Week 1 |
Monday Aug 27 |
Topic:
The state of the world and technology trends I
|
Reading:
- Please spend some time familiarizing yourself with the United Nations Development Program,
"Human Development Report 2005", which focuses on global inequality. To access it, go to: http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005/.
If you are interested, reports from 1990-present are available from http://hdr.undp.org.
- Gapminder.org is a excellent site
that uses visualization software to make sometimes impersonal human development statistics come alive. In addition to looking around the
site, we highly recommend that you watch Gapminder founder Hans Roslings' lecture at the 2006 TED conference.
|
Assignments:
Pre-Assessment Assignment
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Aug 29 |
Topic:
The state of the world and technology trends II
|
Reading:
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Week 2 |
Monday Sep 3
|
Topic:
No class: Labor Day
|
Reading:
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Sep 5 |
Topic:
Capacity building I
|
Reading:
- WATCH the video, Waters of Ayole
This documentary is just under 30 minutes long.
Some things to think about per the documentary:
- Early on, from the government extension worker's perspective,
why were the pumps failing?
- From the citizens of Ayole's perspective, why were the pumps failing?
- How did the government extension workers change
their approach with the village of Ayole?
- Name and describe all the roles instituted in Ayole to
manage their water source.
- How the the roles and means of sustaining the pump
follow traditional lines, how did they differ?
- How did the village's organization for sustaining its water
source have impacts beyond clean, safe water?
- Loka Institute: History of CBPR
http://www.loka.org/cbpr.htm
This short piece provides some history to community-based participatory research.
- What is Participatory Research:
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/hpsa/files/cornwall_and_jewkes.pdf
This is a classic article that describes participatory research.
But little literature exists about using participatory research
in technology for development. It is used in HCI research, but
it tends to be in industrialized countries, and with technically
sophisticated users. How might this apply to technology research
in underserved communities?
|
Assignments:
Debate Teams
|
Due Today:
Pre-Assessment Assignment
|
Week 3 |
Monday Sep 10 |
Topic:
Capacity building II
|
Reading:
- Rapid ethnography: time deepening strategies for
HCI field research, by David Millen
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/347642.347763
- The Missing Piece: Human-Driven Design and Research
in ICT and Development
by Brand & Schwittay
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Sep 12 |
Topic:
History and politics of development
|
Reading:
- Inaugural Address of Harry Truman, 20 January 1949, available online at:
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/truman.htm
- W.W. Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1960), Chapter 2, "The Five Stages of Growth--A Summary," pp. 4-16, available online at: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ipe/rostow.htm
We don't expect you to read the chapter by Rostow on the
stages of growth in detail. Rather, you should give it a
good skim (i.e., be able to state clearly and succinctly
what his five stages of growth are). This chapter presents a
view of growth that was central much of development
economics and theory until recently. As you are skimming,
you should think about why Rostow's model might not be
ideally suited to this task. One way to tackle this question
is to identify what sources of empirical evidence he used to
construct his model. One other thing to think about is why
the subtitle of his book is "A Non-Communist Manifesto."
- Richard Sclove, Democracy and Technology (New York: The
Guilford Press, 1995), Chapter 1: "Spanish Waters, Amish
Farmers: Two Parables of Modernity," pp. 3-10.
- Sheila Jasanoff, "New Modernities: Reimagining Science,
Technology and Development," Environmental Values, 2002, 11:
253-276.
|
Assignments:
HW#1: Participatory Research
|
Due Today:
|
Week 4 |
Monday Sep 17 |
Topic:
Challenges of poverty I
|
Reading:
In preparation for this class and the next, we ask that you complete the following readings and watch the movie described below. Please read the instructions carefully and come to class prepared with your solution to the exercise described at the end of this reading assignment.
- *BEFORE* you do the reading or watch the movie, think about your images of poverty. What words would you use to describe people living in poverty? What images would you anticipate seeing in a story of poverty? Note your answers to these questions and bring your notes with you to both classes this week.
- Next, read the following sections of ?Banker to the Poor,? by the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus:
Introduction, Chapter 3&4 (sent via email). Pay special attention to the author?s motivations, plans, challenges, and strategies to overcome these challenges as described in the reading.
- After you have completed the reading, watch the movie "Children of Heaven". It is available on reserve in the library (or you should be able to rent it from some local video stores if you prefer).
The film was made by Iranian director Majid Majidi in Tehran, and has English subtitles. It is 89 minutes long, so be sure to plan for the time.
Our intention in having you watch the movie is to portray a story of living in poverty. Each story of living in poverty, as in each story of living in general, is unique. Nevertheless, it does give a glimpse into a life that is likely different than your own, and we would like to discuss it in that vein.
- *WHILE* you are watching the movie, consider:
- Does this match your view of living in poverty?
- How are the human relationships depicted in the film? Are they believable?
- Are the relationships similar or different than you would expect?
- What are the challenges the family has in the film?
- Are these challenges unique to living in poverty? Unique to living in Tehran?
- Is the film far from reality? A romanticization of a poor community?
- *AFTER* you have completed the reading and watched the movie, write down a summary of your thoughts on the following exercise and bring your notes to class:
As a part of Carnegie Mellon University?s global outreach efforts, you have been chosen to evaluate the most pressing needs of the community depicted in the movie. Write down 5 bullet points on how you would evaluate the community?s needs, given a timeline of 3 months and a budget of US$5,000. Keep in mind that we don?t expect you to come up with an elaborate plan and extensive reasoning ? this is mostly a thought exercise, and you will use your evaluation plans as part of an in-class exercise.
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Sep 19 |
Topic:
Challenges of poverty II
|
Reading:
|
Assignments:
Introduction to project
|
Due Today:
|
Week 5 |
Monday Sep 24 |
Topic:
Economics I
|
Reading
Why Living in a Rich Society Makes Us Feel Poor
http://partners.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20001015mag-frank.html
Achieving Sustainable Development
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/sust_dev1/sust_dev1.html
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Sep 26 |
Topic:
Economics II
|
Reading:
Project (Techno-Economic) Evaluation
http://www.ce.cmu.edu/pmbook/06_Economic_Evaluation_of_Facility_Investments.html
This is a link to an online textbook on the Fundamentals of Economic Evaluation (Project evaluation).
It is a bit long, so only worry about the basics --
Sections: 6.1-6.6 (rest is FYI, for reference).
The textbook is geared for projects in the civil engineering domain (somewhat) but the basics are the same.
|
Assignments:
HW#2 (Economics) [*EXTENDED* due Oct 12 end of day]
|
Due Today:
HW#1 (Participatory Research)
|
Week 6 |
Monday Oct 1 |
Topic:
Planning for sustainability |
Reading:
Jacques Panchard; Seshagiri Rao; T.V. Prabhakar; H.S. Jamadagni; Jean-Pierre
Hubaux, "COMMON-Sense Net: Improved Water Management for Resource-Poor
Farmers via Sensor Networks," Information and Communication Technologies
and Development, 2006. ICTD '06. International Conference on , vol., no., pp.22-33,
May 2006 (Officially available from IEEE, but much quicker, for some reason,
to download from the author.)
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Oct 3 |
Topic:
TFDC examples I |
|
Reading:
Review of Research on Rural PC Kiosks, Editors: Renee Kuriyan
and Kentaro Toyama, PhD, http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem/kiosks/Kiosks%20Research.doc (Notice
that this is a link to a Microsoft Word doc, so your browser will likely download
it, not view it.)
Reading Out of the "Idiot Box": Same-Language
Subtitling on Television in India, by Kothari, Pandey, and Chudgar
http://mitpress.mit.edu/journals/pdf/ITID-2-1_23_0.pdf
Not
required, but excellent additional information on
telecentres, particularly the first few pages of
history: Using Stakeholder Theory
to Analyze Telecenter Projects , Savita Bailur, http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/itid.2007.3.3.61
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
Project report #1
|
Week 7 |
Monday Oct 8 |
Topic:
TFDC examples II |
Reading: There is no reading assignment for this class.
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Oct 10 |
Topic:
Evaluating impact
|
Reading:
Richard Heeks, "Failure, Success and Improvisation of Information Systems Projects in Developing Countries"
References to skim through now and return to when you are doing your simulated project:
USAID Technical
Note 10, "Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for Title II
Development-oriented Projects," available online at: http://www.fantaproject.org/downloads/pdfs/TN10_MEFramework.pdf
USAID Technical Note 11, "Evaluating Title II
Development oriented Multi-Year Assistance Projects,"
available online at: http://www.fantaproject.org/downloads/pdfs/TN11_MYAP.pdf
Both are nutrition related, but deal with monitoring
and evaluation in a very concise (4 pages) and clear manner.
Links on monitoring and evaluation:
The Conflict Resolution Information Source Monitoring Guide Collection
Development Gateway's Evaluation Community Page
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
HW#2 (Economics) [*EXTENDED* due Oct 12 end of day]
|
Week 8 |
Monday Oct 15 |
Topic:
Technological infrastructure / Case Analysis I
|
Reading:
Read pg 54-61 (Agriculture) of the book Information and Communications Technology for Sustainable Development: Defining a Global Research Agenda.
It's a very easy read, and you can skim other sections as you wish, esp. energy.
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Oct 17 |
Topic:
In-class debate
|
Reading:
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
Debate talking points
|
Week 9 |
Monday Oct 22 |
Topic:
NGOs
|
Reading:
Peter Willetts, "What is a Non-Governmental Organization?"
Chandasi Pandya, "PRIVATE AUTHORITY AND DISASTER RELIEF: The Cases of Post-Tsunami Aceh and Nias," Critical Asian Studies, 2006, 38(2): 298-308.
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Oct 24 |
Topic:
Technology design |
Reading:
There is no reading assignment for this class.
|
Assignments:
HW#3 (Case Study Analysis)
|
Due Today:
Project report #2
|
Week 10 |
Monday Oct 29 |
Topic:
Case study analysis II
|
Reading:
The case study examines an SMS-based service developed by a South African pharmacology
researcher to help poor TB patients remember to take their lifesaving medications.
Although the technology was initially developed for low-socio-economic-status
TB patients in Cape Town, it is currently being enhanced and commercialized for
sale in the developed world.
Please examine the following materials (which are all short):
1) Case study of Compliance Services on bridges.org: Compliance Service Uses SMS for TB treatment and click on "Full Report" in the upper right hand corner. NOTE: This document can only be opened with FIREFOX.
2) General information on non-compliance: Non-Compliance
3) Description of the more developed version of the technological system from the case study, called Simpill: Simpill Medication Dispenser
4) Video of a news story about Simpill that recently aired on an Austin, TX television station: Smart Pillbox for Forgetful Patients (Scroll down the page for a link to the video.)
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Oct 31 |
Topic:
Case study analysis III |
Reading:
There is no reading assignment for this class.
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Week 11 |
Monday Nov 5 |
Topic:
Microfinance and access to markets
|
Reading:
Martin Fisher, "Income Is Development: KickStart’s Pumps Help Kenyan Farmers Transition to a Cash Economy"
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Nov 7 |
Topic:
Fortune at the BOP discussion
|
Reading:
- Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid - Prahalad & Hammond
http://pdf.wri.org/whatworks_serving_profitably.pdf [focus only on the main paper, before the appendices]
- Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid - A Mirage
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID923366_code561150.pdf
?abstractid=914518&mirid=1
- Prahalad's response to "Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid - A Mirage"
http://www.nextbillion.net/files/Prahalad%20-%20Response%20to%20
Mirage%20at%20the%20BOP.pdf
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
HW#3 (Case Study Analysis)
|
Week 12 |
Monday Nov 12 |
Topic:
Intellectual Property, Open Source and Legal/Political context
|
Reading:
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Nov 14 |
Topic:
No Class: Project work
|
Reading:
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
Project report #3
|
Week 13 |
Monday Nov 19 |
Topic:
No Class: Project work
|
Reading:
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Nov 21
|
Topic:
No Class: Thanksgiving Holiday
|
Reading:
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Week 14 |
Monday Nov 26
|
Topic:
No Class: Project work
|
Reading:
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Nov 28
|
Topic:
No Class: Project work
|
Reading:
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
Project report #4
|
Week 15 |
Monday Dec 3 |
Topic:
Student discussions on lessons learned and future directions
|
Reading:
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|
Wednesday Dec 5 |
Topic:
Final lecture: lessons learned and future directions
|
Reading:
|
Assignments:
|
Due Today:
|