Category Archives: Living Labs

Intervention or Collaboration ? Rethinking modes of knowledge production in ICT4D

This entry was posted in ICT4D ICT4D research Information and Communication Technologies Living Labs News&media Sustainable Development Goals User-centred design on by .

Over the past decades information system developers and knowledge engineers in ICT projects in wealthy regions of the world have come to realize that technical work can only be successful when situated in a broader organizational context. However, for low-resource environments (such as for example rural Africa), where contextual embedding is even more demanding given […]

image003
Aron_Sarawak

Master student ICT4D blogging from Sarawak, Malaysia

This entry was posted in Asia Children and ICT4D Community Service Education Digital storytelling ICT4D research Living Labs Sarawak Universiti Malaysia Sarawak on by .

Blog by Aron van Groningen, master student Information Science at VU doing his master research field work in communities (kampungs) in Sarawak, Malaysia. Hi all! here’s a little story about my ICT4D in the field work for my master thesis and what I am doing in Sarawak, Malaysia   Education is a big problem in […]

New student project: Nine Principles for Digital Development — how are they used in practice?

This entry was posted in ICT4D Information and Communication Technologies Living Labs and tagged Donor-funded projects Principles of Digital Development Sustainability User-centered Design on by .

For several decades ICT4D practitioners over the world — funded by international development donor agencies or private funds —  have tried to empower disadvantaged communities by providing them with ICT solutions. However, this has not not always worked out successfully. Often, technologies have been deployed for the “poor” without knowing their needs or assessing their […]

IMG_5572

VU and UNIMAS students develop app for children in Sarawak, Malaysia

This entry was posted in Asia Children and ICT4D Community Service Education ICT4D Information and Communication Technologies Living Labs Sarawak Universiti Malaysia Sarawak User tests User-centred design on by .

Pinggan Jaya, 24 June 2018 – Five students from VU and UNIMAS — Tasos, Nip, Guusje, Deva and Ludwig — who are currently following the “ICT4D in the Field” course  in Sarawak, Malaysia,  — have delivered the first working prototype of EDUCOMX, an educational app for primary school age children. This app is meant to […]

Group_KPG
Visit_banana_plantation

First field day “ICT4D in the field” course VU – UNIMAS to Asajaya, Sarawak, Malaysia

This entry was posted in Asia Community Service Education ICT4D ICT4D research Information and Communication Technologies Living Labs Sarawak Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and tagged Asajaya Banana farming ICT4D in the Field UNIMAS on by .

Saturday 9th June 2018, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak The ICT4D team currently at UNIMAS, conducted a field trip to Asajaya, a 1 hour 30 minute drive from UNIMAS to conduct interview session and requirement analysis on the challenges faced by the local farmers in this area. The 11 postgraduate students and 2 lecturers from VU, accompanied […]

ICT4D in the Field, master course by VU and UNIMAS about to start

This entry was posted in Asia Community Service Education ICT4D ICT4D research Information and Communication Technologies Living Labs Sarawak Universiti Malaysia Sarawak on by .

In 2017, VU and UNIMAS (the University of Malaysia in Sarawak) started a collaboration project in the field of ICT4D research and education. At VU, researchers from the Network Institute, in the research program W4RA, have developed methods to build information systems in low-resource, low-tech environments, based on collaboration, iteration, adaptation. This methodology has been […]

Hotpot
work@RadioSikidolo

W4RA team visits Radio Sikidolo: key user of our voice system in Mali

This entry was posted in Africa Information and Communication Technologies Living Labs Voice technologies on by .

Members of the W4RA team and partners from AOPP visited Radio Sikidolo in Konobougou, Mali. Radio Sikidolo and W4RA have worked together on the co-creation of the Foroba Blon radio/mobbile voice-based system  since 2012. Adama Tessougué, director  of Radio Sikidolo and key-user of the Foroba Blon system want to use this system to collect reports […]

VU offers elective field-based ICT4D course for master students CS, IS and AI

This entry was posted in Asia Community Service Education Living Labs Sarawak Universiti Malaysia Sarawak on by .

In June 2018 a new elective VU master course “ICT for Development in the Field” will be given for the first time on location, in Sarawak, Malaysia, jointly with the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). The 6 ECTS course is open for master students of Information Sciences, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. ICT4D is the study […]

Kampung - Copy

Requirement evaluation sessions with key-users

This entry was posted in Africa ICT4D ICT4D research Information and Communication Technologies Living Labs User tests User-centred design on by .

User involvement is key to building sustainable and useful  ICTs. Of course that principle also  holds for ICTs that have to serve  people in a rural setting in Africa. This is an evaluation session of systems built by students of the ICT4D course 2017 at VU. Two key users in Mali and Burkina Faso are evaluating its usefulness and giving feedback on the requirements.