[Sci-tech-public] Tomorrow! "Designing Appropriate Computing Technologies for the Rural Developing World" -- Tapan Parikh talk announcement

[Debbie Meinbresse]

Professor Kenneth Keniston just received word of tomorrow's talk by 
Tapan Parikh and asked that I circulate this information to you.

>>Designing Appropriate Computing Technologies for the Rural Developing World
>>
>>  Speaker: Mr. Tapan S. Parikh , The University of Washington
>>  Date: Thursday, April 5 2007
>>  Time: 4:00PM to 5:00PM
>>  Refreshments: 3:45PM
>>  Location: 32-G449 Kiva/Patel Conference Room
>>
>>  Recent history has seen an increase in disparity between the rich and
>>  poor regions of the world. Disproportionate access to information is
>>  both a symptom and a factor contributing to this disparity. People
>>  living in the rural developing world have many information needs that
>>  could, but are not, being met by information technology. Technology
>>  for this context must be low-cost, accessible and appropriate given
>>  the local infrastructure, including conditions of intermittent power
>>  and connectivity. In this talk, I describe my experiences developing
>>  CAM - a toolkit for mobile phone data collection for the rural
>>  developing world. Designing technologies for an unfamiliar context
>>  requires understanding the needs and capabilities of potential users.
>>  Drawing from the results of an extended design study conducted with
>>  microfinance group members in rural India (many of whom are
>>  semi-literate or illiterate), I outline a set of user interface design
>>  guidelines for accessibility to such users. The results of this study
>>  are used to inform the design of CAM, a mobile phone application
>>  toolkit including support for paper-based interaction; multimedia
>>  input and output; and disconnected operation. I provide evidence of
>>  CAM's usability, breadth, and real-world applicability. Regarding
>>  real-world applicability, a CAM application for microfinance data
>>  collection is now being used by 17 NGO (non-governmental organization)
>>  staff to serve over 10000 group members in two states of India.
>>  Regarding breadth, I list some important rural data collection
>>  applications - including for retail supply chain tracking,
>>  agricultural monitoring and health care - that we have implemented, or
>>  can be implemented, using the CAM toolkit. I conclude by discussing
>>  possible topics for future work and my long-term research vision.
>>
>>  Bio: Tapan S. Parikh is an Intel Fellow and Ph.D. Candidate in the
>>  Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of
>>  Washington. Earlier, he received a M.S. degree in Computer Science
>>  from UW and a Sc.B. degree in Molecular Modeling (with Honors) from
>>  Brown University. Tapan's research interests include human-computer
>>  interaction (HCI), systems engineering and information and
>>  communication technologies for development (ICTD).
>>
>>
>>  Kenneth Keniston
>>  Andrew Mellon Professor of Human Development Emeritus
>>  Founder MIT India Program
>>  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
>>  E51-296, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
>>  Phone: 1-617-253-4055 Fax: 1-617-258-8118
>>  Email: kken at mit.edu   Web: www.kken.net
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/sci-tech-public/attachments/20070404/e81e1740/attachment.htm
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Tapan Parikh talk announcement1.pdf
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 42414 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/sci-tech-public/attachments/20070404/e81e1740/attachment.obj