Showing posts with label Appropriate Technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Appropriate Technology. Show all posts

June 8, 2012

Video Chat TMI


This is a new video chat service from Airtime and the music and video make it look pretty good, but I have my sincere reservations. 

Airtime connects as an app from Facebook and according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek (11-17 June 2012), "users can then talk to their Facebook friends, search for someone with similar interests, or just hit the 'next' button to find a random chat partner."

While, I find the idea of randomly engaging online with someone intriguing, I also more find it more than a little scary not knowing who they really are--there are plenty of fraudsters, charlatans, and perverts out there that you would not want to be talking to. 

The not so funny thing is that the precursor to Airtime called Chatroulette--was truly, as the name implies, a gamble and many times a bad one at that, with some unscrupulous users availing themselves of the video to expose themselves online. 

Frankly, it seems that many people may be using these applications more as swingers to hook up, have a fling, and engage in flirtatious or even sexual behavior than for developing any sort of real meaningful relationships. 

Furthermore with Airtime, based I assume on people's Facebook profiles, "as two users converse, Airtime suggests interests and common friends they may have in common"--with these actually popping up on your screen!

Whatever happened to any sort of privacy and discretion in sharing and letting conversations and relationships evolve naturally and over time between people rather than forced and in your face!

To me even the concept of having to use video when chatting is over-rated! I think most people do not feel all that comfortable in front of the camera and are actually more at ease talking without being viewed every moment through a lens.  

I have seen cameras deployed for desktop computers that were hardly ever used. And even with Apple's Facetime application built right into the iPhone, I rarely ever see anyone actually using this--do you? 

I think this is a clear lesson with technology that just because we can do something, doesn't mean we should. 

We need to take into account people feelings and their comfort zone, especially when it comes to privacy, and not just put them in front of every camera and float their personal interests and friends randomly or regularly. 

"Discretion is the better part of valor" and it's time to appreciate technology and social media companies and applications that recognize this and roll out services that are respectful of people privacy, security, and right to have some control over their lives.

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July 4, 2011

Appropriate Technology For All

For July 4th, we headed down to the D.C. Folk Life Festival today on the Washington Mall.

The Peace Corps had a number of exhibits at the festival, including one on what they call "Appropriate Technology."

Appropriate technology is about being user-centric when applying technology to the local needs and realities on the ground around the world.

There are 3 key rules in developing and implementing appropriate technology:

1) Affordable--technology has to be affordable for the people that are going to use it. Even if it saves money in the long-term, it has to be something that can be acquired by people without access to traditional financing in the short-term.

2) Local--the material must be available locally in order to make it accessible to people living in remote and even dangerous parts of the world.

3) Transparent--the design of the technology must be transparent with the assembly instructions available to the local people, so that it can be maintained indigenously.

One company that is helping needy people around the world using appropriate technology is Global Cycle Solutions.

Two products from this company that attach to your bicycle were on display and one was actually being demonstrated:

1) Corn Sheller--For $75 plus shipping this attachment to your bicycle shells corn from the husks in pretty amazing speed. According to the supplier, you "can fill a 90-kg sack of maize in 40 minutes and 10-15 sacks per day...[so the] machine pays for itself within a month." (Pictured you can see the exhibitor from Peace Corps loading the corn into the device and the husk coming out the other end; a little girl is pedaling and powering the device in one, and a little boy is spinning the wheel in the other.)

2) Phone Charger--For $10 plus shipping this bicycle attachment charges your phone as you pedal from place to place or as you spin the wheel in place. According to the website, it "charges as quickly as using a wall outlet." (Pictured is the bike and charger on display.)

Since bicycles are routinely found around the world, these add-on devices that help in food preparation and communications are practical and cost-effective.

Appropriate technology is not a technical term and the concept is not rocket-science, yet if we just keep in mind the people we serve--what their needs are and what constraints they may be living under--we can make solutions that are functional, cost-effective and sensible, and we'll can help a lot of needy people in the world, bells and whistles aside.

(Source Photos: Andy Blumenthal)







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