Pick the Right Tech

Designing Tech Projects for Communities

in Hard to Reach Areas

PEPLJim Linton Williamsjim@pepl.org.uk@williamthejam

Pick the Right Tech

Pick the problem first, not the tech

Design around the community’s habits

Keep it simple

Make it useful

Build on existing relationships of trust

Basic Community Habits

Income

Literacy

Mobile Penetration

Internet Penetration

Media Use

Low Tech Awesomeness

Example Pros and Cons

Missed Call Voting Cheap, low literacy. Needs mobile phones only.

Web to Paper Needs literacy. Can be expensive.

Loudspeaker + Car Get a simple message to a single community

GPS + Motorbike Can be expensive, and needs training.

Interactive Voice Response Complex for organisation, easy for users

FabFi Brings fast intranet to nearby organisations / facilities

Mobile Penetration - 2009

Country SIMs per 100 people

Afghanistan 40.3

Kazakhstan 94.4

Kyrgyzstan 84.3

Tajikistan 70.5

Turkmenistan 29.4

Pakistan 60.7

Mobile Penetration - Pakistan

Indicator Data

SIMs per 100 60.7

More than one SIM 22%

Phones per 100 37% *

Access in the Household 65% *

Use in Last Three Months 96% *

* (amongst poorest 60%)

Mobiles and Women in Pakistan

1. Ownership: 17.6 % of poorest 60% women nationwide (n=900)

12.5 % women in Sindh (n=81)

17.6 % women in FATA / KPK (n=224)

2. Access: 65 % of poorest 60% - ‘access in household’ (n=900)

70 % nationwide – ‘access in household’ (n=1200)

3. Use: 12.5 % in Kashmore use a phone daily (n=81)

13.5 % in FATA use a phone daily (n=224)

Decision Time

Detailed Discussion of Project Design

Or

Research Training

Sampling

Random

Comprehensive

Equal chance of participation

Research Questions

Not open ended

Specific

Not leading

Comprehensive

Bad Questions

1. Jude Law is a terrible actor, isn’t he?

1. If you need to borrow money, who do you ask?

2. What time of day do you listen to the radio?

• Morning• Afternoon• Lunchtime• Breakfast time• After school

Good Questions

1. How good an actor is Jude Law?

• Brilliant• Good• Ok• Bad• Terrible

1. What time of day do you listen to the radio?

• Between 6am and 12pm• Between 12pm and 6pm• Between 6pm and 12 am• Between 12am and 6pm

Regions Population Sample Size Max Margin of Error

FATA & KPK 26,730,375 800 3.46%

KPK 22,650,788 400 4.90%

FATA 4,079,587 400 4.90%

Lecture Hall 100 80 4.92%

Sample Size

The Magic Formula

But if that makes no sense, just try to do at least 400 interviews

Choosing a Medium

Broadcast at Scale

Accessible

Familiar

Appropriate

Conducive to Responses

Manageable Data

Choosing a Medium

Broadcast at Scale Cost-efficient communication to the audience

AccessibleReliable access to the medium

Competence in the use of the medium

Familiar Above all, do no spam.

Appropriate Language, script, style, voice

Conducive to Responses Easy, cheap and culturally normal to reply

Manageable Data Clean, discrete, comparable data

SMS Voice

Broadcast at Scale Cheap and simple Also simple; More expensive

Accessible Tech-literacy is a barrierSpeaking and listening are intuitive;

button input is not

Familiar Unknown numbers Unknown numbers

AppropriateLiteracy is a major barrier, especially for

women; shared literacy can mitigateScripts are problematic

Much easier to manage

Conducive to Responses Literacy a barrierMore expensive for end user;

Can be a toll free number

Manageable Data Very difficultEasier with IVR button input – audio

calls need to be listened to

Comparison