Technology is about facilitating tasks. Design is about enabling users to accomplish those tasks and hence making them feel empowered. Sumit Dagar, an interaction designer and recently announced as a TED 2011 Fellow, has been working to present technology so as to enable the blind.

About 314 million people are visually impaired worldwide, 45 million of them are blind (Source: WHO). As part of assistive technologies to interact with the computers, there are screen readers and braille displays. These are good solutions for the output mode, however, there ought to be better solutions than the mouse and keyboard for the visually impaired and blind to be able to input.

The technology is moving towards pocket-size mobile-computers. These smart mobile devices are highly powerful communication, information and entertainment devices. They are moving towards the interaction-heavy, multi-touch screen devices, and follow the interaction paradigm of “content is king”. However, the accessible technologies are way behind these technological advances. There is immense possibility of using mobile devices by the visually impaired and blind as it is not dependent on the point-and-click interaction model of the personal computers. Dagar identified this and worked on defining an interaction model for the targeted user group on mobile devices.

His design concept, named as the braille phone, uses a haptic interaction model. There are two parts to it, the content and the controls. The content is represented using heightmap technology. (Heightmap is a raster image used to store values, such as surface elevation data, for display in 3D computer graphics. (Source Wikipedia)). In this design concept, content, otherwise represented by color values of different pixels, is mapped to the height or the surface elevation. The surface of the device is a special kind of plastic which is flexible, height-varying and pixel actuated. (Yanko’s braille phone concept uses Electric Active Plastic.) This surface raises by an electric signal. Hence the colors of the content are now “felt” by touching the elevated surface.

The second part is the interface elements of the device, including controls to act upon the content. Most interfaces, today, present controls contextually. The context is known by visual cues, e.g. upon highlighting text in MS Office 2010, the toolbar with controls for text appear. However, for the blind, all the necessary controls should be presented at all times. Dagar’s concept, envisioned with dimensions to be close to that of an iPhone, has two categories of controls, the global and the contextual. The global controls are physical buttons and are placed towards the right of the device. The contextual control elements appear as and when required, towards the right side of the “display”. The editable and the non editable content appear towards the left side of the “display” in a given context. This is the basic layout of the device.

Dagar’s interaction model is a new model for the blind. It will require a learning curve. However, with mobile phones becoming so prevalent there are high chances that this could be the next device type for the visually impaired and blind.

As any good design process begins with identifying user needs and envisioning possible scenarios of how the design would enable the user. Dagar envisions, “a fully loaded device would be capable of incorporating never-thought-before features.

Some of these are:

• capturing images and saving them as height maps. Images can be of a place one has been to, a person one has met, or almost anything that a user wants to remember. A height translated version of vision enables user to perceive and hence connect more closely to the real world.
• using GPS along with maps for blind. The use of this feature would be immense. A user will be able to reach his destination of choice with minimal help for directions
• convert to image text to Braille. A user would be able to view newspapers, magazines, posters, notices and other text based media by pointing the device camera on the same and reading the content converted to Braille on the screen.”

We wish Dagar luck in converting his concept into a reality.

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 in the countryside. Primary health centers and sub centers rely on trained paramedics to meet most of their needs. The main problems affecting the success of primary health centers are the predominance of clinical and curative concerns over the intended emphasis on preventive work and the reluctance of staff to work in rural areas. -(Source – Wikipedia)

This is where the Low cost self-diagnosis tool comes in.

Winner of the International Design Excellence Awards 08 (http://www.idsa.org/IDEA_Awards/gallery/2008/award_details.asp?ID=35918307), this is a mechanical self-diagnosis tool was created to help patients in rural India capture symptoms and provide them basic information about their disease. Made with recycled materials to maintain low costs, it aims to empower patients and aid doctors with accurate diagnosis and efficient recovery throughout the rural parts of the country.

Designed at Honeywell Technology Solutions in Bangalore by Ankur Sardana (NID) and Parag Trivedi (IDC), this tool displays relevant information. With simple rotation of rings & mapping on the chart, the tool provides -

1. Criticality of disease, basic suggestions (like – ‘how soon to meet the doctor’)

2. Kind of diagnostic tests would be done on them (this is based on the research finding that the villagers are quite suspicious of blood being used for testing & also unprepared for the expense which tests might require)

3. Cases in which they should meet a specialist directly instead of going to a general practitioner

4. Information & contact numbers of healthcare providers

The tool consists of a set of Rings (symptoms), a disease chart & other information. These rings could be made of cheap but durable cardboard. Each ring has set of symptoms. The patient rotates the rings (starting from smallest) & chooses his symptoms by bringing them in one line, below the marker. Each symptom has a number printed on it. The user maps the disease code (set of numbers, 1 from each ring) on the chart. The chart provides tentative result –disease name, severity, next steps, diagnostic tests required to confirm disease, doctor they should meet (i.e. which specialty) & contact information of doctors &hospitals. Made out recycled plastic/cardboard, it is easy to be produced locally in the villages.

The low-cost self-diagnosis tool was born out of the need to provide rural Indian patients with a method to help themselves. Healthcare has not been a priority of rural dwellers in India & they have been used to taking ‘over the counter drugs’ or getting quick relief in the form of a steroid injection from the unregistered medical practitioners- URMP’s (in villages there are usually no qualified doctors). Though an immediate solution, it is not a proper one, disease symptoms resurface & the patient is rushed to a proper registered doctor in the city, who now administers an emergency case where it could have been a case of normal diagnosis. With the tool, the rural dwellers can be empowered with basic knowledge about their disease & can avoid the mistreatment by URMP’s. This tool can also be used by NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and self-help groups (in cases of illiteracy) to increase awareness & help make disease symptoms more understandable to the patients. There is also a mutual benefit for healthcare providers and patients. The patients save the money and side effects of self-medication and time, while the doctors have increased inflow of patients and thus more usage of their services.

Currently, in its present form it has not been tested on a large-scale. Most of the feedback has been gathered from the villagers. The educated villagers usually becomes excited, as they understand that they can get empowered if they have some idea of what disease they have. What has been tested in the field (in UP) is a variant in which there are no results, just collection of symptoms. The results have been mixed. Literacy is by far the biggest problem.

While this tool doesn’t aim to act as the messiah of the rural health care problems in the country, it certainly is a step in the right direction. One hopes that it inspires other creative practitioners and problem solvers to delve deeper into this space. It certainly needs more such social innovations.

For more information about more the tool, contact: Ankur Sardana: ankur.sardana@honeywell.com

More on Honeywell at – https://www.honeywell.com/sites/htsl/

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 involved with , the one that caught my fancy is their Urban Traffic and Transport Information Systems, with particular reference to the city of Bangalore. (check http://btis.in/) Bangalore is India’s third most populous city and fifth-most populous urban agglomeration. As a resident of this city, I fully understand the need for a well designed and defined transport information system.

Thanks to Sean @ Babajobs.com, I was lucky to to engage in conversation with Ashwin Mahesh – CEO and Founding Member of Mapunity. Truth be told, Ashwin is a very busy man. Along with acting like an evangelist, who helps government departments gain the benefit of emerging new capabilities in technology; he co- edits a public affairs magazine – India Together, and is an urban affairs researcher at IIM Bangalore and with the Government of Karnataka. He is also part of the ABIDe – Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa’s Agenda for Bangalore Infrastructure and Development task force . I managed to weasel a precious 15 minutes of his time.

Ashwin patiently explained to me how Mapunity went about to provide beautiful and intelligent solutions to Bangalores urban chaos. (Needless to say, he was able to intervene the above mentioned space, not without having friends in higher places. Governments are skeptical of outsiders and so it helps being an advisor to the BMTC – Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation).

Bangalore follows a circular  transport system.The city’s road follow two concentric circles with outer radial lines. In order to create and redefine a system, one had to conceptually redesign the map in peoples minds. The massive shift was made from a destination based system to a direction based one. This is how Big 10 was born. It is a bus service that connects 10 major roads to the outer ring road of the city.The main goal was to achieve a situation where people would be able to identify from the bus board, where the bus goes. People need not keep wondering where to get a bus from, to reach a particular location. If one knows where the bus is going and where to get it from, it is bound to bring in more commuters.The main objective was to make public transport a better system. In order to achieve this, Ashwin suggested that one made these buses recognizable and make them stand apart. Essentially brand the whole bus. Lime green in colour and bearing the Big 10 logo in a large bold fashion, these buses can be spotted from a distance. Designed by Dig Design Studio (www.digdesignstudio.com), the logo reads as Big 10 in both English and Kanadda. Operated at high frequency, the Big 10 buses address three key elements of : predictability,  understandability and reliability .

The Big 10 took seven months of planning and execution, and is India’s first direction based system. This system also allows for more accurate tracking of the mobility patterns of people. Mapunity, has prepared and is maintaining a database for the BMTC. Ashwin and his team hold consultations, surveys and regular meetings with BMTC officials to update the database which has details about how many people travel per day, on which route and how much is the public transport system helping the public.  The data is self reveling. These buses are a favoured choice amongst frequent commuters and their popularity is only growing. 1/10th of the BMTC buses are run on this module.Currently there are 187 buses on the road and it estimated to go upto 400 buses by the end of the year.

For more information, please visit – http://www.mapunity.in/

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 very real, and seemingly life-threatening fear is what served as a starting point for Studio ABD when they began designing StudyLite – a LED lamp, in collaboration with BPL. Studio ABD firmly believes in story telling as integral part of designing products and services; and so it seems fitting that the lamp was inspired by the ring of halo that hovers above the head of the wise and saintly. Light is the quintessential metaphor of enlightenment.  Designer Abhijit Bansod visualised a ring of light glowing over the head when a child is studying. In the StudyLite he has tried to keep things simple yet unique.

This iconic and animated study lamp embodies a smooth and seamless form to allow maximum user interaction as it’s designed especially for children. It is extremely eco-friendly with its solar charging capability and low power consumption; and has a 6-hour battery back up to provide uninterrupted source of light while studying. Ergonomically simple, portable and lightweight StudyLite has recently won the prestigious Red Dot award. Red Dot stands for belonging to the best in design and business. The red dot is an internationally recognized quality label for excellent design that is aimed at all those who would like to qualify their business activities with the help of design. This is a proud moment and a big leap forward for Indian Design, being perhaps the first Indian company to receive such critical acclaim.

Another refreshing feature of this rechargeable lamp is that every lamp is marked ‘Designed and Made in India’.  Studio ABD wanted to highlight the fact that the components of the lamp, the assembly and the design were all done here, within the country – promoting the use of locally available resources, materials, people and technology.

StudyLite came into existence by the sheer genius of the design team who worked directly with the end users without much interference from the manufacturers –BPL. The biggest challenged faced by them was to tackle the mindset of resistance from the manufacturers. While they were extremely supportive of original design and idea, the concept of having a halo head for the lamp seemed a tad unnecessary. Fortunately, it was nothing a little patience and persistence couldn’t contend with.

Another problem they had to deal with was the pricing of StudyLite. At the moment, being marketed at a little more than Rs, 1500, there seems to be a slight apprehension to spend that much, despite its pleasing aesthetics, functionality and sheer practicality. Again, it’s a matter of tackling mindsets. Studio ABD hopes that the right marketing and publicity will go a long way in helping them do so.  Winning the Red Dot has done wonders for StudyLite in making its presence felt in the Indian market. Currently available throughout the country, it is now gearing up to be hopefully exported and retailed internationally.

To know more about Studio ABD, please visit – http://www.studioabd.in/

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 voice and web features such as SMS, USSD, automated voice systems, and operator manned call centers, enabling employers and job seekers to find each other. The simple premises, upon which it built itself and continues to grow on, are –

• Everyone deserves to get a better job, no matter what their income or skill level, and
• Technology can enhance our ability to both hire more efficiently, and better communicate with those we care about.

While at Microsoft Research India in 2005, CEO Sean Blagsvedt co-ran the Advanced Development and Prototyping Team and worked very closely with the Technology for Emerging Markets research group, whose aim was to study and invent new ways that technology could be used to positively impact the social and economic development of the world’s poorest 4 billion people. Sean’s first thought was “Great – all they need is the village version of LinkedIn.com!” In reality however, in order to make such a system work, one has to overcome the problem that most low-income workers of the world may not be literate, nor own a mobile phone and rarely own or have ready access to an Internet-connected PC. Most people in India find jobs through people they know – namely their extended social network – and most employers – particularly when hiring employees that work in the home – would like to hire a person who someone they trust can vouch for. Another important factor with the increase of travel time (owing to the increase in the number of vehicles on the roads) and often-unreliable public transport has resulted in people looking for jobs closer to home, in their neighborhoods. More often than not, it’s the simply not-knowing that causes people to miss out on better-suited opportunities. Babajob.com is an attempt to digitize this process and information to efficiently “get the word out” and importantly provide an incentive for the folks in between an employer and employee to connect people together.

By leveraging web and mobile technology, Babajob scales and engages a wider audience creating greater efficiency for employers and further deepens the social impact on job seekers. Employers can conveniently browse job seeker profiles based on salary, location, languages, employment background, skills and references. Babajob offers several fee-based services to help in the matching and hiring of seekers.

With services available for all major cities in the country, Babajob is currently testing out a new voice application that will help communicate the necessary information into various regional languages. With a likely tie up with a mobile handset maker – the goal is to transcend, once again, the language and literacy barrier, to broaden the scope of Babajob’s services.

Babajob serves as a fine example of complex system design for a country that is socially and linguistically diverse; and where literacy is a major point of consideration, while attempting to make information accessible.  With a constantly evolving set of parameters and a strong belief in the transformative power of software on society, Babajob is social entrepreneurship at its best. By tapping into informal social interactions and streams of information, and using a blended value business model that combines a revenue generating business with a social-value-generating component, it provides us with a glimpse of the paradigm shift that is brewing with regards to businesses in emerging economies.

Ritwik Dey is an Interaction Designer. For “Designers as ChangeMakers”, he talks about the sad state of the Indian education system and his struggle with it. He comes from an engineering background and talks about his growth as a designer and his love for information design and data visualization. Amongst other things he talks about his two projects – Mumbai Voices and EMCounter. Both the projects are based on data collection and cater to the needs to the emerging nations. Ritwik works at the digital ad agency R/GA and spends his spare time being a photographer.