Disrupting women’s hygiene in rural India through design thinking.
by Shagun Singh
Having grown up in a middle class family in India, this came as a shock to me – 88% of women in India do not have access to sanitary napkins. They resort to using rags, ashes, newspaper, dried leaves and husk according to a study by AC Nielsen. According to an article in Fastcoexist, girls [...]
Digital Narratives @ TechVista 2011
by Ria Rajan
TechVista is Micrsoft Research India’s annual symposium, that brings together and features people whose work defines new directions in technology and science.This year, TV was held at the Westin, in Pune, India on the 21st of Jan. I had the wonderful opportunity to actually be part of and work with a fantastic team whose project [...]
Movirtu’s phone sharing product for BOP users
by Shagun Singh
The past decade has seen a lot of work being done in the arena of development of mobile applications in the developing nations. A lot of them include mobile banking, inventories for agricultural products, education, healthcare etc. There has been extensive mobile phone penetration in places like India, parts of Africa, China, and a lot [...]
Gov 2.0 and India
by Shagun Singh
I heard Kiran Bedi talk recently at a fundraiser event for SEVA, a non profit organization, based in Richmond Hill, Queens, that facilitates immigration of South Asians to the US. Kiran Bedi is an Indian social activist and a retired Indian Police Service officer. During her riveting talk that included her work in Tihar jail [...]
The Technologists – Part 2 | Sonali Sridhar
by Shagun Singh
Sonali Sridhar currently works as an Interaction Designer in New York, using web, print and mobile electronics to explore the connectivity and psychology of design. She also works with wearable technology, designing objects that interact with daily life, form addictions and provide comfort. In this interview, Sonali outlines the framework for successful open source projects [...]
A Grand Idea | Inhabit – winners announced
by Shagun Singh
The Mobile Activation Station by Holobiont The Mobile Activation Station designed by Holobiont (Haruka Horiuchi & Frank Hebbert) has been selected as the winner by our three esteemed judges – Raul Smith Correa of ‘Faiscas‘, Soo-in Yang of ‘The Living’ and Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai. They win a grand or $1000 to make their [...]
Where Art meets Science and vice versa.
by Ria Rajan
In simple words, Synthetic Biology is about making living organisms do things which nature had not intended on them doing. Its about taking tiny bits of DNA, splicing them together and inserting them into bacteria. In effect, a bacterium could be made to change colour or made to be bright enough to be visible to [...]
Low-cost self-diagnosis tool for rural India
by Ria Rajan
Primary health centers are the cornerstone of the rural health care system. In 1991, India had about 22,400 primary health centers, 11,200 hospitals, and 27,400 clinics. These facilities are part of a tiered health care system that funnels more difficult cases into urban hospitals while attempting to provide routine medical care to the vast majority [...]
NyayaBhoomi – A Service Design Venture for Auto-Rickshaws
by Shagun Singh
Ever had to catch one of those New Delhi auto-rickshaws? You know that you are being taken for a ride then. The rickshaw drivers are rude, they refuse to go by the meter, they always seem to be going the opposite direction to where you want to be going. I have questioned the local transportation [...]
Mapunity – Social technology at work
by Ria Rajan
Mapunity uses and develops technology to tackle social problems and development challenges in India. They provide map based services and design geographical information systems along with mobile technologies mostly for government departments and civil society organisations. They are also extend their services to R&D initiatives of commercial ventures. Of all the various project Mapunity is [...]
BPL StudyLite by Studio ABD
by Ria Rajan
In India, power cuts during exam time is every child’s biggest anxiety. One breaks into a sweat, starts pacing up and down and even goes to the extreme of praying to the Almighty; promising reforms, pledging away a life of sin and the long dreadful countdown to when the lights will turn back on. This [...]
Babajob.com – Connecting employers with informal sector workers
by Ria Rajan
Babajob.com is a Bangalore-based start-up that uses the web and mobile technology to connect employers and bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) informal sector workers (i.e. maids, cooks, drivers, etc.) with the goal of creating a scalable, replicable and profitable solution to combat poverty. Babajob aims to do this by creating greater market efficiency in the informal sector through [...]
Jaaga – Creative Common Ground
by Ria Rajan
Having spent a long weekend with Archana Prasad –Co Founder Jaaga, National Institute of Design alumnus and Bangalore based artist, in Pondicherry, where she was performing with her group The Manjunauts, (she is also a VJ) at the Freedom Jam; I had the chance to engage in a dialogue with her about Jaaga. Jaaga’s name [...]
Jugaad – The spirit of indian innovation
by Shagun Singh
Flickr picture by lakshman_M. “Jugaad is a vehicle assembled by carpenters and low skilled people much like what the Flintstones did for their cars. The basic form of the vehicle is a cart fitted out with a diesel pump used as an engine. A big rod with a wheel at the end serves as the [...]
The next billion mobile users
by Shagun Singh
VNL | Meet the next billion mobile users from VNL on Vimeo. Vihaan Networks Ltd., an Indian telecommunications company known as VNL, won the Bronze award for a solar-powered base station to bring cellphone access to remote rural villages. The inexpensive base station can be quickly assembled and set up by unskilled villagers, and can [...]
The $10 Laptop by the Govt of India
by Shagun Singh
The laptop has been developed by Indian Institute of Science (IISc) & Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai. Though technology has been developed by IISc & IIT, laptop will be manufactured in collaboration with a private company. The laptop is expected to be launched in another 6 months (which should be right about now). The [...]
Solar Rickshaws – The green wheels of India
by Shagun Singh
The process of launching the soleckshaws – as solar rickshaws are popularly called – has been set into motion by municipal corporation, the UT-appointed nodal agency for the project. The venture is part of a central scheme being carried out in various cities of the country to promote the eco-friendly rickshaws.On a complete charge the [...]
Mera Nokia
by Shagun Singh
MeraNokia is an information phone service from Nokia providing localised information in Agriculture, Education. The Enertainment section caters to Astrology and Ringtones. Depending on the service, you either subscribe to it, or download content when needed. If you subscribe to a service, the service sends you content messages to your MeraNokia inbox. At present, customers [...]
