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explored mini-QWERTY (“thumb”) key- boards. Our subjects in this study also averaged respectable desktop typing speeds (60 words per minute), even if.
Wearable Computing Editor: Thad E. Starner



Georgia Institute of Technology



[email protected]

Wearable Computing for the Developing World Thad E. Starner

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he project was simple to describe: create a “world computer” that could assist the developing world in leapfrogging the industrial stage of economic development. The World Center for Computing and Human Resources initiative, instigated by Jean-Jacques Servan Schreiber in the early 1980s, attracted some of the most famous names in computing: Danny Hillis, Alan Kay, Marvin Minsky, Nicholas Negroponte, Seymour Papert, and Raj Reddy, to name a few. These and other researchers carried out initial experiments with 6502 machines such as the Apple II, Atari 400, and Atari 800 and established a pilot project in Senegal. In the end, the expense of the computers and the weight of politics limited the project. Yet, several new efforts are reexamining the concept, commonly termed information and communication technologies (ICT) for development. What’s making today’s researchers and entrepreneurs optimistic about the chances this time? According to Raj Reddy, who heads the PCtvt project at Carnegie Mellon University, one difference is today’s computing focus on communications rather than data processing. As Tapan Parikh stated in IEEE Pervasive Computing’s special issue on smart phones, “this vision carries a broad mandate—allowing billions of

people access to services as important and varied as health care, education, and financial and governmental services.”1 The focus on communications is indeed key. However, several recent trends and developments are making the current climate particularly favorable to such efforts. These include store-and-forward networking based on wireless standards

Store-and-forward methods are amenable to certain types of mobile ad hoc wireless networks, which can be much less expensive to deploy than traditional systems.

and commodity hardware, successful business models for developing regions, low- and alternative-power devices, and an industry focus on providing a desktop-equivalent experience on mobile handsets.

STORE-AND-FORWARD WIRELESS NETWORKING The copper and optical fiber landlines common in industrialized nations are often impractical in developing

1536-1268/05/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE ■ Published by the IEEE CS and IEEE ComSoc

economies due to infrastructure costs. So, how can communications be a driving force for computing in such regions? One answer surfaces from examining the Usenet system of the 1980s. Universities and volunteers with dialup modems supported a store-andforward UUCP (Unix to Unix Copy Protocol) network, which sustained the Usenet community for many years before Internet connections became commonplace. In these systems, users would contribute to a newsgroup by dialing in to a local computer node and uploading a message, an image, or even a movie. Overnight, these local nodes would dial up other nodes on Usenet, upload the contributions made on the local node, and download contributions from other nodes around the world. While this asynchrony caused certain inefficiencies and delays, the system worked, and many otherwise reluctant computer users became enamored of this system that let them communicate with a worldwide community of similarly minded people. You can find many high-quality discussions—including Linus Torvalds’ announcement of the Linux 0.1 kernel and the creation of that community—in Netnews discussions. A similar store-and-forward mechanism can support email, voice mail, and even Web searches (see the PERVASIVE computing

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Village

Hub (Internet access point)

Kiosk

Mobile access point

Village

Kiosk

Village Town Scale 10 km Kiosk

Figure 1. DakNet uses village buses equipped with Wi-Fi radios to distribute email and other store-and-forward networking services to remote areas.

Figure 2. In rough terrain, motorcyles or ox carts can be adapted with Wi-Fi radios. 88

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“Related URLs” sidebar). Significantly, such store-and-forward methods are amendable to certain types of mobile ad hoc wireless networks, which can be much less expensive to deploy than traditional systems. Researchers at First Mile Solutions state that wireless packet-based broadband computer networks cost roughly oneninth of copper or fiber-optic landline services. In the DakNet project with the MIT Media Laboratory, rural buses carried 802.11 mobile access points through outlying villages in India to connect with local kiosks.2 In the course of stopping at each village, the hub would download and upload messages from each kiosk for transportation back to the city network (see figure 1). In Cambodia, the system was extended to use Honda motorcycles and ox carts due to the difficult terrain (see figure 2). Given the large volume of 802.11 devices currently manufactured for the developed world, costs have dropped to as little as US$5 per chip set, allowing for the development of inexpensive access points and kiosks.3 According to Alex Pentland, one of the system’s architects, in one or two years all automobiles will include 802.xx systems for onboard safety, raising the possibility that such networks could be extended to wherever automobiles traverse regular routes. One of the most attractive attributes of store-and-forward implementations such as DakNet is that they upgrade seamlessly when constantly connected infrastructure becomes available. For example, Usenet was designed around relatively slow, sporadic connections, but most newsgroup users now access them through the Web and TCP/IP connections with little delay between posts and replies. Similarly, if a radio tower in a local village permits direct connection to the urban center, the system adapts automatically, allowing faster updates. In the same vein, store-andforward voice messaging could easily lead to Voice over IP applications as delays are shortened. www.computer.org/pervasive

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BUSINESS MODELS FOR DEVELOPING REGIONS

RELATED URLS

How can a store-and-forward-style communication and computing system help people in developing regions of the world? Use of the Web and Usenet over the past several decades has demonstrated many benefits that seem appropriate to these communities. Online markets and bartering systems have created a new class of merchants and specialty manufacturers who couldn’t have survived previously. Access to medical information has helped many users better care for their health. Online access to government information and forms has led to wider awareness and more fair and efficient distribution of services. Electronic support communities have helped bolster entrepreneurship and civic groups. Many educational resources are available in mere keystrokes. However, a villager in a rural community might not perceive these benefits as important. One question is how to create a business model with both initial market demand and sustainable growth for rural areas.

Disconnected Web surfing: http://tek.sourceforge.net Grameen Telecom: www.grameentelecom.net PCtvt: www.rr.cs.cmu.edu/rrlong.html Drishtee e-governance kiosks: www.drishtee.com Jhai Foundation’s pedal-powered generators: www.jhai.org/jhai_remoteIT.htm Simputer: www.simputer.org UC Berkeley’s Technology and Infrastructure for Emerging Regions project: http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu MIT Media Lab’s $100 Laptop Project: http://laptop.media.mit.edu Low-cost rural Internet connectivity: www.firstmilesolutions.com Inexpensive wireless point-of-sale terminals using GSM: www.wayinc.com

Communications One way to accomplish this is by providing a low-cost, dependable communication mechanism for friends and families. When I discussed this article with Pawel Lukowicz, a wearables researcher raised in Nigeria, he stated that he uses email preferentially over voice and fax to keep in contact with his friends in that country. The asynchronous nature of email means it’s more tolerant to temporary service outages, and the recipient doesn’t need to be available at the exact moment the sender is trying to establish contact. In theory, even if users are illiterate, they can still maintain communication through voice recordings or video messages. One can imagine introducing a device that functions like an email and voice mail system but looks like a mobile phone. With approximately 1.5 billion mobile phones in use, many JULY–SEPTEMBER 2005

potential users in developing regions will already have some intuition as to how such devices could be used. The key, then, is to provide an interface that helps users understand the principles of asynchronous as opposed to real-time communication. (Ironically, in the developed world’s mobile phone marketplace, the more sophisticated the phone, the more likely it is to have store-and-forward messaging services such as email and MMS that would be the cornerstone of the developing world’s communications infrastructure.) This approach would attempt to harness the continuing market demand and large-volume production for mobile phones but redirect incoming consumers toward asynchronous messaging where the infrastructure is too costly for real-time communications. Of course, such an approach doesn’t need to focus on individual ownership. In fact, initial deployment might depend on a shared infrastructure. Grameen Telecom, which provides one of the most successful examples of using technology in the developing world, uses a franchise model where a village has one phone to use. In the initial system, developed in Bangladesh, Grameen Bank gives an unsecured microloan to a franchisee in a village to buy a mobile phone and service from Grameen Telecom. The franchisee sells phone service to other villagers to make calls and provides a messaging service

for when the recipient isn’t available to receive an incoming call. At present, Grameen Telecom serves 60 million people through 95,000 franchisees covering over 50,000 of the 68,000 villages in Bangladesh.4 Entertainment Another approach is the PCtvt project, which is designing a wirelessly networked personal computer to be marketed as an entertainment device. The PCtvt project depends on entertainment as the killer app that will encourage villagers in India, who might make less $2,000 a year, to spend $250 for the device. The hope is that once villagers purchase it for its entertainment capabilities, they’ll begin to explore its communication and personal computing functions. While a villager initially might not understand the utility of a personal computer as opposed to a television or telephone, exposure to the PCtvt’s additional functionality will eventually lead to an understanding of why such capabilities are desirable. Education Consumer-demand approaches focus on individual consumers in developing regions personally purchasing devices for entertainment and communication. Another approach is to encourage bulk purchases of devices by governments or organizations. The $100 Laptop initiative at the MIT Media Lab aims to proPERVASIVE computing

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since the 1930s. While laptops require tens of watts and desktops require hundreds, a mobile device requires one to three, which can be generated by hand. CMU’s Metronaut wearable computer demonstrated that a hand-crank system was sufficient to provide its needed one watt of power (see figure 3).2,6 Such minimal power requirements reduce the infrastructure cost and the effort required to run the system.

ON-BODY SYSTEMS: DESKTOP EXPERIENCES IN THE MOBILE ENVIRONMENT

Figure 3. CMU’s Metronaut wearable computer.

vide one laptop per child. If ministries of education purchase numerous devices as part of their education strategy, the price per unit would fall dramatically. In addition, if the device were mobile, as in the case of a laptop, the child could take it home at night, exposing the parents and others in the village to the types of services available. E-governance In attempting to serve their citizens, governments might deploy store-andforward networks to monitor ongoing initiatives, such as recording classroom attendance or collecting data from environmental water quality sensors. In addition, they might use such networks to provide electronic access to records, health information, voting, or agricultural information. Drishtee provides an example of how an e-governance initiative might initially deploy computational kiosks to villages. Drishtee village kiosks let users perform many form-filling activities—such as applying for a loan, registering for a driver’s license, or filing a complaint—that would otherwise require travel. The government could provide such a service for a fee and it would still benefit users with time and cost savings. As one user stated, “A visit to Sirsa costs Rs 50 [for travel], plus I waste a day. I will 90

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happily give Rs 10, even Rs 30, at the telecenter [kiosk] if I can save this.”3 Investment While many of these beginning efforts are struggling to find the best business models possible, it should be recognized that start-up businesses could provide the seeds that create an investment engine in developing regions. According a recent article in the Economist, “Africans hold 40 percent of their financial portfolios overseas. Were Africa able to attract this money back, its private capital stock would increase about two-thirds.”5 In fact, such investments might be prudent—competitors in these regions are rare and profit margins can be quite large.

POWER SOURCES One practical obstacle to computing in the developing world is power. Often, power is available only for limited times during the day, fluctuates wildly, or is completely unavailable. To address this issue, developers have gotten creative. In creating PC systems for rural villages, the Jhai Foundation abandoned easily stolen solar panels for pedal-powered generators as their primary energy source. Similar humanpowered systems have powered shortwave radios in the Australian outback

While groups such as the Jhai Foundation, Drishtee, and Grameen Telecom emphasize shared resources, one of the most interesting areas of focus for the future might be personally owned, onbody devices. Projects such as the Simputer and Motorola’s $40 mobile phone7 are already attempting to make devices that are inexpensive enough for these environments. As opposed to desktops or laptops, body-worn devices can be concealed and have a lesser threat of theft. They also allow more privacy when users live in close proximity. For example, Japanese teenagers use messaging on their mobile phones to prevent siblings or parents from accidentally overseeing or snooping on their conversations. Wearable computers can accompany the user anywhere, and they can become a universal repository and exchange mechanism for class lessons, email, music, games, photos, and video. Even so, mobile-device designers still struggle with providing desktop functionality on small devices. Often the limitation is the lack of a high-resolution screen and fast text entry. The most glaring differences between interfaces for mobile phones and other body-worn systems and laptops and desktops are the display and keyboard. Last year I reported in this department (July–Sept. 2004) that the Twiddler onehanded chording keyboard can provide desktop-level typing rates and is quick to learn. Georgia Tech students James www.computer.org/pervasive

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Clawson and Ed Clarkson have also explored mini-QWERTY (“thumb”) keyboards. Our subjects in this study also averaged respectable desktop typing speeds (60 words per minute), even if the subjects never achieved their actual desktop rates.8 Given the existence of high-quality head-up displays such as MicroOptical’s SV-6 and recent prototypes of laser projectors for creating displays for mobile phones, a desktopquality experience could soon be available with a pocket-sized device. If properly designed, such systems should require smaller batteries, cost less, and be more portable than laptops or desktops.

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o matter what form factor becomes dominant in the developing world, it’s clear that the interface will have to be adapted for differing cultures and situations. Even more interesting will be the effects these cultures have on the online community. Pre-1993 Usenet users distinctly remember when America Online introduced their members to newsgroups and caused a continuing reevaluation of online culture and etiquette. The number of new users that

will result from the developing world coming online will dwarf anything the computing community has seen to date, and change could happen more quickly than ever. IEEE Pervasive Computing is planning a special issue on pervasive computing in the developing world, scheduled for April–June 2006. We invite researchers and practitioners to submit their experiences in the field.

REFERENCES 1. T.S. Parikh, “Using Mobile Phones for Secure, Distributed Document Processing in the Developing World,” IEEE Pervasive Computing, vol. 4, no. 2, 2005, pp. 74–81. 2. J. Paradiso and T. Starner, “Energy Scavenging for Mobile and Wireless Electronics,” IEEE Pervasive Computing, vol. 4, no. 1, 2005, pp. 18–27. 3. A. Pentland and R. Fletcher, “DakNet: Rethinking Connectivity in Developing Nations,” Computer, vol. 37, no. 1, 2004, pp. 78–83. 4. E. Brewer et al., “The Case for Technology in Developing Regions,” Computer, vol. 38, no. 6, 2005, pp. 25–38. 5. “The $25 Billion Question,” The Economist, 2–8 July 2005, pp. 24–26.

UPCOMING EVENTS 7th Int’l Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp 2005) 11–14 Sept. 2005, Tokyo; http://ubicomp.org/ubicomp2005 9th Annual Int’l Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC 2005) 18–21 Oct. 2005, Osaka, Japan; http://iswc.net 18th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST 2005) 23–26 Oct. 2005, Seattle; www.acm.org/uist

6. A. Smailagic and R. Martin, “Metronaut: A Wearable Computer with Sensing and Global Communication Capabilities,” Proc. IEEE Int’l Symp. Wearable Computers, IEEE CS Press, 1997, pp. 116–122. 7. P. Sayer, “Motorola Plans $40 for the Poor,” PC World, 16 Feb. 2005, www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,1196 96,00.asp. 8. E. Clarkson et al., “An Empirical Study of Typing Rates on Mini-QWERTY Keyboards,” Proc. SIGCHI Conf. Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM Press, 2005, pp. 1288–1291.

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