[Scheduled meetings]   [Previous meetings]   [Potential topics]   [Contact]   [Links]  

The MIT Reading Group on Information and Communication Technologies for Development is an open reading group re-starting up in Fall 2007. We will meet weekly to discuss applications of information technologies to international development. The group is not limited to computer scientists -- we hope to attract people from economics, urban planning, architecture, media arts and sciences, anthropology, and other departments. If you have experience working on a project in this area, or are interested in learning more about the work being done, we'd love to have you participate.

This fall, we will be meeting on Thursdays at 4pm in 32-144 (room 144 on the ground floor of the Stata Center).

If you would like to join us, please sign up for our mailing list (if you have trouble signing up, try using Firefox or email Emma and Bill at ict4dev-owner@lists.csail.mit.edu).

Reading group format:
Generally each week there will be a different project or paper to be discussed at the reading group. One group member will be responsible for having carefully read the paper or familiarized him or herself with the project and will be responsible for leading the discussion that week. Leading the discussion involves having thought about the main contributions, limitations and open questions or issues of the paper and being ready to help lead a discussion on that; PowerPoint presentations are not expected! All group members should read or at least skim the paper every week to facilitate discussion, and we'd really like each group member to lead the discussion once during the semester. If you're interested in joining the group but can't make the committment to lead a discussion, please still come along but also e-mail us at the e-mail address below so that we can account for that in scheduling.

Upcoming meetings

The reading group has finished meeting for Fall 2007, and does not plan to meet in Spring 2008. However, if you are interested in this area, please consider becoming involved with a new course on this subject, offered for the first time in Spring 2008:

D-Lab II - Information and Communications Technologies for Development

Previous meetings

Date Topic
Thu 9/13
 DISCUSSION:
The Case for Technology for Developing Regions.
Eric Brewer, Michael Demmer, Bowei Du, Melissa Ho, Matthew Kam, Sergiu Nedevschi, Joyojeet Pal, Rabin Patra, Sonesh Surana, and Kevin Fall.
IEEE Computer, June 2005.
Thu 9/20
 DISCUSSION:
The Economic Lives of the Poor.
Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo.
MIT Department of Economics Working Paper No. 06-29.
Thu, 9/27 TALK:
Using ICTs to Improve HIV/AIDS Treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Daniel Kayiwa (Makerere University, Uganda) and Kieran Sharpey-Schafer (Cell-Life, South Africa).
Thu, 10/4 DISCUSSION:
Review of Research on Rural PC Kiosks.
Savita Bailur, Renee Kuriyan, Deepak Menon, Joyojeet Pal, Nimmi Rangaswamy, Aishwarya Ratan, Janaki Srinivasan, Kentaro Toyama, and Rajesh Veeraraghavan.
MSR India White Paper, 2007.
(More from this group)
Thu 10/11 TALK:
Technology for a Developing World: Perspective from Dimagi.
Jonathan Jackson.
Co-Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer of Dimagi.
Thu 10/18 DISCUSSION:
Localized Iterative Design for Language Learning in Underdeveloped Regions: The PACE Framework.
Matthew Kam, Divya Ramachandran, Varun Devanathan, Anuj Tewari and John Canny.
2007 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2007).
(Project website)
Thu 10/25 DISCUSSION:
Multiple Mice for Retention Tasks in Disadvantaged Schools.
Udai Singh Pawar, Joyojeet Pal, Rahul Gupta, and Kentaro Toyama.
2007 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2007).
Thu 11/1 TALK:
The Value of Non-Real-Time IT Systems for Rural Communities.
Rich Fletcher, MIT Media Lab.
Thu 11/8 DISCUSSION:
The Digital Provide: Information (Technology), Market Performance, and Welfare in the South Indian Fisheries Sector.
Robert Jensen, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 2007.

Lighter introductions to the subject material:

  • An article from The Economist.
  • Slides from a talk by the author.
    • Thu 11/15 EXTERNAL TALK:
    Global Health Equity
    Paul Farmer, M.D., Ph.D.
    Thu 11/29 DISCUSSION:
    Impact and Sustainability of E-Government Services in Developing Countries: Lessons Learned from Tamil Nadu, India.
    Rajendra Kumar and Michael L. Best
    The Information Society, 2006.
    Thu 12/6 TALK:
    Clinical Information Systems as Tools to Improve Quality of Care in Developing Countries: Examples from HIV and TB Treatment Programs.
    Dr. Hamish Fraser, Harvard Medical School and Partners In Health.
    Thu 12/13 DISCUSSION:
    Highlights of Technology and Development in the Global South.
    Prepared by Amory Starr and Durant Schoon.

    Potential topics

    We welcome group members to suggest readings of interest. Potential papers could include:

    Additional papers of interest can be found in venues such as:

    Contact

    The reading group is organized by Emma Brunskill and Bill Thies, who are graduate students in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

    Everyone is welcome to join the ICT4DEV mailing list, which is a low-traffic venue for announcing meetings, as well as occaisional discussion items. You can add yourself to the ict4dev list using this webpage.

    If you have any problems adding yourself to the mailing list, please feel free to email the organizers and we will add you to the list.

    Links

  • ICT4DEV Reading Group in 2003

  • Technology and Sustainable Economic Development Reading Group (UC Berkeley)

  • Reading List from MIT Development Technologies class, Fall 2000