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ICT for Development
“In a world that is diverse, that is connected, that belongs to everybody, we try to make a difference in what we do, in what we are and what we want to be� Jenny de Boer
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ICT for Development
“Businesses, governments, and donor agencies should stop thinking of the BoP as victims and instead start seeing them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs as well as value-demanding consumers� C.K. Prahalad
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Table of content Introduction
Challenges in ICT4D
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Work samples
Connect Teaching Pluralism Monitor Mobiscopy ICT Strategy and Capacity Building Election monitoring toolkit WAP and SMS-Email service for candy bar phones Capacity Building with ICT VOICeS Sustainable Energy Potential QuickScan Internship Human Factors International Cross-cultural study media usage
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About
Introducing Jenny de Boer Curriculum Vitae Jenny de Boer Contact
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ICT for Development
“Aid won’t make poverty history, which Western aid efforts cannot possibly do. Only the self-reliant efforts of poor people and poor societies themselves can end poverty, borrowing ideas and institutions from the West when it suits them to do so. But aid that concentrates on feasible tasks will alleviate the sufferings of many desperate people in the meantime. Isn’t that enough?” William Easterly
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This introduction contains an edited selection of the paper “A co-design innovation methodology: towards efficient delivery of mobile services in developing regions�
Challenges in ICT4D projects
As innovation often spurs out of constraints, the BoP context offers a fertile playing field for novel products and services that create social impact. While a number of successful pilots have been reported, few of these services have achieved scale and significant impact due to lack of scale. A number of factors can explain this phenomenon, for example the lack of proper regulatory framework, the difficulty for entrepreneurs to access financial instruments, lack of local knowledge and manpower or the lack of appropriate technologies. Challenges arise for example because of the unfamiliarity with the local context and the distinct infrastructure in emerging market or the appropriate business network and marketing. Without being exhaustive the BoP community has their own particularities that need to be taken into account when developing innovative mobile services. Cultural Identity Often the BoP is targeted as one group, which is true of you look at it from an income level. Products and services are however much more impacted by cultural values, which are different for different groups in the BoP. Though more than 80% of the population is Hindu in India, the remaining 20% has values from another religion which can lead to other understanding and needs of products and services.
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Challenges in design for the BoP
Cultural Diversity Next to the cultural identity also the cultural diversity is something to take into consideration in designing for the BoP. Different groups in India speak different languages, in South India people eat and prepare their food in a different manner than they do in the North of India. Though both of these groups are regarded as the BoP, their needs in sustainable cooking methods can be different. Low-end or local technology When designing products and services with a technological component it is important to be aware of the local resources and production techniques. Though a high-end technological solutions might seem the best, it is most likely too expensive and uncommon for most people in the BoP. Instead it is important to focus on technology that is more likely to be adopted and preferably can benefit the local economy. The goal of the designer is to do more with less as the end-user still expects a satisfactory product or service. Affordability The BoP are a group of customers that are most likely the most price conscious target group to design for. The financial burden a new product or service can put on already stretched family budgets should therefore pay-off in the added value of the product or service. Next to that the lack of saving capabilities imply to rethink business models and value chains. In that respect, mobile phone connections that can be paid for with pre-paid cards of low value have for example been a way to provide affordable mobile services. (ICT) illiteracy Both illiteracy and ICT illiteracy are common in the BoP community. This restricts a designer when designing products and services that are targeted on the BoP community. A written manual might not be sufficient, use cues in products have to be thought through from the perspective of people with limited or no experience with technology. Workarounds include proximal literacy (whereby a literate third party is acting on behalf of the customer), using voice modality or graphical representation. Infrastructure The BoP context has most of the time a poor infrastructure. This means that next to designing the product or service a designer should also consider how products and services can be distributed, marketed, produced, manufactured and sold. As usually specific experts that have particular knowledge on the context in which it should be sold are hired to take care of these aspects of the design. Instead in BoP context in which the local experts are scarce or missing, more of these activities should be considered while designing the product. Though there are many more particular challenges that a designer might face during a design process, the above mentioned are a few to give an impression of the challenge and complexity. Add to this that most educational institutions in emerging areas not yet focus specifically on designing for the BoP means there is a need for specialists from all over the world to ensure the BoP will get the innovation power it deserves. 9
ICT for Development
“In terms of the Third World, much needs designing. I must repeat that we cannot sit in plush offices in New York or Stockholm and plan things 'for them' and 'for their own good� Victor Papanek
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Organisaztion
War Child Holland Country
Republic of South Sudan Target group
Teachers Task
Guiding innovation process System design Research set-up
Connect Teaching Work in Progress
Challenge
Disclose educational content for various sources on 7� tablet computers Creating a sustainable innovation
Connect.Teaching wants to improve children’s learning in the new country of South Sudan through a focus on the quality of classroom teaching. Teachers will deliver learning-centred lessons by using an off-line database of curriculum-linked educational resources (national curriculum, lesson plans, teaching tips, model-teaching videos, images etc.) through a tablet computer. The database also operates on any computer and can be accessible in education offices and educational resource centres throughout the country. Throughout the one year pilot teachers will also receive continuous classroombased support from educational professionals based in the County Education Center.
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Connect Teaching Republic of South Sudan Teaching tool The tool contains two parts: (1) Teaching and learning materials, in which teachers can find educational content based on the curriculum and (2) professional development, in which teachers can find tips and tricks for their own professional development. The interface was developed in three iterations. Before piloting, the interface was evaluated by teachers, teacher trainers and the ministry of education and learning of the Republic of South Sudan in three iterations.
Conn@ct.Now The project is conceived through a collaboration involving War Child and TNO (Netherlands research institute) within the Conn@ct.Now programme, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands. Additional seed funding comes through IEEEAdvancing Technology for Humanity.
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Connect Teaching Working towards a replicable model After an initial review with the 22 teachers currently using the tablet recommendations for further development were formulated. At the same time information is gathered and discussed with external stakeholders to work towards a technical, social and economical sustainable scalable and replicable model.
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Organisaztion
Hivos Country
Zimbabwe Target group
Media Monitoring Organizations
Pluralism Monitor Work in Progress
Task
Front-end design Creating Ownership Challenge
Transfer complex innovative technology into functional requirements specification that serve the end-users
The Pluralism Monitor automatically monitors media content on pluriformity (diversity) and provides this information in a comprehensible and user-friendly way. Media pluralism is crucial in building a transparent and fair democracy. The monitor uses innovative text and media mining technologies, which are also used in for example Google searches. Furthermore the sentiment around certain topics can be measured. Currently the project is in the assessment phase in which the potential and feasibility for implementation of the monitor in Zimbabwe is under investigation. In June 2013 a Requirements Workshop took place in Harare, together with the envisioned end-users of the tool at MMPZ (media monitoring project Zimbabwe). The workshop gathered the most important user requirements as well as created ownership with end-users for adopting the tool in their organization. 15
Pluralism Monitor
Media Monitoring For media monitoring all the different sources of media are reviewed and tagged with certain meta-data and keywords. This is currently a manual process at MMPZ, which means that there are four people working full time to fill a database with all the articles and choose keywords for each of these articles. The database can be used to create certain reports that MMPZ is requested to make, for example around the elections in Zimbabwe. The research team composes the different sources of media from newspaper, radio and TV into a report which is also published on their website. An automatic monitor would help them in more focus on output instead of input, which gives them more power.
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Organization
Royal Tropical Institute Country
Uganda Target group
Rural health centres Task
Design and usability testing Challenge
Involvement of the right stakeholders for further development of the connector
Mobi scopy MobiScopy facilitates the empowerment of undereducated and under-experienced health care workers to meet quality assurance standards to more effectively microscopically identify and diagnose various pathogenic microbes. The system consists of a connector that fits the mobile camera telephone to a microscope, allowing accurate focusing and positioning for capturing highresolution images, and an IT platform. This permits rural health care workers to easily send, share, discuss and validate digital images of pathogens amongst their peer group and more experienced medical professionals. During a field study to Uganda members of the MobiScopy consortium successfully carried out a ‘proof of concept’ on the feasibility of this system. Jenny de Boer was involved in the field study. She was responsible for creating mockups of the interfaces on web and mobile, as well as gathering usability insights on the connector. She furthermore was involved in assessment of a feasible business model. 17
Interface design Mock-up of the collection of submissions. The interface a specialist would interact with and submit his consultations.
Mobi scopy Usability testing Responses of the rural lab workers were collected to assess the usability of the connector, as well as feasibility of the concept of MobiScopy.
Interface design Mock-up of the mobile form to submit samples to the database.
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Company
Hivos Country
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania Target group
Humanitarian organisations Task
Project Leadership Challenge
Capacitating local consultants with what is an ICT strategy and how to develop one. Develop an ICT strategy within one week
ICT Strategy and Capacity Building ICT tools can empower African organizations and allow for better (more effective and efficient) service delivery. The awareness of the potential of ICT for service delivery is still quite low. The Dutch NGO Hivos wants to facilitate their partner organizations in Eastern Africa to develop an ICT strategy. An ICT strategy is a long term plan which describes how the organization stores and exchanges information and facilitates internal and external communication, and by which means and along which roads it would like to reach it. Six organizations from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania were selected to develop an ICT strategy for; LVCT, Wougnet, RIC-NET, KRC, Kivulini and EANNASSO. It was (at the same time) necessary to capacitate local consultants with sufficient knowledge on how to develop an ICT strategy for more organizations in Eastern Africa, as this knowledge is currently lacking. This group of consultants came from Nailab (Kenya). The approached TNO to facilitate the process and capacitate the local consultants with knowledge on how to develop an ICT strategy. Jenny de Boer was coordinating 19 this project.
ICT Strategy and Capacity Building
Co-design process and Capacity Building Despite many unknowns beforehand, the ICT strategy design weeks were executed largely according to plan. In general there was only little variation needed in the programme; some activities changed in order, in priority, or in resulting information, in some of the weeks, but all topics of an ICT strategy were touched upon in each of the five weeks. In a five day program the TNO/Nailab team developed an ICT and marketing strategy on site, together with the stakeholders of the client organization. Activities included: site visits, interviews, participatory workshops and presentations. In preparation of the two co-design weeks consultants from TNO (Netherlands) and NaiLab (Kenya) collaborated through online channels, on defining the details of the workplan for the project weeks. Coaching was provided to Nailab in the preparation of and during the other co-design weeks. Preparation (remotely)
Co-design week (on site)
Analysis
MO
Synthesis
TU
Internal & External analysis
Current ICT model
SWOT
WE
IC(T) Needs assessment
TH
Business model
FR
Feed back
Co-design The approach resulted in an intense collaboration of staff, users, partners and management during the weeks.
SA
ICT Strategy
Action Plan
Debriefing
Coaching (remotely)
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ICT Strategy Each organization received an extensive slide deck with the results and findings of the co-design week. The graph below illustrates an envisioned timeline for implementation of the strategy in three phases; current, anticipated and ideal. As some tools were already available and easy to implement immediate follow-up after the co-design week was possible to benefit from the momentum that was created.
ICT Strategy and Capacity Building
ICT Strategy
ς ς ς
ANTICIPATED
ς ς ς ς ς
CURRENT
ς ς ς
Current Systems Zero or Low Cost Readily Available
IDEAL
Modifications and Tweaks Streamlining Education and Capacity Building
Organisational Changes Integration New Systems Significant Investment Training
Time
6 months
ς ς ς
Co-design Despite occasional prior hesitances by management team, each organization has shown commitment; resulting in sufficient to very active participation by managements and the boards.
12 months
ς ς ς ς ς
Skype Google Apps/ Thunderbird Semeni
18 months
ς
Intranet Epi Surveyor Dim Dim Mobile Solutions Dynamic Website
ς ς
CRM; Customer Relationship Management ERP; Enterprise Resource Planning Unified Communication
Tools, tutorials and trainings After the five co-design weeks it appeared that solutions to problems and needs do not differ on a technical level. Technical solutions can therefore be developed on a global level, benefiting from cost savings due to replicability. It is however necessary to illustrate per sector how tools can be beneficial for service delivery. This can be done in a (online/digital) tutorial, which can be distributed easily. Face to face training programmes should be developed and implemented per region due contextual and language differences as well as practical arrangements. Face to face trainings – Regional level Kenya LVCT
Uganda WOUG NET
RICNET
Tanzania KRC
Kivulini
EANNA SSO
Online/digital tutorials – Sector level HIV AIDS
Womens rights
Information centres
ICT Tool development - Global level Technical solutions
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Organization
Hivos Country
Namibia Target group
Namibian Society for Human Rights Task
Project Leadership and design
Election monitoring toolkit
Challenges
Creating ownership by end-users by means of co-design. Development of a working prototype within one week.
Elections are the cornerstone of creating a democratic political system and monitoring is an important part of the overall system. Monitoring supports the electoral process by instilling domestic and international legitimacy, by preventing disputes over the outcome of an election (reducing electoral violence), by giving parties greater confidence that the vote was free and fair. In developing countries, monitoring is often supported by international actors as well as a growing number of non-governmental organizations with an interest in spreading democracy and human rights. The Dutch NGO Hivos found that the activities for Election Monitoring for their partners in the African Continent could well be supported by means of ICTs. They approached TNO to help them with this new and innovative idea that required both technical expertise on ICTs as well as knowledge on innovation management. Jenny de Boer was coordinating this project and responsible for the interface design. 22
Election monitoring toolkit Interface design Together with NSHR (The Namibian Society for Human Rights) and Sangonet, an ICT partner from South Africa, a first iteration of the toolbox was created in July 2009. This toolbox contained several ICT tools, that were already available for free online, that could be useful for monitoring elections.
Prototyping The tool that allowed for SMS to web and visualisation of the SMS messages on web (using Ushahidi software), was implemented during the co-design week, which allowed for immediate feedback from NSHR.
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Co-design Co-design ensures ownership by (local) partners. Local champions (users, IT) are crucial for adoption and commitment during the process are crucial By using existing ICT tools ensured a fast delivery of a working ICT service
Election monitoring toolkit
Preparation (remotely)
Welc ome
Co-design week (on site) TU
Tour in office and enivronment
Analysis
WE Technical & User requirements, Select ICT tools TH
Pilot and follow-up The SMS to web tool was used by the 65 field monitors of NSHR during the Namibian Elections in November 2009. 265 messages were sent in the period from November 23rd to December 4th 2009. With the proof of concept, Hivos decided to involve their East African Human Rights partners in a Roundtable session in March 2010, which resulted in a group of partners per country that continued with using ICTs in their Monitoring processes.
Synthesis
FR
SA
System Design, Interface Design, Implementation
Feed back
SU
MO
Presentation, Demo, Training
Follow-up (remotely)
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Company
Undisclosed Country
India Target group
BoP Activities
Design of wireframes Challenge
Design interface for small screen devices Design mobile only Email service
WAP and SMS-Email service for candy bar phones The BoP community is a large group of customers that own less than 2 dollar a day. Despite their low income, many have access to a low-end mobile phone. However many ICT services are primarily developed for devices with a larger screen, and/or direct web access., of which Email is one of the foremost. Having access to Email and having your own Email address will bridge a part of the digital divide. This requires access to Email on low-end mobile phones (of which Nokia candy bar phones are the most used ones). The SMS and WAP Email service therefore targets users that have infrequent or no access to web via internet cafe; SMS and WAP Email is not a full Email experience, e.g. no access to sent emails, deleted emails, settings. Jenny de Boer made technical and design specifications for the WAP and SMS Email client. These were visualised in wireframes and a technical and graphic design team developed the specifications into a working prototype. 25
Wireframes SMS Email service By means of three letter coding in SMS messages users were able to open, read, write and send Emails without the need for web access
WAP and SMS-Email service for candy bar phones Wireframes WAP Email With a simplified version of a full Email service, by using limited graphical elements, users could use most basic functionality of an Email client on their low-end phones. First wireframes were created to develop the logic of the service. These wireframes were transformed to attractive graphic interfaces Title Bar
Title Bar
Rec. Email
unre ad
Received Email (23)
< Previous
Contact Name
Karen Surname
first line of subject unre ad
Contact Name first line of subject
read
Contact Name first line of subject
read
Contact Name first line of subject
read
Contact Name first line of subject
read
Contact Name
first line of subject < Previous Next > help Help me Del Email
Delete Emails
main menu
Main menu
Next >
full header
Next weeks appointment Hi Peter This is the Email Body text Regards Karen attac hme nt
This Email contains a file, click here to open it
Reply
Forward
Del Email
Delete Email Rec. Email Received Emails Main menu Main menu Help me < Previous
help
Next >
Sign out
Sign out
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Company
ESA Country
Africa Consortium
TNO, IICD, ActNow, Avanti Target group
Professionals in ICT for Development projects Task
Designing and implementing a reference model for capacity building with ICT Challenge
Creating a comprehensive reference model (toolkit) for Capacity building projects using ICT
Capacity Building through ICT Capacity Building projects are initiatives usually provided to developing country societies aimed at increasing competencies in ICT technology and applications in order to meet the Millennium Goals set by the United Nations. The deliverable of this project has been constructed as a “tool kit” or reference model. This tool kit is relevant for the following types of person: Programme Managers – a person who oversees a set of projects in addressing a geographical region, theme or strategic goal. Project Initiators - person or persons, sometimes the beneficiary who identifies the need for a project. Project Managers – a person responsible for managing the implementation of a specific project. These actors can operate in three (pre-, run-, post-) phases of a programme or project.
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Validating the reference model Through field studies the contents of the reference model was validated. Mali and Ivory Coast were chosen as the pilot countries, through NGO partners. Two visits to each location resulted in valuable feedback for the final delivery to ESA.
Capacity Building with ICT
Reference model The reference model includes a set of guidelines (checklists) to successfully deploy ICT solutions in developing countries. These guidelines span four sectors in particular (healthcare, education, civil society, governance) and include elements such as risk analysis, sustainability issues, ownership or project management. The reference model targets three main categories of users (programme manager, project initiator, project manager) and looks at activities in three successive phases (pre-, running, post-). Templates are presented to facilitate the application of the concepts proposed by the reference model.
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Consortium
a.o. WWW foundation, W3C, VU Amsterdam, Orange, CSIR, ESMT, CRS4, Sahel Eco
VOICeS
Country
Mali and Senegal Target group
Low-literate and illiterate people. Health professionals (Senegal) and farmers (Mali) Practitioners and researchers Task
Developing an adoption methodology for economic and social viable business model. Challenge
Create a comprehensive overview of available literature. Transfer of knowledge to the practice of the pilots.
The VOIce-based Community-cEntric mobile Services for social development (VOICeS) project focus on the development of VOICE based services with robust, available, easy to use, native language technology. The BoP context can be characterized by high illiteracy or literacy in marginal languages, lack of broadband infrastructure, and low technical capabilities, which makes that these kind of services have a potential, especially on the short term. BoP entrepreneurs with the ambition to structurally cater to this market face different challenges. On the one hand, they need to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;go localâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to ensure that their product fits the very locally orientated heterogeneous contexts that form the BoP, build social relationships and trust, thereby ensuring local ownership. On the other hand, working towards economic sustainability calls for strategies of scaling, or at least a scalable business model. Tools and methodological guidelines to guide the process of innovation would be highly beneficial. 29
VOICeS Six methodological guidelines Six methodological guidelines were formulated that need to be considered in each of the phases of an innovation project..
Collaboration building and cooperation BoP projects need multiple stakeholders on different levels, with different backgrounds to work together. Therefore it is needs to strategically choose partners and manage the partnership professionally. Business modelling and financing Sustainable ICT business models for the BoP are scarce and it is challenging to find initial investment when outcomes are uncertain. Creative ways to acquire funding (microfinancing, crowdfunding) and innovative business model creation is needed for the adoption of the service. Scaling up Innovation Many projects fail after initial pilot phase. For sustainable solutions scaling up is crucial, and developing a scaling strategy early in the project is needed to ensure sustainability of the project after the pilot phase. Co-creation participation and social embeddedness There is a lack of knowledge of market demand and target group characteristics in the BoP. Participatory approaches should be used to ensure ownership by end-users and appropriateness of technology. Institutes, policies and strategic alignment Policies and policy makers of governmental and global institutions will have influence on the adoption of the service. Lobbying with these institution should therefore be incorporated in the development process. Capabilities and evaluation Reaching social goals canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be done without increasing peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capabilities. Incorporate proper evaluation mechanisms to ensure the project has the impact it was supposed to have.
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VOICeS Strategic focus In each of the phases of the innovation process the strategic focus can be on the economic viability (scalability) of the business model, or on the social viability (local ownership). In each of the steps the methodological guidelines are relevant, but some are more relevant than others, depending on the focus. This framework is suitable for MNCs wanting to adapt their generic design to the local context, as well as BoP entrepreneurs that want to scale their locally adopted service to more regions.
@@ @@
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Partner
ICCO Target group
Organizations that wish to implement sustainable energy interventions financed with carbon credits Task
Project Leader Interaction Design Challenge
Strip down the full SEPS scan variables into a Quickscan in which a meaningful result can be presented within only a few steps.
Sustainable energy potential Quickscan
Website:
http://seps.wizkit.nl The Sustainable Energy Potential QuickScan (SEPS) delivers a first and rough indication whether carbon money could be an important component in financing a project to make it economically viable and it indicates whether the chosen renewable energy technology fits well in the local context.
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Sustainable energy potential Quickscan Online tool The web based tool has four different steps. A user arrives on the homepage which gives some basic explanation. The first page of the scan asks for some basic information followed by questions about the current way of cooking and lighting. These questions also include social-economical factors that might have an effect on the potential (e.g. when people are used to cooking inside, behavioural change is needed to cook outside, which might decrease the potential of the intervention). The result page gives a detailed description of the result for each alternative: highefficiency cookstove, biogas installation, solar cooker, PV lighting.
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Internship Company
Human Factors International Country
India Target group
BoP Activities
Participating in several projects Challenge
NA
Human Factors International Since 1981 HFI has focused on software usability. Since a few years HFI India is also doing projects in the field of Contextual Innovation (CI). Exploring (certain aspects of) the Indian market for multinational companies such as Intel and HP by using probing material and ethnographic tools. I worked in Mumbai office, India, Managing director for India is Apala Lahiri Chavan. The approximately 80 people that work there are mostly Indian natives, however not all from Mumbai. On the 4th of August 2005 I arrived in Mumbai. The three months that followed went very fast. I learned a lot, not only from the work I did at Human Factors International (HFI) but also about India, about the culture and culture differences. I was amazed by itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diversity, about the differences as well as the similarities to what I am familiar with. On the next page you can find an overview of the projects I participated in. 34
Internship Human Factors International Usability test BBC BBC asked HFI to test the prototype of the new website. The focus in the test was on capturing difficulties that arise with the new website. Indian natives as well as expats were involved in the user test. I was responsible for data logging. Usability test Simply phone Vodafone had asked HFI to test a new mobile phone concept: the Simply phone. Two physical and two digital prototypes were used to test different aspects of this mobile phone concept. The aim was to get insight in what was good and what was bad on the phone as well as finding out how the target group liked the new mobile phone concept. The test was carried out in Europe in three different countries and I was responsible for setting up the test protocols
Home in the top of the BoP @@ Usability research of Elderly phone @@
Ethnographic study on `Home at the top of the BoP` Studying the meaning of “home” in the “top of the BoP”. The bottom of the economic pyramid is the largest group of Indian society. The top tier of this group is about to jump to the middle class. To provide them with proper housing that fits their daily life (and daily income) they can keep on growing in their economic welfare. This research is to make an overview of the opportunities in the housing area. Where to improve and what to provide in future houses? I helped in formulating research questions, writing the protocol.
Company
Human Factors International HP Labs India Country
India, China, USA Target group
Middle income households Activities
Intern Visualisations Challenge
Not all findings were documented
Cross cultural study media usage Find out the cultural similarities and differences in perception, acceptance and use of technology and media in the home environment in three different countries+ India, China and USA. Literature studies were used as a basis for the fieldwork. Often after one phase it was decided what method to apply to the next phase, eventually ending up with a clear picture of the cultural differences and similarities of media technology in the home environment. Families in China, India and the USA were used in the fieldwork. I got involved in this project through my internship at Human Factors International. I entered the project when it was already months on its way. I was responsible for visualising the results and conclusions from the fieldwork. Some of them are shown on the next page
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Internship Human Factors Internatio nal
ICT for Development
A yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long (co-creation) process is necessary to ensure adoption by local communitiesâ&#x20AC;? Simanis and Hart
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This interview contains an edited selection of the interview in Delft Integraal nr 2, 2011, p 16-18 >
Introducing Jenny de Boer
Jenny de Boer (1981) provides support to innovation processes within organisations. She spends the majority of her time working with organisations in developing countries. She has worked in India, Mali, Namibia, Uganda, Kenya., Senegal, The Republic of South Sudan and Zimbabwe. Why did you originally decide to study industrial design engineering? “As a child, I was very creative and in high school I had no difficulties with mathematics or physics. I observe people, looking at the way they move and what they do and then try to respond to that or influence that. I am quite structured and can plan many steps in advance. Industrial design engineering needs all those competences and for me it felt like the only logical step to take after high school.” How did you first become interested in development work? “It was during an internship in India. While studying industrial design engineering, I learnt to involve the end user in the innovation process. This involves trying to understand the end users, their behaviour, convictions and emotions. It’s an extremely valuable approach. In India I noticed that I tended to apply many of my own Western ideas in the process of finding a solution to an initial need. In order to filter these out, the solution I devised was sent back and forth several times between me and the people in India. This was something I found 40 particularly
About the author Jenny de Boer
interesting. What’s more, a good design solution can really make a major difference in this sector. There is still so much room for growth, socially and economically, in developing countries. I would like to contribute to this growth by using my educational background and talents.” Are you an idealist? “I do not believe that it’s possible to find a sustainable or long-term solution for problems if there is absolutely no commercial interest involved. I see it as a market rather than as aid, but I think it is important to always keep the goal of a positive change in living conditions and quality of life in mind. So my answer is no, it does not feel like idealism. There’s so much you can learn from another culture and that is something that motivates and enriches me personally, so in a way I also do it for my own good.” How do you approach the work? “In my current practice I am a design consultant in a not for profit organization. I always work closely together with the client and the end-users of the new service or product. I feel that by doing this the chance that the knowledge and solution will be adopted is greatly increased. This approach also prevents a designer or any other expert from becoming dogmatic as what might have worked in one environment can fail in another. By listening to the end-users and the specific needs of the client, you will find solutions that have to be creative as well as simple.” Can you give an example? “An ICT strategy needed to be developed for an HIV/AIDS organisation in Kenya (page 16). I facilitated a process in which the HIV/AIDS organisation was involved, together with local ICT consultants and our client. We asked such questions as: what information and communication problems do you have, what improvements are needed and what tools could you use in the process? Occasionally, the solution is something simple like the use of Skype for internal communications. But because all the parties contributed to the process, they were able to see from the outset what problems can be solved and the adoption of the service is much higher."
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Curriculum Vitae Jenny de Boer Education 2012 - 2013
Leiden University (Leiden, the Netherlands) Part-time student Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology
1999 - 2007
University of Technology Delft (Delft, the Netherlands) BSc Industrial Design Engineering (2004), MSc Design for Interaction, Industrial Design Engineering Thesis: Beads; an innovative ICT concept based on the Social Emotional context of Young Professionals (8/10)
2002
University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) Exchange Programme Faculty Industrial Design Engineering
1994 - 1999
High School Het Marnix College (Ede, The Netherlands) Graduating subjects: Dutch, English, Science, Math level A and B, Business Economics, Drawing
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Curriculum Vitae Jenny de Boer Work Experience
2011 - now
2008 – 2009
2007 – 2010
2005
TNO (Delft, The Netherlands) Applied Scientific Research Institute Medior consultant Organizational Innovation and Human Behaviour Part-time Business developer ICT for Development Vodafone (Düsseldorf, Germany) Contracting consultant
TNO ICT (Groningen, the Netherlands) Junior Consultant User Centred Innovation Part-time Business Developer ICT for Development (since 2009) Human Factors International (Mumbai, India) Intern Publications and Presentations
2013 2013 2013
2012 2012
2012 2012 2012 2011 2011 2010
2009
2009 2008 2008
Boer, J. de, M. Steen, B. Posthumus Six methodological guidelines for Organizing Inclusive Innovation Projects AIE conference, Oxford UK. Posthumus, B., C. Stroek, J. de Boer Strategic focus in Inclusive Innovation Projects AIE Conference, Oxford UK. Posthumus, B. M. v.d. Homberg , J. de Boer Organizing innovation to deliver financial services to the Base of the Pyramid, IST Africa, Nairobi Kenya. Boer, J. de BoP insights Implementing Inclusive Innovations, Amsterdam. Boer, J. de, M. v.d. Homberg Tutorial on Organizing innovation in Base-of-the-Pyramid projects IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference, Seattle US. Boer, J. de, M. Steen & E. van Sandick Organizing Innovation in Baseof-the-Pyramid projects TNO report. Boer J. de Adoption methodologies Presentation in Web Foundation workshop, M4D, New Delhi, India. Boer, J. de Presentation Leveraging ICT business models for the BoP M4D, New Delhi, India. Interview in Delft Integraal nr 2, 2011 about winning the Marina van Damme scholarship link Mobile Meet-up Dakar: presentation on design in mobile service development Boer, J. de & N. Chevrollier Co-design innovation methodology; towards efficient delivery of mobile phone services in developing countries M4D, Kampala, Uganda. Boer, J. de, S. Limonard & A. Odding Disclosing digital archives on an iPod: pilot results from the Dutch Glass Museum Digital Strategies for Heritage, Rotterdam. Boer J. de, Chevrollier N., Bellen met Safaricom, Telecom Magazine (December) Steen, M., J. de Boer, L. Kuiper-Hoyng & F. Sleeswijk-Visser Co-design: Practices, Challenges and Lessons Learned MobileHCI, Amsterdam. Boer, J. de & L. Kuiper Challenges and merits of co-design of mobile concepts MobileHCI, Amsterdam.
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Curriculum Vitae Jenny de Boer Projects
2013 - now
2012
2012
2011 - now
2011 - 2013
2011 - 2012
2011 - 2012 2011 - 2012
2011
2011 2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
Pluralism Monitor (Zimbabwe) Developing a pluralism monitor to automatically monitor the diversity of media content with text, data and sentiment mining EcoDriver (Europe) Development of concepts that stimulate drivers to drive more environmentally friendly Printed Electronics (the Netherlands) Organizing a set of workshops to transfer knowledg eabout Printing Electronics (on paper) to SMEs in graphical industry Conn@ct.Now (Uganda, Burundi, Colombia, South Sudan, Sudan) Creating ownership for ICT innovations that help children that have been in war to get a better quality of life. VOICeS (Senegal, Mali) Developing mobile phone services based on voice technologies for illiterate and low literate target groups in Sahel regions. Volunteers in crisis organizations (the Netherlands) Research into motivation of volunteers to be volunteers. Development of an online tool that can stimulate of becoming a volunteer SEPS Quick scan (Developing Regions) Development of the sustainable energy potential quick scan Organizing Innovation in Base-of-the-Pyramid projects (Global) Research into the key aspects of inclusive innovation projects, based on literature and case studies Co-create to Contribute (the Netherlands) Design of a booklet that displays TNO project in Innovation for Development TNO in the picture: Developing innovative concepts to disseminate TNO project results Privacy symbols for websites (the Netherlands) Feasibility study of implementation of standard elements for privacy policies and terms and conditions for websites STAR (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania) Co-designing an ICT strategy for human rights organizations in Eastern Africa. Capacity Building. Emerging market strategy (global) Development of possible emerging market strategies for Orange/France Telecom. MobiScopy (Uganda) Improving diagnosis of malaria in health labs in Uganda through connecting mobile phone technology with a microscope. TNO.nl redesign Redesigning the TNO website, inventory of requirements from various stakeholders within TNO and their most important clients Postcode Tool for KPN Wholesale (the Netherlands) Design an online tool for clients of KPN Wholesale clients to check the availability of glass fibre in specific areas Wholesale Monteur Levering (Wholesale Mechanic Delivery) Develop the process for mechanics that need to deliver connections to the homes of people
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Curriculum Vitae Jenny de Boer Projects (continued)
2010
2010
2009
2009
2009 2009
2008 - 2009 2008 - 2009
2007 - 2008
2007
2007 2007
GhettoRadio Evaluation of the radio station in Kenya, and advising on the way forward (especially on business model) Green Indicators for GIS Watch Feasibility Study for Green Indicators to benchmark the level of carbon footprint of countries Election Monitoring with ICT (Namibia) Co-designing an election monitoring toolkit for human rights organizations in Africa. Quick Scan ICT for War Child Holland (conflict-affected areas) Evidence Based Research into possible ICT tools that can improve the effectiveness of War Child Holland's programmes. iPod application for the Glass Museum Leerdam (the Netherlands) Usability research and re-design SMS/WAP Email (India) Design and detail wireframes for an SMS/WAP Email client on basic phones Vodafone 360 (Europe) Detailing wireframes for the Vodafone 360 portal on mobile phones Capacity Building with ICT (Mali, Ivory Coast) Developing a reference model that describes how to implement ICT projects in developing countries successfully. CitizenMedia (Europe) Research and development of co-design methodology for mobile user generated content services All IP pilot (the Netherlands) Design and implement pilot phase of service development for KPN glass fibre New Media New Millennium (Europe) Research project to develop scenarioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of future media usage Personal Network Pilot (Europe) Research project to see how technically and practically the concept of cloud computing can become part of daily life
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Curriculum Vitae Jenny de Boer Courses Industrial Design Engineering â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Design for Interaction (Master) Design Theory and Methodology Applied Research Methodology and technology in Design Professional Design Practice Integral Design Project Product Understanding Use and Experience Context and Conceptualisation Interactive Technology Design Observational Research Visual Communication Design Reflection on Designing Project Exploring Interaction Project Usability Testing & Redesign Preparation for Graduation Graduation Project Vision in Product Design Workshop/Design Competition Project Organisation Internship Deisgn Project 5 Studt Abroad
Courses Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (Bachelor) Anthropology of the Information Society Development Issues Anthropology of Sub â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Saharan Africa Other Courses Visual Anthropology (documentary) at Koffer & Blik mediaproducties Talent Develpment Programme at TNO Various Dance , Yoga and Drama courses Other Activities
Helping my parents in their company group accommodation de Heidewachter and Bed&Breakfast de Vogelvlucht (Otterlo, the Netherlands) Organizing a festival and conference at the student association i.d of the faculty Industrial Design Engineering (Delft, the Netherlands) Organizing theater weeks for youth between 12 and 16 years old Volunteer for the yearly youth theatre festival (location manager) Part-time job at Theatre de Veste in Delft (the Netherlands) Part-time job as Receptionist at the headquaters of Landal GreenParks in Voorburg (the Netherlands) Part-time job as Forum manager of the Global Teenager project at IICD (the Hague, the Netherlands)
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Curriculum Vitae Jenny de Boer Facts
NAME Jenny de Boer, MScBSc MOBILE NUMBER +31 6 42 10 20 11
E-MAIL jennydeboer@yahoo.com SKYPE ID Jnndbr
TWITTER @jnndbr
LINKED-IN http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennydeboer
PORTFOLIO http://issuu.com/jennydeboer/docs/magazine_jenny_de_boer_ict4d CURRENT ADDRESS Boreelstraat 17b 3039 WG Rotterdam The Netherlands
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH September 12 1981 Groningen, The Netherlands NATIONALITY Dutch LANGUAGES Dutch: mother tongue English: fluent German: basic SKILLS MS Office (xls, ppt, doc, visio) Adobe Suite CHARACTER Creative, passionate, practical, result driven, pragmatic MBTI: INFJ HOBBYS yoga, meditation, painting, dancing, singing, writing, travelling, sewing, acting, photography
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Š Jenny de Boer 2013 jennydeboer@yahoo.com +31 642102011