MW4D bi-monthly call

 

http://www.webfoundation.org/2009/02/ict-and-development---travel-report.html

Stephane: attended interesting conference last week on ict for development, read above links for a quick travel report

<Betty> Thanks a lot Stephane for the URL.

approval of last meeting minutes

stephane: any comments ?

http://www.w3.org/2009/02/02-mw4d-minutes.html

ok

approved

review action items

<Adesina> Arun is online?

<Arun> yes I am online

on nicolas to send links to his project

<scribe> done http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-mw4d/2009Feb/0009.html

Lauri to report on work in education

Lauri to send link to nokia magazine

Lauri to send info about unesco project

<scribe> done http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-mw4d/2009Feb/0001.html

<Adesina> Hello Lauri

raphael to send a summary of the project review in

liberia

<scribe> pending

<Adesina> no report

AoB

stephane: we are going to move mediawiki this week
... people would have to register again

will let people know

stephane: another point: the workshop in maputo we are organizing in april

agenda will be released this week

i will send that to the group

arun: deadline for paper ?

stephane: around 20 march

(not for the abstract but for camera ready paper, deadline for abstract passed already)

m-health presentation by Adesina

http://www.w3.org/2008/MW4D/adesina_mhealth.ppt

adesina: persented in april2008 in canada at wireless forum
... need to look at needs and infrastructure

health worker==knowledge worker

e-health: use of ict to deliver health services

slide8

why wireless is important:

need less power and is portable

slide9

project in rural south africa

<Arun> Are we not assuming that GSM is available to most

<Arun> ?

slide10

adesina: one server with a sim card, and every day health worker synchronize their phone by bluetooth

used in uganda

with 400 pda

slide 13

reduced the time to get data from village

from 6 months to few seconds

now the project use GPRS

<Arun> Q: What is the area covered by a wireless server ?

in 2004 no GPRS

very long and costly to provide data over GSM

gprs major benefit in cost reduction

and for bandwidth

gsm not enough, higher capacity required

this project look at power also

using solar panel

very sustainable

<Arun> Q: Who pays for the wireless servers and PDAs?

plan to use 3g network

slide 15

now slide 18

barriers

in 5 areas

- technological: device...

- telecom infrastructure includiing policy

- power

- cost

- organizationnal

about telecom

relying on satellite is very high

slide 22

slide 25

factors involved

being in rural or urban is very important

the type of devices is impacted by hte application and impact the type of network

slide 26

user issue number 1

-technical

-social

issue on language very important

slide 27

screen size is an issue

slide 28

amida was designed in india

low-cost device with internet for developing countries

no commercial interests in it

olpc has triggered interest

slide 29

user hardware 2

the price of lapotp is dropping quickly

prices are near phones

adesina: done

<Adesina> done

arun: couple of comments and question

i thought gsm was largely available

but you said that you need ad-hoc infrastructure

<Betty> Q: It sounds to be a multi aspects project (e.g. health, electricity power, telco). Who are all parties involved in it? When & how long do the preparations take?

Adesina: gsm not reliable not quick enough

<Adesina> low-cost laptop=netbook

Arun: gprs vs wireless

<Arun> wouldn;t GPRS be cheaper than using WiFi

<Arun> wireless servers would be costly and less reachable

adesina: depend the way you use it

gprs because economy of scale, and commercial availability

more appropriate

<Arun> Adesina - community pays for it

but depend on other factors

wifi might be cheaper or not, depend the local context

arun: how end-user are behaving ? are they using laptop ?

<Arun> Is illiteracy not an issue with patients

<Arun> ?

depending what the patient needs to do, mobile phone might be enough or not

user interface is important

depend on the content itself

<Arun> so, people are fine with using SMS ?

<Lauri> I don't hear anything? I will re-dial to cc

ok

<Arun> Thanks Adesina.

adesina: local languages is very important

icons used in some projects are also potential solution

against illiteracy

but few mobile phones can support them

another issue

<Arun> Icons have their own problems since different manufacturers would provide different icons and users needs to learn 'the icon language'.

<Lauri> Lauri is back in cc

Betty: It sounds to be a multi aspects project (e.g. health, electricity power, telco). Who are all parties involved in it? When & how long do the preparations take?

adesina: the one in uganda

started by an ngo

satelife (?)

the one in south africa done by university of cape and meraka institute

adesina: funding always a problem

stephane: what is your role ?

adesina: reviewing

stephane: could-you work on a summary ?

Adesina: already on the roadmap