Bridging Communications Across the Digital Divide

1
Bridging Communications Across the Digital Divide

• Edwin Blake
• edwin_at_cs.uct.ac.za
• Collaborative Visual Computing Laboratory
• Department of Computer Science
• University of Cape Town
• South Africa
• William Tucker
• btucker_at_cs.uct.ac.za
• Bridging Applications and Networks Group
• Department of Computer Science
• University of the Western Cape
• South Africa

2
Communication Across the Digital Divide

• The issues we intend addressing
• Changes in the way we design innovative IT based
  systems and services
• the South African Digital Divide as a springboard
• The notion of bridging central to developing
  communications systems
• Putting the user at the centre
• An abstracted communications system SoftBridge
• Showing what we did so far, and what we learnt

3
Local South African Digital Divide

• Population 45 million
• 45 rural
• Mixed developed and developing world
• 14 million mobile users, 4 million landline
• 2 of 3 sharing handsets or using community phones
• 50 of households have no phone in dwelling
• 10 have no access to a phone at all
• Legacy of differentiated access

4
The Phone Gap
5
Bridging the Digital Divide

• DD growing gap of access to Information Society
• Bridging ? bringing the underdeveloped up to
  speed
• social dynamics as well as
• technological tools that support social
  interaction
• Community-centred approach
• build new artefacts
• Change government policy that impedes development

6
IT Application and Contents Design Methodology

• User/Community centred
• Critical Action Research
• facilitating change byfacilitating action
• cyclical software development participatory
  design prototype evaluation.
• Flaws
• users dont appreciate technological
  possibilities
• software designers must bridge cultural gaps
• ? human access points

7
Social Intelligence Design

• Nishida two aspects of Social Intelligence as
• an individuals capacity to act wisely in
  accordance with social rules (conventional)
• the ability of a system to manage complexity of
  interaction
• This corresponds to
• ability of designers to discover and operate
  within the rules of the community ? our
  community-centred method
• design a system to deal with some of the
  complexity ? our SoftBridge abstraction.

8
Automatic Communication Bridges SoftBridge

• Embodiment of Social Intelligence Design
• both an actual implemented Computer Artefact
• and an Abstraction of all operations beyond
  current technology
• Abstracted social communication platform that
  bridges
• variation in network access
• different end-user devices
• interfaces to the user
• various communication modalities
• between people with different capabilities and
  needs

9
Delay or Latency

• First result the necessity of delay
• processing inherent in SoftBridge
• delay from poor infrastructure
• Power outages common
• Phone lines down
• the way people use the system
• Dealing with delay
• switch between synchronous asynchronous
• our current user based research
• maintain Co-Presence

10
Quality of Communication (QoC)

• Generalization of the notion of Quality of
  Service (QoS)
• ability to support communication by bridging
  between different user abilities, sensory and
  media modalities, human computer interfaces, and
  end-user devices, and infrastructure capabilities
  
• In terms of Social Intelligence
• users conduct meaningful exchanges in spite of
  limited technology and macro delays
• where there is a will there is a way
• system adapts automatically to user system
  capabilities

11
The SoftBridge

• Semi-synchronous
• Synchronous when possible
• Asynchronous otherwise
• Inspired by Instant Messaging, SMS and email
• Quality of Communication measures effectiveness

12
A softbridge for tele-consultation
Nurse
Doctor
Xhosa
Cuban Spanish
Text, image, Audio, video
Text, image, audio
GUI
Hardware
Handset, digicam webcam
PC
WLAN, solar
WLAN, solar

• Nurse needs to consult doctor remotely for
  patient referrals
• Rural clinic serves community of 60,000
• Nearby rural hospital with single doctor serving
  200 beds, out-patients, maternity ward, and
  emergencies
• Main delays power network outages, Dr.s
  schedule
• Short term add links to other clinics, and
  possibly to Internet with satellite uplink

13
A softbridge for Deaf Telephony
Deaf User
Hearing User
Written English
Spoken English
voice
text
audio
GUI
handset
PC
Internet
Telephone

• Semi-automated relay with an Instant Messaging
  delivery system
• Converting Deaf text to speech for the hearing
  user with Text-to-Speech (TTS) and Automatic
  Speech Recognition (ASR)
• Learned to use Wizard of Oz (WoOz) instead
• Pilot in the laboratory
• Field trials under way in the Deaf Community of
  Cape Town

14
Conclusions

• Lessons from the developing world apply
• Design Community-centred methodology (microcosm)
• Development SoftBridge as concept and artefact
• Measurement user as part of the system (QoC)
• Learning from field trials
• Influencing society at large (macrocosm)

15
Acknowledgements

• Supported by many organizations and people
• Community members
• Our students John Lewis and Marshini Chetty
• Resources were provided by
• NRF South African National Research Foundation
• Telkom SA
• Siemens SA
• SANPAD South Africa Netherlands Research
  Programme on Alternatives in Development
• CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial
  Research
• bridges.org