Technologies for Resource-Constrained Environments

Technology in everyday life photography assignment

2010-01-12T23:45:00.000-08:00

Time to let us know where to find the pictures for your first photo assignment. Go to https://catalysttools.washington.edu/collectit/dropbox/bkolko/8874 and turn in the url (just the url, not the actual pics!).

Thanks!

Winter Quarter

2010-01-12T23:43:00.000-08:00

Hi folks. We'll use this as our course website for winter. Bookmark this page and check here for information on syllabus, assignments, etc.

Reading for 11/03/2009 - Digital Green

2009-10-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

Our reading for next week will be on the Digital Green project:

Digital Green: Participatory Video for Agricultural Extension

Rikin Gandhi, Rajesh Veeraraghavan, Kentaro Toyama, Vanaja Ramprasad (ICTD 2007)

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/india/projects/digitalgreen/docs/dg_ictd_121507.pdf

http://www.digitalgreen.org/

Catalyst GoPost board is live!

2009-10-22T16:14:00.001-07:00

I've created a Catalyst GoPost board for us.

https://catalysttools.washington.edu/gopost/board/rea2000/13588/

I'll create a discussion area for each week. Whoever is in charge of summarizing the discussion for each week should post their summary under the discussion area for that week.

Please feel free to post follow up questions or things of related interest here.

Paper for Oct 27

2009-10-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

Our paper for next week, Tues Oct 27th will be:

Veeraraghavan, R., Yasodhar, N., & Toyama, K. (2007). Warana Unwired: Replacing PCs with Mobile Phones in a Rural Sugarcane Cooperative. International Conference on Information & Communication Technologies for Development. Bangalore.(pdf)

http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~rajesh/index_files/WaranaUnwired

2009-10-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

Our reading for next week, Oct 20th will be:

Stages of Design in Technology for Global Development (HTML)

June 2008 (vol. 41 no. 6)

pp. 34-41

Jonathan Donner, Microsoft Research India

Rikin Gandhi, Microsoft Research India

Paul Javid, Microsoft Research India

Indrani Medhi, Microsoft Research India

Aishwarya Ratan, Microsoft Research India

Kentaro Toyama, Microsoft Research India

Rajesh Veeraraghavan, University of California, Berkeley

http://www.computer.org/plugins/dl/pdf/mags/co/2008/06/mco2008060034.pdf?template=1&loginState=1&userData=anonymous-IP%253A%253A128.208.4.110

Reading for 10/13

2009-10-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

For next week we'll read "The Case for Technology in Developing Regions"
by Brewer et.al.
tier.cs.berkeley.edu/docs/CFT-ieee.pdf

Discussion will be led by Kelley. (Thanks, Kelley!)

2009-10-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

If you want to sign up for CSE 490D for the reading seminar, send me (Ruth Anderson, rea@cs.washington.edu) an email and I'll send you an add code to register.

Registering for HCDE 496

2009-10-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

If you want to sign up for HCDE 496 for the reading seminar, send me (Beth Kolko) an email and I'll send you an add code to register.

Course Announcement

2009-10-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

"Designing Technology for Resource-Constrained Environments"

This fall we are offering a 1-credit reading seminar on technology in resource-constrained environments. We’ll focus on both projects in developing countries as well as research that looks at resource-constrained communities in developed countries (i.e., low-income communities, low bandwidth environments, etc.). The seminar will meet Tuesdays from 1.30-2.30 in CSE 203 and it can be taken as either CSE 490 or HCDE 496.

The course will be coordinated by Ruth Anderson from CSE and Beth Kolko from HCDE. The seminar will provide an introduction to the area of technology and resource constrained environments by reading the basic papers in the area. The format will be discussion, with discussion leaders responsible for guiding a discussion (but not giving a full recap of the paper). There will be no papers or tests.

This reading course is part of a year-long design and implementation course that we encourage students all students interested in the seminar to consider, although the readings course can be taken on its own.

The year-long design and implementation sequence will be held jointly between CSE and HCDE. It is open to ALL CSE and CS majors as well as students from other departments. It will stretch over 3 quarters to make it possible to more carefully consider projects and solutions. While our hope is that students will sign up for all three quarters, it will be possible to enroll in only one or two quarters.

The schedule will be:

- Fall: a reading seminar and exploration phase to become familiar with unique constraints when designing for resource constrained environments.

- Winter: a design phase where students will be introduced to concepts of
HCI while designing solutions to problems **[(2-5 credits)]

- Spring: an implementation phase to create robust prototypes (2-5 credits)

[more info on credits below]

We will be looking at problems in areas such as health care, agriculture, transportation, and education that arise in the developing world and resource-constrained regions of the developed world. Projects will involve a variety of software design, user interface design, and web applications.

- User interfaces for ultrasound machines
- PDA/phone-based medical protocols for pediatric health tracking
- SMS-based transportation coordination
- Mash-ups to visualize medical data
- Connecting rural producers and urban consumers

If you’re interested in the opportunity to design and implement technology in a resource-constrained environment, consider the sequence below. RCEs provide unique infrastructure, technical, and social constraints that demand innovative design approaches. Students can join the project later in the year, but we encourage year-long participation. By the end of the year, interdisciplinary teams of students will have conducted fieldwork with potential user populations, designed a technology to solve a community-based problem, and implemented the solution. Most teams will have the opportunity also to conduct an evaluation study of their implementation.

The course is open to all students. Projects will accommodate a wide range of backgrounds. Final reports will be in the form of research workshop/conference submissions - high-quality reports will be submitted for publication.

Details on classes/credits:

Fall 2009 CSE490D (or CSE499)/HCDE 496
This 1-credit seminar will meet Tuesdays from 1:30-2:30 in Allen Center.

WINTER 2010 HCDE 419
A 5 credit class in HCDE that also counts as part of the UW HCI concentration.
For CSE students:
a) If you have never taken an HCI course, now is your chance! This course will focus on design, especially user research techniques, in resource constrained environments.
b) The course will be sufficiently different from CSE 440 and may count as a Sr. computing elective even if you have taken CSE 440.

SPRING 2010 CSE490
CSE 490d - 5 Credits may count as software capstone design credit for Comp E. or CS, or as an approved senior elective for CS majors.

If you are at all interested in tackling some of the most difficult and potentially impactful design problems, please attend our first meeting Tues Oct 6th at 1:30.