Unthinkingly

Zimbabwe Election Watch Map

The Zimbabwe Election Watch is doing a pretty amazing job of aggregating media reports about the Zimbabwe elections and using Google Maps to present the results. I’m both impressed and depressed about it.

Cellphones FTW

I am obsessed with cell phones right now. Mostly I bloody *hate* them. I haven’t had one for six months, but work made me get one last week. So since they made me get one I am lobbying to get into some cell-phone-type research, partly to figure out my personal issues with cellular voice communication, most mostly because, clearly, undoubtedly, they are the most important technology in the world: they are the network of the developing world. As a BBC article put it a couple weeks ago: “”it’s time that we recognised that for the majority of the world’s population, and for the foreseeable future, the cell phone is the computer, and it will be the portal to the internet, and the communications tool, and the schoolbook, and the vaccination record, and the family album …”

“It’s time that we recognised that for the majority of the world’s population, and for the foreseeable future, the cell phone is the computer.The Invisible Computer Revolution

My question is: where the hell are the tools for people who use cellphones in this way? (In particular, where are the banking tools and educational tools?) In the first world we’ve got $600 iphones that can read your freaking mind. But a simple flashcard application for learning a few of the 62 languages spoken in Kenya? It’s not quite as sexy.

So this is the part that I am really obsessing over, as a developer. It just seems to me that there is huge opportunity to really do some huge good by, essentially, hacking on SMS. Or, sure, wait a few years and use cell phones as a proper thin client. (But im more interested in the ultra ultra thin approach, something that would work with one of the classic Nokias, which are used everywhere in Africa . Design for maximum constraints, right?)

In the last few years I wrote a couple of posts on cellphones, one about “the powerful effect that even a slight improvement in communication can bring” (wrt africa) and another about badass Iqbal Quadir. Oh and a technical/usability one about developing +designing reliable, readable sites for really, really small screens.

Anyway, new content. Here’s a fantastic video from Jan Chipchase at TED, a hero of cellphone ethnography. My favorite line: “”if you want a big idea you need to embrace everyone on the planet…. With another three billion people connected, they want to be part of the conversation. Our [rich people] relevance is about being able to listen.”

Static link: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/190

Chipchase is a GENIUS blogger; pithy observations on behavior/expectations/norms from all over the world:

http://www.janchipchase.com/

please. read. subscribe. its almost certainly my favorite blog.

Genocide vs. Gadgets

I’ve never seen gadget hype reach the levels that have been achieved by the iPhone. And I’ve never been so caught up in it myself. After visiting eyesondarfur.org I’ve decided that I’m giving my iPhone budget to Amnesty International: $50 a month over the next year.

In the culture jamming spirit I spliced an iPhone ad into one of the arresting images from the book Darfur: Twenty Years of War and Genocide in Sudan. I’m not anti-iPhone in particular: I just want to remind folks (especially myself) that there are more important things to focus on than the gadgets being thrust in your face.

If you have the luxury of a budget for consumer electronics, why not consider putting just a percentage of it toward something like an anti-genocide campaign?

[image: The Kalma Camp, Darfur, by Pep Bonet/Panos Pictures and the iPhone by Apple Inc. Used without permission: Please don't sue me.]

Wanted: An open-source, user-centered touchscreen platform

There has been a lot of excitement recently around a couple of developments in touch screen interfaces: First there was the insane presentation at TED 2006. Secondly, of course, the iPhone made everyone all hot in the pants for it’s touchable goodness.

In Malawi, the NGO Baobab Health Partnership … adapted Linux to $100 touchscreen Internet appliances, then wrote a program for Opera to run in full-screen kiosk mode. The resulting terminal can easily manage the nation’s health data and is scalable wherever a web connection can be made.J. Goodman at Vestal

Fundamentally I think that touch is intimate and intuitive, and clearly touchable interfaces have incredible potential, especially for the folks that haven’t been brow-beaten into adapting to 20th-century conventions of computer interfaces like the QWERTY keyboard.

(i.e., the billions of people that will be introduced to “desktop” computing the next decade. See the OLPC, just launched for reals in Uruguay.)

So I’m excited about a new project at work that involves designing a web application for use with a touch screen interface. When I first heard about it from the client I was coffee-though-the-nose excited because I have been infatuated by a recent project I read about on Vestal: Malawi, Linux, & The Fight Against HIV. I knew immediately that I was going to rip off the idea. (In the best open source sense, of course.)

Unfortunately the iOpener touchscreen used in the project is no longer for sale (it had a lovely $100-$200 price tag b/c it came with some money-making software — there’s a funny story about the linux hack), so I was hoping someone might have some idea about how to implement this as cheaply as possible.

A few criteria:

• As open-source as possible
• Durable
• Replicable
• Low Power
• Low CPU resources (The machine will be cheap, with flash memory, prob.)
• Beautiful (in a Platonic way )

Basically I want to avoid wire splicing and flaky homegrown drivers in favor of something that is replicable and extremely flexible. I want to be able to develop a web application with an appropriate UI and let it rip. (Which will be greatly facilitated by the work of the Baobab programmers’ “touchscreen toolkit“). This might not be easy given the limitations of cheap machines.

So far I’ve got anEboxPC in the office (a nice, fanless machine with CF and VESA mounts for the back of the monitor) with some form of embedded Linux (we’ve built a tiny Linux distro for our rural wireless network that might be usable if we can get the drivers to work with the touch screen). Looks like we can get screens for about $100 and then we’ll have to put a touch screen on top. Regardless, this is still in the brainstorming phase, so that’s all likely to go out the window.

Anyway, what good is a touch screen like this?

Well, combined with the right software, I think you can really leverage usability to do a hell of a lot:

• Make a huge impact in developing world healthcare like Baobab has done.
• Collect data easily from a kiosk at a disaster area.
• Setup a database-driven check-in desk at your next nonprofit conference.
• Collect survey data remotely (anywhere in reach of the net).
• Setup a small store without an incredibly expensive, proprietary POS system.

I think there are lots of possibilities given that the interface could just be so much more usable. Just looking into it briefly I found an open source POS system for use in cooperative markets. Brilliant. This is software that could really benefit from an inexpensive stable touchscreen implementation.

Does anyone have any experience or ideas?

I’ll be posting my findings here, along with the software design considerations that I run into.

The Darfur Wall

The Darfur Wall is a beautifully executed charity project that fills a very simple, traditional purpose (collecting money) using an innovative and stark interface. The black and white, no-images design reinforces the tragedy of the situation without being overwhelming. I think this is a great example of online design serving a progressive cause — which is not so easy to find.

Blood Diamonds in the News

Ethan Zuckerman has a great post about the recent newsines (trendiness?) about “conflict” diamonds, pointing to a parody site realdiamondfacts.org. It’s a sendup of DeBeers and Co. (It’s an exact parody of their PR-campaign website, diamondfacts.org.)


The bigger issue, Zuckerman points out, is that there are any number of products that the Rich Folks of the world are consuming that cause economic and social trauma in the same way that the diamond industry does (Coltran — used in my cellphone — seems to be worse than diamonds if you ask me … ).

The Foldaway Emergency House and Other “Afrigadgets”

Rajan Harinarain, a South African entrepreneur and inventor has come up with a temporary foldaway house for use in emergency situations complete with electrical wiring and fittings, doors and windows that can be erected by a small team in 5 minutes.

Afrigadget is a great site (though with irregular posts) about a bunch of interesting developing world inspired inventions and tinkerers. Their most recent post covers a new type of emergency shelter. (Via Ndesanjo on Global Voices.)

Brief Clip from a Great WorldChanging.com Post

WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: LinuxChix Africa
“LinuxChix Africa manages to shatter two stereotypes at the same time: the idea that women aren’t interested in free/open source software development; and the idea that women in Africa are bound to traditional cultural roles. Founded in late 2004 by Anna Badimo, a computer science graduate student in South Africa, and Dorcas Muthoni of the Kenya Education Network, LinuxChix Africa seeks to build Linux skills among African women, as well as to support more generally the use of free/open source applications and systems across Africa. Like most Linux and F/OSS communities, much of their work entails professional software development and public advocacy of open source, but LinuxChix Africa adds a unique twist: they focus their outreach on encouraging young women to pursue careers in computing.”

The Internet is a War Weapon

An interesting article from the Washington Post, (via Kenyanpundit) :African Rebels Take Their Battles Online.

In countries where newspapers and radio stations are routinely shut down and dissidents are often jailed, the Internet is also giving ordinary Africans new freedom to debate political and social issues. “The Internet is a war weapon,” Aboude Coulibaly, director of the New Forces rebel group in Ivory Coast, wrote in a recent e-mail. In 2002, the group used its Web site and TV station to launch a mutiny that toppled the government. “In these matters of revolution, we have to be wired to win,” he wrote.

Beautiful Maps of Africa

Just discovered a beautiful resource of maps (mostly environmental info, especially soil) for most of the countries of Africa. (Found via Kikuyumoja’s realm.)

This is an incredibly thorough, high-quality resource, with scanned resolutions that will knock any map-lover’s socks off. The pages are easy to navigate, with appropriately-sized thumbnails and then really large downloadables.

Suitable for framing. And repurposing with overlaid data.

Here’s a bit from their intro:

“Data and information are essential building blocks of science. Many types of data, including extant historical data which have newly appreciated scientific importance for the analysis of changes over time, are not being used for research because they are not available in digital formats” (International Council for Science, 2004).

Maps made in the past remain the backbone for present and future studies. … Less and less new, fundamental soil data are being produced these days; the older data and information are being pumped around more and more. Therefore it is vital to preserve the older data (in this case maps) as they are building blocks of most current soil information. The user of present-day, derived information should have easy access to the source material, if only to assess the reliability of the derived material.

But, in many countries, soil maps are being lost because of lack of proper attention to storage and retrieval … This problem is acute in developing and transitional countries where valuable data, currently only available on paper, must be digitized before they are lost forever… The digitization of the African maps will enable the African countries to recover and re-use their soil information.

Translation of soil information from paper maps and reports into digital format is a prerequisite of the next step - the development of a digital information system on soil and terrain that may be drawn upon for manifold applications.

And now you can jump straight to the maps.

ICT4D Africa Scan: An Inventory of ICT Activity in Africa

The ICT4D (Informaiton and Communication Technology for Development) Africa Scan is a serious undertaking that seeks to provide a reference of the major ICT development activities in Africa.

This is a useful place for researchers to begin when attempting to understand the current pace and direction of technology development work on the continent.

The purpose of this pilot is to experiment with a different way of presenting “who is doing what” in the area of ICT for Development (ICT4D) in Africa. It takes as its starting point a representative sample of funding institutions and maps their ICT4D programs and initiatives in Africa against a backdrop of countries, regions and themes. It also makes an attempt to identify the organisations with which these development institutions partner, and in what areas these partnerships occur.

The result is currently not a comprehensive inventory, but an illustration of the potential of using geographic, thematic and partnership information to not only provide an inventory or a snapshot of ICT4D activity in Africa, but to begin to see trends in terms of emerging themes, in terms of countries and regions of specialisation, in terms of partnerships, etc.

Visit: ICT4D Africa Scan

The Wireless Internet Opportunity For Developing Countries

While poking around on stuff related to the WSIS in Tunis, I found this excellent document about wireless internet in Africa, which was used at the first meeting of the WSIS in 2003. I only wish that there was an updated copy somewhere …

“The most intriguing application [of wireless technology] in developing nations is the deployment of low-cost broadband Internet infrastructure and last-mile distribution.

The rationale for such interest is simple in theory: The digital divide cannot be resolved any time soon because of the prohibitive cost of deploying conventional wired infrastructure in developing countries. Wireless Internet, however, has the potential to solve this bottleneck, as the collection of articles and case studies in this volume demonstrates. …

So, why should this topic become central to the World Summit on Information Society initiative? First, wireless Internet may be a very effective and inexpensive connectivity tool, but it does not carry any magic in itself. It can only be successfully deployed as demand for connectivity and bandwidth emerges in support of relevant applications for the populations served. These may be supporting e-government, e-education, e-health, e-business or e-agriculture applications. But those are not easily implemented in the developing world. They do suggest that wireless Internet can indeed be sustainably and in some cases profitably deployed in support of economic and social development objectives in developing countries.

The greatest aspect of this document is that it represents how often the most successful cases of adoption is grassroots and local — this type of development does not work well when it is imposed by some NGO or corporation.

You can read the entire document at infodev, an organization created to “promote better understanding, and effective use, of information and communication technologies (ICT) as tools of poverty reduction and broad-based, sustainable development.”

Cellphones in Africa

Today’s New York Times carries a front-page article about the growth of the cell phone industry in Africa.

The article is as well-written a summary of the communications crisis in Africa as I have ever read — though it is an undeniably, perhaps inexplicably, upbeat assessment of the curent growth trend in cell phone use.

The article begins by describing the difficulties faced by a rural farmer in Johnanesburg:

On this dry mountaintop, 36-year-old Bekowe Skhakhane does even the simplest tasks the hard way.

Fetching water from the river takes four hours a day. To cook, she gathers sticks and musters a fire. Light comes from candles.

But when Ms. Skhakhane wants to talk to her husband, who works in a steel factory 250 miles away in Johannesburg, she does what many in more developed regions do: she takes out her mobile phone.

Author Shanon LaFranierie did a great job of putting this together, I think, but again the upbeat assessment tends to make the issue more of a spectacle than an outrage. Which it is. Take, for example, the fact that the woman described in the lead actually has the money for only five minutes of calls per month — a pretty slim communication system indeed.

There is also the fact that while Africa now has the highest percentage of cell phone users relative to land lines, that doesn’t mean much when only one in 30 people has a land line. And the fact that less than 60% of Africa can get any cellphone signal at all is rather sobering.

And yet, there is an undeniable fact of real growth — economic, social, educational — that is occuring because of the powerful effect that even a slight improvement in communication can bring. At least when the context is dire poverty, the impact of just a few cellphones can be dramatically disproportinate.

Andy Carvin, a guru of the Digital Divide Network also has some interesting thoughts about this article on his blog.

Andy writes that:

No doubt, mobile phones will be near the top of the list [of development technologies] — but that list also includes $100 laptops, wind-up electricity generators, low-cost community radio transmitters, and the timeless ham radio. So let’s not make policy decisions under the assumption that mobile phones are the only tool necessary for bridging the digital divide.

The entire article is online for a little while in this section of the paper: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/25/international/africa