TaSED Past Schedules

Readings:

coming soon

Reading:

Eric Brewer, Michael Demmer, Bowei Du, Kevin Fall, Melissa Ho, Matthew Kam, Sergiu Nedevschi, Joyojeet Pal, Rabin Patra, and Sonesh Surana.  The Case for Technology in Developing Regions.  To appear in IEEE Computer, June 2005.

Readings:

The Pursuit of Happiness.  In The Economist.  December 16, 2004.

Sharon Begley.  Wealth and Happiness Don't Necessarily Go Hand in Hand.  In Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2004, p. B1.

Beyond Money, Toward an Economy of Well-Being.  (Available online at: http://www.psychologicalscience.org/pdf/pspi/pspi5_1.pdf) 

Readings:

Eileen O. van Ravenswaay.  Government Failure.  (Available at: http://www.msu.edu/course/eep/255/government_failure.htm)  

Jane S. Shaw.  Public Choice Theory.  In The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, The Library of Economics and Liberty.  (Available at: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/PublicChoiceTheory.html) 

Joseph E. Stiglitz.  Ethics, Market and Government Failure, and Globalization.  Presented at the Vatican Conference at the Ninth Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Casina Pio IV, May 2-6, 2003.  (Available at: http://www-1.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/download/Govt_Failure_Globalitzation.pdf) 

As we organize our meetings for the 6th semester, we are inviting you to be part of our group. We plan to kick-off our activities this semester with a social meeting over dinner. This meeting will be an opportunity for existing members to catch up on our summer fieldwork, new members to get acquainted, and all members to discuss how we want to build on the experiences of previous semesters to shape this semester's meetings. Yes, we are constantly seeking to improve how we run things, and welcome feedback from all.

The problem of illiteracy is not simply about the ability to read or write but also encompasses ways of thinking and interacting with the world around us. Walter Ong uses the concept of studying to differentiate between orality and literacy. According to Ong, primarily oral cultures do not study, but rather learn by apprenticeship through repetition, listening, and mastering pieces. This is in contrast to literate cultures that use the studying of texts as a primary learning tool. Perhaps an example will help explain this further, many literate people would not expect that reading a map is a specialized skill, but in my work with Somali refugees many who have attained literacy in terms of the ability to read and write, reading a map is a completely foreign activity. Even among Somalis who are literate, orality is still the dominant mode of thinking. Methods of describing space are different in oral cultures.

Few cultures during this period of history are primarily oral; most have developed the capacity for writing. Thus we find cultures on a continuum ranging from the extremes of primarily oral and primarily literate with most cultures at various points between the extremes.

What does this have to do with the topic of ICTs and development? Many of the cultures facing the challenge of “development” reside towards the orality end of the continuum; that is to say that the societies are still driven by a strong orality despite the existence of writing. Information and communication technologies are based on literate notions of thinking, learning, and interacting, and can be described as a different form of writing. This interaction between literate technologies and oral societies are likely to result in stillborn uses of ICTs. Furthermore, those technologies that are used successfully are likely to reinforce existing inequalities both within the society, and in its external relationships, particularly when related to issues of information access, creation, and management.

Selections from (scanned copies available in TaSED yahoogroup):

Herbert Marshall McLuhan.  The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man.  University of Toronto Press, June 1, 1962.  

Walter Ong.  Orality and Literacy.  Routledge, July 2002.  Chapter 3: Some Psychodynamics of Orality. 

William Wresch.  Disconnected: Have and Have-nots in the Information Age.  Rutgers University Press, November 1, 1996.  Introduction.

Susan Leigh Starr.  Ethnography of Infrastructure.  In American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 43, No. 3, pp. 377-391, 1991.  (Available at: http://kettle.cs.berkeley.edu/cogsci_ubicomp/uploads/8/Star_The_Ethnography_of_Infrastructure.htm)

(See above.) 

The ICT4B group conducted its first field visit to India this summer. The main objectives of this trip were to:

• Establish relationships with various groups working in related areas,
• Identify partners for future avenues of collaboration, and
• Gain experience in implementation of wireless links on the ground in India.

More details of the field visit can be found at http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu/docs/summer_04/india_summer_04.html.  One of the outcomes from the visit was a list of ideas on technology and development projects for India, available at http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu/docs/project_ideas.html.  Joyojeet will facilitate this meeting to review and critique these ideas.   

This will be a combined meeting between TaSED regulars and executive committee members from the Berkeley chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World.  We will make use of this session to brainstorm on the "technology design and sustainable development" class, and to structure the Spring 2005 DeCal class.  The DeCal will act as a semester-long focus group to develop the syllabus for the envisioned design class.

We will be addressing the wide geographic range of locations for sustainable ICT4D research. One thing I'm curious about is the impact of location (India vs. China vs. Southeast Asia vs. Africa vs. South/Central America) on sustainability research -- how will choice of location affect your results and future work? What factors should you consider when selecting a location and partners? How are needs different in (and within) these areas?

Readings:

Lessons from the Field: ICTs in Telecenters.  Digital Dividend Project Clearinghouse, World Resources Institute.  (Available at: http://www.digitaldividend.org/pubs/pubs_02_tele.htm) 

The African Internet -- A Status Report.  Updated July 2002.  (Available at: http://www3.sn.apc.org/africa/afstat.htm)

Larry Press, William Foster, Peter Wolcott, and William McHenry.  The Internet in India and China.  In Journal of Information Technologies and International Development (MIT Press), Vol. 1, Issue 1, Fall 2003.  (Available at: http://mitpress.mit.edu/journals/pdf/itid_1_1_41_0.pdf) 

Alastair Iles will present a brief overview of the key findings of his recently completed report on electronic wastes (e-wastes) and their impacts on Asian countries. In 2002, recycling companies in the US may have shipped up to 11.6 million PCs to China alone for "recycling" that is often more like dumping. India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand are other emerging recipients of e-wastes. Alastair will explain why the trade is happening and what the key environmental and human health impacts on Asian countries may be. He will draw attention to three important driving forces that will increasingly shape e-wastes in Asia, namely the rapid growth of computer ownership within Asia, the rise of computer donations, and the use of IT in development projects. Finally, Alastair will highlight how TaSED-related ideas, such as enabling feedback into computer design from people in the field, could target computer design to prevent future problems from occurring.

Optional reading:

Charles Schmidt. E-Junk Explosion. In Environmental Health Perspectives, April 2002, vol. 110, no. 4.  (Available at: http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2002/110-4/focus.html)

References:

MIT's Design that Matters design studio and seminar class.  (URL: http://dtm.media.mit.edu/dtm/dtm04/dtm04index.html) 
Purdue's Engineering Projects in Community Service class.  (URL: http://epics.ecn.purdue.edu/) 

Remote conference chat between available members to brainstorm design class .

Background reading:

G. Pascal Zachary.  Black Star: Ghana, Information Technology and Development in Africa.  In First Monday, 9(3), 2004.  (Available at: http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_3/zachary/index.html) 

References:

Bridging the Divide 2004 Conference: Technology, Innovation and Learning in Developing Economies.  April 1-3, 2004.  UC Berkeley campus.  (URL: http://bridge.berkeley.edu/conference.html) 

Design for Developing Countries: How Technology Could Reduce Information Distances Between Producers and Consumers (PPT slides, PDF transcript)
Facilitator: Alastair Iles

http://www.lobstertales.org/

http://www.tracefish.org 

http://www.seafish.org/land/legislation.asp?p=fi159
http://www.autoidcenter.org/
http://web.media.mit.edu/~jpatten/cfd/
http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden/

http://www.scorecard.org

Healthy Cities and Appropriate Indicators (PPT slides, Livenotes slides)
Facilitator: Morgan Ames

This Place on Earth 2002: Measuring What Matters.  Northwest Environment Watch, Seattle, 2002.

http://www.northwestwatch.org/publications/tpoe02contents.pdf (contents, preface)
http://www.northwestwatch.org/publications/tpoe02text.pdf (text)
Morgan recommends reading the first chapter "Growth, of What, for What?" (page 1 to 9), selecting one or two indicators to read more about, and reading the summary "Measuring what Matters" (page 51 to 60).

Optional reading:

Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities.  Bay Area Indicators: Measuring Progress Toward Sustainability.  January 2003. (Available at: http://www.bayareaalliance.org/indicators.pdf) 

Achieving Fast-Track Convergence in Living Standards (PPT slides, Livenotes slides)
Facilitator: Jane Chiu

C. K. Prahalad, and Allen Hammond.  Serving the World's Poor, Profitably.  Harvard Business Review, September 2002.  (short version available at: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~brewer/ict4b/Prahalad-HBR.pdf ; long version available at: http://pdf.wri.org/whatworks_serving_profitably.pdf) 

Optional readings:

J. Bradford DeLong.  The Convergence Club.  (Available at: http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/TotW/g24.html) 

J. Bradford DeLong.  Have Productivity Levels Converged?: Productivity Growth, Convergence, and Welfare in the Very Long Run.  February, 1988.  (Available at: http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/pdf_files/Baumol_Convergence.pdf) 

Optional information, contributed by Alastair Iles:

SmartDust  (http://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pister/SmartDust/)

SmartDust  (http://www-bsac.eecs.berkeley.edu/~warneke/SmartDust/)

Nicholas Thompson.  Self-Adjusted Glasses Could Be Boon to Africa.  New York Times.  December 10, 2002.  (Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/health/10GLAS.html?ex=1040638302&ei=1&en=287951641b8467e3) 

Additional information, contributed by Tom Kalil:

Donald Stokes.  Completing the Bush Model: Pasteur's Quadrant.  In Proceedings of the Center for Science, Policy and Outcome conferences on Science the Endless Frontier 1945-1995: Learning from the Past, Designing for the Future.  December 9, 1994; June 9, 1995; and September 21-22, 1996.  (Available at: http://www.cspo.org/products/conferences/bush/Stokes.pdf)

Brian J. Berry, Lewis M. Branscomb (chair), Gerald Holton, and Gerhard Sonnert.  Can Science Serve Society and Remain Creative?  American Association for the Advancement of Science Panel.  February 14, 2002.  (Available at: http://www.cspo.org/ ; look for individual presentations on main page) 

Optional information, contributed by Matthew Kam:

Barry W. Boehm.  A Spiral Model of Software Development and Enhancement.  In IEEE Computer, Vol. 21, No. 2, May 1988, pp. 61-72.  (Available at: http://www.sce.carleton.ca/faculty/ajila/4106-5006/Spiral%20Model%20Boehm.pdf) 

Nitin Sawhney.  Cooperative Innovations in the Commons: Rethinking Distributed Collaboration and Intellectual Property for Sustainable Design Innovation.  Ph.D. Dissertation, MIT Media Lab, February 2003.  Chapter 3: Open Collaboratories for Design Innovation.  (Available at: http://web.media.mit.edu/~nitin/thesis/nitin-phd-design.pdf) 

Derrick L. Cogburn.  Human-Computer Interaction in the So-Called Developing World: What's in it for Everyone?  In ACM Interactions, Volume X.2, March-April 2003.  (Available at: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/637848.637866 ; need UCB library proxy account) 

Derrick L. Cogburn, Lingling Zhang, and Mpaleng Khothule.  Going Global, Locally: The Socio-Technical Influences on Performance in Distributed Collaborative Learning Teams.  In ACM International Conference Proceedings Series, 2002.  (Available at: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=581513&coll=portal&dl=ACM ; need UCB library proxy account) 

Alex Farrell and Maureen Hart.  What Does Sustainability Really Mean?  In Environment magazine, Vol. 40, No. 9, November 1998.  (Available off Proquest using UCB library proxy account; search for "Alex Farrell")

Optional reading contributed by Matthew Kam:

Charlies I. Jones.  Sources of U.S. Economic Growth in a World of Ideas.  In American Economic Review, Vol. 92, No. 1, March 2002, pp. 220-239.  (Available at: http://emlab.berkeley.edu/users/chad/sources602.pdf) 

N/A 

Award for Namibia Schools Project.  BBC News.  November 10, 2002.  (Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2421311.stm)

Alastair Otter.  Namibia Spurns 'Costly' Microsoft Donations.  allAfrica.com.  November 4, 2002.  (Available at: http://allafrica.com/stories/200211040406.html) 

Some notes on the Grameen Bank, contributed by Morgan Ames

Optional readings, contributed by Asher Ghertner:

Anne Marie Goetz and Rina Sengupta.  Who Takes the Credit?  Gender, Power and Control Over Loan Use in Rural Credit Programs in Bangladesh.  World Development, Vol. 24, Issue 1, 1996, pp. 45-63.

Aminur Rahman.  Micro-credit Initiatives for Equitable and Sustainable Development: Who Pays?   World Development, Vol. 27, Issue 1, 1999, pp. 67-82.

(Available at www.lib.berkeley.edu ; search for "World Development" under California Digital Library) 

Optional websites, contributed by Kamal Kapadia:

Barefoot College  (http://www.barefootcollege.org/) 

Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri Landa  (http://www.sarvodaya.org/)

Optional information, contributed by Alastair Iles:

SmartDust  (http://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pister/SmartDust/)

SmartDust  (http://www-bsac.eecs.berkeley.edu/~warneke/SmartDust/)

Nicholas Thompson.  Self-Adjusted Glasses Could Be Boon to Africa.  New York Times.  December 10, 2002.  (Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/health/10GLAS.html?ex=1040638302&ei=1&en=287951641b8467e3) 

Additional information, contributed by Tom Kalil:

Donald Stokes.  Completing the Bush Model: Pasteur's Quadrant.  In Proceedings of the Center for Science, Policy and Outcome conferences on Science the Endless Frontier 1945-1995: Learning from the Past, Designing for the Future.  December 9, 1994; June 9, 1995; and September 21-22, 1996.  (Available at: http://www.cspo.org/products/conferences/bush/Stokes.pdf)

Brian J. Berry, Lewis M. Branscomb (chair), Gerald Holton, and Gerhard Sonnert.  Can Science Serve Society and Remain Creative?  American Association for the Advancement of Science Panel.  February 14, 2002.  (Available at: http://www.cspo.org/ ; look for individual presentations on main page)