Bridging the digital divide to gather necessary information
July 28 2011, 2:03 AM
With the proliferation of cell phones and other mobile digital devices and
instruments, a lot of problems requiring information seem solvable simply
by using this IT to collect the data. For example, if you want to monitor a
revolution or an election or an environmental disaster, use people with
cell phones. If you want to monitor power consumption or environmental
status, use smart meters. But what if you don't have such IT in certain
areas? What do you do? One approach is to deploy mobile devices to areas where people naturally
collect and gather the data there. Schools and clinics are two natural
spots. For example, if you wanted to monitor for malnutrition or disease,
provide a mobile phone for each clinic and have them tabulate vital
statistics, then have them SMS the information to a central area where the
data could saved and then posted online. For example, if you wanted to
monitor for early signs of famine, you might establish certain data you
wanted from each clinic such as rough population counts, water level
status, livestock status, crop status, overall state of baby health, and
then text that in via SMS. SMS is limited, of course, so the data might be
rough values (e.g. Crop status might be green for good, but population
status might be yellow meaning there might not be sufficient numbers of
people to harvest it). If the clinics were in areas where there was no cell coverage, the staff
could log the codes for that region, and text them in when they are in an
area with better or sufficient coverage. Another approach if there is better coverage would be to use predefined QR
codes. For example, a booklet or poster of QR codes could be generated for
each place the clinic visits. If you wanted to measure overall baby health,
water levels and livestock status with red, yellow or green statuses, you
could generate 9 QR codes that would contain a set of these values. A
clinician could assess that status of these three data points, look up the
appropriate QR code, and take a photo of it with their mobile phone. If
they had access to a QR reader and sufficient bandwidth, they could use
that to access a central web site that would allow them to easily update
the status of that area the clinic is currently operating in. If they
didn't have this access, they could save this data and send it in once they
were in a zone with better coverage. You could even post the QR codes on a
sign or an outside wall or any hard surface and the data collector could
photograph the appropriate QR code. I have been talking about clinics and thinking about famine conditions in
rural areas, but the same approach could be used in urban areas in schools,
for example. Principals could text in absentee rates or the percent of
students needing breakfast or needing medical assistance for specific
diseases to help monitor areas needing greater social assistance. Even schools or clinics without cell phone technology could do this. I am
assuming they have access to paper. They could collect the data in books
and hand that over to an IT person who could digitize it later. You could
even give them something that more or less amounted to a punch card and the
IT person, instead of feeding it into a card reader, could SMS the
information in to a central spot. If there are no schools or clinics, then the challenge is how do you get
monitors in rural areas to collect the data. One idea would be to bring IT
to rural areas, and exchange access to IT or other services with
information on the region. If farmers or workers or childcare providers or
even children visit a town on a periodic basis for supplies, dispatch an IT
person to that town to collect statistics. In return, provide people in
that area with access to IT while there. Even access to non IT in exchange
for information makes sense and may even be of more value. A good
bookmobile / portable library in areas with limited access to such a thing
might trump access to a cellphone or low cost computer. It all depends on
the needs of the people in the area. These are some thoughts I had on bridging the digital divide. Like anything
I write, when it comes to IT, I want to add that this conforms to IBM's
social media guidelines. Anyone using this should not do so for commercial
purposes and should attribute anything they use here to me. Thank you for
taking the time to read this and think about this. -----------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Handheld.
instruments, a lot of problems requiring information seem solvable simply
by using this IT to collect the data. For example, if you want to monitor a
revolution or an election or an environmental disaster, use people with
cell phones. If you want to monitor power consumption or environmental
status, use smart meters. But what if you don't have such IT in certain
areas? What do you do? One approach is to deploy mobile devices to areas where people naturally
collect and gather the data there. Schools and clinics are two natural
spots. For example, if you wanted to monitor for malnutrition or disease,
provide a mobile phone for each clinic and have them tabulate vital
statistics, then have them SMS the information to a central area where the
data could saved and then posted online. For example, if you wanted to
monitor for early signs of famine, you might establish certain data you
wanted from each clinic such as rough population counts, water level
status, livestock status, crop status, overall state of baby health, and
then text that in via SMS. SMS is limited, of course, so the data might be
rough values (e.g. Crop status might be green for good, but population
status might be yellow meaning there might not be sufficient numbers of
people to harvest it). If the clinics were in areas where there was no cell coverage, the staff
could log the codes for that region, and text them in when they are in an
area with better or sufficient coverage. Another approach if there is better coverage would be to use predefined QR
codes. For example, a booklet or poster of QR codes could be generated for
each place the clinic visits. If you wanted to measure overall baby health,
water levels and livestock status with red, yellow or green statuses, you
could generate 9 QR codes that would contain a set of these values. A
clinician could assess that status of these three data points, look up the
appropriate QR code, and take a photo of it with their mobile phone. If
they had access to a QR reader and sufficient bandwidth, they could use
that to access a central web site that would allow them to easily update
the status of that area the clinic is currently operating in. If they
didn't have this access, they could save this data and send it in once they
were in a zone with better coverage. You could even post the QR codes on a
sign or an outside wall or any hard surface and the data collector could
photograph the appropriate QR code. I have been talking about clinics and thinking about famine conditions in
rural areas, but the same approach could be used in urban areas in schools,
for example. Principals could text in absentee rates or the percent of
students needing breakfast or needing medical assistance for specific
diseases to help monitor areas needing greater social assistance. Even schools or clinics without cell phone technology could do this. I am
assuming they have access to paper. They could collect the data in books
and hand that over to an IT person who could digitize it later. You could
even give them something that more or less amounted to a punch card and the
IT person, instead of feeding it into a card reader, could SMS the
information in to a central spot. If there are no schools or clinics, then the challenge is how do you get
monitors in rural areas to collect the data. One idea would be to bring IT
to rural areas, and exchange access to IT or other services with
information on the region. If farmers or workers or childcare providers or
even children visit a town on a periodic basis for supplies, dispatch an IT
person to that town to collect statistics. In return, provide people in
that area with access to IT while there. Even access to non IT in exchange
for information makes sense and may even be of more value. A good
bookmobile / portable library in areas with limited access to such a thing
might trump access to a cellphone or low cost computer. It all depends on
the needs of the people in the area. These are some thoughts I had on bridging the digital divide. Like anything
I write, when it comes to IT, I want to add that this conforms to IBM's
social media guidelines. Anyone using this should not do so for commercial
purposes and should attribute anything they use here to me. Thank you for
taking the time to read this and think about this. -----------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Handheld.