applications for rural areas (educational content and information dissemination) sridhar iyer...
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Applications for Rural Areas(Educational content and Information dissemination)
Sridhar Iyer
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
TTSL – IITBombay Initiative
Project Team
Project InvestigatorsProf. Sridhar Iyer
Prof. Krithi Ramamritham
Project ManagersC. Vijaya Lakshmi
Malati Baru
Research AssociatesFarida Umrani (Impact assessment)
Sameer Sahasrabuddhe (Interface design)
Saraswathi Krithivasan (Networking)
Do Rural areas need information access?
Yes! Information related to News Weather Prices Government policies Agricultural practices Basic health and hygiene Microfinance Education Jobs Insurance ………………….
How do they access information today ?
Word of mouth Radio Telephone TV channels News papers Tele-centers Information kiosks Local Government organisations
Through what platforms?
Personal visits Telephones Kiosk centers Desktop PCs Community learning centers Mobiles Mobile Vans Call centers ……..
Problems faced during information access
Cost factors Literacy Language issues Power problems Connectivity problems Travel [ go to an information kiosk ] Resistance to adapt to new technology
Hurdles/Challenges for solution providers Lack of social entrepreneurs Seed Funding Scaling up Sustainability Business model Steep Learning curve Human resources Access to data Infrastructure Coordination with Government bodies Lack of technical expertise What after successful Pilots?
Proposal Overview/Scope
K-12 students
Semi literate adults
Farmers
Target users
Application Domain
Delivery Mode
Education Agriculture
Kiosk/Tele-center
Mobile Computer lab
Hand held devices
Information Dissemination
Solution approach
Develop requirement specific tools which :
Are easy to use Are easy to learn Involve minimal or no cost to user Do not require special devices Will impact their daily lives Make a difference to their earning capability Improve their literacy Open up new opportunities
Solution approach contd.
Deploy tools developed:
Identify major stakeholders Tie up with existing domain experts Tie up with existing NGOs, research labs Replicate successful models Extend existing ideas of research labs Expand/scale up operations across geographic locations
Solution development approach
Need assessment – • Primary survey – Conduct extensive initial field studies to
understand requirements
• Create SRS
Develop strategic partnerships• Identify and tie up with major stakeholders and partners for
collaboration and deployment
• Tie up with domain experts for content development Develop appropriate content Evolve successful models
• Collaborate with local NGOs and community based organisations for successful implementation of the program - deployment, awareness campaigns training.
• Expand/scale up operations across geographic locations
Solution development criteria
Rural context sensitive content and applications for :
Usefulness and ease of use Minimally invasive learning Edutainment Internet literacy Involve minimal or no cost
Project Dimension Classification
Target Users K-12 students Semi literate adults Farmers Domain Experts (Agricultural/Education)
Application Domain Education Agriculture
Delivery mode Hand held devices Mobile computer lab Kiosks/Tele-centers
Differentiators: Open source, Rural sensitive, special consideration for women's needs
GOAL
Kiosk/Tele-center
Mobile computer
lab
Hand helddevice
IIT Bombay
TTSL
NGO/Partners
Agriculture
Education
Applications
Delivery Mode Users
K-12 Students
Semi literate adults
Farmer
Expert
InformationDissemination
System
Classify content and tag it according to user group and deployment channel
Select content for given user group
Transform content for given platform (desktop, hand held devices) – using automatic engines
Deployment channel
-Desktop-hand held devices
User Requirement
Parameters Type of content required
Mobile usage Computer and Internet literacy English language Math skills Computer science for K-12 General information
Age group Adult, K-12
Gender
Content Repository
DeliveryContent Appropriate to Platform & User
Content Workflow
What does IITB bring to the table?
Successful pilots/prototypes
Agricultural live web portal Capture tools on Mobiles Education content developed for desktops Deployment and study of Computer Science curriculum in
School Virtual Classroom Rural wireless connectivity WiFiRe:
Broadband wireless for rural areas
Projects/Tools developed at DIL IIT Bombay
aAQUA forum: Multilingual Agricultural portal for rural farmers
Statistics: Members: 4107, Posts:12,650
Date : 2003-2007
Funded by : MLAsia, DGF, PanAsia,
Supported by: KVK Baramati; Vigyan Ashram,Pabal
Status: Completed
Projects/Tools developed at DIL IIT Bombay………
Photo Capture application on the Mobile, Remote trigger of application: Farmers can capture photos of crops, Tag the photos, upload to the server.
Date : 2007 – 2008
Tested on : GSM networks , High end phones with GPRS connectivity
Funded by : Nokia Research , Finland
Status: Will be completed by August, 2008
Projects/Tools developed at DILIIT Bombay
Remote trigger of Capture photo application through SMS
Enable a user to remotely take a picture snapshot of the problem area on site and send it to the expert.
A series of photos can be taken without human presence by activating application remotely with a simple SMS command.
The photos are organized by tags set by the user at the time of uploading the captured image.
Remote trigger of application through SMS
Phone with user
Phone at remote site
SMS
Captures photo at intervals
AcK
Server
UPLOADS
Education content developed for desktops
Project OSCAR: create a large repository of web-based, interactive animations for teaching various concepts and technologies.
Statistics: Animations-133, Downloads- 6023
Date : 2004 onwards
Funded by : DGF, Ekalavya
Supported by: Students, Project team, Technical consultants
Status: Ongoing
Computer Science curriculum for primary schools using open source [EdUbuntu]
1. Detailed week-wise curriculum for elementary school level
2. Teacher's handbook for classes I - IV.
3. Pilot tested the curriculum for Standards I – IV at a private school in Mumbai (July, 07 – April, 08)
4. Computer-based activities interest the students and can be used for developing skills in other subjects.
Need to adapt content to rural areas
Computer Science for Primary Schools in Text Book format
The salient features of this book are as follows:● It can be downloaded for free, from the Website http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~sri/ssrvm/● Based on a highly detailed computer science syllabus, reviewed by experts.●The Lessons and Activities based on free and open source software. ● Each lesson has a Teacher’s Corner section, which gives a lesson plan, some do’s and don’ts, and other tips.● The books are evolving out of contributions from many authors, bringing together a variety of creative ideas. •The books to be released under a Creative Commons License (See the Copyright Statement).
Virtual Class Room
Integrated eLearning environment on an intranet Concurrent video streaming (8-12
computers) 8-10 seconds response time for
video streaming of lectures Supports max. 30 connected
nodes Instructor, student, admin
functionalities
Virtual Web – Information CD
Gather web content that can be packaged and distributed on CD for offline browsing.
Targeted for institutions with limited or no web access.
Tejas – Support system for distance education program
Provides centralized support over the web to the instructors, participants, administrators, finance managers, and decision makers of a distance education program.
Drona
eGURU – Provides eguidance and mentorship to students of BE, MCA, MSC (CS/IT/electronics) for their final year projects.
eOutreach – creates high quality text, audio, video and html contents of educational value for knowledge dissemination.
eContent – Attempts to create and translate web content of educational value to Indian languages.
Ekalavya
Other Inhouse Applications
Online payment system for IITB International conference
managment portal with online registration and payment.
JMET, GATE – Online registration and payment systems
Rural Wireless ConnectivityExperiment
Use off-the-shelf VoIP and WiFi equipment to establish low-cost internal connectivity
1. Communication within Timbaktu (rLAN)
2. Interfacing with the landline
Later generalize to other rural scenarios
Rural Wireless ConnectivityExperiment - Conclusion
VoIP over WiFi seems to be a viable alternative for providing internal communication within a village
Next phase of experiment will involve interfacing the rLAN to the external world through appropriate adapters
PSTN line Cellular WiFiRe
Cost of equipment is not the main factor for low cost solutions. Availability of power and terrain are main issues
Need to adapt devices for low-power (D.C) also
WiFiRe: Broadband wireless for rural areas
What is WiFiRe? One liner: A WiMAX-like MAC over a WiFi PHY.
Key Differentiators: WiFi PHY extended for long range (15-20 Km) using sectorized and
directional antennas.
Single WiFi channel shared among all the sectors.
Multi-sector co-ordination by the scheduler.
WiFiRe architecture
• Sectorized antennas at BS.• Single fixed ST in each village.• Directional antenna at each ST.• Voice and data terminals in the village connected by a LAN.
• 40 m tower at the base station (BS).• 10-12 m poles at the subscriber
terminals (ST).• system gain 150 dB.• Network configuration is star topology.
– 15 km radius
How can we leverage/take advantage of TTSL’s core competency?
Use existing customer database– To push services
Use Network Infrastructure services– To deploy content and applications
Use customer care centers to reach across Bundle tools with existing services Suggest locations where new applications could
be deployed (may need additional infrastructure)
Education: Need for education in rural areas
All India figures for computers in school Rural - 6.66 per cent, Urban - 26.41
Source: Mehta, A. Elementary education in rural areas: Analytic tables 2005, NIEPA
Computer Penetration in Schools in Rural and Urban Areas
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
below 5 5-10 10-20 20-40 40-60 above 60
Number of States having computers in Schools
%
Rural
Urban
Education – Project ideas - 1
Mobile computer lab
What: Moving vehicle equipped with systems and connectivity
Why: Reach out to the user, widened access and sharing of resources, outreach at various locations (like schools in the vicinity, market place, anganwadis), multiple purpose usage (education, edutainment, internet access, communication, online transactions etc.)
How: Hardware setup, OS and application installation, customization, internet, CD/server based content/information dissemination, train facilitators.
End user : Rural population
Education – Project ideas - 5
Basic computer science
What: Computer science curriculum built for resource constrained areas
Why: Lack of well thought out, context-sensitive curriculum for the intended users.
Delivery mode and device choice: Text, multimedia teaching aids (video, audio, cd), educational games multimedia programming on PC/hand held device
End user : K-12
Education – Project ideas - 2
Computer literacy
What: Basic computer usage, internet usage, communication tools, transactions like buying tickets, banking, creating local content, using google maps
Why: Empower end user with technology benefits Delivery mode and device choice: Video, audio (local
language), games and animations on Desktop/hand held device
End user : Adults (men and women)
Education – Project ideas - 3
English literacy
What: Basic English reading and writing skills Why: Overcome the language barrier for comprehension of
information available, better opportunities, interaction with various entities.
Delivery mode and device choice: Video, audio (local language), games and animations on Desktop/hand held device
End user : Adults (men and women)
Education – Project ideas - 4
Arithmetic skills
What: Basic maths skills Why: Managing resources, transactions, day to day
activities efficiently Delivery mode and device choice: Animations, Educational
games on desktop/mobile
End user : Students/Adults
Education – Project ideas - 6
How to use a mobile
What: Functionalities of the mobile Why: The full potential of the mobile is rarely used due to lack
of literacy, awareness. Delivery mode and device choice: Video, audio, animations
(English and local language on Desktop/Mobile) End user : Semi literate
Education – Project ideas - 7
Mock tests for exams on mobile
What: Tool for mock tests Why: 3As – learning/testing strategy - Anywhere, anytime,
anyplace learning/testing of acquired knowledge Delivery mode and device choice: IVR + Messaging
services on Desktop/Mobile End user : Students
Need for ICT based tools for Agricultural extension
Why: Access to information: 3As – Anywhere, anytime, anyplace Increased Mobile penetration, extend existing tool’s functionality
on Mobile devices Low cost Intermittent network connectivity
Deployment mode and Device: Through SMS alerts on Mobiles, Internet, Desktop, offline versions
on Client machines
End Users: Farmers, Agriculture related entities
Agriculture – Project ideas - 1
Extension of aAQUA system
Develop SMS based querying on aAQUA /pushing data from aAQUA to users through SMS
Expand database to include experts from other states Implement Offline versions of aAQUA through rural kiosks Implement Offline versions at the Expert’s end , to decrease
dependency on connectivity. Push RSS feeds from aAQUA to the user’s mobile
Agriculture – Project ideas - 2
Extension of Photo Capture tool
Develop a tool to push the captured photo , append it with a question on to the aAQUA forum
Develop an interface where the Expert logs in , views the photo based question and sends a reply to the mobile from which the image was captured.
Develop an Interface for the aAQUA users to browse through the captured Photo gallery [ database of images with relevant tags ]for information
Develop the same tool for CDMA technology
Agriculture – Project ideas - 3
Extension of remote SMS trigger tool for photo capture
Package the tool along with the mobile service provider tools Extend the tool for CDMA technology The application can be extended not only for capturing crop images but any
remote image without physical intervention
WiFi based vehicle tracking system
What: Tracking vehicles using WiFi and display of live information on buses and the field
Why: • Live data for passengers – route of the vehicle, current
occupancy, expected arrival time• Infotainment, advertisement, marketing et.
Deployment mode and Device: • Pilot at IIT Bombay using the transportation vehicles on the
campus using custom built devices.• To be replicated in rural areas in the later phase.