Architecture for Social Life Network to Empower People at the Middle of the Pyramid Athula Ginige 1, Tamara Ginige 2, and Deborah Richards 3 1 University of Western Sydney, Australia 2, Macquarie University, Australia and Australian Catholic University, Australia 3 Macquarie University, Australia

Agenda Broader Context Research Methodology and Challenges Initial Analysis Construction of feasible scenarios High level Conceptual architecture User empowerment Logical Architecture to support empowerment Current Project Status Future Direction

Social Networks Ref: Ramesh Jain

The Geo-Social Universe May 2011

Middle 3.5 Billion Top 1.5 Billion Bottom 1.5 Billion MOP: Strengthening Information Environment TOP: Strong Information Environment BOP: Deprived of Information Middle of the Pyramid Ref: Ramesh Jain

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Every human in a society should be provided with the first two. Other stages follow only after that. Basic Highest

Going Beyond Social Networks Current Social Networks Important Unsatisfied Needs

Mobile phone used to be a phone. It is now a: – Phone – Camera and an album – GPS – Music system – Video Game console – Communication device – Personal BUTLER – Computer – Information source – … much more What is a Mobile Phone?

Connecting People And Resources Aggregation and Composition Situation Detection Alerts Queries Information HealthEducationAgricultureTransportationSocial Ref: Ramesh Jain

Framework for Situation Analysis Level 3: Event Graph Level 2: S-T-T Aggregate Level 1: S-T-T Data RepresentationTransformationCharacterisations Properties More abstraction Less details Less abstraction More details Examples NYC,02/12/11, Flu Case Raw Data – e.g. Tweets, photos, weather, RSS

Where to open the next store?

Synthesis Review of Published Material Focus Group Meetings Technology Review Initial Analysis Potential Scenarios

Focus Group meeting with potential users

Social Networks User empowerment through use of web 2.0 Growth of micro blogging Social Life Networks Technology Review

Review of published mobile applications TypeDomainDescriptionCountries Access to information FarmingmKrish delivers crop advice to farmers in rural India by cell phone. [8]. China mobile sends information about planting techniques, pest management and market prices to farmers. India, China Mobile as a sensor Health In Uganda and Mozambique, new mobile diagnostic equipment are getting used [10]. Uganda and Mozambique eMarketFarmingTradeNet in Ghana links buyers and sellers. CellBazaar provides a text-based classified ad service I n Bangladesh [9]. Ghana, Bangladesh SellingFisheriesIn india fishermen are using to negotiate price before coming on shore.. India mLearningEducationmLearning projects have been piloted in Africa [11] India [12] and Bangladesh [13]. Africa, India, Bangladesh, Money transfer BankingM-PESA, a mobile phone-based money transfer service [14]. Kenya There is no user empowerment in these applications

Construction of feasible scenarios

Creating a better market dispersion

Selecting Crops to Cultivate

International Collaborative project to develop Social Life Networks for the Middle of the Pyramid. Current collaborates are University of Western Sydney, Australian Catholic University, Macquarie University, University of California Irvine, University of Salerno in Italy, University of Colombo and University of Ruhuna. First pilot project SLN for Sri Lankan farmers SLN4MOP

Initial System Architecture

What are the potential scenarios that can benefit from Social Life Networks What factors will motivate people to use such a system What impact such a system will have on Social Processes. Research Challenges - Overall System

Input and output Subsystem. – Language and Usability issues – Data input method – Output data visualisation Processing Subsystem – Data validity – Managing application domain knowledge – etc Aggregation Subsystem – What information alerts are required for different types of applications. – Sequence of operations to generate information and alerts and respond to user queries Research Challenges - Sub Systems

SLN4MOP Research Methodology Exploring possibilities using Action Research Requirements for Aggregation Unit Aggregation Unit Requirements for Processing Unit Processing Unit Requirements for User Interface Unit Mobile App Evaluation Stakeholder Needs SLN for Farmers Requirements Artefacts Evaluations

Farmer Information Need Analysis

What Crop to Grow? What are the best seeds to be cultivated? (Quality) From whom/where to buy good quality seeds at a lower rate? (Quality / Resource Prices) How much yield is estimated for the selected vegetable seeds? (Prediction) What would be the weather within the harvesting period? Any sudden changes that would affect the yield? (Quality / Precautions / Decision taking) What are the best fertilizers to be used for the selected crops and in which quantities?(Quality) From where to buy good fertilizer at a lower rate? (Quality / Resource Prices) What are the precautions to be carried out to avoid specific pest and diseases? (Quality / Precautions / Decision taking) Information Need - 1

In case of a disease what are steps to be carried out? (Quality / Knowledge) Any disease that spreads within neighbouring farm yards? (Quality / Precautions / Decision taking) How to inform other farmers with respect to the pest and diseases? (Agricultural Knowledge / Information Sharing) What others grow? Cultivation extent? (Agricultural Knowledge / Precautions / Decision taking) How to inform others that farmer would be growing a specific crop? (Agricultural Knowledge / Information Sharing) What are the other possible ways of selling the harvest? Any other vendors? (Agricultural Knowledge ) How to inform other food processing companies that farmer have grown a specific crop? How to get aware of any special interests of such companies? (Agricultural Knowledge / Information Sharing / Decision making) Information Need - 2

High Level Conceptual Architecture

Mobile UI Development

Empowerment Theory Empowerment is a process which has outcomes for individuals, organisations and community. The empowerment theory suggests that actions, activities or structures may be empowering, and the outcome of each process results in a level of being empowered

User Empowerment Given some information How can we assist user to act on that information From user action How can we extract useful information

High Level Logical Architecture

Design and implement End-to-End system V0. – Where to start – How to collaborate Interesting secondary project – Collaborative development and knowledge sharing. Next Step