Category Archives: User tests

Student projects: Digital Divide and Social Inclusion of Homeless People

This entry was posted in Amsterdam Digital Divide Community Service Education ICT4D ICT4D research Information and Communication Technologies Sustainable Development Goals Urban digital divide User tests User-centred design and tagged Context analysis Digital Inclusion homeless people on by .

In the framework  of the W4RA research program to tackle Global Challenges and bridge the Digital Divide,  five students Information Science set out to map the contours of digital exclusion within our own urban, wealthy, and highly connected context. Carlbandro Edoga and  Marc Hegeman examined the obstacles homeless people face in urban areas of the […]

The Amsterdam Digital Divide team at VU Amsterdam
Meteo data services in Burkina Faso

Talking about “small data”: new student project about meteo data services for African farmers

This entry was posted in Africa Data4dev Downscaling the Web Meteo data Regreening Speech technology Sustainable Development Goals User tests User-centred design Voice technologies on by .

Despite the fact that more than 70% of Africa’s population depends on agriculture for basic life needs, and in Africa’s drylands rain-fed agriculture is widespread,  reliable meteorological data about rainfall and weather forecasts — in Europe timely and accurate — is often not available for African farmers. Recent studies in rural areas of Burkina Faso and Ghana have […]

Tracking deforestation in West Africa: new student project

This entry was posted in Africa AI4D ICT4D research Regreening User tests and tagged Deforestation Regreening monitor Satellite data Sustainability on by .

The tree loss is a severe problem affecting rural communities in West Africa’s drylands. Trees here have a positive influence on local soil conditions, biodiversity richness, water tables, food for fodder, and provide agricultural value to the people due to harvest of tree products. Unfortunately, trees are still being cut, often by people from outside […]

Baobab tree
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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 […]

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.