With this poster we announce the imminent release of Sapelli, a new mobile data collection and sharing platform designed with a particular focus on non-literate and illiterate users

Altenbuchner, J

Conquest, G

Haklay, M

Lewis, J

Stevens, M

Vitos, M

UCL Discovery

Introducing Sapelli: A mobile data collection platform fornon-literate usersMatthias Stevens Michalis Vitos Julia AltenbuchnerGillian Conquest Jerome Lewis Muki HaklayExtreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) group, University College LondonGower Street, London, United Kingdomfm.stevens, michalis.vitos.11, julia.altenbuchner.11, g.conquest.11, jerome.lewis, m.haklayg@ucl.ac.ukABSTRACTWith this poster we announce the imminent release of Sapelli,a new mobile data collection and sharing platform designedwith a particular focus on non-literate and illiterate users.Categories and Subject DescriptorsH.4 [Information Systems Applications]: MiscellaneousGeneral TermsDesign, Human FactorKeywordsCitizen Science, Literacy, Development, Conservation1. INTRODUCTIONThe sustainable management of natural resources in gen-eral, and key ecosystems such as tropical rainforests in partic-ular, is one of the core development challenges humanity faces.An important avenue towards promoting sustainable naturalresource management as well as environmental justice is toenable local people, who depend on these environments, toshare their knowledge more eﬀectively locally and with otherregional, national and global stakeholders.UCL’s Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) research group1is involved in multiple initiatives that aim to give indigenouscommunities the means to monitor, analyse and act on en-vironmental trends, regardless of their literacy or technicalability. By introducing appropriate ICT solutions througha methodology incorporating action research and participa-tory design, we aim to enable cost-eﬀective, bottom-up andbetter-informed environmental management by providing allstakeholders – from local people to remote scientists – withlong-term, reliable, comprehensible information on environ-mental change and its socio-economic consequences.1http://ucl.ac.uk/excitesPermission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work forpersonal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies arenot made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copiesbear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contactthe Owner/Author. Copyright is held by the owner/author(s).ACM DEV 4, December 6–7 2013, Cape Town, South AfricaCopyright 2013 ACM 978-1-4503-2558-5/13/12...$15.00.DOI 10.1145/2537052.2537069.To achieve this goal we are building Sapelli, a mobile datacollection and sharing platform designed primarily (yet notexclusively) for non-literate or illiterate users with little or noprior ICT experience. The platform will eventually become anend-to-end solution for the collection, transmission, storage,visualisation, analysis, editing and sharing of environmentaldata. We intend to make Sapelli freely available to anyone andto make it open source. We focus here on the data collectionand transmission elements of the platform that will be releasedin early 2014, with other elements gradually following.2. CONTEXT &MOTIVATIONSThe design of the Sapelli platform itself, and of the method-ology for community engagement which it underpins, is in-formed by past and current projects in which we collabo-rate with indigenous forest communities in the Congo Basin.These vulnerable communities, most of whom are non-literate,are rarely involved in the management of the land and re-sources on which they depend and current conservation orresource extraction eﬀorts often leave them disenfranchised.From 2005 Jerome Lewis and others worked to set up ascheme in which members of a Pygmy community living inCongo-Brazzaville engaged in monitoring of logging activity.Using PDAs with a pictorial decision tree interface partici-pants recorded their resources and violations thereof. Theinformation was shared with the local logging company suchthat they could better respect locals’ concerns. In 2007 asimilar initiative was set up in Cameroon [4, 5].In 2012 we began working on a monitoring scheme relatingto another pressing issue for forest communities: the activi-ties of commercial poachers. The goal is to let locals recordevidence of poaching through a pictorial decision tree. As dis-cussed in [6] for this purpose we initially developed an Androidapplication on top of the Open Data Kit (ODK) platform [2].Also in 2012, we partnered with Forests Monitor, an inter-national NGO, and OI-FLEG, an EU-funded forestry sectorwatchdog in Congo-Brazzaville, to develop a tool and method-ology that would enable local populations to participate inmonitoring the socio-economic impacts of logging. Similarlyto the earlier logging-related projects, the main goals are toenable locals to give direct feedback on the behaviour of log-ging companies, and allow them to accurately map importantresources they want to claim and protect from destruction.In 2013 we started working with Forest Peoples Programme,another international NGO, to prepare for a similar logging-related project set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, withpossible expansion to other Central-African countries.While on an abstract level these projects have a lot of com-mon traits, local circumstances and user-speciﬁc requirementsvary a great deal. This calls for a ﬂexible software stack thatis generic enough to be used across projects but which can beeasily reconﬁgured to match and evolve with project speciﬁcrequirements. This is true for both the data collection toolsand data transmission mechanisms.However, the experience with the initial ‘Anti-Poaching’app [6] taught us that ODK – in its then form – was not theﬂexible solution our projects required. The main drawback isthat ODK Collect, due to its XForms-based survey descrip-tion format, is not well suited for hierarchical data input ﬂows.Even relatively simple and compact decision trees require ex-tremely verbose and complicated XForms code to be written.Clearly this limits the ability to ﬂexibly adapt decision treesto changing local circumstances (e.g. in the ﬁeld), as well asto reconﬁgure them for other contexts. Another requirementwhich ODK did not satisfy was the ability to transmit data toa central server in an autonomous and multi-modal fashion.After evaluating other platforms (e.g. EpiCollect [1] & Cy-berTracker [3]) we found that none of them satisfyingly metour requirements. This has led us to develop our own datacollection and transmission platform to support our on-goingprojects related to poaching and logging, as well as future par-ticipatory monitoring and mapping projects, also beyond theAfrican context. We named our platform after the endangeredsapelli tree (Entandrophragma cylindricum) which is impor-tant to Pygmy communities as it is a source of caterpillarswhich are part of their diet.3. THE SAPELLI PLATFORMThe Sapelli platform currently consists of 3 main compo-nents: a data collection app (with integrated data transmis-sion service) for Android devices, another Android app (calledthe ‘relay’) to forward SMS messages, and a server to receiveand store data. All components are implemented in Java.Due to our current focus on low and non-literate users theinitial priority was to make it as straightforward as possibleto build pictorial decision trees and icon-driven interfaces ingeneral. Unsatisﬁed with the survey description languagesused in other platforms, we designed our own XML-based for-mat. Decision trees or conditional constructs in general, arebuilt by nesting XML nodes, where the outermost node rep-resents the ﬁrst decision that must be made. Users navigatethe decision space by repeatedly selecting a child node untilthey reach a leaf node, which represents a ﬁnal selected value.This hierarchic description makes the structure of the decisionspace immediately apparent by looking at the XML code. Inorder to avoid repetition, “jumps” to another branch of thesame decision tree are supported. Capturing of photos, audiorecordings and location with GPS coordinates can easily beenabled by adding an according XML tag.Our platform provides an autonomous, multi-modal datatransmission mechanism to submit survey entries to a centralserver. The data collection app includes a background servicethat automatically checks for connectivity at scheduled inter-vals. In order to conserve power there is an option to put thedevice into ﬂight mode between checks. When there is data tobe sent, and a transmission opportunity arises, the service au-tonomously decides what to transmit and how, depending onavailable networks, bandwidth and project-speciﬁc settings.To transmit the basic data (i.e. timestamps, decision treeselections, coordinates, etc.), records are serialised in a binaryformat which is heavily optimised for space. Next, these aregrouped together in transmissions that can either be sent viaSMS2, or HTTP (over cellular or Wi-Fi networks). To furtherreduce bandwidth requirements transmission payloads can becompressed (using either DEFLATE or LZMA). SMS mes-sages are sent to another phone (preferably located in thesame country and with reliable Internet access) running ourrelay application, which forwards the messages to the server.Due to the large ﬁle size, the transmission of optional mediaattachments will be postponed until internet connectivity isdetected. The attachments are reliably associated with theircorresponding records received earlier through a hashing al-gorithm. The features of the server component are currentlylimited to receiving and storing data and generating reportsin CSV, XML, KML and Shapeﬁle formats.Of course, a text-free app will still be diﬃcult to use forlow and non-literate users if it runs on an operating systemwith a complicated, text-heavy interface such as Android. Totackle this problem we have developed an optional component,called the Sapelli Launcher. This app completely replaces thestandard Android UI with a restricted, text-free app launch-ing interface that only shows icons for a set of allowed apps,which can be tailored based on project requirements and userabilities. To prevent unauthorised access, apps can be pro-tected with a mechanism similar to Android’s pattern unlockfeature. We envisage that Sapelli Launcher will be useful inother cases, beyond our speciﬁc platform.While still a work in progress, the platform provides a num-ber of unique features and meets the basic data collection andtransmission requirements of our current projects while al-lowing for reuse in other contexts. It also provides a solidfoundation for future extensions. Planned features includea Web-interface for survey design, project management, andquerying, analysis and visualisation of data. In early 2014 weintend to release the Sapelli platform under an open sourcelicense and welcome contributors to help us develop it further.References[1] D. M. Aanensen et al. “EpiCollect: Linking Smartphonesto Web Applications for Epidemiology, Ecology and Com-munity Data Collection”. In: PLoS ONE 4.9 (Sept. 2009),e6968. : 10.1371/journal.pone.0006968.[2] Y. Anokwa et al. “Open Source Data Collection in the De-veloping World”. In: Computer 42.10 (Oct. 2009), pp. 97–99. : 10.1109/MC.2009.328.[3] CyberTracker. : http://www.cybertracker.org.[4] J. Lewis. “Technological Leap-frogging in the Congo Basin,Pygmies and Global Positioning Systems in Central Africa:What has happened and where is it going?” In: Africanstudy monographs. Suppl. issue 43 (2012), pp. 15–44.[5] J. Lewis et al. “Accessible technologies and FPIC: in-dependent monitoring with forest communities in Ca-meroon”. In: Biodiversity and culture: exploring commu-nity protocols, rights and consent. Ed. by K. Swiderskaet al. PLA 65. June 2012. Chap. 13, pp. 151–165.[6] M. Vitos et al. “Making local knowledge matter. Support-ing non-literate people to monitor poaching in Congo”.In: 3rd ACM Symposium on Computing for Development(DEV 2013; January 11-12, 2013, Bangalore, India).: 10.1145/2442882.2442884.2Transmissions can span up to 16 binary SMS messages.ExCiteS Research GroupDept. of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic EngineeringUniversity College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UKwww.ucl.ac.uk/excites @UCL_ExCiteSSapelli is a new mobile data collection and sharing platform designed with a particular focus on non-literate and illiterate userswith little or no prior ICT experience. Developed by UCL’s Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) research group Sapelli aims toprovide indigenous people with tools that empower them to take action to protect their local environment and way of life.The platform plays a central role in ExCiteS’ mission – which is to develop theories, tools and methodologies to enable anycommunity, anywhere to engage in citizen science – and will soon be made broadly available.Example of a decision tree-based interface, enabled by SapelliSapelli ArchitectureContext and MotivationsThe design of the Sapelli platform and of the methodology for community engagement, which follows a Free Prior and Informedconsent (FPIC) approach, is informed by past and current projects in which we collaborate with indigenous forest communities inthe Congo Basin. These communities, most of whom are non-literate, are rarely involved in the management of the land andresources on which they depend and current conservation and resource extraction efforts often leave them disenfranchised.Sapelli architectureCurrently the platform consists of four components:• a data collection app for Android devices, that offers pictorial decision trees and icon-driven interfaces;• an Android app (called the ‘Relay’) to forward SMS messages;• an Android app (called the ‘Launcher’) to replace standard UI with a text-free app launcher;• a cloud-hosted server component to receive and store data.The Sapelli Launcher allows to keep consistency, prevent unauthorised access to the device’s apps and settings, and is used to:• completely replace standard Android UI with a text-free app launcher interface;• show only allowed apps;• protect apps via pattern locking mechanism.The Sapelli data collection app allows autonomous and multi-modal data transmission, where the app:• automatically checks for connectivity;• provides option to put device into flight mode between checks to conserve battery;• decides what to transmit and how depending on available networks and bandwidth. Data is transferred either by binary,compressed SMS messages that are send to Relay app, or by HTTP (over cellular or Wi-Fi networks);• optionally uploads media attachments (photos, audio recordings) to Dropbox.Evaluation & Future WorkWhile still a work in progress, the platform was tested during a fieldtrip in the Republic of the Congo, where eight sites were visitedand more than 270 participants had the chance to try the application. The platform provides a number of unique features and meetsthe basic data collection and transmission requirements of our current projects while allowing for reuse in other contexts. Plannedfeatures include a Web-interface for survey design, project management, and querying, analysis and visualisation of data.In 2014 we will open up the Sapelli platform to be used by anyone, as well as releasing the code under the an open source license.We welcome outside contributors to help us develop it further. Keep an eye on http://sapelli.org if you are interested!Introducing Sapelli: A mobile data collection platform for non-literate usersMatthias Stevens, Michalis Vitos, Julia Altenbuchner, Gillian Conquest, Jerome Lewis & Muki Haklay

Introducing Sapelli: A mobile data collection platform for non-literate users

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Introducing Sapelli: A mobile data collection platform for non-literate users

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