Speaker(s): Dr. David Wright
Date/Time: Monday December 5, 2011. 5:30PM to 8:30PM
Location: room DMS4165, Desmarais building, University of Ottawa, 55 Laurier Avenue East
Parking: parking fees apply, public transport near-by
Registration: Free to IEEE members, $5 Student and Engineers-in-Transition members, $10 non IEEE members
Organized by: Technology Management Council (TMC), Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) and Professional Communication Society (PCS) and IEEE-Canada HIC.

==> Food and non-alcoholic beverages will be served <==

Abstract: IEEE will be launching Special Interest Groups in 2012 for members wanting to organize humanitarian initiatives. Our committee Our committee will focus on encouraging Ottawa IEEE members to get involved by sponsoring this event where professor David Wright will be presenting different aspects of the IEEE HTC Data Connectivity project in remote areas in the Alto Amazonas region of Peru including. Details: http://ewh.ieee.org/mu/r7-hic/making-it-happen/

HIC poster presented at Sections Congres 2011

How Social Networks and Mobile Tech Helped in Haiti – GigaOm.com (01/12/11) Mathew Ingram
Social media and other mobile tools have been very useful for transmitting crucial information in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Haiti a year ago, but the information was not used as well as it could have been, according to the Knight Foundation. The organization recently released a comprehensive report on the use of technology following the earthquake. The report describes Haiti as a living laboratory for short messaging service (SMS), interactive online maps, radio-cell phone hybrids, and other wireless applications. Although the technology allowed for a democratic approach to information management, new media activists also note that there were limitations in crisis settings when working with military and international humanitarian organizations that have more closed systems. “Information may be gathered and assembled in an open, democratic fashion,” the report says. “But often the practical response effort is driven by large organizations that deal with information in a radically different way.” Ushahidi, which can aggregate and process information from a variety of sources such as SMS, Twitter, and radio, and then plot it on a map, was a powerful tool during the relief effort, as was crowdsourcing. The report says a lack of coordination–and in many cases a lack of understanding of how to use the tools–prevents the Haiti relief effort from being seen as a new media success story.

(Appeared in ACM TechNews, January 14, 2011)

References from the Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEE) at the New Mexico State University : http://solar.nmsu.edu/publications/index.htm

Selected references:

• Light Emitting Diodes for photovoltaic off-grid homes DOE- SNL; Robert Foster, Martin Gomez NMSU. 2006. (268 KB)
• National Electric Code (NEC): Recomended Practices for Photovoltaic Systems John Wiles. 1996. (644 kB)
• Ten years of solar distillation application along the U.S.-Mexico border Sharon Eby, EPSEA; William Amos, SOLAQUA; Robert Foster, NMSU. 2005 (157 KB)

This video documentary showcases the Arduino open-source prototyping platform for DIY electronics. It is a remarcable overview of the benefits of open source hardware, and it provides an interesting model for humanitarian projects:

In this presentation, Dr. Aronson describes in detail WE CARE Solar Suitcase TM; the presentation includes future system features being investigated.

WECARE_presentation_at_IEEE-PES-GM_July-2010

The venerable incandescent lightbulb is on its way out, thanks to a revolution in lighting technology. IEEE Spectrum has chronicled the rise of compact fluorescent bulbs and LEDs, as engineers have struggled to improve on Edison’s original invention.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/static/special-report-the-future-of-lighting

Conference videos are now available at http://www.ictd2010.org/?page_id=1204.

The ICTD2010 conference, hosted by the ICT4D Collective at Royal Holloway, University of London, was the latest in the series of highly successful international ICTD conferences held in Doha (2009), Bangalore (2007) and Berkeley (2006). It aimed to provide a forum for researchers, practitioners and all those with interests in the use of information and communication technologies in development practice to meet to discuss the latest research advances in the field.
Building on the success of its predecessors, ICTD2010 combined two days of plenary peer-reviewed paper sessions, with two days of workshops, panel sessions, discussion forums, and demos, including sessions in Spanish. A particular feature was the opportunity that it provided for participatory involvement from people from a diversity of backgrounds.
ICTD2010 was hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D and the multidisciplinary ICT4D Research Centre at Royal Holloway, University of London’s magnificent campus situated only 20 minutes from London’s Heathrow airport.

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Catapult Design is a non-profit design firm providing engineering and implementation support to the thousands of organizations in need of technologies or products capable of igniting social change. One of their projects used the WE CARE solar platform to provide energy to health clinics in Rwanda:

http://catapultdesign.org/projects/pv-for-health-clinics