futurechat

What do we do when someone falls ill? I asked a few friends and it was no surprise when each one of them answered ‘ask a friend / family member’ about who to go to. The interesting bit that I want to draw your attention to is that no one said that they would call a particular number. Unlike what we see in most American Soaps – India does not really have a concept of 911. We rely on friends and family to help us in our hour of need.

While information exists in silos in our vast health infrastructure most people dont know

• the emergency services numbers,
• details of hospitals and doctors
• numbers of blood banks

In some locations people dont even know whether the medicine they have purchased is genuine or spurious? If they are doubtful they dont know who to contact.

The list is endless. A simple application that makes health information universally accessible on the mobile phone could go a long way in solving many of our information related needs around healthcare.

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

Once upon a time mobiles were considered to be a status symbol. Soon after they became a necessity – every person had one – people cycling on the road, the dhaba wala, the domestic help – everyone!

• Did it ever occur to any of us that it could still be considered a matter of status symbol in some remote corners- maybe it did
• Did it ever occur to anyone that this again can become a feminist thing to fight for maybe it didn’t!

Actually that is a fact.

In small villages in the south, women aren’t allowed mobiles. Its not the cost involved – the mobile is a status symbol. Only a few men can own it and the woman can occasionally use it.

Why and how a mobile can become more than a communicating tool can only be discovered once you see the usage in these areas. The local villagers use the mobile to communicate . The need came from younger college going youth traveling to cities, being influenced into having the luxury of having one and then the worried parents wanting to keep in touch.

The need also arose from the middlemen who constantly commuted between the small villages to the cities to sell.

The need then gave way to the luxury of talking at home and at will.

But the need never became a necessity to use it beyond the regular wanting to stay in touch or to inform. Women who are considered home makers everywhere regardless still aren’t allowed the luxury of the mobile. There are innumerable plans for women, remunerative scheme to help woman becoming independent and earn of her own – there is no plan or an intention to provide these  woman to  have a voice and communicate.

If this mobile is an empowering tool and can make a difference in each of the rural homes it can only be made by having the woman to use it.

I am not a feminist but I was actually shocked at the thought why a woman is deprived of such a simple tool

• We have given her a smokeless chulha,
• We have given her health programs to take care of her family,
• We have given her and her children affordable education programs
• Then why not a mobile

Why hasn’t anyone thought that empowering  woman with mobiles is actual empowerment. Why hasn’t anyone thought that lets not think that this mobile is just to communicate its to build community support systems, its to enhance our fragile sense of security and most importantly it can be used to learn and share information.

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

Dina’s post on Mobile Innovations in India inspired a thought in me and I wrote about Indian Crafts and Mobiles. I have been since keenly following the discussion that seems to have developed there.

When we talk of real people we dont talk stories any more. We talk of what is actually happening in real time.

Let’s see what Dastkar has really been successful in doing. It has tried to organise thousands of artisans part of 100 diffrent craft groups and helped them come under one umbrella of Dastkar where they can sell to contemporary india.

Dastkari Haat Samiti on the other hand has created informative craft maps of different parts of the country, which gives the information about handicrafts, and handlooms of India! They have had over 70 bazaars providing strategic marketing linkages to hundreds of artisans.

What if we were to get these organizations a support  network in REAL TIME – Many organisations have helped the artisan externally but how can they help themsleves.

• Can they be empowered with information in their language and make decisions of thier own. Maybe
• Can they be empowered with information about different SHG’s (self help groups ) Maybe
• Can they be empowered with information about grameen banks and schemes. Maybe
• Can they be empowered with information about their craft and the related materials. Maybe
• Can they they be empowered with information about other artisans in their vicinity. Maybe
• Can they they be empowered – YES – what they do with the information and how they use it in the subsequent years is for all of us to see – but why should we be afraid to empower them

We all need to understand that we live with history. Our crafts people are living that history and reinventing ancient methods to suit our daily needs. Lets evolve in a scientific manner to help that kaarigar who has toiled for several years and give them the independence they deserve through information.

The handicraft sector is the largest decentralised and unorganised sector of the Indian economy, and is amongst India’s largest foreign exchange earners.

• Craftspeople form the second largest employment sector in India, second only to agriculture.
• Handicrafts are rightly described as the craft of the people: there are twenty-three million craftspeople in India today (Jaitly, 2001).
• No Indian craft is ever purely decorative. While handicrafts, be it metal ware, pottery, mats, wood-work or weaving, fulfil a positive need in the daily life of people, they also act as a vehicle of self-expression, and of a conscious aesthetic approach.
• The change in consumer buying trends and the entry of various new, aggressively promoted factory produced commodities into the rural and urban market, has meant that craft producers need more support than ever if they are to become viable and competitive. This will help them to generate a surplus and a higher standard of living.

While I have been hearing about mobile phones turning into – ‘Hand held devices’ – the term has been a mystery to me. Dina Mehta’s post is actually an eye opener for me. Especially the bit on Nokia is very interesting.

Since I work with craftsmen in rural India, the applicability of mobile innovation, and the changes it could bring in my field about seem almost limitless. Mobiles could impact

• Craft services
• NGO services
• Artisans

1. Craft services – this service could actually tie up with either a Dastkar, Dastkari haat – these are NGO’s that work with several groups of craftswomen across India. These NGO’s could be providers of information on the different products available in their regions. A mapping device associated with this service could be used by the network of entrepreneurs, buyers and artisans to update product availability and nature of skill.

2. NGO services – this could go beyond just remunerative work – but area wise give updates on different NGOS working in the region, the dev. work ongoing their links and contacts

• Textile services
• Updates of yarn prices – cotton,wool, silk,
• Textile activities in different areas
• Information on the NGO’s involved as well

3. Now a thought on how a phone could help the artisans -

• Information about different fairs happening in different parts of india and information on how to participate in them
• Information on how to take loans from banks – special Grameen banks and schemes
• List of NGO’s that were working in the area and he could join them
• Information on to free education for his kids, skill based learning institutions / workshops for his wife to learn a few skills, help in design development
• Information of other groups doing similar craft and how to join them

It is important for us to understand that in order to help people ‘at the bottom of the pyramid’ they need to be pushed to the first rung of the business ladder and then be made to help them selves. The dependency of funds from Government should cease and give way to self sustained activity. The mobile phone could give them the most important tools to face the world – timely information and the ability to connect.

Empowered Classrooms with Tech2Teach. more...

The trends .. more...
Socialization
Real-Time Mobile Activation
Branded Utility
ME Advertising
Mobile Cloud Computing

It would be interesting to learn more on this in our context.