Myths of Information Technology for International Development

The past decade has seen incredible interest in applying information and communication technologies for international development, an endeavor often abbreviated “ICT4D.” Can mobile phones be used to improve rural healthcare? How do you design user interfaces for an illiterate migrant worker? What value is technology to a farmer earning $1 […]

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Designing a More Equitable Internet

My research is concerned with the design of appropriate and accessible information systems serving the needs of poor, indigenous, remote and otherwise marginalized communities in the developing and developed world. I am also broadly interested in the impact that new kinds of data and communications tools can have for improving […]

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Designing User Interfaces for Novice and Low-Literacy Users

One of the greatest challenges in developing Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for global development is that 41% of the population in the least developed countries is non-literate and even the literate among the poor are only novice users of technology. I will describe work we have done over the […]

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ICT4D@Penn

The ICT4D Seminar is an interdisciplinary venture at Penn to bring together researchers, students, and leaders from all sectors interested in better understanding the role that ICTs play in international development, and the impact that they have on impoverished and under-resourced communities. Through the Seminar’s flagship activity, the Speaker Series, […]

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