1.Voice-based Web access in Africa Guest lecture Inleiding IMM 10 sept 2013 Victor de Boer With input from: Nana Baah Gyan, Anna Bon, Chris van Aart, Max Froumentin, Aman Grewal, Stephane Boyera, Mary Allen, Amadou Tangara, Etienne Barnard, Hans Akkermans

2. CAUTION! DIGITAL DIVIDE AHEAD 3. Web Alliance for Regreening in Africa Washington, 13-15 May 2013 4 W4RA : Information exchange and knowledge sharing in rural Africa 4. World Wide Web as Instrument of Empowerment Our success will be measured by how well we foster the creativity of our children. Whether future scientists have the tools to cure diseases. Whether people, in developed and developing economies alike, can distinguish reliable information from propaganda or commercial chaff. Whether the next generation will build systems that support democracy and accountable debate. I hope that you will join this global effort to advance the Web to empower people. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web: 5. Can the Web (be made to) mean something for knowledge sharing even under very constraining conditions? No internet, no computer, no electricity Multitude of languages, levels of literacy 6. A window of opportunity 7. No. 1 source of information Interactive radio programs Huge listening base Another window: rural community radios 8. Integrate local community radios and mobile ICT for knowledge sharing Better support and integrate local languages in voice-based services Development of appropriate speech elements (text-to-speech and Speech recognition) Develop a free and open source toolbox for local developers. Investigate self-sustainability Develop appropriate business models In collaboration with local communities. 9. (adapted) Living Labs Involvement of local communities Trust and ownership Co-creation Bottom-up: field visits, workshops, demos, roa dshows, etc Local communities: innovation co- creation, Living Labs socio-technical approach Use case gathering Observation and prototyping Test, adapt 10. June 2013Jan 2010 First cycle: Knowledge sharing for regreening Second cycle: Use Case elicitation and selection RadioMarch: Pilot System development (Malian French) RM: 3rd version (Bambara,Bo mu) Jan 2011 Jan 2012 Jan 2013 First field trip: Burkina Faso Second field trip Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana RM: 4th version Third field trip Mali Fourth field trip Mali Fifth field trip Mali Foroba Blon: pilot version FB: 2nd version (Bambara,Bo mu) Third cycle: Requirements elicitation and validation Business Model integration Sixth planned field trip Mali Fourth cycle Use case and Requiremen ts validation Fifth cycle: Use case and Requirements validation Sept 2009 Cycle 0 Preliminary visit BF sept 2009 RM: 2nd version (productio n version) FB: 3rd version (Bambara,Bo mu) 11. Use cases 1 m-Milk ordering and delivery service of Tominian Milk producers and NGO 2 m-Tree protection alert service Sahel Eco Farmers and NGO 3 mobile-web Event organizer for vaccination of herds Farmers 4 m-Farmer-expert directory service Farmer organization 5 NGO info-line about legal issues in several languages Sahel Eco 6 Leave announcement or select your favourite song Radio 7 Shea butter and honey trading service Radio and Sahel Eco 8 Access radio programs and announcements on your phone Radio 9 Gourcy seed producers seed certication service Farmer organization 10 Radio questions and answers about agricultural issues Radio 11 m-collective purchase organizing service Local buyers 12 m-GIS regreening service Sahel Eco 13 m-Farmer social network Sahel Eco 14 mobile-web regional market system Farmer organization 15 Sahel Eco portal to Regreening and access to m-services Sahel Eco 16 m-event organizer for re-greening events Sahel Eco, farmers 12. Context-specific issues Lack of infrastructure Web Power Illiteracy, small languages Bambara Bomu Local ownership and maintainability Costs Maintenance Distance between developer and user Physical Cultural 13. Three voice systems Market Information Citizen Journalism Event Organiser 14. M-agro Use Case Context: Regreening in Africa 15. SMS == = ==== == Internet cafe translate 16. Communiqu 17. Local market data Communiqu GSM/Voice interface Web Interface Text-To-Speech Community radioSahel Eco operative Buyers 18. SMS Radio 1: French and Bambara Radio 2: French and Bomu 19. SMS Radio 1: French and Bambara Radio 2: French and Bomu 20. Web frontend for Market data management and communiqu generation RadioMarche.com 21. Voice channel: Multiple solutions Netbook running Prophecy SIP over Ethernet Netbook HTTP Officeroute running Asterix Orange Emerginov Platform Netbook running Prophecy + Asterix Bluetooth Mobile phone 22. Audio communiqu Audio communiqu generated by slot- and-filler Text-to-speech system concatenating prerecorded phrases Each radio host uses own voice (!) Malian French Bambara Bomu Radio Segou Radio Mountian 23. Slot and Filler Text-to-Speech English: Bambara: 15 liters of offered by Zakari Diarra 15_ba.wav L_ba.wav Of_ba.wav Spoken Language Elements Repository honey 24. VoiceXML Welcome to RadioMarche! Press one for XPress two for Y ... DTMF = Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling 25. http://projects.emerginov.org/V_webInt/ngo/home Demo 26. Deployment 27. Evaluation Limited usage due to: Political situation Ecological situation Social barriers Technical issues Feedback informs next phase More languages (Bambara, Bomu) More radio stations End user 28. Subsequent phases More languages: Bambara and Bomu More usage In a way, we are too succesful: Too much demand not serving the value chain Should we include this in the application? Cf. Marktplaats? 29. Business model integration Onno Wassenaar 30. Beyond the use case: Sharing the Data 31. Sharing across regions Local market dat a RadioM arch market informat ion syst em Farmers (producers) Buyers (consumers) Email GSM /VoiceW eb SM S Dat a / communique plat form Local radio RadioMarch in second region Local market data Data / communique layer Farmers (producers) Buyers (consumers) Email GSM/VoiceWeb SMS Interface handler layer Local radio 32. DBpedia GeoNames Agrovoc Inst. of Development Studies LOD Citizen Journalism data Sahel Pluvial data SemanticXO RadioMarch Linked market data Linked Data for Development (LD4D) 33. EcoMash Henk Kroon 34. Use Case 2: Foroba Blon Citizen journalism platform using the same technology as RadioMarch Multiple use cases Letters to editor Trusted users journalists Funded by IPI news innovation contest 35. Foroba Blon 36. Adopted by local radio stations Positive feedback so far. 250 messages left Messages about deaths, missing animals Problems with registration Voice Interface difficulties Costs New business models: advertiser pays through credit Voice Twitter? Al Jazeera used Foroba Blon for Ghanaian (2012) and Kenyan (2013) elections coverage. Foroba Blon Results 37. Event Organising 38. Event Organizer Event organizer for Sahel Eco User profile Name, phone number, language(s) Call everyone and note responses Tabale: the sacred drum 39. The Tabale Platform NGO staff Malian French Bomu Bambara Record multiple messages in different languages yes no dont know 40. VUI design (three languages) 41. Web for ALL. Using voice technologies and available tools we make the benefits of the Web available to people who use simple mobile phones. ~~ ~~ ~~ 42. Results RadioMarch -- Increased market for farmers. Foroba Blon -- Facilitating rural citizen journalism. Tabale -- Better meeting organising. Voice platform with reusable components for different use cases. 43. Mobileusers VOICES User Content VOICES Platform & Toolbox Telecom Access Radio Program Output Web Access Mobile Training Lab Local ICT developers Speech Tools Local end-users Sustainable business models Mobile access PRODUCTS 44. Research questions Q1 [immediate]: Can the Web (be made to) mean something for knowledge sharing even under very constraining conditions? No internet, no computer, no electricity Multitude of languages, levels of literacy Q2 [Web future]: Can we have a Web of Speech? After all, human communication: talking >> writing 45. More research questions Data management via voice Data presentation/UI Voice-based browsing Linked data / microservers Downscale2012 @ ESWC Downscale2013 @ OKCon Integration with (development) economy ICT development in rural areas Living Labs, Sustainability 46. Out of Africa: Lessons for ICT projects Problem- rather than solution-driven Many cycles Open mind (low tech may be the best solution) Integrated approach Context, business model Be inclusive rather than exclusive 47. Questions? 48. ICT4D @ VU 49. Nichesourcing for pluvial data digitization for the Sahel [W4RA-related M.Sc. thesis by Binyam Tesfa] 50. Crowdsourcing voice fragment gathering 51. Interaction design for low- literacy communities 52. SemanticXO 53. ICT4D@MSc@CS@VU 54. dev4d.com w4ra.few.vu.nl semweb4u.wordpress.com worldwidesemanticweb.wordpress.com @victordeboer v.de.boer@vu.nl