futurechat

I am no expert on education. In my working life of 17 years I have never had the opportunity to work with a school. So, when Vaswati Misra, a dancer and teacher came to me. I was curious to know more.

I visited the Dhwani Zaroorat school 2 days back and was amazed to find an island of excellence in an area full of poverty and despair. What makes the difference is not just the quality of education but the fact that children from below poverty line families are given simultaneous training in performing arts. A training in the arts gives them the tools not only of self-expression, but also of a future career within the arts as a performer or teacher.

Unlike other schools, Dhwani has virtually no dropouts and almost 90% attendance. Children are happy to be part of a large family like atmosphere full of music, dance, theatre and a commitment towards quality education.

Wish others could also learn from them.

David Rogers and Hemant Sachdev talking about the Future of Branding in India

Further to my earlier post, Health on her fingertips, where I explored the need of Sumita, a poor young woman to find out more information on basic health care, I have built up my thoughts on the need for universal, transparent health information accessible by phone.

• A Central repository of health information + local health information is added in to make it more relevant
• People can access the information through a Call desk and through SMS
• A national health number is created that is manned by people who speak the local language. SMS menu is readily available that gives basic information (in language of choice to subscribers)

Public health services in India are woefully short of reaching the urban poor let alone the vast rural population. While institutional health frameworks for urban poor and rural poor exist, they could greatly be strengthened though this simple mechanism.

A. There are 5 dimensions of access to health services (Obrist et al. 2007: 0002)

1. AVAILABILITY: The existing health services and goods meet client’s needs - What types of services exist? Which organizations offer these services? Is there enough skilled personnel? Do the offered products and services correspond with the needs of the poor? Do the supplies suffice to cover the demand?
2. ACCESSIBILITY: The location of supply is in line with the location of the clients - What is the geographical distance between services and homes of the intended users? By what means of transport can they be reached? How much time does it take?
3. AFFORDABILITY: The prices of services fit the client’s income and ability to pay - What are the direct costs of the services and the products delivered through the services? What are the indirect costs in terms of transportation, lost time and income, bribes, and other “unofficial charges”
4. ADEQUACY: The organization of health care meets the clients’ expectations - How are the services organised? Does the organizational setup meet the patients’ expectations? Do the opening hours match with the schedules of the clients, e.g. daily schedule of workers? Are the facilities clean and well kept?
5. ACCEPTABILITY: The characteristics of providers match with those of the clients - Does the information, explanation and treatment provided take local illness concepts and social values into account? Do the patients feel welcome and cared for? Do the patients trust in the competence and personality of the health care providers?

In India none of the above parameters are remotely met when it comes to the poor. Health services have poor availability, are seldom accessible due to absence of doctors, medication, infrastructure. Most poor people are illiterate and unaware of what to demand from the government health centers, therefore even inadequate and unacceptable services are accepted with gratitude.

B. Mobile phones could serve as a simple, cost effective empowerment tool. Information on the phone could help people empower themselves and solve basic issues that occur due to paucity of information and availability. At a basic level Mobile phones could give relevant information on the following:

1. Methods of identifying, preventing & controling health problems
2. Appropriate treatment of common diseases & injuries
3. Maternity & child health (including family planning)
4. Prevention and control of locally endemic diseases
5. Immunization
6. Availability and sourcing information of essential drugs
7. Health education

C. This in itself is a large body of information. This would need to be converted into a simple information architecture which is accessible on voice call as well as SMS.

To simplify this further, information could also be broken up into information by need.

I. Questions on personal and family Health and wellness

• Personal & Family Hygiene
• Prevention – Malaria, TB
• What will keep my children healthy?
• Protection

II. Questions on Cost of care

• for emergencies
• for doctor visits
• for medicine
• for surgery
• for tests and medical needs and insurance cover for each

III. Questions on Treatment

• Diseases
• Types of treatments
• Caring for chronic illnesses
• Doctor details
• Hospital information
• Types of tests
• Complaint numbers
• Blood banks
• Organ donors

D. The above method of information access would help the government by reducing the burden of health care in some ways by increasing transparency and empowering the bottom of the pyramid people who are frequently short changed because they know no better.

The information dissemination would of course need to be in multiple Indian Languages to ensure penetration and access..

Going back to the 5 dimensions, mobile services would solve some of the issues outlined above:

1. AVAILABILITY: The poor can know what is available, how they can help themselves
2. ACCESSIBILITY: Instant information increases the ability to access health services as patients can now know who to contact and where.
3. AFFORDABILITY: Overcharging and corrupt practices can be curtailed to some extent.
4. and 5. ADEQUACY and ACCEPTABILITY: Better information, means more knowledge of what to expect and therefore a bottom up pressure on service providers to give better care.

E. The issue of funding also needs to be looked at critically. Funds will be required fundamentally for the following:

1. Seed capital to establish the information databases and technology infrastructure as well as hookups to the various telco’s
2. Ongoing costs to update information, services, staff costs and technology

While a simple model would be to make this government funded, I believe that for this service to be sustainable a public private partnership would be a better idea. The revenue generation from incoming calls, SMS interactions alone could be substantial. Other revenue streams could also be explored. For example a rating system for doctors, hospitals, nurses could be set up. Doctor and hospital references could be given on the basis of their track record and customer / patient feedback.

Private hospitals in India use mobile phones to interact with existing customers to communicate information about appointments, health screenings, health camps, vaccinations etc. However, this is largely an urban phenomenon. Access to health information in rural India is virtually non existent, while some companies are trying to penetrate this market, most activities are in a nascent stage. More on this in Health on her finger tips.

No one communicates with local communities on health issues. Both Government and Private Health services use mass media such as newspapers and television to communicate with the general public on health issues – Example – dos and donts of Swine Flu, Swine Flu testing centres, symptoms etc. Mobile phones are not really regarded as a way of mass communication. At times the National Disaster Management society has used mobile phones to communicate with local communities, but this too has been very limited.

The absence of a large information repository that hooks up to multiple telecom operators seems to be limiting the popularization of Mobile Health Services.

The other challenge is that no one has really looked at consumer needs. Instead the discussion on Mobile Health has largely been around Technology Capability. Health Records on the Mobile Phone are great to have, however the larger challenge that most of us face is around the Wellness Lifecycle. Till the time Health Services become as ubiquitous as Music services on the mobile platform, penetration will largely be limited.

The consumer facing challenges are another matter all together. For any service / product to succeed. It should have the following characteristics:

• It should be needed by the target audience / consumers
• It should be part of present consumer behavior

If the above are true, most consumers are willing to pay a price and consume the service.

1. Health Information on Mobiles – Consumers have a nascent need for Health Information. While it may exist, it is not critical to my existence unless I fall sick. Even then, the existing behavior is to ask a friend, family member. Hence, a business model around Health Information on Mobiles needs to be driven by a change in consumer behavior.
Music / Ringtones on mobile phones were not a success till the time mobile companies communicated – ‘the cool factor’ through large television campaigns. While the same marketing logic does not apply to Health Information, a targeted marketing campaign around Emergency Services might not be a bad idea.

2. Personal Health Records – Storing Health Records on the Mobile Phone is an interesting concept. However, it is not exactly a felt need and definitely requires behavior change. It remains to be seen how the business model in this case grows. Do the mobile phone companies have enough belief to back this? or will the market be taken away by someone like Google? I am not sure how this will pan out eventually, but i am sure of the fact that the organization which makes it simpler and easier and integrates with on ground services seamlessly will eventually gain. Another important aspect in health records which transcends usability is trust. Consumers need to answer the deeper question – Who do I trust with my information? – a mobile company or an internet company or a hospital. While the technology may exist, success will be driven by a combination of usability and trustworthiness of the service.

3. Health Insurance Facilitation – this is a need that is being felt by many in Urban India. Buying health insurance, is like buying into a black hole. No one knows what it has, when it will appear and what the impact will be. A service that uses Mobile phones could be very useful to consumers. The service could be a combination of health issues, personal information and policy regulations. If you are in a hospital the mobile phone rather than the PC is your primary communication device. Insurance information would easily lend itself to such a service. The only challenge is the service design. Can Insurance information really be made easy to understand, universally accessible and prompt?

It was good to get an invitation to listen to a few members of the Nokia Design team and understand their perspective on design, personalisation, iconography and most importantly gestures.

Nikki Barton, (Head of Digital Design), spoke about the overall design philosophy of Nokia.

Robert Williams (Design Manager), introduced the rationale behind the new icons on Nokia phones. A challenge though that Nokia, as also other brands, would face with increasing number of app stores is to ensure the overall experience remains consistent.

Juliana Ferreira, (Design Specialist, Interaction Design), spoke about the home screen and personalisation. To drive home the point that each user is unique with a different perspective she followed up her talk with an interactive exercise on what each one of the participants would like to see on their home screen.

Younghee Jung, (Senior Design Specialist), talk on gestures and interactions was really fascinating. Gestures such as silencing the phone as it rings or exchanging information to maybe more complex ones had the participants thinking about how they interact with phones. She spoke of simplifying gestures that would perhaps exist across most phones and behave consistently.

In the course of the talk and subsequent discussion with the design team, the following was uppermost in our minds

1. As phones become more complex with applications and features, it is worth remembering that some people would still need phones that are simple to use eg senior citizens. Another situation that comes to mind is how a person, who has a smartphone, interacts with a phone in the case of an emergency health or otherwise. Is it easy enough to do so ? Younghee provided an insight on the kind of thinking that is going on in areas such as these.

2. A colleague discussed our insights with regard to women, who work in the crafts sector in India , that might be relevant from a mobile design perspective. You might want to have a look at earlier posts that highlights some observations.

• Then Why Not a Mobile for Her
• Indian Crafts and Mobiles
• Mobile Phone and the Crafts Person
• Real People, Real India, Real Stories

Overall it was a good session on design and mobiles. Very inspiring!

You might also want to have a look at videos that highlight the points made by the Nokia team.

Updated : Nokia in 2015 – The Way We Live Next

It was interesting to read Future trends 2010 for UK but the talking points in India are likely to be substantially different, from this list, in 2010. A list that is likely to be collated soon.

In our context, some points that seemed interesting to deliberate on are listed here.

1. Food and Eating out – The writer talks about a trend towards genetically modified food, eating at home being considered by more people. The affluent Indian customer though is increasingly exploring more options for entertainment and eating out. Meanwhile the debate on genetically modified foods here rages on. Most people , likely are not sure about the pros and cons. The food challenge that must be addressed is about food purity and to a much larger sense food security to a large part of our country.

2. Music consumption moving from download to streaming – Streaming music may be something that is being talked about there but there is much more potential in a digital delivery model that allows a user to play music irrespective of internet connectivity. In our case, broadband speeds and pricing are not exactly conducive to streaming music for the near term. Today there was an article that talks about music delivery in India on pen drives and sd cards . While interesting, it seems another wasted opportunity by the music industry while at the same time increasing digital waste that have still no clear recycle processes. The music shopping experience needs to improve dramatically and consider innovative options to deliver legal music to the customer. It is interesting that digital delivery of music has only recently launched in India with Nokia Music’s offer on selected phones. I will write a more detailed view on music delivery in another post.

What , in your view, are some of the topics and trends that India will be talking about in 2010.

Phones have been with us since long. Now every school, college going kid is carrying one. Phones have changed our ways of communicating. Though I have often contemplated how having a conversation over the phone with my weaver never gets the design methodology/ implementation through. He just doesn’t understand over the phone!

Each one of us have our handicaps, but this is a handicap and is not at the same time. I can get my weaver to understand the urgency over the phone without travelling a 100 kms, but at the same time he will never make what I want him to. I may be communicating incorrectly but I have tried this little trick

I wrote down my instructions and said them over the phone. I then had to of course go and tell him in person. This I did with the same set of written instructions. This worked like a miracle and he understood. Now barriers are many and we need to overcome them. Solutions need to be found so that we aren’t restricted by our own or others handicaps. I decided to play another trick on my unsuspecting weaver.

I decided to break my set of instructions through sms’s.  My weaver detests sms as his English is limited. Surprisingly this worked very well. The instruction was given in a single line. This he read and made another person read as well. This was interpreted and discussed and then they reached the correct conclusion.

The phone surprises me each time. All the while I was struggling to communicate with my weaver he has been accessing all the latest cricket uploads and has been almost busy being the first one to announce the latest score in the unit while others were still trying to listen hard on their radio over the rattle and hum of the looms.

Why cant they get to use their phone for their work?

How often have I asked myself – simple access to information of yarn – availability, rates would make life so much simpler. Each time it is such a struggle to find out where to sell the yarn what if there was some sort of a network that would enable information of availability of whatever surpluses each person had. What a fantastic timely use of material this would be. Our country masters the art of recycle and reuse. We are always looking to cut costs and get the best price in the optimum time. Traders no longer send people to find out where a certain material is available. They just make a few phone calls. What if we just had real time access to such information.

Another idea I love to play with is the thought that an sms would just speak to you like a voice mail – this would enable the          uninitiated, the illiterate to use their phones so easily. Most of the time phones aren’t being used other than for calling because the people using them cannot read. This would revolutionise the use of the phones. What if my spinner who only understands hindi would get a voice recorded message telling her about wool available for cheap in the area. Or my weaver gets a voice message in Tamil about sisal yarn rate. Wouldn’t life change – they would make a few phone calls and get the material to make a better priced product –the cost of storage would convert into profits for someone else.

Other Posts by me on this theme

• Indian Crafts and Mobiles
• Real People, Real India, Real Stories

This post is based on a comment of Mr Sanjay Kapoor of Airtel on the different strategies that Airtel has adopted in reaching out to newer customers in Rural India.

Initially the customer base of mobile companies was more urban and as these areas became more saturated, the emphasis has moved to rural areas.

Similarly, If one were to look at other companies, at first they would start with slightly different products for these markets but eventually they would have to compete on service itself. This means that service design would have to be looked at very closely.

I wanted to know your experiences and insights on this topic.

Are you worried when you hear about the adulteration in foods, the harmful effects of plastics and general hype about chemicals used in cosmetics, shampoos and soaps? I know that I have started becoming really wary of the marketing hype surrounding new product launches and miracle cures.

Last Sunday, when I was giving a fantastic performance of imitating a couch potato I was woken out of my reverie when I saw the Garnier ad promoting a fairness cream followed up by Ponds ad also offering similar benefits.  It wasn’t the ads that woke me up, but the dissimilar tag lines Garnier offered a cure from age spots in 1 month whereas Ponds just 7 days.

Every summer my sister and I suffer the freckles that spot our faces and we often debate what to do about them. One summer Aloe Vera was tried, another summer Multani Mitti pack, a more recent addition has been a Lakme sun screen which has had no effect. Just a few days back my sister went out to get herself a Ponds, while I have been using the Garnier.

But having paid no attention to TV for a while I have probably missed the communication behind these products. When I did pay attention, this sunday, I was assailed with doubts. Which were further strengthened when I realised that the product labels on the jars don’t seem to say anything at all.

I have 2 fundamental concerns

Who do we ask?
If  an ad promises 7 days vs another promising a clear skin in 30 days. Is  the  first cream stronger than the other? Can it then harm my skin? Who do we ask? Should one ask the company or is there anyone else who can give a balanced scientific view?

Why is there no information?
At first glance there seemed to be no information on the jars or on the websites of both companies.
When I mentioned this to my sister, she remembered seeing the ingredients on the cardboard boxes the jars came in. So, I promptly brought a jar of each. And yes, they both have ingredients on the outside covers. But, is it just me who throws the boxes away and keeps the jars? I asked a few friends and none of them ever keep the boxes! So,there…..

Now that, I stand corrected. so change the above heading to

Why is there no clarity of information?

• If the product is being advertised so heavily, while stating that it has natural ingredients(Garnier Skin Naturals), how much of Vitamin C and Lemon Extracts, does it have? Is it then a ‘Natural’ / ‘Herbal’ product?

• Also why does the product not exist on the corporate website with detailed description. As of writing, The Garnier page on the L’Oreal India website does not mention any products  . The Garnier International site does not mention India as a country it operates in! While I am ready to acknowledge that L’Oreal does have a complete section on the research behind the products. In the absence of clarity on a specific product, questions remain unanswered.

• The Ponds India site specifies the India products but falls short of detailing out ingredients  on the website, other than basic information about Advanced CLA4 Complex. Though I honestly don’t know what that means, it also raises a doubt, ‘What on earth is CLA4?’

In addition to all the confusion above, the tuesday morning article in Times of India on ‘Site to tell you what labels don’t has worried me no end. The web is awash with information on the harmful effects of chemicals in cosmetics. Take a look at ‘Skin Deep’ and ‘Good Guide’. Even worse is a statement made by Environmental Working Group that states that the US FDA does not mandate safety checks on cosmetics.

So my question to you is ‘What is the price of beauty? Are we impacting our health for short term looks?

So, let’s take a detailed look at some of the issues.

Labeling

• What are the international and domestic labeling norms.  Is compliance to domestic labeling standards enough? Or is the Indian consumer wanting more? Should labels exist on product packs and on inside jars / tubes etc.? Could the labels be a bit more user friendly?

Web

• What role does the web play in information dissemination?  And does it clarify  or confuse?  What is the role of corporate / product sites? Should product rating sites be trusted?

Natural versus Chemical

• Everyone is proclaiming themselves to be green.  How can we believe anyone?
• Should we buy products that proclaim that they are Ayurvedic  or 100% natural, or others that clearly state that they use chemical compounds which have been tested for safety?
• My bottle of Forest Essentials shampoo states that some people might be allergic to some ingredients. Does it mean that ‘natural’ may not necessarily mean safe, just as ‘chemical’ may not necessarily mean unsafe?

Regulatory body

• Do we need a regulatory body that  transparently evaluates  formulations and makes this information known publicly?

My subsequent posts, will cover each of the topics listed above.

Recycling involves processing used materials into new products

Recycling is a key component of modern waste management and is the third component of the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” waste hierarchy.

The world over is reeling with climate change and global warming talks. The awareness  especially in the more literate ‘western world’  and with the well traveled Indian is high but who is actually implementing the concept of Reduce – reuse and recycle – none other than the poor Indian in small villages across the country

The waste hierarchy is nice to read but where travel comfort is concerned it just results in waste, waste and waste!

Innumerable plastic bottles, waste plastic packets of chips, biscuits, plastic bags, plastic cups, its plastic everywhere. Apparently even the unattainable peak of Mt Everest is full of waste left over by these travellers.

A small fact – Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year!

For centuries now Indians have sustained the culture of recycling. The tradition of recycling  probably goes back to the poor economy that we have had but also could possibly be a result of simplistic lifestyle everyone has had before the markets opened up to international brands  - so that when Indians get the morning newspaper instead of throwing it – its recycled and sold to the kabadiwalas – the recycling man. He buys everything that can possibly be recycled – paper, metal scrap, cardboard boxes, almost everything. The plastic waste is however doesn’t have too much value and is left behind.

The plethora of tourists flocking to popular destination of Rajasthan does not believe in the concept of practicing recycling. Western Rajasthan  – where its common site to see people crossing the dunes on camel back , its serene monochromatic sandscape dotted with vibrant hues of women’s dupattas and men’s turbans is now also dotted with this awful waste left behind by tourists.

The nomadic camel grazers, the shepherds found an innovative use of the plastic and started spinning it on their drop spindles. So instead of camel hair one could see multi coloured plastic ropes – hand spun and then hand crafted into unique patterns making table tops, chair tops, etc.

The left over aluminium cans  were cut into half and joint with rubber/ wire and made to serve tea in the dhabas. In different mud houses women saw effective use of plastic bottles to have bottled plants, the cans were cut to replace the traditional mirror work on the walls.

The ever learning Indian soon started marketing these recycled plastic by adding beads and making souvenirs such as bands, mats, you name it.

Big round plastic ropes were sharing space with jute and natural fibre ropes in small shops.

The ever changing landscape of the desert region will not be effected by the influx of tourists from the world over. We will continue to adapt and learn and manage the waste hierarchy.

Maybe we don’t need an ‘earth day’ after all where earth is already considered god and prayed to each day!