A] INDIA PROJECTS

Girish Prabhu - ICT Survey of India by HP Labs India Over the last year, HP Labs India has conducted an exhaustive survey of the ways in which urban and rural Indians from all socio-economic strata use technology, ranging from home appliances to broadcast media to personal communications systems. HP’s Girish Prabhu, who designed and managed that survey will make public portions of this survey to invite collaborations and drive the sector forward as a whole.

Srinavasa Rao - E-Chaupal Agricultural E-Businesses by ITC e-Chaupal, an agricultural e-business initiative by ITC, one of India's larger conglomerates, offers rural farmers information, products and services to enhance farm productivity, improve farm-gate price realisation and cut transaction costs. It also facilitates supply of high quality farm inputs as well as purchase of commodities at their doorstep. Farmers can access latest local and global information on weather, scientific farming practices as well as market prices at the village itself through this web portal - all in Hindi and other local languages. A Chaupal is designed to provide physical service support through a Chaupal Sanchalak - himself a lead farmer - who acts as the interface between computer terminal and the farmers.

Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) by EDC A project initiated by the Educational Development Center in several developing countries including India, Interactive Radio Instruction is a method of providing educational coursework inside as well as outside the classrooms. IRI does this effectively by integrating the audio component with the classroom activities. The Œaudio instructor' carries the main weight of the teaching by directing the students towards the exercises tasks. IRI as a multichannel learning methodology rests upon effective program design and strategic implementation. Can mobile phones replace radio transmitters for such applications?

Digbijoy Bhowmik / CSDMS - Map your Neighborhood A project initiated by CSDMS, Gramchitra involves young people creating communication and knowledge maps of households and other places of interest. An example of participatory rural appraisal, Gramchitra involves the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) systems, mobile phones, and digital cameras.

n-Logue - Chiraag WLL Kiosks A connectivity project using WLL implemented by n-Logue, Chiraag seeks to provide multifunctional access to its network of kiosks. WLL is used for both voice and data transmission simultaneously. n-Logue works in a three-tiered manner by: (i) facilitating relationships among hardware providers, NGOs, content providers, and local governments; (ii) maintaining a regional network of franchised Local Service Partners (LSP), who run an access center through which individual kiosk operators are connected; and (iii) recruiting local entrepreneurs to establish village-level kiosk franchises that provide Internet and telephone access to the local population.

Teledoc by Jiva.Org The Teledoc project provides health advice and medication through the use of handheld Mobile Phones. As part of the strategy, a field representative carries a Mobile Phone through the village and collects information on symptomology and queries of the villagers using a pre-designed consultation form fed into the Mobile Phone. This information is then transferred to the main center in the city, based on which treatment is given. The diagnosis is transferred back to the villager via the handheld along with the appropriate medicines. www.jiva.org/teledoc/doctors

Auto-Mobile by CKS This project concerns a multimedia presentation about the role rickshaw drivers play in Bangalore’s city culture. In general, these drivers are labelled as kamikaze pilots, frauds and polluters, but they also add a certain value to life in the city by the way they use their mobile phones. They keep in close contact with their client base, so they can, for instance, do their shopping for them or take their kids to and from school while the parents are at work. The video makes use of innovative cartography and image technology to record the relationship between the rickshaw drivers, their clients and the urban fabric, demonstrating various scenarios of mobile phone use while exploring the relationship between technology and social life in the city. www.cks-b.org

Information Mapping by CNRSS Non-euclidean maps emerging out of investigations complemented by stunning insights into the ways in which diverse groups use and share information. In order to design services that are rooted in real contexts, and among real people, new ways are needed to map relationships, flows of information, and patterns of trade and exchange. These maps can help us identify gaps of blockages that can be resolved using mobile communications and networks. Researchers from CNRS (France) present new ways of mapping the relations between love, work, travel, and life in non-Euclidean space. Blandine Ripert

B] EUROPE/USA PROJECTS

Project 1. John Thackara: Spark!, design and local knowledge When traditional industries disappear from a locality, what is to take their place? In Spark!, multi-disciplinary design teams from five EU countries, together with local officials and citizens, conducted design scenario workshops in in five very different European locations.The outcome of these experiences is knowledge about the innovation process in localities.Spark! is a project of Cumulus, Europe's association of design and art universities, together with Doors of Perception. http://www2.uiah.fi/virtu/spark/conference.html

Project 2. 'Biographical Objects' Biographical Objects looks at people's desire to collect memorabilia, the location and display of the memorabilia in the home and the storytelling which accompanies the re-telling of memories. Comparisons are being made about the role of storytelling during different memory triggering activities. For example, car boot sales: an activity for encouraging the erasing of memories by passing memorabilia on to someone else, otherwise a space for acquiring second-hand memories. Retrieving Christmas decorations from the attic: the unknown, but guaranteed pleasure of discovering the contents of unmarked cardboard boxes . . . pure memory indulgence. The project also looks at cross-cultural memorabilia practices, asking, 'Can memory access events in eastern cultures inspire a new way of looking at accessing memories in the west?' Jac Fennell MA(rca), Research Associate, HHRC, Royal College of Art, London Research Partner: Hewlett-Packard

Project 3. Michael Kieslinger, Interaction Ivrea: fluid time Rigid clock-based schedules do not accurately reflect the constantly changing nature of services and events. The Fluid Time project provides people with dynamic, personalised schedule information about public services and private appointments. Professor Kieslinger believes that networking technology can be utilized to connect people to real-time information, allowing them to plan and adjust their daily activities in a new, more flexible way. http://www.interaction-ivrea.it/en/projects/services/fluidtime/index.asp

Project 4. Lavrans Lovlie, Live|Work: time-banking "You are what you do, not what you own" say London-based service designers Live|Work. "As sustainability becomes crucial driver in most situations, we aim to shift the desire for consumption, to the desire for use.To achieve this shift, we have to create future services that equal and surpass the quality and desirability of today's products. The major challenge is to enable people to express who they are through using services instead of through owning things". Live|Work clients include Orange, Egg, and Telecom Italia. http://www.livework.co.uk/

Project 5. Simona Maschi, Interaction Ivrea: car-as-service The car is a space where we live or hide our private and public lives. How can a service design approach influence the design of a car? What are the user behaviours and experiences that make a car a ‘community car’? How can we encourage the creation of communities through the use of traditional private cars? How can interaction design improve our day-to-day life in a highly networked society? If computers disappear, and systems keep on changing, what then will we design? Simona Maschi's main focus is on the design and visualisation of future scenarios of everyday life with industry clients such as Fiat, Bosch-Siemens, Biologica, Philips Design, DeSter and Dàlt. http://www.interaction-ivrea.it/en/people/s.maschi/index.asp

Project 6. Jussi Ängeslevä, Media Lab Europe: wearables "Body Mnemonics" is a meta-tool for portable devices. Ängeslevä's innovation is to give devices such as PDAs and communicators a mechanism for detecting their orientation with respect to their owner's body, so that by tapping a shoulder, say, or a pocket, different functions can be accessed. Angesleva conducted research into what associations parts of the body have for different people, and concluded that while associations were individual, they were strongly held, making this a good basis for an interface. Ängeslevä won OpenDoorsDesign Grand Prix 2002 at Doors of Perception 7. http://www.mle.ie/~jussi/index.php

Project 7. Sean Blair, Spirit of Creation: new service design institute The North East of England was a cradle of the industrial revolution, famed for coal, engineering and ship building. Now, Newcastle and the region are re-inventing their economy and culture. A key role in this transformation is to be played by a new hybrid organization that is part design school and part innovation hub. It is due to open in 2005. The new organization, which will focus on service design, is being built from scratch using the best learning and research processes that can be found in the world. (No website at this time).

Project 8. Caroline Nevejan, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Learning - LEARNING SERVICE PROVIDER Learning happens in many environments and circumstances. How are we to design an architecture which empowers students to create their own learning trajectories? - THE TEACHER IN AN AGE OF MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION The teacher transfers knowledge and insight via his/her presence in learning environments.In game-like environments, questions and feedback are generated by technology. What learning will be triggered by mechanical teachers, that have no aura? - THE DESIGN OF TIME IN LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS Nature and religion used tyo structur3e time in different ways. In today's technological we live 24/7 and all time is NOW. - THE HUMAN CONDITION We mortals need to meet. How can we design presence of 'the other' , when connecting from different spaces?

Project 9. Debra Solomon FASTFOOD, RESTAURANT FOR FASTING The restaurant is normally where one goes to be a passive eater, if eating can be said to be passive. The restaurant isn't invested in your eating experience beyond insuring that you return occasionally for good food, atmosphere and possibly, but not primarily, nourishment. Imagine a restaurant that is entirely focussed around a JUICE FAST. You could go there for dinner to eat a special last supper the night preceding a week-long juice fast. You might opt for breakfast and lunch packages containing juices and teas, maybe special waters for the daytime meals. In the evening you return to the restaurant to enjoy a delicious liquid (juice) dinner with your colleague fast-foodies. The ambience is geared to the fast (Solomon is member of the slow-food movement) and to connecting value to food. Would the fasting restaurant be a silent juice bar? An elegant tea house? How might the juice packages for during the day be distributed? Would a small community be born out of this experience? These are some of the topics that could be addressed in designing a week-long format for a fasting restaurant. I would like to topics for discussion: - possible menus and food rituals; - the potential of the fast as a sensual experience. (an opportunity to build into the fasting experience awareness about food politics.)

Project 10. Wandervogel, Indri Tulusan Can on-street digital networks really involve the local community? The research project Wandervogel (the German word for a migrating bird) developed new services and technology infrastructures for the on-street digital information system i-plus. These were led by cultural approaches, studying peoples behaviour and how technology is used in emerging countries, rather than engineering design. The Wandervogel concepts described wireless i-plus services in which people - not terminals - are at the centre of the infrastructure and content. A pilot application was created and explored the social and cultural opportunities offered by public wireless technology for generating content by the local communities.Keywords: digital street networks, cultural behaviour, user empathy, technology opportunity /news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3216963.stm

Project 11. Moblogging, Jan Chipchase Moblogs are what happen at the intersection of people, place and information. What happens when you can stand in a given location, press a single button on a mobile device, and view the collective experience of everyone else who’s occupied the same spot? Jan Chipchase