller sensor, which in turn measures the energy consumption of the home/office. The data is sent via wi-fi to an access point, which then uploads the data to Google Power Meter. ---------- CSE 490D/HCDE 419 Projects The Midwife's Ultrasound project is developing a portable, simple, low-cost ultrasound device targeted for use by midwives in Uganda. Using a USB ultrasound probe, we have developed a system that is both simpler and more affordable than any other device currently on the market. MultiLearn is an educational tool allowing multiple students to use a computer to answer math and multiple choice questions. Paired with a new web application, it aims to provide teachers with an easy way to measure individual student progress and the overall effectiveness of their curriculum. ODK Data in Any Order (DAO) allows doctors to collect data in novel ways throughout the world. Starting from UW's Open Data Kit (ODK), ODK DAO allows doctors and clinicians to document symptoms in a flexible manner as they go through a patient visit. ------------------------

1 0

Job: Systems Engineer for OpenMRS
by Yaw Anokwa 06 Jun '10

06 Jun '10

Regenstrief Institute, Inc. is seeking an entry level Systems Engineer whose primary function will be to further develop public health data flow processes primarily using the OpenMRS platform. Regenstrief Institute is a national leader in electronic medical records, health care data integration, and Medical Informatics Standards. Regenstrief Institute, Inc. is seeking an entry level Systems Engineer whose primary function will be to further develop public health data flow processes primarily using the OpenMRS platform. Regenstrief Institute is a national leader in electronic medical records, health care data integration, and Medical Informatics Standards. OpenMRS® is a community-developed, open-source, enterprise electronic medical record system platform. The community has come together to specifically respond to those actively building and managing health systems in the developing world, where AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria afflict the lives of millions. OpenMRS fosters self-sustaining health information technology implementations in these environments through peer mentorship, proactive collaboration, and a code base that equals or surpasses proprietary equivalents. This position will focus on developing and maintaining a public health Notifiable Condition Detector (NCD). The NCD is implemented as an OpenMRS module that identifies public health reportable conditions in healthcare transactions. The resource will work closely with Investigators, Project Managers, and public health stakeholders. He/she will also be responsible for testing and documenting the changes implemented. http://www.regenstrief.org/employment-opportunities/systems-engineer-openmr…

1 0

Fwd: [GAMESNETWORK] CFP: Meaningful Play Due June 28
by Mark Chen 03 Jun '10

03 Jun '10

in case you're interested in more about games for change. mark ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Grace, Lindsay Mr. <gracel(a)muohio.edu> Date: Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 7:59 AM Subject: [GAMESNETWORK] CFP: Meaningful Play Due June 28 To: GAMESNETWORK(a)uta.fi I apologize for any cross-posting. I really enjoyed this conference in the past. Meaningful Play 2010 Conference, October 21-23 East Lansing, Michigan http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu/ Meaningful Play 2010 brings scholars and industry professionals together to understand and improve upon games to entertain, inform, educate, and persuade in meaningful ways. The two primary themes of the conference are "exploring meaningful applications of games" and "issues in designing meaningful play". The first theme includes an examination of games (of all types) from primarily an academic research perspective. The second theme focuses on much more practical knowledge from the front-line of actual design, development, and use of games for meaningful purposes. This international conference includes thought-provoking presentations from leaders in academia and industry, peer-reviewed paper presentations, panel sessions, roundtable discussions, a poster session, and exhibitions of games. Call for Papers (due June 28), Panels, and Individual Speakers http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu/submissions.php While any topic related to games for entertainment and learning is appropriate to submit to Meaningful Play 2010, topics of particular interest include: Exploring meaningful applications of games o Games to change attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors (including social impact games and personal health games) o Games to stimulate creativity or innovation o Games to build social skills o Games to advertise and persuade o Games to exercise specific cognitive functions o Games to explore personal beliefs and help make decisions o Games to build knowledge and skills (games for learning) o Serious games for history and cultural heritage learning o Games to promote civic, social, and humanitarian organization and participation Issues in designing meaningful play o Game design for specific audience segments o Player types and play styles o Story and storytelling in games o Competitive and cooperative play (single player, multiplayer and massively multiplayer) o Balancing entertainment and serious goals o Repurposing entertainment games for serious purposes (and vice versa) o Unintended and unexpected effects of games o Using psychology and neuroscience to design and understand games o Emerging design research methods to help create better games o Measuring game impacts o Innovative techniques and technologies for the design of meaningful play (e.g. game mechanics, reward systems, and user interfaces) (Please excuse cross-posting) Lindsay D. Grace School of Fine Arts Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies at Miami University 206 Hiestand Hall Miami University Oxford, Ohio, 45056 -- Gamesnetwork, discussion list of Digital Games Research Association, www.digra.org Note: to unsubscribe, send "UNSUBSCRIBE GAMESNETWORK" to LISTSERV(a)UTA.FIfrom your subscribed email account. Web interface to subscribe and manage your subscription: https://listserv.uta.fi/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=GAMESNETWORK&A=1 . The list archive is available online at: https://listserv.uta.fi/archives/gamesnetwork.html -- Mark Chen | @mcdanger | markdangerchen.net PhC | Games Ethnographer | LIFE Center | UW Education This was sent from a PC with a full-size keyboard; misspellings and brevity are entirely my fault.

1 0

Darius Jazayeri on OpenMRS
by Eleanor O'Rourke 03 Jun '10

03 Jun '10

This Thursday at Change, Darius Jazayeri will be discussing his work on OpenMRS Our world continues to be ravaged by pandemics of epic proportions, as over 40 million people are infected with or diseases such as HIV/AIDS, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, and malaria — most (up to 95%) of these afflictions are present in developing countries. Prevention and treatment interventions on this scale require efficient information management, which is critical as clinical care must increasingly be entrusted to less skilled providers. Whether for lack of time, developers, or money, most health care programs in developing countries manage their information with simple spreadsheets or small, poorly designed databases…if anything at all. To help them, we need to find a way not only to improve management tools, but also to reduce unnecessary, duplicative efforts. As a response to these challenges, the Open Medical Record System (OpenMRS®) formed in 2004 as a open source medical record system platform for developing countries. OpenMRS is a multi-institution, nonprofit collaborative led by Regenstrief Institute, Inc., a world-renowned leader in medical informatics research, and Partners In Health, a Boston-based philanthropic organization with a focus on improving the lives of underprivileged people worldwide through health care service and advocacy. OpenMRS is a software platform and a reference application which enables design of a customized medical records system with no programming knowledge (although medical and systems analysis knowledge is required). It is a common platform upon which medical informatics efforts in developing countries can be built. To date, OpenMRS has been implemented in twenty countries throughout the world, including South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, Haiti, India, China, United States, Pakistan, and the Phillipines. This work is supported in part by organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The Rockefeller Foundation, and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). What: Darius Jazayeri on OpenMRS When: Thursday, June 3rd at noon Where: Paul Allen Center, Room 203

2 1

IPID ICT4D Posgraduate Conference 2010: Call for communications
by Yaw Anokwa 03 Jun '10

03 Jun '10

The *2010 Annual Conference of the International Network for Postgraduate Students in the Area of ICT4D <http://www.humanit.org/PID>* (IPID) will be held the 9th-10th September 2010 at Universitat Politècnica de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. This is a mainly academic conference, with all its procedures, but much more informal and constructive than usual. Its main purpose is twofold: - To let postgraduate students present short papers about their research in a supportive environment where they can gain positive feedback from other participants; - To provide an opportunity to discuss key themes of interest to ICT4D postgraduates. The conference organisers would be pleased to hear from potential participants about the themes they would like to have discussed. Ways to participate: - If you are a postgraduate student — master, PhD — in ICT4D, this is your place. Come and share your research, *whatever* the stage of development it is in. You’ll get guidance and support, and will meet with other people like you struggling in this new discipline<http://ictlogy.net/bibciter/reports/bibliographies.php?idb=62> . - If you are a scholar and want to be aware of the cutting edge research on ICT4D, this is your place too: the ideas presented in the conference are always thrilling in many ways. You might want to organize a workshop and/or be part of our senior board that’ll help too in providing some structured feedback to the students presenting their research. - If you are a practitioner or a policy-maker in ICT4D, we saved room for you too. Though the event is academic in its essence, you’ll see plenty of applied work and theoretical background to base that applied work. Important data: - When: 9 and 10 September, 2010 - Where: Campus Nord, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain - Official website<http://www.humanit.org/PID/wiki/index.php/ICT4D_Symposium_2010> - *Registration form<https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFAwUU5RRGlvaFBQYm9uTUJwRl…> * - Official blog <http://www.humanit.org/PID/blog/tag/ipid2010/> - Official tag: #ipid2010 <http://search.twitter.com/search?q=ipid2010/> - Communication offers close 1st July 2010 - Registration closes on 15th August 2010 Please stay tuned to IPID’s blog <http://www.humanit.org/PID/blog>, where we will publish a link to the registration form. Fees will not be higher than 140€ and we are working to keep them at 0€. Fees will include all meals and materials during the event (coffee breaks, lunch and dinner for days 9th and 10th). Accomodation in Barcelona will cost you circa 50€ if you find place on a students residence (we’re working on that too). Please send any inquieries to ipid2010(a)ictlogy.net and, please, spread the word!

1 0

funding for ed tech in underprivileged communities
by Yaw Anokwa 31 May '10

31 May '10

this funding is for projects in the us. there is one deadline on june 24th, and another in september. both are for funding year 2011. ------------------------- Through its Education Technology research grants program, the Institute intends to support research on education technology tools that are designed to provide or support instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, or science (including pre-reading, pre-writing, early mathematics, and early science) or to provide professional development for teachers related to instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, or science. The Institute intends to contribute to improvement of reading, writing, mathematics, and science learning by (1) developing innovative education technology tools intended to improve reading, writing, mathematics, science, or general study skills; (2) evaluating fully developed education technology tools intended to improve reading, writing, mathematics, science, or general study skills through efficacy or replication trials; (3) evaluating the effectiveness of fully developed education technology tools intended to improve reading, writing, mathematics, science, or general study skills that are implemented at scale; and (4) developing and/or validating assessments that use education technology and that can be used in instructional settings. The long-term outcome of this program will be an array of education technology tools that have been documented to be effective for improving reading, writing, mathematics, and science achievement. http://ies.ed.gov/funding/ncer_rfas/edtech.asp

1 0

TASCHA/CHANGE Workshop on Technology and Disability in the Developing World
by Yaw Anokwa 31 May '10

31 May '10

The Technology & Disability in the Developing World workshop (http://change.washington.edu/access/) is on June 18th and there is still space available if you want to register. This year, presentations will focus on low-cost assistive technology including topics such as low-cost prosthetics, Braille software, and hearing devices. It is free and open to all and you can find the registration form here: http://change.washington.edu/access/workshop_2/workshop-registration-inform…

1 0

A few spots open in the ICTD master's program in CO
by Ed Lazowska 29 May '10

29 May '10

The good folks at Boulder have opened up a few additional places in their Masters program. If you know of any great students who are interested at this late date, have them contact Revi Sterling, below. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Revi Sterling <revi(a)wildwood.cs.colorado.edu> Date: Wed, May 26, 2010 at 7:04 AM Subject: a few spots open in the ICTD master's program in CO To: lazowska(a)cs.washington.edu Hello Ed – it was great to see you and hear you last week! I am opening up a few more spots in our upcoming ICTD master’s program… however, at this late date, I thought you might know of some students interested in ICTD but who did not get into their desired PhD/other program and are considering a more applied approach to ICTD. After all, I have you to thank for bringing Heather to the doctoral program; now I just need to build up a really good masters degree program… If you do know of potential fits in your network, would you please pass this flier and program description along? I have also pinged the CHANGE group members. Thank you very much and happy summer! Revi

1 0

thoughts on games for change
by Mark Chen 28 May '10

28 May '10

Hey all, Thanks for the discussion on games yesterday. I thought I'd write a follow-up email of things that have been on my mind since then... 1. Not all gamers are the same Average gamer? Woman in her thirties. But that's because of the casual game revolution. That said, not all gamers are the same, obviously. So, when talking about gamers, I'd like to see people be specific about which players and focus on actual practice around specific gaming genres. 2. Not all games are the same Yet all games (in my book) have in place certain constraints that force players to make interesting decisions based on limited resources or abilities. This is why multilearn isn't a game but more a platform. 3. Some ways to think about games for change - educate about current issues (content knowledge) traditional educational "games" have focused on content knowledge training... I don't agree that they've been proven to be successful. In fact, I find there's a dearth of good solid research to show their efficacy. One problem is that many of the software titles aim at conveying certain bits of info that is completely devoid of authentic context, ignoring decades of research that shows people learn in situated moments of activity (making the whole idea of transfer problematic). - simulate systems to foster conceptual change (algorithmic training--getting people to think more like scientists) the ludic argument: gamers learn how to recognize patterns (cf. Koster's Theory of Fun for Game Design) and exploit game mechanics for game goals - role-play hypothetical future settings (Jane McGonigal's stuff) the narrative argument: gamers are motivated by stories and like to explore many possible futures. Jim Gee (of What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy fame) and David Shaffer (How Computer Games Help Children Learn) make this argument coming from a sociocultural framing and identity building model. - add game-like elements to other activities this is the earning points with your credit card model. Another take on it is chorewars.com where families can set up quests in the form of doing dishes, doing homework, etc. Yet another example (tho maybe making a stretch here) is slashdot's rating system for comments. Urgent Evoke includes giving out points in certain attributes when people contribute to the imagined, emergent story. I don't have any good answers and, supposedly, I'm a games scholar. I do agree, however, that more and more people are playing digital games, so it's potentially very fruitful to think about these issues. thanks, mark -- Mark Chen | @mcdanger | markdangerchen.net PhC | Games Ethnographer | LIFE Center | UW Education This was sent from a PC with a full-size keyboard; misspellings and brevity are entirely my fault.

1 0

other ICTD-related programs
by Yaw Anokwa 28 May '10

28 May '10

From: emma brunskill <emma(a)eecs.berkeley.edu> Subject: [Ict4dev] other ICTD-related programs To: ict4dev(a)csail.mit.edu One of the list members asked me if there are other academic courses on ICTD. Here's a list I came across with some other courses: http://ictlogy.net/wiki/index.php?title=ICT4D_Offline_Courses

1 0