VeSeL: Village e-Science for Life Blog

UC San Diego-based Playpower Project Receives $180K MacArthur
Digital Media and Learning Grant. Details here

Labels: computer_centre, device, education, grant, HCI, ict, ict4d, technology Links to this post

Posted by Kevin Walker at 8/20/2009 02:18:00 PM 0 comments

In collaboration with Gates Foundation and IDE, IDEO created a Human Centered Design toolkit. This resource was created to help organizations working with smallholder farmers better understand the needs of the farmers and design appropriate tools, technologies, programs, or services for and with them.

Please feel free to download the toolkit and share your comments about it here.

Labels: agriculture, development, HCI, ict4d, participatory, research4development, technology, toolkit, UCD Links to this post

Posted by Kevin Walker at 11/08/2008 11:09:00 AM 0 comments

'Only 4% of Africans have access to the internet. They pay the most in the world, around $250-300 a month, for the slowest connection speeds.'

'Interfaces are being written in a number of African languages, but even the clearest instructions in Wolof or Yoruba as to how to use Windows presume a fair degree of literacy.'

from The Economist.

Labels: development, HCI, ict, ict4d, technology Links to this post

Posted by Kevin Walker at 11/15/2007 10:00:00 PM 0 comments

Empower the youth of Mukuru Kwa Njenga, an informal slum settlement of 250,000, to connect with other youth and create positive change in their community by building a technology media lab and library.

Details here.

Labels: computer_centre, development, education, HCI, ict4d, kenya, radio, technology Links to this post

Posted by Kevin Walker at 11/14/2007 10:52:00 AM 0 comments

Workshop in Conjunction with the Ninth International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp 2007)

Labels: conferences, development, device, energy, ethics, handheld, HCI, ict, ict4d, mobilephone, participatory, power, research4development, social_change, technology, wireless Links to this post

Posted by Kevin Walker at 9/18/2007 01:47:00 PM 0 comments

Matt Jones from VeSeL partner project StoryBank will be the invited speaker at this workshop in Singapore, September 9, 2007, part of ACM Mobile HCI 07.

Traditionally, voice-based applications have been accessed using unintelligent telephone devices through Voice Browsers that reside on the server. The proliferation of pervasive devices and the increase in their processing capabilities, client-side speech processing is emerging as a viable alternative. As in SiMPE 2006, we will further explore the various possibilities and issues that arise while enabling speech processing on resource-constrained, possibly mobile devices.

In particular, this year's theme will be SiMPE for developing regions.

Labels: conferences, development, handheld, HCI, ict, ict4d, mobilephone, participatory, technology, wireless Links to this post

Posted by Kevin Walker at 8/12/2007 02:16:00 PM 0 comments

Anthropology is commonly used in HCI (for example by Bonnie Nardi). Here is an example of its use re: mobile phones.

Labels: HCI, ict, mobilephone Links to this post

Posted by Kevin Walker at 6/21/2007 04:20:00 PM 0 comments

Here is a description of this project, which introduced ICT into an Indian village in an interesting way.

Labels: computer_centre, education, HCI, ict, ict4d, social_change Links to this post

Posted by Kevin Walker at 6/21/2007 09:39:00 AM 1 comments

Given the prominence of radio, and literacy levels, in the communities we're working with, this article may be of interest. Listen to your crops grow?

Labels: agriculture, HCI, information, radio, sensors Links to this post

Posted by Kevin Walker at 6/06/2007 08:56:00 PM 0 comments

[Loband: Embedded Object Removed - http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=6411905727447752181&hl=en-CA]
Gary Marsden, Google Tech Talks May 4, 2007

"Using Case studies and examples, this talk looks at the challenges of applying standard HCI techniques in a developing world context. We look at how HCI can have a fantastic impact on communities in the developing world, but there is still some way to go in understanding how HCI can best benefit the developing world."

Labels: HCI, mobilephone, UCD Links to this post

Posted by josh_u at 5/17/2007 07:38:00 AM 2 comments

User Centered Design and International Development - CHI 2007 Workshop
Saturday April 28th, 2007 - San Jose, California, USA
Accepted Papers

Labels: development, HCI, ict, ict4d, UCD Links to this post

Posted by josh_u at 3/16/2007 10:40:00 AM 0 comments