Grassroots Media – Production v. Consumption

I am writing from El Limon near San Jose de Ocoa in the Dominican Republic, approximately 2 hours west of Santo Domingo. I am spending a couple weeks in this small community of approximately 300 families getting to know more about how they are using the technology that they´ve recently acquired. I am working with Jon Katz, the director of  the development program here. Jon is originally from the US, and has a broad enough repertoire of experiences that he has been able to ignite within the community the means to achieve electrical and ICT independence. The community, which is based on agriculture (tomatoes, eggplant, and others), is powered via hydroelectricity (which as I write is undergoing repairs, which I´m told occur about once a month, so I´m writing by generator power). Jon is also working with the community to initiate a gourmet artesania business, in which the women of the community will sell handmade edibles. This will help the community diversify its source of income.

I am living with a wonderful couple named Pietrito and Jocelyn, and I´ve spent most of my time with them, learning about how the community works. I can talk more on that later.

Besides observing and learning about the community dynamics, I am spending my days here teaching how to use computers and the Internet to publish, rather than simply consume. Katz introduced the computer center to the community in approximately 1999. While the youth (the primary, if not only, users) are handy with them at this point, they use the Internet primarily for games, music, and chatting.

I was originally depressed when I first arrived to find that people I chatted with were not interested in exploring the possibilities of the Web. I began to ask myself, why should they be interested? Most of the youth at first did not appear interested in the world beyond El Limon. However, as time has gone by and the youth talk more candidly with me, I have discovered that many youth are actively looking for ways to advance their education. One is interested in mathematics and architecture, another in poetry, another two are working on making a name for themselves in the reggaeton music industry (I am helping them record, edit, and publish videos to the Web), others in business administration, others in information technology. I am showing them what I know about how to learn via the Internet in the hopes that they find something useful and with that seed they are able to begin taking full advantage of the tool at their fingertips.

Yesterday I was working with one of the co-directors of the computer center on a Visual Basic exercise. Jose Miguel is learning how to use Visual Basic, and is undergoing a distance education curriculum where he completes a large number of assignments each week and then meets with an instructor in nearby Ocoa (10 minutes by vehicle) for review. I am not familiar with Visual Basic, but I know enough Java that together we were able to work on it. It is the first time in my travels that I have programmed – an interesting and satisfying experience. Many young people whom I am beginning to know travel to Ocoa for review of their studies, I just chatted with one going for algebra.

I am beginning to understand the importance of interactive, grassroots media. More later. In the meantime, I am observing how the community residents interact with ICTs, and learning more about their perspective on the value of ICTs. I am now surrounded by little boys of about 7 years of age playing games online with great verbal animation, so my concentration is flying out the window. Hasta luego.

Joining the Technorati

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The “iPatient”

I read an article from Abraham Verghese in the Wall Street Journal this morning entitled “The Myth of Prevention.” Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone and professor and Senior Associate Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Stanford University, was responding to Obama’s recent speech to the American Medical Association on health care reform. Verghese argued that the current health care system incentivizes doctors to perform often unnecessary tests on as many patients as possible in order to make more money from patients. He contrasts this to the image of the doctor in Sir Luke Fildes’s painting “The Doctor” who is dedicated to the care of the patient, staying late into the night by the patient’s side in the patient’s own home.

An interesting point that Verghese raises is the virtualization of the patient into the “iPatient.” Verghese states that:

“A computer cannot take the place of the doctor in Fildes’s painting; an electronic medical record (EMR) may or may not save money (it won’t be anywhere as much as is projected) but what it will do is ensure that we doctors, nurses, therapists, particularly in hospitals will be spending more and mroe time focused on the computer, communicating with each other, ordering and getting tests, buffing and caring for our virtual patient – the iPatient is my term for this phenomenon – while the patient in the bed wonders where everybody is. Having worked exclusively for the last seven years or so in hospitals that have electronic medical records (EMR), I have felt for some time that the patient in the bed has become an icon for the real focus of our attention, the iPatient. Yes, electronic medical records help prevent medication errors and are a blessing in so many ways, but they won’t hold the patient’s hand for you, they won’t explain to the family what is going on.”

I have many colleagues who are working on digital or telehealth care (e.g. Hyoumanity, Amita Telemedicine, and TIER projects). While digital technology allows patients more control over their health care and increases patient access to medical care, it indeed can be seen as a mechanization of personal care. In some regions (e.g. rural) where medical care is limited or unavailable, digital technology can serve as a bridge between providers and patients, allowing a patient in rural India to receive eye treatment that would otherwise be impossible. However, in regions where medical care has been available and provided by a dedicated personal physician, a computer can be seen as imposing a layer of foreign complexity between the doctor and the patient.

Designers of digital technology for health care must consider the relationship between the patient and the doctor and how the technology will impact that relationship. Health care in its truest form is a most intimate human experience. Digital technology cannot at this time replace that experience. Designers of digital tech for health care must design technology that promotes patient-provider interaction, rather than replace it.

Bill Buxton on How to Be a Good Designer

Bill Buxton (www.billbuxton.com) of Microsoft Research – a pioneer in interface design – visited my User Interface Design & Development class this Tuesday. Bill spent most of the hour and a half discussing the role of design in Apple’s success.

ICTD Project Proposal: Interactive Agricultural Knowledge Database

My goal over the next year and a half is to design an interactive agricultural knowledge database (including agricultural sciences, market information, and resource coordination) accessible on any mobile platform (including widely available mobile phones like the Nokia 1110). I plan to work with a variety of people and organizations, including Tapan Parikh, Jenna Burrell, Question Box, Kurtis Heimerl, Neil Patel, and Ken Banks of Kiwanja.net. These people are approaching agricultural knowledge exchange from diverse angles, including voice messaging, radio, telephone trees, live operators, and text messaging.

My next step would be to analyze these various approaches and identify which is the most scalable model. To do this, I would need to further explore the limitations farmers face in exchanging knowledge across distances. After identifying the approach that best responds to these limitations, I would like to work with the project lead to design a growth plan or respond to the project’s key challenges or next steps.

Aravind Eye Hospital, Mobile Life Center

Sonesh Surana, a student from UC Berkeley’s CS department, presented his work with the Aravind Eye Hospital in Designing Rural Computing Applications this week. I unfortunately missed this presentation. I instead attended a presentation on innovative mobile design by Lars Erik Holmquist from the Mobile Life Center in Sweden.

Neil Patel: Jatan Certification System and Avaaj Otalo

Neil Patel, a CS PhD student at Stanford, visited my Designing Rural Computing Applications course on Tuesday. Neil is studying ICT in agriculture in rural Gujarat, India. He presented two projects he’s been working on: Avaaj Otalo and Jatan Certification System. Neil explained that most international certification systems are designed with a global standard in mind. The problem is that local farming practices are diverse – organic doesn’t mean the same thing in all countries. Additionally, certification systems often leave out smallholder farmers, as they often require the infrastructure provided by cooperatives and other organized farmer associations.

Rural Public Healthcare and CRM

Our presenters to the Designing Rural Computing Applications course this Tuesday were four UC Berkeley students: Brian DeRenzi, Roxanne Miller, Alison Bloch, and Charlene Chen.

MILLEE: Mobile and Immersive Learning for Literacy in Emerging Economies

Deepti Chittamuru spoke in Designing Rural Computing Applications on Tuesday. Deepti worked with MILLEE over the summer of 2008 implementing and evaluating MILLEE’s learning applications in India.

UC Berkeley Student ICTD Research and Field Work

We were graced with three presentations this Tuesday in Designing Rural Computing Applications. Three Berkeley students, from the schools of Computer Science and Public Health, presented the progress of projects with which they have been involved.