Mobile-for-Development Meets Human-Centered Design: Field Experiments in Kenya
Sangick "Sunny" Jeon, Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford University
,Risa Kitagawa, 2nd Year Graduate Student, Stanford University
,Nan Zhang, 4th Year Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford University
The proliferation of information and communication technology in even the lowest-income communities has created space for innovative ICT-based approaches to global poverty. However, projects of this kind are often ineffective because they focus excessively on technological solutions and are inattentive to user needs, preferences, and capacities. This workshop will present three projects that attempt to overcome these limitations using "human-centered design" -- an approach to design that is anchored in ethnographic engagement with end-users. One project, called "M-Maji" (http://mmaji.wordpress.com), aims to lower water search costs and improve clean water uptake in Kenyan slums by introducing centralized water information systems that are accessible via mobile phones. Another project, "Makmende" (http://makmende.org), seeks to improve women's security by using mobile technology to coordinate the formation of citizen-led neighborhood patrols that will escort women around their community. And a third project, "Nishauri" (http://nishauri.wordpress.com), provides a text-message-based counseling service that allows community health counselors to disseminate confidential, reliable information about sexual and reproductive health to youth who are unable to seek in-person advising.
Sangick "Sunny" Jeon is a Ph.D. Candidate specializing in Comparative Politics and International Relations. He is currently completing a dissertation project that uses formal, empirical, and experimental methods to identify and test strategies for reducing intergroup biases and supporting interethnic cooperation in fractionalized groups, organizations, communities, and societies. His previous work using network analysis to study American legal development has been published in Political Analysis and Social Networks, and cited in The Economist and The Atlantic. Sunny is currently on the job market, seeking jobs in Comparative Politics and International Relations.
Risa Kitagawa is a second-year graduate student. Her interests include post-conflict recovery, transitional justice, and political theory.
Nan Zhang is a 4th year Ph.D. candidate with an interest in international relations and comparative politics. Nan is also pursuing a J.D. at Stanford Law School.