Marsden, Professor Gary

UCT Computer Science Research Document Archive

ICT	  for	  the	  Next	  Five	  Billion	  People,	  Conference	  on	  May	  12,	  2009,	  Berlin	  	  APPLICATIONS	  FOR	  EMERGING	  ECONOMIES	  	  “What	  can	  we	  Learn	  from	  the	  Developing	  World?“	  Impact	  of	  Mobile	  Applications	  from	  developing	  Markets	  on	  Mature	  Economies	  Prof.	  Gary	  Marsden,	  University	  of	  Cape	  Town,	  South	  Africa	  Abstract	  In	  this	  presentation	  we	  will	  explore	  designs	  that	  move	  from	  the	  developing	  world	  to	  the	  developed.	  	  Figure	  1:	  Google	  searches	  happening	  around	  the	  world	  Context	  A	  lot	  of	  people	  they	  see	  Africa	  as	  in	  Figure	  1;	  some	  kind	  of	  technology	  wasteland.	  This	   is	   an	   image	   taken	   from	   a	   foyer	   in	   a	   Google	   building;	   the	   length	   and	   the	  intensity	   of	   the	   coloured	   lines	   represent	   how	  many	   searches	   are	   happening	   at	  that	  instant	  in	  that	  place	  in	  the	  world.	  And	  most	  of	  the	  time	  Africa	  is	  dark.	  	  Despite	  this	  perception,	  technologically,	  Africa	  is	  an	  interesting	  place.	  As	  various	  other	  sections	  of	  this	  report	  present,	  Africa	  is	  not	  a	  technology	  wasteland.	  There	  are	  lots	  of	  interesting	  initiatives	  going	  on	  there.	  GSM	  networks,	  for	  instance,	  are	  highly	   prevalent,	   as	   can	   be	   seen	   in	   Figure	   2.	   But	   does	   anything	   that	   happens	  there	  have	  any	  relevance	  back	  in	  Europe	  or	  America?	  	  Figure	  2:	  GSM	  Densities	  in	  Africa	  –	  darker	  colours	  denoting	  greater	  density.	  Image	  from	  ITU,	  2008	  (www.itu.int)	  	  From	  Developing	  to	  Developed	  As	  a	  technology	  designer	  originally	  from	  Europe	  who	  moved	  to	  Africa	  10	  years	  ago,	  I	  realized	  I	  had	  been	  seduced	  and	  led	  astray	  by	  a	  thing	  called	  Moore’s	  law[1].	  Essentially,	  Moore’s	  law	  states	  that,	  for	  a	  given	  price,	  every	  two	  years	  technology	  doubles	  in	  performance.	  Designers	  in	  developed	  countries	  are	  driven	  to	  create	  new	  prototypes	  based	  on	  the	  continued	  improved	  performance	  of	  future	  technology.	  However,	  this	  is	  only	  one	  form	  of	  driver	  for	  design;	  one	  that	  is	  not	  available	  to	  designers	  in	  Africa.	  Within	  Africa,	  the	  relative	  cost	  of	  technology	  is	  much	  higher	  than	  in	  developed	  countries,	  so	  technology	  adoption	  rates	  are	  much	  lower.	  So,	  rather	  than	  work	  on	  designs	  which	  require	  new	  technology	  to	  be	  introduced,	  we	  look	  at	  designing	  systems	  that	  extract	  more	  functionality	  from	  existing,	  or	  previous	  generation	  hardware.	  	  Case	  Study	  1	  –	  The	  laptop	  Looking	  at	  the	  example	  of	  a	  laptop,	  they	  have	  grown	  to	  become	  powerful	  and	  luxurious	  computing	  platforms.	  There	  are	  17”	  laptops	  capable	  of	  running	  the	  latest	  games	  and	  even	  carbon	  fibre	  laptops	  from	  companies	  such	  as	  Ferrari	  and	  Lamborghini.	  Bucking	  this	  trend,	  however,	  is	  the	  XO	  from	  the	  One	  Laptop	  Per	  Child	  project	  (laptop.org)	  shown	  in	  Figure	  3.	  	  Figure	  3	  –	  The	  XO-­‐1	  laptop	  from	  the	  OLPC	  project.	  Image	  courtesy	  of	  Mike	  McGregor	  This	  is	  a	  typical	  device	  developed	  for	  emerging	  economies.	  What	  is	  interesting,	  however,	  is	  the	  effect	  that	  this	  device	  has	  had	  on	  laptops	  created	  for	  existing	  markets.	  Looking	  at	  the	  sales	  in	  Figure	  4,	  it	  is	  clear	  that	  netbooks	  are	  the	  most	  popular	  form	  of	  laptop.	  Netbooks,	  just	  like	  the	  OLPC,	  are	  stripped	  down,	  low	  cost,	  robust	  laptops	  with	  good	  battery	  performance.	  	  Figure	  4	  –	  Existing	  and	  predicted	  laptop	  and	  netbook	  sales	  	  Nicolas	  Negroponte,	  the	  driving	  force	  behind	  the	  XO	  project,	  is	  claiming	  that	  the	  design	  ideas	  for	  the	  netbooks	  all	  came	  from	  the	  XO.	  When	  people	  saw	  the	  XO	  they	  realised	  that	  it	  met	  needs	  that	  they	  had	  (e.g.	  long	  battery	  life,	  robust,	  small)	  much	  better	  than	  the	  high-­‐performance	  laptops	  the	  manufacturers	  were	  making	  at	  that	  time.	  Here,	  then,	  is	  an	  example	  of	  how	  ignoring	  a	  technology-­‐driven	  design	  process	  creates	  a	  product	  that	  has	  relevance	  in	  other	  markets.	  By	  focussing	  on	  the	  constraints	  of	  the	  environment	  in	  the	  developing	  world,	  the	  designers	  created	  a	  product	  that	  is	  useful	  to	  people	  living	  in	  the	  developing	  world.	  We	  believe	  that	  many	  more	  worthwhile	  designs	  can	  be	  created	  by	  focussing	  on	  the	  technology	  constraints	  rather	  than	  assuming	  it	  is	  the	  technology	  that	  must	  be	  changed.	  Case	  study	  2	  -­‐	  Photographs	  The	  second	  case	  study	  resulted	  from	  our	  own	  research.	  	  We	  undertook	  an	  investigation	  which	  involved	  travelling	  to	  several	  countries	  in	  Africa,	  meeting	  people	  and	  	  seeing	  what	  they	  were	  doing	  with	  their	  mobile	  phones.	  One	  thing	  that	  became	  obvious	  is	  how	  many	  people	  had	  camera	  phones.	  For	  most	  people	  in	  Africa	  the	  cell	  phone	  is	  the	  only	  digital	  technology	  they	  will	  have	  access	  to.	  They	  won’t	  have	  a	  digital	  camera.	  They	  won’t	  have	  a	  PC.	  They	  won’t	  have	  a	  laptop.	  They	  will	  just	  have	  a	  phone	  handset.	  The	  problem	  remains	  of	  how	  do	  they	  share	  those	  photographs	  stored	  on	  the	  handset.	  	  For	  people	  living	  in	  developed	  countries,	  photographs	  can	  be	  emailed,	  placed	  on	  a	  web	  site,	  printed	  or	  shown	  locally	  by	  a	  laptop	  or	  external	  monitor.	  	  Without	  access	  to	  infrastructure	  to	  share	  photographs,	  many	  people	  we	  interviewed	  in	  Africa	  would	  have	  a	  well	  maintained	  archive	  on	  images	  on	  their	  handsets	  they	  used	  to	  show	  visitors.	  One	  person	  even	  had	  their	  wedding	  photographs	  on	  their	  handset.	  This	  led	  us	  to	  start	  thinking	  about	  what	  photo-­‐management	  software	  users	  would	  want	  on	  their	  handsets	  if	  the	  handset	  was	  the	  only	  place	  they	  could	  store	  their	  photographs.	  Firstly	  we	  wanted	  to	  create	  a	  system	  to	  share	  images.	  Given	  that	  there	  is	  no	  technology	  in	  the	  environment	  other	  than	  cellular	  handsets,	  we	  built	  a	  system	  that	  broadcasts	  images	  from	  one	  screen	  on	  to	  all	  the	  others	  within	  Bluetooth	  range	  [2].	  See	  Figure	  5	  below.	  	  Figure	  5	  –	  The	  image	  on	  one	  screen	  is	  broadcast	  to	  all	  others	  in	  the	  locality.	  Again,	  we	  did	  not	  introduce	  new	  hardware,	  just	  increased	  the	  functionality	  of	  the	  existing	  technology.	  We	  evaluated	  the	  system	  by	  sending	  people	  out	  for	  a	  day	  to	  take	  photographs	  with	  their	  cell	  phones.	  They	  then	  had	  to	  come	  back	  and	  explain,	  using	  the	  photographs,	  what	  had	  happened	  in	  their	  day	  to	  a	  friend	  who	  stayed	  behind.	  We	  did	  this	  with	  various	  groups	  of	  people	  yet	  at	  the	  end	  of	  the	  experiments	  the	  subjects	  did	  not	  want	  the	  experiment	  to	  end	  and	  would	  not	  give	  the	  devices	  back,	  even	  the	  ones	  who	  did	  have	  access	  to	  technologies	  such	  as	  the	  internet	  and	  laptops	  which	  the	  could	  use	  to	  share	  images.	  Again,	  we	  had	  created	  a	  solution	  that	  had	  broad	  appeal	  outside	  the	  developing	  world	  group	  it	  was	  intended	  for.	  Case	  Study	  3	  –	  Mobile	  Banking	  The	  final	  case	  study	  of	  mobile	  banking	  is	  widely	  analysed	  by	  other	  reports	  in	  this	  document.	  However,	  there	  is	  much	  to	  be	  learnt	  by	  looking	  at	  m-­‐banking	  through	  the	  eyes	  of	  a	  technology	  designer.	  Mobile	  banking	  can	  easily	  fall	  into	  the	  trap	  that	  befalls	  others	  who	  wish	  to	  translate	  the	  desktop	  experience	  onto	  a	  mobile	  devices;	  they	  take	  the	  desktop	  version	  and	  try	  to	  make	  it	  fit	  onto	  a	  smaller	  screen.	  (Other	  examples	  would	  include	  mobile	  web	  browsing	  [3].)	  That	  is	  exactly	  the	  wrong	  thing	  to	  do.	  	  Again,	  when	  we	  were	  conducting	  our	  studies	  in	  Africa	  we	  discovered	  purchasing	  behaviour	  that	  had	  not	  been	  reported	  before.	  For	  example,	  in	  a	  village,	  200	  km	  from	  the	  nearest	  tar	  road	  near	  the	  border	  of	  Zambia,	  Angola	  and	  DRC	  a	  trader	  was	  selling	  plastic	  basins.	  A	  customer	  asked	  for	  the	  price	  of	  the	  basin	  and	  then	  asked	  if	  he	  could	  pay	  in	  ‘air	  time’!	  The	  trader	  accepted	  and	  after	  some	  pressing	  of	  buttons	  on	  cellular	  handsets,	  the	  customer	  walked	  off	  with	  the	  basin.	  This	  is	  made	  possible	  as	  a	  lot	  of	  cell	  phone	  services	  in	  South	  Africa,	  or	  throughout	  Africa,	  have	  a	  network	  service	  that	  allows	  one	  user	  to	  transfer	  airtime	  credit	  to	  another	  network	  user.	  In	  effect,	  airtime	  becomes	  a	  currency.	  In	  rural	  communities	  where	  there	  is	  no	  cash	  this	  is	  a	  secure	  and	  trusted	  way	  in	  which	  to	  move	  payments	  around.	  This	  is	  backed	  by	  sale	  or	  service	  providers	  that	  are	  trusted	  within	  their	  community.	  	  If	  we	  were	  to	  think	  about	  this	  transaction	  in	  terms	  of	  internet	  banking,	  it	  would	  take	  several	  minutes	  to	  complete	  –	  adding	  beneficiaries,	  verifying	  identity	  etc.	  But	  often,	  this	  is	  overkill.	  For	  example,	  if	  you	  were	  going	  out	  for	  a	  meal	  and	  someone	  forgot	  their	  change	  and	  asked	  you	  to	  lend	  them	  5	  €	  for	  a	  ticket	  home,	  you	  would	  be	  willing	  to	  hand	  over	  cash	  immediately.	  Again,	  a	  feature	  added	  to	  the	  network	  in	  Africa,	  originally	  to	  allow	  the	  transfer	  of	  airtime	  to	  people	  living	  rurally,	  has	  allowed	  the	  creation	  of	  a	  primitive	  bank	  system	  that	  does	  not	  require	  further	  technology	  or	  even	  legislative	  intervention.	  So	  successful	  is	  this	  facility	  that	  some	  2%	  of	  the	  Zambian	  GDP	  is	  moved	  via	  airtime.	  	  Releasing	  Design	  Ability	  Finally,	  there	  are	  many	  people	  living	  in	  the	  developing	  world	  who	  could	  be	  creating	  designs	  and	  new	  forms	  of	  technology	  but	  do	  not	  have	  access	  to	  the	  education	  and	  resources	  allowing	  them	  to	  do	  this.	  One	  finds	  that	  many	  people	  who	  exist	  on	  the	  economic	  fringes	  are	  driven	  to	  be	  creative	  in	  ways	  that	  would	  not	  occur	  to	  those	  living	  in	  developed	  economies.	  	  	  	  Figure	  6	  –	  A	  bicycle	  belonging	  to	  an	  egg	  trader	  in	  Mwinilunga,	  Zambia.	  In	  Figure	  6,	  is	  a	  bicycle	  belonging	  to	  a	  trader	  in	  Zambia.	  To	  borrow	  the	  Unix/	  Open	  Source	  metaphor,	  he	  has	  hacked	  his	  open	  source	  bicycle.	  He	  has	  added	  a	  pannier	  which	  will	  carry	  75	  kilos	  of	  eggs	  to	  run	  a	  delivery	  business.	  He	  has	  also	  upgraded	  the	  seat	  suspension	  with	  some	  soft	  wood	  so	  he	  can	  use	  this	  bicycle	  as	  a	  taxi.	  This	  is	  a	  very	  creative	  solution.	  We	  who	  design	  digital	  technology	  should	  be	  challenged	  and	  inspired	  by	  this	  –	  how	  can	  we	  make	  our	  technology	  adaptable	  to	  local	  conditions	  so	  that	  local	  users	  can	  create	  their	  own	  solutions.	  	  	  These	  ideas	  are	  echoed	  in	  a	  blog	  called	  afrigadget,	  should	  you	  wish	  to	  see	  some	  more.	  Also,	  African	  design	  in	  general	  is	  celebrated	  at	  an	  event	  called	  “Design	  Indaba”	  which	  runs	  in	  the	  last	  week	  of	  February	  in	  Cape	  Town	  every	  year.	  	  Conclusions	  Designers	  in	  developed	  economies	  can	  be	  seduced	  by	  technology	  which	  locks	  them	  into	  a	  particular	  type	  of	  design	  thinking.	  However,	  those	  who	  are	  working	  in	  the	  developing	  world	  live	  under	  a	  different	  side	  of	  constraints	  which	  can	  lead	  to	  innovative	  solutions	  not	  obvious	  to	  those	  working	  in	  technology-­‐rich	  environments.	  These	  solutions	  come	  about	  by	  working	  out	  what	  can	  be	  done	  with	  the	  technology	  that	  exists	  already.	  It	  is	  surprising	  what	  can	  be	  achieved.	  	  One	  final	  thought	  is	  that	  there	  is	  a	  huge	  movement	  in	  developed	  countries	  towards	  sustainable	  and	  green	  design.	  Essentially,	  sustainable	  design	  is	  creating	  new	  things	  with	  a	  minimal	  impact.	  The	  goals	  of	  sustainable	  design	  are	  therefore	  almost	  identical	  to	  design	  for	  the	  developing	  world	  –	  doing	  more	  with	  less.	  There	  is	  a	  large	  potential	  in	  exploring	  where	  those	  design	  ideas	  overlap.	  Ultimately,	  there	  will	  be	  a	  great	  synergy	  between	  this	  sustainable	  movement	  and	  designing	  technologies	  for	  the	  developing	  world.	  	  	  References:	  [1]	  Moore,	  Gordon	  E.	  (1965).	  "Cramming	  more	  components	  onto	  integrated	  circuits"	  (PDF).	  Electronics	  Magazine,	  38(8).	  [2]	  Ah-­‐Kun,	  L.	  &	  Marsden,	  G.	  (2007)	  “Co-­‐Present	  Photo	  Sharing	  on	  Mobile	  Devices”	  Proceedings	  Mobile	  HCI	  2007.	  Singapore.	  ACM	  Press.	  pp73-­‐80.	  [3]	  Jones,	  M.	  &	  Marsden,	  G.	  (2006)	  “Mobile	  Interaction	  Design”	  John	  Wiley	  &	  Sons,	  New	  York,	  2006.	  

What can we learn from the Developing World

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What can we learn from the Developing World

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