Technology For DevelopingCommunities

Examples in Informal EducationJoe Mertz

Fall 2007

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Outline PlanetRead Telecenters

• Hole in the Wall• Digital Doorway

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What is Same LanguageSubtitling (SLS)?

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What is Same LanguageSubtitling (SLS)? See music video demo at:

http://planetread.com/index.htm Children’s BookBox example at:

http://www.bookbox.com/view_online.php?pid=5

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Does SLS work?

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How is SLS being used?

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Three related SLS ventures PlanetRead

• Research• National broadcast

DesiLassi• Web delivered• Songs, trailers,

albums BookBox

• Children’s stories• 21 languages

www.DesiLassi.com

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How was the researchconducted? June 1999 - April 2000 SLS added to film songs TV Broadcast in a region of India Weekly SLS 20 min as part of an 30 min program

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SLS Broadcast Research Pre and post test Two groups

• Experimental - claimed to watch regularly• Control - claimed to not watch

25 episodes (weeks) Results

• Showed some marginal literacy gains by theexperimental group over the control

• At an annual per-person cost of $0.00022• And viewers liked it!

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India broadcast coverage

http://planetread.com/india.swf

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More recent (unpublished)research

Source: http://planetread.com/SLS%20Impact_Study_2007_Literacy.pdf

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Telecenters / Telecentres Also known as

• {PC, Internet} kiosks• Internet cafes• Computer education centers• Community technology centers• Infocentres• Village knowledge centres• Etc…• The LINCOS project was a telecenter.

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Telecenters are common (ubiquitous?)

telecentre.org estimates > 60,000 worldwide• not counting schools, libraries, and commercial

cybercafes.• (telecentre.org is supported by Canada's International

Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Swiss Agencyfor Development and Cooperation (SDC), and MicrosoftUnlimited Potential program.)

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TFDC projectsTelecenters are common (ubiquitous?)

E.g. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Honduras - e‑Education services remote areas Kyrgyz Republic - e-Agriculture applications Mauritania - e-Employment for women Nicaragua - e-Health in rural areas Also Romania, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tanzania, and

more…

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Potential partnerships Sri Lanka is in the midst of a significant

build-out of telecenters. The Secretariat of the Pacific Community

may be a partner for TCinGC placements tosupport a telecenter initiative in remotevillages on 16 island states.

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Prototypical problems Economic barriers: fees vs. willingness to pay Social barriers: Discrimination or avoidance Confused branding: try to be all things to everyone Educational barriers: difficulty in text and computer

navigation Mistrust and overabundance of information Lack of information in a familiar form: e.g languags &

dialects Poor infrastructure: spotty electricity and connectivity Frequent maintenance needs: Quality service unavailable or

costly

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What models sometimeswork Computer-education centres

• Simple computer classes Regular Internet cafés

• Browsing, minor business, entertainment Government service centres

• Provide government services• Sometimes more transparently

Photo Shops

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Key findingsfrom http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem/kiosks

Meeting business needs and social developmentgoals simultaneously is difficult.

What rural villagers want and what we think theyneed are frequently different.

The kiosk entrepreneur plays the most critical rolein the success of a kiosk.

A kiosk champion can help sustain a set of kiosks. Services require attention to the entire supply chain,

not only to the kiosk. Focus on a single class of services increases

likelihood of success.

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Key findingsfrom http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem/kiosks

Kiosks do better in towns; kiosks do better in remotevillages.

Kiosks in offices and schools may provide alternatives to thestandalone kiosk.

Kiosk usage is dominated by relatively affluent, moreeducated young men.

Per-transaction fees are resisted by many customers. Mobile-phone-based kiosks offer an alternative to PC-based

kiosks.

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Hole in the Wallor Minimally Invasive Education Idea:

• Groups of kids• In public settings• With unsupervised access to a computer,

applications, and Internet access• Can develop computer literacy through

discovery• And coincident school performance

improvements

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Hole in the Wall

Source: http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/docs/Paper06.pdf

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Dr. Sugata Mitra Chief Scientist at NIIT

• (NIIT: An IT solutions and service company) 1999: Carved a “hole in the wall” of the back

of the NIIT offices adjoining a very poor areaof Kalkaji, New Delhi.

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Sources Mitra, S. and Rana, V. (2001). “Children and the Internet:

Experiments with minimally invasive education in India”,The British Journal of Educational Technology, 32(2), 221-232.

Mitra, S. (2003). “Minimally Invasive Education: Aprogress report on the "Hole-in-the-wall" experiments”.British Journal of Educational Technology, 34(3), 367-371.

Mitra, S. (2005) “Self organising systems for mass computerliteracy: Findings from the ‘hole in the wall’ experiments “International Journal of Development Issues 4(1), 71 - 81

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Design constraints Accessible outdoors Without air conditioning Poor power conditions Safe

• Safe for kids• Safe for kiosk

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Enclosure Brick structure Glass-covered “holes” show computer monitors Metal lid covers each monitor, keyboard, mouse

combo• Sun shade during operational hours

Adult proof• Height of monitor and lid requires adults to stoop• Keyboard protected by cowl requiring small hands• Seating close to wall, uncomfortable for tall people• Designed to ensure children (<13) have priority access

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Ergonomics

http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/solution.html

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Enclosure Building arranged so screens face north-east

• To avoid sun glare Placed in safe, public locations

• E.g. playgrounds• Where screens visible to passing adults• Minimizes vandalism, theft, accessing

pornography, etc.

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ToBu Mouse Has no moving parts Six metal circles (touch buttons) embedded

on a plastic plate• Two top buttons for left and right click• Four buttons below for cursor movement

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Keyboard Keyboard covered by a Perxpex cowl to

protect from dust User inserts hand under cowl Opening below cowl only big enough for

small hands

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TuBu Mouse & Keyboard

Source: http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/docs/Paper06.pdf

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Power Power is conditioned at input to correct for

voltage spikes, over and under voltage, andfrequency fluctuations.

Four hours of battery back-up

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SensorsSensors and software for remote monitoring

1. temperature, humidity and illumination levels inside theenclosure;

2. electrical conditions;3. mouse movement history (when the mouse was moved

last);4. history of applications run on each computer;5. screen images on each computer;6. images of children using the computer (web cam)7. voice recordings of children speaking8. history of sites visited on the Internet.

Source: http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/docs/Paper06.pdf

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Software controls No essential software or data can be deleted

or renamed Desktop icons can not be deleted Unused programs are automatically closed. Computer automatically reboots on hangs

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Typical result Children develop basic computer literacy In school, children learn computer skills

faster than non hole in the wall peers

Less obvious result• Academic performance increases in English,

math, science, and social studies

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Replication There are 30 sites in Delhi 23 sites spread out across rural India Cambodia (not clear how many sites) Recently announced plans for 200 in Jaipur,

India

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Digital Doorway- South Africa

Rugged steel terminal Stand alone, 3 or 4 side models

(disability accessible model also)

LCD, vandal-proof keyboard, touchpad,webcam, speakers

Computers & server (for webcam) locatedinside steel housing

Internet by various means (e.g. GPRS) Cables from unit in pipe to ceiling

Source: http://www.digitaldoorway.org.za/

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50 sites inplanning

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System SoftwareServer: FreeBSD v. 4.8 Server Software: Apache Video capture and

streaming software:• FFMpeg

User PC: Debian Linux Windows manager: KDE

v3.1 Office suite: K-Office Education pack: K-EDU

Other Software Mysql database server Java VM Gcompris Education

Suite GQCam webcam

software Mozilla Internet

Browser Web-based e-mail

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Applications

Science Software Geography Mathematics Puzzles Encyclopedia

Office Suite Music Programs Paint Programs Educational Games Agriculture

Information Storymaker