low-cost, high-latency, unlimited-bandwidth communication kentaro toyama assistant managing director...
TRANSCRIPT
Low-Cost, High-Latency, Unlimited-Bandwidth Communication
Kentaro ToyamaAssistant Managing DirectorMicrosoft Research India
WWW 2007Banff – May 9, 2007
“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
Interdisciplinary ResearchAishwarya Lakshmi Ratan
– Public Administration and International Development
Jonathan Donner– Communications
Nimmi Rangaswamy– Social Anthropology
Rajesh Veeraraghavan– Computer Science and
Economics
Indrani Medhi– Design
Kentaro ToyamaKentaro Toyama– Computer ScienceComputer Science
Randy Wang
Udai Singh PawarUdai Singh Pawar
–
–
Computer Science
PhysicsPhysics
Society
Group
Technology
Individual
Society
Group
Technology
Individual
Innovation
Understanding
Impa
ct
Innovation
Understanding
Impa
ct
MSR India: TEM
A rural school in Chinhat, Uttar Pradesh, India
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
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
Digital StudyHall: Problem
Poor teaching quality in rural schools
Rural school in Chinhat, Uttar Pradesh
Digital StudyHall: Problem
Good teachers drawn to city with higher salaries and better environments
Urvashi’s StudyHall private school in Lucknow
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.
eSaguProf. 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
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…
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
• 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…
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!
Thank you!http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem