1. Low-Cost, High-Latency, Unlimited-Bandwidth Communication Kentaro Toyama Assistant Managing Director Microsoft Research India WWW 2007 Banff – May 9, 2007

2. “Technology for Emerging Markets” Research goals: Understand potential technology users in economically poorer communities Adapt, invent, or design technology that contributes to socio-economic development of poor communities worldwide Computer-skills camp in Nakalabande, Bangalore (MSR India, Stree Jagruti Samiti, St. Joseph’s College) Microsoft Research India

3. Interdisciplinary Research Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan –Public Administration and International Development Jonathan Donner –Communications Nimmi Rangaswamy – Social Anthropology Rajesh Veeraraghavan – Computer Science and Economics Indrani Medhi – Design Kentaro Toyama – Computer Science Randy Wang Udai Singh Pawar – – Computer Science Physics Society Group Technology Individual Society Group Technology Individual Innovation Understanding Impact Innovation Understanding Impact MSR India: TEM

4. A rural school in Chinhat, Uttar Pradesh, India

5. Very Poor Communities Meager economy –High cost of hi-tech Terrible electrical and telecommunications infrastructure –Poor real-time Internet experience Low literacy –Multimedia helpful Slow pace of life –Real-time interaction rarely critical Traits relevant to information dissemination Kodia village, Madhya Pradesh, India

6. Low-Cost, High-Latency, High-Bandwidth? Alternatives to real time: –Delay-tolerant networking Data trickling with… –satellite communications –mobile phones –point-to-point wireless –Vehicles and WiFi DakNet / First Mile Solutions –DVDs via physical mail This talk! phttp server phttp client

7. Digital StudyHall: Problem Poor teaching quality in rural schools Rural school in Chinhat, Uttar Pradesh

8. Digital StudyHall: Problem Good teachers drawn to city with higher salaries and better environments Urvashi’s StudyHall private school in Lucknow

9. Digital StudyHall: Solution Randy Wang, Researcher, Microsoft Research India A DSH class in Uttar Pradesh, India Goal: transfer of good pedagogy to rural schools Content: DVD recordings of classes taught by good teachers -- Sent via post on DVD -- Usage: Rural teachers use DVDs as base material for interactive lessons.

10. eSagu Prof. P. Krishna Reddy, Int’l Inst. of Information Technology, Hyderabad Some photographs of a cotton crop (and written notes) collected by eSagu Goal: “queryless” delivery of agriculture advice to farmers Content: Digital photographs of farms and crops collected by paid workers in villages -- Sent via post on DVD -- Usage: Photos are analyzed by agriculture experts who diagnose and prescribe remedies

11. Netflix Goal: painless movie delivery to households at a low monthly rate Content: full-length movies -- Sent via post on DVD -- Usage: DVDs watched by families in the comfort of their homes; trips to video rental stores eliminated. DVD over post works elsewhere…

12. Jim Gray Storage capacity doubling each year - 1970: 20MB disk cost $20K Bandwidth improving only 10% a year For large stores, FedEx-ing harddrives cheaper and faster than any other method. “The biggest problem… is customs.” http://www.acmqueue.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=43 Data over post is fastest and cheapest

13. Zero electricity Poor postal service Not enough financial resources for supporting DVD/VCD playback No need for high-bandwidth Not the right model if there is…

14. Summary The Internet may need non- standard channels for poor rural areas. Data transported physically can provide the highest-bandwidth, even in communications-rich economies. DVDs by mail offer a low- cost, high-bandwidth, high-latency alternative!

15. Thank you! http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem kentoy@microsoft.com