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SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Media X Lecture Series - Computing for Socio-Economic Development
DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:On the same planet where there are 1=2E4 billion Internet users=2C a far less  fortunate 1=2E4 billion people survive below the World Bank=27s extreme poverty  line=2E Computing technology has transformed the lives of the wealthiest  people on the planet=2C but it remains out of reach and irrelevant for the poorest=2E How do you design user interfaces for an illiterate migrant worker=3F Can you keep five rural schoolchildren from fighting over one PC=3F What value is technology to a farmer earning a dollar a day=3F =0D=0A=0D=0AQuestions like this will be raised in a sample of research work from the Technology for Emerging Markets group =28http=3A//research=2Emicrosoft=2Ecom/research/tem=29 at Microsoft Research India=2C in Bangalore=2E We are a multidisciplinary research group consisting of anthropologists=2C economists=2C designers=2C and computer scientists who together seek new applications of computing technology for the world=27s least privileged communities in domains such as agriculture=2C education=2C healthcare=2C and microfinance=2E The constraints are severe=2C with poor education=2C terrible infrastructure=2C and a shortage of funds making even the best-designed systems challenging to implement=2E Nevertheless=2C we believe this is a challenge worth undertaking=2C and one that can make a difference as long as we retain equal measures of skepticism about the brash claims of technology and optimism about its true potential=2E=0D=0A=0D=0A=3Ci=3EKentaro Toyama is assistant managing director of Microsoft Research India=2C in Bangalore=2C where he supports the daily operation and overall management of the research lab=2E He also leads a group that conducts research to identify applications of computing technology in emerging markets and for international development=2C and is co-founder of the IEEE/ACM Int=27l Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development=2E From 1997 to 2004=2C he was at Microsoft Research in Redmond=2C where he did research in multimedia and computer vision and worked to transfer new technology to Microsoft product groups=2E In 2002=2C he took personal leave from Microsoft to teach mathematics at Ashesi University=2C a private liberal arts college in Ghana=2E Kentaro graduated from Harvard with a bachelors degree in physics and from Yale with a PhD in computer science=2E=3C/i=3E=0D=0A=0D=0AWith Support from CHIMe Lab=2C Asha for Education =28Stanford Chapter=29 and Engineers for Sustainable World=0D=0A
LOCATION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Peter Wallenberg Learning Theater - Bldg 160=2C Room 124
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