Sarah Lacy has posted a story at TechCrunch about how an organization named CDI is transforming Brazilian slums or favelas. As you may know, drugs and violence are a big problem in the favelas, the infamous slums that grace Rio de Janeiro's hills. According to Janice Perlman’s book Democratic Brazil Revisited, one in five people living in Rio’s slums have lost a family member to the drug war — and nearly as many blame the police as they do the drug dealers. Over the past year, however, intensive police action has pushed the drug lords out of the favelas, thereby creating opportunities for subsistence entrepreneurs to make a difference in their communities. During the past ten years, CDI has built more than 800 community centers -- i.e., computer labs -- in thirteen countries providing Internet access and information technology training to more than 1.3 million people. The more secure environment in Brazil has enabled CDI to build the bulk of these centers in that country. Sarah explains how these labs work:

"There’s an emphasis on sustainability—each community center charges for Web access and courses, but the rates are affordable for even the poorest Brazilians, as little as a couple of dollars per course.

Ira David Socol is a Ph.D. student studying special education technology at Michigan State University. This would not be of interest to our community were he not also a champion of liberation technologies in education. At his personal blog and institutional blog, Ira has various resources that may be of interest to those studying at the intersection of liberation technology and education. As Ira notes in an interview with OpenEducation.net:

Imagine using design thinking to turn development problems into entrepreneurship opportunities... If you are interested in designing affordable and innovative products for the other 90% of the world, please visit the Extreme Design Expo tomorrow night from 7 to 10 pm at the new Stanford dschool 2nd floor.

ME206a,b/OIT333-334 is a two-course sequence in which students in engineering (mechanical, electrical, civil and environmental), business, computer science, the joint program in design, management science, and medicine have designed products and business models for base-of-the pyramid customers in Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, and Myanmar. Each of the ten teams has designed product prototypes, distribution systems, and business plans for entrepreneurial ventures to deliver these products.

Come meet the teams and see the prototypes: neonatal jaundice diagnosis and treatment devices, candlenut, lemon grass and patchouli processors, an educational water purification system, well drilling equipment, sanitation products, and a Pwe marketing system.

To rsvp, please email extremersvp[at]gmail.com. For directions, please go here.

The ATLAS Master of Science in ICT for Development: Creating ICTD Academic Practitioners

Open student positions for Fall 2010

Why ICTD?

Information and communication technologies have the potential to contribute to poverty alleviation, and to efforts directed toward improved health care and education in the developing world. It is critical to the success of such efforts that individuals capable of working at the intersection of technology, development and social practice be involved.  

The ATLAS MS in Information and Communication Technology for Development (MS-ICTD) program seeks to train individuals who can help bridge the gap between the advantages of the networked information society, and those with the greatest potential to benefit if issues of access, social equity, sustainability, and appropriate design and distribution are addressed.  

Practitioners and policy makers from India and some other South Asian countries met in Kochi, Kerala, India on 27-29 May, 2010 for the International Conference on 'Software in the Public Sector, with focus on Public Education', organised by United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Government of Kerala. At the conclusion of these deliberations, the participants released the 'Kochi Declaration on Public Software', with the commitment to support the adoption of Public Software Principles in public agencies in India and other South Asian countries. The declaration recognises that the unique context of public software and its objectives of ensuring equity and social justice has implications for ensuring universal access to such software, as well as transparency and participation by the citizens in its design and use, and urges public institutions in these countries to adopt and promote Public Software. For more information, please see: The Hindu on May 26, The Hindu on May 29, The Indian Express, The Indian Express, Kerala IT News Portal, and Kaumudi Online.

CALL FOR PAPERS
International Symposium on Technologies for
Social Advancement (T4SA'10)

http://T4SA.imcsit.org
Wisla, Poland, 18-20 October 2010

IMPORTANT DATES:
All Paper Submissions: May 31, 2010 EXTENDED until June 20, 2010
Authors Notification: July 12, 2010
Camera-ready Submission and Registration: August 23, 2010

The International Symposium on Technologies for Social Advancement will be held within the International Multi-conference on Computer Science and Information Technology in Wisla, Poland, 18-20 October 2010.

T4SA strives to stimulate and promote cross-disciplinary communication between researchers and developers working in different domains with the goal of developing frameworks, applications, and technology for social impact. The type of impact can range from individuals (children,elderly, disabled, illiterate, informal businesses, etc) to communal, and in a variety of areas such as economic and social development, education, advocacy, human rights, and healthcare.

The T4SA symposium will be held as an open forum to promote discussions. The symposium will have a modified format with round table discussions and extended paper presentations. The extended paper presentations will include a regular presentation length and a 15-20 minute discussion period.

The T4SA symposium encourages submissions of original research papers, practical applications and technology, and position papers on all aspects of computing technology connected directly or indirectly with social advancement. We are also looking for ideas about ways to use, deploy, develop and promote the application and use of mobile phones and Internet Technology toward educational and social goals.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

* Applications and technology for the disabled/elderly & health care
* Applications and technology for education

PBS released findings from research yesterday looking at the educational impact of one of their mobile applications aimed at children. The study looked at a group of 90 children ages three to seven who had been using the MARTHA SPEAKS app, which was created by series producer WGBH.

Each child played approximately 2.5 hours on the application across the two week study period, out of a total time of 5 hours spent on the iPod. This was self initiated time, not prescribed. After just two weeks, vocabulary amongst those using the application improved by as much as 31%.

From the release:

"These initial study results, and the incredible interest in our apps from parents and kids, indicate that mobile learning is a new and crucial educational frontier," said Jason Seiken, SVP Interactive, Product Development, and Innovation, PBS. "We will continue to lead the charge in delivering innovative educational tools that parents have come to expect from PBS."

At Monday’s panel event, Designing for Freedom: Values in Communication Technologies (hosted by Stanford’s Department of Communications) Mark Warschauer spoke about his research on use of laptops in schools and specifically the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Program. Mark described five key principles that have impacted the way the program was rolled out and its limited success:

• Child ownership: the creators believed that it was imperative for every child to have their own machine – sharing computers was akin to asking children to share a pencil. Children therefore own the machines (called XOs) and are responsible for repair. Breakage rates are estimated at between 20-50%.
• Focus on the young: the developers held a constructivist view of education, believing that children teach themselves best and can do this from a young age. This is controversial given much of the research on early child development that stresses the importance of interaction with and guidance from adults.
• Saturation: the focus of the program was always getting the XOs into the hands of children. There was no interest in infrastructure, repair, or evaluation. The machines were sold only in bulk orders of at least 100,000.
• Connection: the XOs are designed with low power connectivity and with the capability to create mesh networks. However, mesh networks are complicated to set up for those without specific expertise.
• Free and open software: The laptops use a specially designed child friendly interface called Sugar. But for adults, or anyone with existing PC knowledge it is extremely difficult to use.

Just in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be held this summer on the African continent for the first time, the biggest names of the football world have come together with mobile phone companies under the leadership of GSMA to launch the world's biggest ever mobile phone campaign named 1GOAL: Education for All. The effort -- which will be run by the Global Campaign for Education -- will enable 1.5 billion people around the world the opportunity to show their support for child education by sending 1 billion text messages to petition world leaders to host an education summit and commit $16 billion a year in order to provide an education to 72 million out-of-school children by 2015. With a potential market of 1 billion people, 1Goal expects its campaign to become the largest, cause-related event in world history. People will be able to sign up by simply responding 'YES' to a free text, by going to the 1Goal webpage on their handsets, or by sending an e-mail. Handset manufacturers Nokia and Samsung will also make a 1GOAL mobile app available to their customers.

Interested in how education helps individuals and entire countries break out of the cycle of poverty?
Care about adding ineffable worth and liberation to the lives of youth so that they can reach their dreams?
Want sustainable international development?
Want an incredible leadership experience and opportunity to connect with other passionate Stanford students?

APPLY TO BE AN OFFICER OF REACH!!

Right to Education for all Children (REACh) is a student organization that aims to increase awareness within and around the Stanford community of the political, social, and economic issues relating to the education of youth in developing countries. With this year's Mile for Change fundraiser, REACh helped support community-initiated schools in Bangladesh, Kenya and Guatemala and are always hoping to expand their efforts to other countries. Furthermore, REACh endeavors to establish itself as a non-profit organization and found chapters on other university campuses.

REACh believes that education is the only way that national development will ever be sustainable. Not only does education help people break out of the cycle of poverty but also adds ineffable worth to their lives that goes beyond material needs and desires by enriching both the mind and soul.

If you are interested in applying to be an officer, email for an application. Applications will be due with your attached resume by this Monday, May 17th at midnight. Interviews will occur the week of May 17th.