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Krithi Ramamritham IIT Bombay

ICT for empowering Emerging Regions. Krithi Ramamritham IIT Bombay. The Big Question. How do we give the rural population the same access to Information that you and I take for granted?. "How to face the challenges in serving under-served segments of the population

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Krithi Ramamritham IIT Bombay

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  1. ICT for empowering Emerging Regions Krithi Ramamritham IIT Bombay Developmental Informatics Lab

  2. The Big Question How do we give the rural population the same access to Information that you and I take for granted? "How to face the challenges in serving under-served segments of the population through science & technology based solutions” Developmental Informatics Lab

  3. Knowledge Revolution Limited to less than 15% population of the world. • Most research and products are for people in highly developed countries. Touches less than 2% of population in developing countries. Developmental Informatics Lab

  4. ICT for Socio-Economic Development-- has come of age Research in Indian academia/industry labs • IITs - Madras, KGP, Kanpur,…. • IIITs – Hyderabad, Bangalore,… • MSRI, Intel, Nokia, Motorola, TCS,…. Publication avenues • ICTD, WWW DR track, CHI, (VLDB),… • journals Lots of challenging issues…. Developmental Informatics Lab

  5. Internet service provider Cable TV provider Basic telephony (VoIP) E-governance Landrecords Price info (mandi bhav) Digital photography Astrology (jyotish kendra) Village kioskservices Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Developmental Informatics Lab

  6. Internet –a repository of knowledge? Perhaps, but divides exist… • The Connectivity Divide • No connectivity • Low bandwidth connectivity • Intermittent connectivity Developmental Informatics Lab

  7. Communication Technologies • DialUP • VSATs • Wired • Wireless 802.11 • Cable Modem • DSL • Cell Phones • WiMaX Developmental Informatics Lab

  8. Developmental Informatics Lab

  9. corDECT • corDect is a wireless access system developed by IIT,Madras , Midas Communication Technologies, and Analog Communications , USA. • It provides voice telephony services and 35/70 kbps internet services with a wireless interface that supports a 10km line of sight connectivity. Developmental Informatics Lab

  10. DakNet ad hoc network that uses wireless technology and existing communications and transportation infrastructure to distribute digital connectivity. Developmental Informatics Lab

  11. Internet –a repository of knowledge? Perhaps, but divides exist… • The Connectivity Divide • No connectivity • Low bandwidth connectivity • Intermittent connectivity • The Content Divide • No relevant content • Not accessible/useful • to the semi/illiterate population Language divide Interface divide Usability divide Developmental Informatics Lab

  12. How does Web Content come into being? • Individuals / institutions / governments place content on the Web • Web pages • Blogs • Collaborative content creation • Wiki • Discussion (Q&A) fora • Relevant? • Topical? • Localized? • Personalized? Developmental Informatics Lab

  13. AQUAEcosystem Initially, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Baramati (an agri-extension center) Initially, kiosks operated by Vigyan Ashram, Pabal village Developmental Informatics Lab

  14. Developmental Informatics Lab (DIL) Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Village kiosk services Field Observations and Studies are fed back into AQUA research & development AQUA--> aAQUA Developmental Informatics Lab

  15. Developmental Informatics Lab

  16. Images from aAQUA Developmental Informatics Lab

  17. Users of aAQUA • questions from half the districts in India • questions on farming, animal husbandry, employment (BPO), vocational education,… Developmental Informatics Lab

  18. Challenges… • How can we scale, if each question needs to be answered by an expert? • How can we make aAQUA usable for naïve users? • How can we ensure availability in spite of resource constraints (e.g., connectivity problems)? Developmental Informatics Lab

  19. How to improve… • Scalability • After several seasons, questions repeat => archive previous Q&A => search archive for answer • Data integration & consolidation • Multilingual semantics-driven search • “insurers cheating farmers” vs. “farmers cheating insurers” • Usability • Availability Developmental Informatics Lab

  20. Consolidating Content: e-Library • Photos of crop pests and diseases lead to solutions • -- without going to experts collection of edited aAQUA Q&A in English, Hindi and Marathi • recommendations from • Agri-Universities and KVKs Developmental Informatics Lab

  21. Multi Lingual Search over archive search Query in Hindi English Document Marathi Document Result in Hindi English Document E-library Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Developmental Informatics Lab

  22. How to improve… • Scalability • Exploit repetition of questions => consolidate, archive previous Q&A => Support Multilingual semantics-based search of archive • Usability • Better interfaces, better I/O devices => iconic, easy to visualize, easy to use • Availability Developmental Informatics Lab

  23. Enhancing Usability • Keyboard: easy input in Devanagari • Use of local language • Organizing content by category and keywords • Multimediasupport, image zoom Developmental Informatics Lab

  24. Bhav Puchiye – Ask for the price Most such interfaces are text-based Interface for Bhav Puchiye Developmental Informatics Lab

  25. Bhav Puchiye DEMO Developmental Informatics Lab

  26. User Interest needs to be sustained • If a farmer comes to a kiosk to ask a question and is told “network is down, come back later” • HE WILL NEVER COME BACK Developmental Informatics Lab

  27. How to improve… • Scalability • Usability • Availability • Exploit the “read-mostly” situation • Exploit the “delay-tolerance” aspect of Q&As => Make off-line access the default • Exploit spread of Cell phones Developmental Informatics Lab

  28. Dealing with connectivity constraints • Lighter pages delivered • Mirror sites that synchronize • Web Caching and query caching • Prefetching • through prediction of future needs and update times Developmental Informatics Lab

  29. Improving Availability: Offline Access • Standalone application employing store-and-forward protocols • Offline Search and Posting, Authentication. • Complete aAQUA can be navigated and searched in disconnected mode. • Offline post also possible. • Fast searching and browsing experience • Delta of updates transferred between client and server • Heterogeneous database synchronization Developmental Informatics Lab

  30. "Best Poster" at WWW 2007: International Conference on the World Wide Web, Banff, Canada. Repository Light Db Offline aAQUA Query optimization for handhelds with varying memory sizes aAQUA on internet Store threads Indexing engine Build index Post messages and fetch new or updated threads Client Application Read threads Search Light Web Server (lighttpd) Read Write Update database for new threads Browser Developmental Informatics Lab

  31. Poll on aAQUA -- on use of mobile phones Developmental Informatics Lab

  32. SMS Question & Answer Developmental Informatics Lab

  33. Popular SMS based apps • Weather (push or pull) • Sports/Entertainment services • Transportation services • News • Innovative personal services: e.g., Market Price information for agricultural goods • Personal services: e.g., Using SMS to inform customers in a quasi-real time when the money is transferred to their families, booking movie tickets etc. • GIS based content delivery services • Weather / temperature sensing capabilities (some high-end phones do have temp sensors) Developmental Informatics Lab

  34. aAqua Server Internet HTTP Crop Doctor aAqua Bhav Puchiye SMS Keyword Browser Mobile network Crop Recommendation aAqua Mobile Gateway aAqua Offline aAQUA Developmental Informatics Lab

  35. Enabling technologies • Internet crawling, searching, browsing, indexing of multilingual data on the Internet. • Data exploration on Heterogenous Data Sources. • Improving the performance of information extraction/caching/dissemination algorithms for resource constrained environments. • Support for building Databases on handhelds (e.g., Simputer, a low cost hand held developed in India).

  36. Status and Plans • Questions from half the districts of India • KVK Baramati – primary expert group Scale-up • ICAR via NAIP • Agri Universities • Pant Nagar • Dharwad • KVKs • Maharashtra ArgiNet Spin-off • Agrocom – operating the Akashdoot weather station network Developmental Informatics Lab

  37. Preventive Agri-Medicine:Climate sensors for crop disease forecasts wind speed wind direction air temperature relative humidity solar radiation evaporation rate leaf wetness Developmental Informatics Lab

  38. Summary • aAQUA takes Agri-extension services to people wherever they are • New ways of providing expert help to redress farmer problems in a timely fashion • Users formulate questions in a natural manner • Internet + Mobile phones – prices, aAQUA posts & feeds – push + pull • Incorporating innovations from research • Query processing and caching • Seamless offline access • Cross-lingual archive and retrieval • Human-computer Interactions • Heterogeneous Data Integration + semantics driven multilingual search Developmental Informatics Lab

  39. ICT for Socio-Economic Development-- has come of age Research in Indian academia/industry labs • IITs - Madras, KGP, Kanpur,…. • IIITs – Hyderabad, Bangalore,… • MSRI, Intel, Nokia, Motorola, TCS,…. Publication avenues • ICTD, WWW DR track, CHI, (VLDB),… • journals Lots of challenging issues…. Developmental Informatics Lab

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