Video of this presentation is found at https://youtu.be/bbmiMr54678
BIO: Dr. Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at University of Toronto. He leads the “Third Space” research group there. He conducts research in the intersection between Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Information and Communication Technology and Development (ICTD). He received his PhD from Cornell University in 2017.
Dr. Ahmed established the first HCI research lab in Bangladesh in 2009. He also launched the first open-source digital map-making initiative in Bangladesh in 2010. Very recently, he and his colleagues founded an “Innovation Lab” in Bangladesh to promote grass-root level innovation in the country. Dr. Ahmed received the prestigious International Fulbright Science and Technology Fellowship in 2011. He also received Intel Science and Technology Center for Social Computing graduate fellowship in 2015. Very recently, in 2018, he has been awarded the Connaught Early Researcher Award from the University of Toronto. He has also received multiple awards for his publications including a Best Paper award in ICTD and a Best Paper Honorable Mention Award in ACM CHI. Dr. Ahmed’s work has been supported by various national and international organizations including the National Science Foundation (NSF) of USA, National Institute of Health (NIH) of USA, Intel, Microsoft Research, IBM Research, Samsung Research, the World Bank, and National Institute of Mental Health of Bangladesh. His current research is being supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, and Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
ABSTRACT: The top Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations, including poverty alleviation, literacy, and gender equality, are closely tied to the problem of exclusion from core economic, social, and cultural infrastructures. As a potential tool for sustainable development, technology has the responsibility to make these infrastructures more inclusive. However, to date, many of the world’s biggest technological advances have primarily benefited only a small fraction of the developed world. The goal of my research is to leverage ethnographic methods to understand the underserved populations in low-income regions, and design and develop appropriate technologies to bring sustainable positive change in their lives.
TorCHI World Usability Day Talk by Prof. Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed
1. Understanding People and Designing
Technology: Thinking and Building toward
Sustainable Development
Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed
Department of Computer Science
The University of Torornto, Toronto, ON
2. Bachelor in Computer Science and Engineering, 2009
Masters in Computer Science and Engineering, 2011
Lecturer of Computer Science and Engineering, 2009-11
Masters in Informa on Science, 2014
PhD in Informa on Science, 2017
Syed Ish aque Ahmed
Cornell University
Bangladesh University of
Engineering and Technology
11. Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Md. Romael Hoque, Md. Rashidujjaman Rifat, Nicola Dell, "Privacy, Security, and
Surveillance in the Global South: A Study of Biometric Mobile SIM Registration in Bangladesh”
Priyank Chandra, Joyojeet Pal, "Market Practices and the Bazaar: TechnologySyed Ishtiaque Ahmed,
Consumption in Informal ICT Markets in the Global South”
Mehrab Bin Morshed, Michaelanne Dye, , Neha Kumar, "When the internet goesSyed Ishtiaque Ahmed
down in Bangladesh”
Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Nicola Bidwell, Himanshu Zade, Srihari Muralidhar, Anupama Dhareshwar, Baneen
Karachiwala, Cedrick Tandong, Jacki O'Neill, "Peer-to-peer in the workplace: A view from the road",
Lara Houston, Steven J. Jackson, Daniela Rosner, , Meg Young, Laewoo Kang,Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed
"Values in Repair”
Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Shion Guha, Md. Rashidujjaman Rifat, Md. Foysal Hossain, Nicola Dell, "Privacy in
Repair: An Analysis of the Privacy Challenges Surrounding Broken Digital Artifacts in Bangladesh”
Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Nova Ahmed, Faheem Hussain, and Neha Kumar, "Computing beyond Gender-
Imposed Limits”
Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Nusrat Jahan Mim, Steven J. Jackson, "Residual Mobilities: Infrastructural
Displacement and Post-Colonial Computing in Bangladesh”
Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Steven J. Jackson, Md. Rashidujjaman Rifat, "Learning to Fix: Knowledge,
Collaboration and Mobile Phone Repair in Dhaka, Bangladesh”
Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Maruf Zaber, Mehrab Bin Morshed, Habibullah Bin Ismail, Dan Cosley, Steven J.
Jackson, “Suhrid: A Collaborative Mobile Phone Interface for Low Literate People”
Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Steven J. Jackson, Nova Ahmed, Hasan Shahid Ferdous, Md. Rashidujjaman Rifat,
A.S.M. Rizvi, Shamir Ahmed, Rifat Sabbir Mansur, "Protibadi: A Platform for Fighting Sexual Harassment
in Urban Bangladesh”
Steven J. Jackson, , Md. Rashidujjaman Rifat, "Learning, Innovation, andSyed Ishtiaque Ahmed
Sustainability among Mobile Phone Repairers in Dhaka, Bangladesh”
Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Steven J. Jackson, Maruf Zaber, Mehrab Bin Morshed, Habibullah Bin Ismail,
Sharmin Afrose, "Ecologies of Use and Design: Individual and Social Uses of Mobile Phones Within Low-
Literate Rickshaw-Puller Communities in Urban Bangladesh”
CHI’17
CHI’17
CSCW’17
CHI’16
CHI’16
ICTD’16
LIMITS’16
CHI’15
ICTD’15
DEV’15
CHI’14
DIS’14
DEV’14
CSCW’18
Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Md. Romael Haque, Jay Chen, and Nicola Dell. Digital Privacy Challenges with Shared
Mobile Phone Use in Bangladesh.
12. Mobile Money
Community Radio One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)
https://fli.institute/2014/08/25/one-laptop-per-child-olpc/
http://shethepeople.tv/indian-rural-women-find-their-voice-through-community-radio/
https://pritamkabe.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/the-mobile-money-m-pesa-phenomenon-in-kenya/
13. •Misreading the actual problem
•Resource constraints
•Cultural barrier
•Lack of training
•Corruption and politics
•Lack of maintenance and repair
Challenges
14. Problem identification
•Misreading the actual problem
•Resource constraints
•Cultural barrier
•Lack of training
•Corruption and politics
•Lack of maintenance and repair
Challenges
35. Access
Voice
Freedom
How can
technology
be accessible
to all?
How can
people make
their voice
heard?
Infrastructure
How to make
infrastructure
inclusive and
sustainable?
Visibility
How to achieve
social freedom
over a
technology?
36. Access
Voice
Freedom
How can
technology
be accessible
to all?
How can
people make
their voice
heard?
Infrastructure
How to make
infrastructure
inclusive and
sustainable?
Visibility
How to achieve
social freedom
over a
technology?
46. Access
Problems:
- calling wrong numbers
- wasting money
- wasting time
- getting embarrassed
Individual Strategies:
- memorizing images
- memorizing serial
- random guess
47. Ecology of Use
Ahmed et al.,"Ecologies of Use and Design: Individual and Social Uses of Mobile Phones
Within Low-Literate Rickshaw-Puller Communities in Urban Bangladesh", ACM DEV 2013.
Access
49. “Even the idea of a pure gift is a contradiction.
By ignoring the universal custom of
compulsory gifts we make our own record
incomprehensible to ourselves: right across
the globe and as far back as we can go in the
history of human civilization, the major
transfer of goods has been by
cycles of obligatory returns of
gifts.”
Access
http://www.beyond-the-pale.co.uk/MarcelMauss.jpg
59. V: Set of all nodes
H: Set of Helpers
U: Set of Illiterate Users
V = H + U
E={(x->y): x ε U and y ε H}
G=(V,E)
Low-literate user
Helpers
Help Network
60. ∀ m ε U:
R(m)= Ranking of the helpers for
m = {x ,x , … x }, n = |H|m1 m2 mn
B(m) = Budget
∀ n ε H:
A(n) = availability of n
C(n) = Maximum capacity of n
P(n) = Price of using n = 0
R(n)= Ranking of the helpers for n
= {x ,x , … x }, m = |U|n1 n2 nm
Bipar te Graph, B
63. V: Set of all nodes
H: Set of Helpers
U: Set of Illiterate Users
V = H + U
E={(x,y): x ε U and y ε H}
G=(V,E)
∀ n ε H,
A(n) = availability of n
C(n) = Maximum capacity of n
P(n) = Price of using n = 0
R(n)= Ranking of the helpers for n
= {x ,x , … x , m} = |U|n1 n2 nm
∀ m ε U:
R(m)= Ranking of the helpers for
m = {x ,x , … x }, n = |H|m1 m2 mn
B(m) = Budget
64. ∀ n ε F:
A(n) = availability of n
C(n) = Maximum capacity of n
P(n) = Price of using n
R(n)= Ranking of the helpers
for n
= {x ,x , … x }, m = |U|n1 n2 nm
Pf(n) = Performance of n
(inversely propor onal to the
number of missed calls)
V: Set of all nodes
H: Set of Helpers
U: Set of Illiterate Users
V = H + U
E={(x,y): x ε U and y ε H}
G=(V,E)
∀ n ε H,
A(n) = availability of n
C(n) = Maximum capacity of n
P(n) = Price of using n = 0
R(n)= Ranking of the helpers for n
= {x ,x , … x , m} = |U|n1 n2 nm
∀ m ε U:
R(m)= Ranking of the helpers for
m = {x ,x , … x }, n = |H|m1 m2 mn
B(m) = Budget
Mixing gift with paid service
65. V: Set of all nodes
H: Set of Helpers
U: Set of Illiterate Users
V = H + U
E={(x,y): x ε U and y ε H}
G=(V,E)
∀ n ε H,
A(n) = availability of n
C(n) = Maximum capacity of n
P(n) = Price of using n = 0
R(n)= Ranking of the helpers for n
= {x ,x , … x , m} = |U|n1 n2 nm
∀ m ε U:
R(m)= Ranking of the helpers for
m = {x ,x , … x }, n = |H|m1 m2 mn
B(m) = Budget
Mixing gift with paid service
∀ n ε F:
A(n) = availability of n
C(n) = Maximum capacity of n
P(n) = Price of using n
R(n)= Ranking of the helpers
for n
= {x ,x , … x }, m = |U|n1 n2 nm
Pf(n) = Performance of n
(inversely propor onal to the
number of missed calls)
66. ∀ n ε F,
A(n) = availability of n
C(n) = Maximum capacity of n
P(n) = Price of using n
R(n)= Ranking of the helpers
for n
= {x ,x , … x }, m = |U|n1 n2 nm
Pf(n) = Performance of n
(inversely propor onal to the
number of missed calls)
Objec ves:
1. Minimizing caller’s costs
2. Maximizing helper’s profit
3. Maximizing experiences
V: Set of all nodes
H: Set of Helpers
U: Set of Illiterate Users
V = H + U
E={(x,y): x ε U and y ε H}
G=(V,E)
∀ n ε H,
A(n) = availability of n
C(n) = Maximum capacity of n
P(n) = Price of using n = 0
R(n)= Ranking of the helpers for n
= {x ,x , … x , m} = |U|n1 n2 nm
∀ m ε U:
R(m)= Ranking of the helpers for
m = {x ,x , … x }, n = |H|m1 m2 mn
B(m) = Budget
Mixing gift with paid service
73. - 12 participants
- 6 weeks of study
- Two kinds of helpers:
- Community Source – the garage
owner and his brother
- Crowd Source – a group of free
lance workers
- Use of the software was tracked
through SMS
- After 6 weeks
- Interviews
- Focus groups
Field Deployment
AccessAvrgFrequency
Time
0
1
2
3
4
5
1st week 2nd week 3rd week 4th week 5th week
74. - Ease and Availability
- Reluctance to take help from
freelancers
- Improved Community bonds
Ahmed et al., , ACM“Suhrid: A Collaborative Mobile Phone Interface for Low Literate People”
DEV 2015.
Access
Field Deployment
- 12 participants
- 6 weeks of study
- Two kinds of helpers:
- Community Source – the garage
owner and his brother
- Crowd Source – a group of free
lance workers
- Use of the software was tracked
through SMS
- After 6 weeks
- Interviews
- Focus groups
75. Access
Longitudinal Study
Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri
1
2
3
4
5
00 06 12 18 00
1
2
3
4
5
86%
11.5%
2.5%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2
3.5
Average availability in a week
Average availability in a day
Average number of phone call
Success rate of phone call
- 6 months
- 120 participants
76. Access
Impact
BRAC, The largest NGO in the world,
contacted us to experiment with
Suhrid’s model for their mobile money
transfer project in all 64 districts in
Bangladesh.
77. - Calling a number
- Saving a contact
- Playing music
- Playing videos
- Operating computers
- Searching online
- Using social media
- Online shopping
78. - Calling a number
- Saving a contact
- Playing music
- Playing videos
- Operating computers
- Searching online
- Using social media
- Online shopping
- Low-literate
- Visually impaired
- Senior citizens
- Refugees
79. - Calling a number
- Saving a contact
- Playing music
- Playing videos
- Operating computers
- Searching online
- Using social media
- Online shopping
- Low-literate
- Visually impaired
- Senior citizens
- Refugees
- Unemployed
- Refugees
- Part-timers
- Learners
84. About 5,000 incidents of sexual violence were reported in Dhaka
between October 2011 to September 2012
Freedom
http://greenwatchbd.com/62638/
85. About 5,000 incidents of sexual violence were reported in Dhaka
between October 2011 to September 2012
12,000 harassments were reported in the country in 2014
Freedom
http://greenwatchbd.com/62638/
86. About 5,000 incidents of sexual violence were reported in Dhaka
between October 2011 to September 2012
12,000 harassments were reported in the country in 2014
Most incidents of sexual harassment go unreported.
Freedom
http://greenwatchbd.com/62638/
89. “You will hardly find any Bangladeshi
girl who traveled on the streets and
has not experienced sexual
harassment. Some women are brave
enough to talk about it, while others
remain silent for many reasons.”
-An anonymous online survey
participant
Freedom
90. “I shared these stories with my family
only a long time after the incident. After
one and half year ... I could not share that
much with friends either because I was
not sure how they would think about me
after hearing these ... But finally I had to
share these with one of my friends,
because I wanted to live my life.”
-An participantinterview
Freedom
91. “My mother taught me to stay quiet.
But I will ask my daughter to carry a
knife.”
-A DiscussionFocus Group
participant
Freedom
97. Mapping Bangladesh
Ahmed et al., , in Human-Computer Interaction, Tourism and Cultural Heritage,"The State of OpenStreetMap in Bangladesh"
Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), Volume 7546, 2012, pp 133-143, Springer.
105. Individual Isola on
Component wise Isola on
Isolating Crime Spots
3(n-1)-h
h= size of convex
hull
O(n)
Ahmed et al., , International"Vindictive Voronoi Games and Stabbing Delaunay Circles"
Symposium on Voronoi Diagrams in Science and Engineering (ISVD), 2010.
106. Ahmed et al., , International"Vindictive Voronoi Games and Stabbing Delaunay Circles"
Symposium on Voronoi Diagrams in Science and Engineering (ISVD), 2010.
5|M|,
M=maximum size
of matching
O nm
Inserting a new Police site
114. “yesterday i was going by rickshaw. it
was going through a crowdy (sic.
“crowded”) road. because of the crowd
the rickshaw was going slowly. suddenly
i felt that someone grabbed my thigh. i
was shocked, i tried to find out who it
was, then i saw a figure rushing towards
the crowd. it was totally unexpected
and really horrible..it happened near
shyamoli area.”
- A report on Protibadi website
Freedom
116. Debates
“…there must be a rigid
partition to separate males
and females, and all the fare
must be collected from her
male companion … so why r
u fussing around with your so
called feminism without rules
of Shari’ah?"
-A Facebook user at Protibadi
Facebook page
Freedom
117. “This is a great initiative, but there is a weakness in
their intention. They are making this so that women
can avoid the places where eve teasing takes place.
If this continues we have to keep the women inside
an almirah after a few days. They should instead
post the pictures and profiles of the perpetrators.”
-A Facebook user commenting on “Protibadi” on
Facebook
Controversies
Ahmed et al., , ACM"Protibadi: A Platform for Fighting Sexual Harassment in Urban Bangladesh"
CHI 2014.
Freedom
122. "Code it, girl!" is a community to create coding awareness
among young girls and to make them interested to learn coding.
Freedom
http://codeitgirl.org/
Ahmed et al., in the Workshop on Computing within“Computing beyond Gender-Imposed Limits",
Limits, LIMITS 2016.
123. How can design help marginalized people
voice their experience?
135. Learning and Sustainability (ICTD’15)Art and Craft (DIS’14)
Values in Repair (CHI’16) Privacy in Repair (ICTD’16)
136. New Platform for Sustainable Development
Visibility
Ahmed et al. "Learning to Fix: Knowledge, Collaboration and Mobile Phone Repair in Dhaka,
Bangladesh", ACM ICTD 2015.
140. How much do Indian auto-rickshaw drivers havevoice
over the ride-sharing mobile phone applications?
Freedom
ride assignment algorithm
is not transparent
hidden labor and cost
for the drivers
driving experience
is not valued
driver’s voices
are not allowed
141. How much do Indian auto-rickshaw drivers havevoice
over the ride-sharing mobile phone applications?
Freedom
Making the algorithm
transparent
Making labor visible
Valuing driving experience
Making drivers’ voices
heard
Best Paper Nomination
Ahmed et al., "Peer-to-peer in the workplace: A
view from the road", ACM CHI 2016
143. Global forced displacement tops 50 million for first time in post-World War II era.
Infrastructure
Low income countries host over 86% of the world’s refugees.
144. Hacking Making Repairing
Ahmed et al., "Residual Mobilities: Infrastructural Displacement and Post-Colonial Computing
in Bangladesh", ACM CHI 2015.
Infrastructure
145. We designed and developed a portable house with the evicted slum dwellers, which
received the “Holcim Sustainable Construction Award, 2014 (Next generation)”
Infrastructure
160. Privacy and Security issues in ICTD
Ahmed et al., “Privacy, Security, and Surveillance in the Global South: A Study of Biometric
Mobile SIM Registration in Bangladesh.", CHI’17
Extending VOICE to Refugee Crisis
Access
Freedom
Infrastructure
Visibility
Access
Infrastructure
Visibility
-fundamental
needs
- long term
needs
-community
building
-respect
-privacy protection
-political right Politics of
Legality
162. Syrian Refugees
in Toronto
Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
Afghan Refugees in Iran
Syrian Refugees in Turkey
Iraqi Refugees in Jordan
- NSERC DISCOVERY Grant (2018)
- Connaught New Researcher Award (2018)
165. Montreal, Canada
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Indiana, USA Buffalo, USA
Czech Republic
- Canada Foundation for Innovation - John R. Evans
Leaders Fund (2018)
- Ontario Research Fund (2018)
166. North America
Steve Jackson Dan Cosley Nicki Dell Steve Easterbrook
Bangladesh
International
Nova Ahmed Mehrab Bin Morshed Maruf Zaber Md. Rashidujjaman Rifat
Daniela Rosner Neha KumarJacki O’Neill Nic Bidwell
Collaborators
169. “Development is freedom; both through instrumental and constitutive means.”
- Prof. Amartya Sen (Noble Laureate in Economics)
http://sbankiamo.it/amartya-sen/
170. “Development is freedom; both through instrumental and constitutive means.”
- Prof. Amartya Sen (Noble Laureate in Economics)
Can provide us with such ?freedom
VOICE
http://sbankiamo.it/amartya-sen/
172. “Development is freedom; both through instrumental and constitutive means.”
- Prof. Amartya Sen (Noble Laureate in Economics)
Can provide us with such ?freedom
VOICE
http://sbankiamo.it/amartya-sen/