ACM-DEV

We describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of Tangaza, a mobile phone-based group messaging system targeted at moderately low-income users in developing regions. We focus on the design decisions that make Tangaza inexpensive and usable with ...

Due to the rapid spread of mobile phones and coverage in the developing world, mobile phones are being increasingly used as a technology platform for developing-world applications including data collection. In order to reach the vast majority of mobile ...

We describe a technique for attaining high-accuracy, small-vocabulary speech recognition capability in resource-scarce languages that requires minimal audio data collection and no speech technology expertise. We start with an off-the-shelf commercial ...

In developing regions, literacy levels and Internet penetration is considerably low, but phone penetration is high and is growing rapidly. In such a setting, the World Wide Telecom Web (WWTW), commonly known as the Spoken Web, provides a compelling ...

In this work, we consider the goal of enabling a local voice communication system, within a village, using a low cost and low power wireless mesh network. The design of an appropriate MAC is a major challenge in this context. Towards this goal, we ...

Internet connections in developing regions are scarce and often unreliable. While options for connecting to the Internet are gradually being realized, progress is slow. We observed people performing web search and browsing in a low bandwidth environment ...

Data tracking and analytics methods for organizations operating in rural locations are cumbersome -- particularly for the many that continue to use traditional, non-electronic methods. To evaluate effectiveness and productivity, these organizations are ...

This paper describes two novel abstractions that help software engineers work in developing regions to align social and technical factors when building communication systems. The abstractions extend two concepts familiar to engineers of computer ...

Computer assisted learning (or E-learning) is used broadly in the developed world. However, comparable technologies are only recently beginning to be used in rural and developing regions. In these environments, obstacles to the successful deployment of ...

Tactile graphics allow the visually impaired to perceive two-dimensional imagery, which is an essential part of experiencing the world and learning several subjects such as science and geography. In the developed world, such graphics are available to ...

Comprehensive spatial knowledge is vital for making good planning decisions - whether it be for planning infrastructure, public projects or addressing other community needs. Often it is the local residents themselves who have the most current and ...

While platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk have generated excitement as a potential source of income in developing regions, to date there remains little evidence that such opportunities have transformed livelihoods for low-income workers. In this ...

Uganda suffers from a severe shortage of professional healthcare workers. Thus, programs aimed at prevention of disease are an important complement to the limited healthcare delivery system. We analyze two deployments of an SMS-based HIV/AIDS education ...

We present a low-cost, energy-efficient system to remotely monitor the temperature and location of vaccines in a countrywide "cold-chain". Our system is based on FoneAstra [11] -- a low-cost, microcontroller-based, programmable device that extends ...

Crowdsourced crisis response harnesses distributed networks of humans in combination with information and communication technology (ICT) to create scalable, flexible and rapid communication systems that promote well-being, survival, and recovery during ...

A significant fraction of mobile users in the rural developing world use low-end mobile devices and have restricted data connectivity services due to a variety of economic factors. These devices have restricted capabilities with voice and SMS remaining ...

Despite the importance of literacy to most aspects of life, underserved communities continue to suffer from low literacy rates; especially for globally prevalent languages such as English. This is particularly problematic since English literacy is an ...

This paper examines the use of remote sensing satellite data to predict food shortages among different categories of households in famine-prone areas. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and rainfall estimate data, which can be derived from ...

Textbooks play an important role in any educational system. Unfortunately, many textbooks produced in developing countries are not written well and they often lack adequate coverage of important concepts. We propose a technological solution to address ...

We report results of a 2 1/2-month pilot study of Project Listen's PC-based Reading Tutor program for enhancing English education in India. Our focus was on low-income elementary school students, a population that has little or no exposure to English ...

Community Radio Stations are short range FM radio stations that attempt to meet the information needs of communities situated around them. While the concept of community radio is not new, the widespread proliferation of mobile phones has generated ...

Information and communications technology has the potential for deep social impact in developing regions but today's typical ICT devices -- laptops, mobile phones, and similar devices -- are often still too expensive for many scenarios. In this paper, ...

Ultrasound imaging is an effective tool for identifying maternal mortality risk factors. Unfortunately, ultrasound is nearly absent in many rural healthcare facilities in developing regions due to the high costs of both equipment and required training. ...

We endow the mobile phone with a low-cost, open interface that can parasitically power external peripherals, and transfer data to and from them, using analog, digital, and serial signaling, using only the existing headset audio port. This interface, ...