The Advantages of Being There Design at Microsoft Research India

1. The Advantages of Being ThereDesign at Microsoft Research India Kentaro Toyama Assistant Managing Director Microsoft Research India IWIPS 2007: “Actually Being There” June 29, 2007 – Merida Mexico

2. Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India • Warana Unwired • MultiPoint • Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

3. Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India • Warana Unwired • MultiPoint • Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

4. India People • ~1.1 billion people • Over half under 25 years old • 22 languages • Annual incomes $100-$100M+ • 28 states Area • ~1/3 the area of United States Technology • ~20M PCs, installed base • ~140M mobile subscriptions • +7M each month Roads in India Sources: CIA Factbook, TRAI, CNN

5. India, a Personal View My first trip to India (2004)

6. India, a Personal View People • ~1.1 billion people • Over half under 25 years old • 22 official languages • Annual incomes $100-$100M+ • 28 states Area • ~1/3 the area of United States Technology • ~20M PCs, installed base • ~140M mobile subscriptions • +7M each month but, power held by few tremendous energy and optimism incredible diversity, EM microcosm reminiscent of European Union impact of weather (ubiquity of agriculture) huge interest in PCs, by everyone mobiles, mobiles, everywhere Huge potential opportunity for computing industry. But, there are new challenges that neither India nor the industryhave ever faced before.

7. Infosys campus, Bangalore

8. A small Internet café on a market street in a town near Bombay

9. Rural village with a VSAT Internet connection near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

10. Microsoft Research India • Established January, 2005 • Goals • World-class academic research • Contributions to Microsoft products and businesses • Support growth of research programs in India and elsewhere • Six research areas • Cryptography, Security, and Algorithms • Digital Geographics • Mobility, Networks, and Systems • Multilingual Systems • Rigorous Software Engineering • Technology for Emerging Markets • Currently ~50 full-time staff, growing • Collaborations with government, academia, industry, and NGOs Microsoft Research India Sadashivnagar, Bangalore http://research.microsoft.com/india

11. Technology for Emerging Markets Microsoft Research India Understand potential technology users in economically poor communities: • E.g., urban domestic labourers • E.g., rural entrepreneurs Adapt, invent, or design applications of computing that contribute to socio-economic development of poor communities worldwide. (Focus on research, not on shipping product.) Computer-skills camp in Nakalabande, Bangalore (MSR India, Stree Jagruti Samiti, St. Joseph’s College)

12. Interdisciplinary Research Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan – Public Administration and International Development Society Society Jonathan Donner – Communications Nimmi Rangaswamy – Social Anthropology Group Group Rajesh Veeraraghavan Impact Impact Understanding Understanding – Computer Science and Economics Indrani Medhi Design – Individual Individual Kentaro Toyama – Computer Science Randy Wang – Computer Science Technology Technology Udai Singh Pawar Innovation Innovation – Physics Rikin Gandhi – Astrophysics

13. remaining data p1 Often hungry Children not in school In perpetual debt Breadwinner in formal sector “Middle class” p2 t 0 Well-Being Map Multi-mouse for Education Urban Consumer Transitions between states of wealth in emerging markets Study of dynanic middle-class consumers in urban emerging markets Feature phones as “bar-code” readers for data-entry in rural microfinance Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan Public Admin., Harvard Udai Singh Pawar Physics, IIT Kanpur Nimmi Rangaswamy Sociology, Univ. of Mumbai Cost-Aware Data Transfer Computers in Agriculture Digital Study Hall Cost-aware transfer of data across heterogeneous channels, e.g., for mobiles Experiments with computing and communication systems in agriculture DVD exchange over postal service and TVs as display for rural education Rohan Murty Comp. Sci., Harvard Rajesh Veeraraghavan Comp. Sci. & Econ., Clemson Randy Wang Computer Sci, UC Berkeley Text-Free UI Government and Rural IT IT and Microentrepreneurs UIs without text for users who are illliterate and may never have seen a computer before The state’s role in rural IT projects, with a focus on Kerala’s Akshaya project Information ecology of small businesses in developing markets Renee Kuriyan Energy and Res, UC Berkeley Indrani Medhi Design, Illinois Inst. of Tech. Jonathan Donner Communications, Stanford

14. Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India • Warana Unwired • MultiPoint • Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

15. The Value of Being There … to resolve contradictory generalizations: • Resistance to new technology • But computers have glamour • Poverty systemic and multi-dimensional • But households functional • Stark lack of money • But willing to spend • Information critical… • But rarely the bottleneck • Computing needs are minimal • But there are opportunities!

16. Resistance to Technology… Many factors inhibit use of technology: • High cost • Reluctance to depart from habits and traditions • Fear of breaking technology • Lack of awareness of technology’s functional value • Barriers of education or literacy A child trying to explain to her mother what is on a laptop screen.

17. But, Computers have Glamour Examples of interest in computing technology: • Retention rates at schools rise when the school has PCs. • Rural PC kiosk owners see a rise in their confidence and status in community. • Office service staff eager to learn about PCs and how to use them. These examples have little to do with computer function. A kiosk operator running a near Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu

18. Poverty is Systemic… Stable system makes escape difficult: • Lack of money means lack of time to do anything other than survive. • Lack of time means less time for education. • Lack of education means fewer job opportunities. • Lack of job opportunities means lack of money. “Shocks” to household create downward spiral, and there are always shocks: • Health problem requires loan • Loan incurs interest • Interest payments prevent capital accumulation A government-sponsored mid-day meal in a Tamil Nadu school.

19. But, Households still Functional “Good enough” solutions exist: • Credit: All kinds of loans available • Healthcare: Traditional medicines, primary healthcare services • Agriculture information: agriculture extension, word of mouth, salesmen

20. Persistent Lack of Money… Bangalore guideline for 45 minutes of housework a day: Rs. 150 (US$3)… per month! Typical daily wage for agricultural labor: Rs. 60 per day (US$1.33; Rs. 30 for women) Public-school teacher’s salary varies from Rs. 3000 to Rs. 8000 (US$67-178) per month. Teachers on a school trip in Karnataka

21. But, Willingness to Spend Luxury and aspirational consumption not unusual: • Weddings costing Rs. 1 lakh (US$2200) in rural villages not infrequent (cf., avg. per capita GDP of ~US$700) • Mobile phone ring tones popular even at Rs. 10 (US$0.20) per song • Photography services to “enhance” photos popular. Cost range from Rs. 100 to Rs. 600 (US$2-12) A Photoshop’ed photo of a village bride (Maharashtra)

22. Information is Critical… General lack of information hampers quality of life: • Hygiene and healthcare knowledge shallow or superstitious • Poor fundamental and vocational education impedes career growth • Very practical knowledge not readily available: • Government schemes for the poor • Job information • Value of savings and investment A 12-year-old enrolled in typing lessons at a rural PC kiosk

23. But, Information not the Bottleneck Access to information not the problem: • Physical transfer of goods/cash often required. Transport infrastructure is poor. • Levels of formal education very low, even with literacy. Education required to distinguish good information from bad. • Other factors… • No faith in information source • Lack of time or money • Rigid mindsets A petty shop owner in Tamil Nadu

24. Computing Needs Minimal… Information processing rarely required… • Little use of documents, charts, spreadsheets. • Paper , pen, and manual calculation difficult to out-do: • Low cost • Lightweight, durable • Additional training not required

25. But, Technology can Help! To draw interest of community. To process and analyze aggregate data. To streamline or improve existing processes. Focus group on a potential technology-for-agriculture project

26. The Value of Being There Recap Removal or reconciliation of preconceptions is the primary value of fieldwork. General lessons are difficult to draw; contradictions abound. Fieldwork helps to identify the specific constraints that apply to a given domain or application. Women from Ariyapalayam, Tamil Nadu, husking corn

27. Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India • Warana Unwired • MultiPoint • Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

28. The Five Stages of Design Good design comes out of deepintuition into the user. Deeper Intuition

29. “Kids in the developing world need the newest technology, especially really rugged hardware and innovative software.” – Nicholas Negroponte, from the One Laptop Per Child website (2005) Exuberance

30. “The world's poorest two billion people desperately need healthcare, not laptops.” – Bill Gates (WRI Conference, Seattle, 2000) Realization

31. Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India • Warana Unwired • MultiPoint • Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

32. Warana Unwired Rajesh Veeraraghavan

33. Agriculture in India Over 60% of population in agriculture Mostly small and marginal farmers with 1-3 acres of land Average income of $1-2 per day Wonder

34. “Warana Wired Village Project” Sugarcane cooperative 70 villages, 70000 farmers Asia’s first “Bridging Digital Divide” pilot (1998) Wonder

35. Rural PC Kiosks Factory FTP PC Landline phone FTP PC enabled Kiosks Standard PC network FTP Warana Farmer DB Weigh stations 54 kiosks in 54 villages Cost: Rs.2.5 crores (US$500,000) Exuberance

36. Original Goals Allow farmers to… • Check market price information • Provide agricultural advice to farmers • Conduct land-record transactions • Surf the Internet • And, do it all with a private business model! Exuberance

37. Original Goals Allow farmers to… • Check market price information • Provide agricultural advice to farmers • Conduct land-record transactions • Surf the Internet • And, do it all with a private business model! Realization

38. Actual Use Internal account MIS: • Issue harvesting permit • Buy fertilizer through credit • Get paystub • Query quantity of sugarcane harvested Realization

39. Mounting Challenges High maintenance cost Intermittent power Network flaky PC not optimally used! Realization

40. The Problem Can we preserve the functionality of the existing PC based system while making the entire system cheaper and more effective? Realization

41. The Solution: Warana Unwired! PC-based kiosks SMS-enabled mobile phones Adjustment

42. Original PC-Based Set-Up Factory FTP PC Landline phone FTP PC-enabled kiosks Standard PC network FTP Warana Farmer DB Weigh stations Adjustment

43. GSM/CDMA SMS network New Mobile-Based Set-Up Factory SMS PC Windows Mobile Remote APIs SMS SMS-enabled phones Standard PC network SMS Warana Farmer DB Weigh stations Adjustment

44. Warana Unwired – Results 24-hour access to services • 6000 SMS processed 80% of requests for getting sugarcane output 1238 unique farmer requests Response time on harvesting data. • Original: 15 days PC: 2 days  Mobile: immediate Telcos’ interest has perked up. Neighboring cooperatives have expressed interest. Adjustment

45. Warana Unwired– Estimated Cost Savings Costs COST DETAILS: Common cost: Kiosk rent, Kiosk salary SMS cost: 50 paise/SMS GPRS per byte cost: 7000 times cheaper than SMS cost High Maintenance cost: UPS battery, Hard disk, printer, monitor Units: Rs Savings over PCs 1 million Rupees /54 villages/1 year ($22,000) No GPRS coverage Low end phones do not support GPRS SMS data plans are dropping Adjustment

46. Qualitative Results – Solution Truly Mobile Adjustment

47. Farmer Response Farmer from pilot village expresses initial disbelief… Once he sees it on the phone, he gets excited and says, “Barabar hai, eh tho bahuth accha hai.” “The information is exact and it is very good.” Farmer from another village demands access… We tried to tell them that we were in a testing phase, to ensure that the system worked; the farmer replied, “I saw messages are coming on the mobile phone. There is no problem. So where is the question of success?” Adjustment

48. Status So far… • Successful replacement of kiosks in seven villages. System in operation since October 2006. • Expansion to other villages in cooperative To do… • Analysis of feedback and surveys for concrete impact • Pilots with other cooperatives Adjustment

49. Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India • Warana Unwired • MultiPoint • Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

50. MultiPoint Udai Singh Pawar, Joyojeet Pal (UC Berkeley), Kentaro Toyama