'Hardware' Category

Monday brought with it the beginnings of a bustling week. Of all the many happenings this week, from finalizing cost/pricing models for services to making a decision on who we were going to take on as a Cybertigi intern, the GCM team has been working from all angles to get Cybertigi ready for next week. Of all the work done, though, one area seemed to make the most progress of all: the kiosk.

Renaud, as always, has been skillfully piecing together the kiosk’s interface. At present he has the scanner/photocopy service nearly nailed down, the news feed reader nearly ready, the voice messaging program working, and is working on the email component now. The bulk of Renauld’s time recently has been on how to have the kiosks in our villages transfer all the various data elements to our hub in Ouelessebougou, create billing logs of each transaction, leave no chance of loss of information, work with limited storage space, and a dozen other limiting factors. It doesn’t help that Matt and I often ask for some revision shortly after Renaud has come up with a working model. We’re all anxious to field test his end product. We know we won’t be disappointed.

It’s also important to understand a little about the idea behind many parts of the kiosk and its interface. Because we are designing the Cybertigi system to offer services to people in remote communities, we have to understand who we are selling to and what their demands are. With respect to the kiosk’s interface these considerations are particularly relevant. We have to concede that we will be working in areas with very low literacy rates, disposable income will also be lower than in urban centers, few in our communities will ever have seen a computer – other than on television – let alone use one for email and voice messaging, and so forth. Not all clients will fall among this broad generalization, but the majority will.

Our goal in designing Cybertigi is to take as many of these factors into consideration as possible to create an overall system that works for as many people in our population of interest as possible. If the kiosk is designed properly and the logistics are well organized than we should be able to accommodate any person who has a willingness to use the system with very little outside intervention. By this I mean that if, for example, an illiterate youth who has never traveled outside of their village and only speaks the local language comes to the kiosk, he/she should be able to understand the system and carry out their transaction with ease and with little to no assistance in a matter of moments.

Here’s a shot of what the first screen to access the kiosk’s services might look like:

The kiosk interface is constructed with large, simple icons indicating each of the types of principal services: email – incoming and outgoing, voicemail, scanning/copying, and news feeds. The user merely clicks on the icon indicating their service and follows a very clear series of icons/steps to the completion of their task. For example, the 2 small shots in the above left show the scan/print service’s screen. Additionally, the kiosk manager is always present to assist any patrons who require assistance. One intention in using icons and an easy interface is to accelerate the kiosk’s learning curve. A person who doesn’t read French or Bambara will find it easier to remember a series of simple images than a complicated series of non-visual instructions.

We will also be conducting awareness campaigns in the villages to help people better understand what these technologies are, what services are being offered through the kiosk, how they can be used to improve communication and what their other benefits are, and how we can build on them to adapt to new types of services demanded in the future.

By early next week we will begin to install the solar panels and the kiosk in Faraba. At this time we will begin training our Malian liaison between the Bamako office and the sites on the system, who will then go on to train the entrepreneurs in the sites. During this time we will be field testing the interface and making any required adjustments and additions needed.

Since Monday the team has been working to tie up many of the loose logistical and administrative details we needed to accomplish before progressing any further. The highlight of the week was getting most of the equipment we need to the preliminary phase ordered and shipped.

The following are some of the more noteworthy items ordered:

• Nokia 770
• InFocus LP120 Projector
• Zoombox projector
• T-amp

On that same note, Renaud is making huge strides in building the overall Cyber-tigi interface. The team was fortunate to get him on-board. He’s a great addition to the Geekcorps, Mali team and we’re all looking forward to seeing what he develops in the coming months.

Fred has also been exceptional, as always. From designing the Wi-Fi relay to working on the solar powered sources to working with Renaud on the interface, Fred is demonstrating his talents across all areas of the project. His breath and depth of the technical aspects of the project is staggering. To say the project is fortunate to have him would be a gross understatement. What is truly impressive is that this is merely one of the many projects Fred is involved in, each equally demanding. As we say in Mali, “i ni baara, Fred”.

We are all eagerly anticipating the arrival of these components. The LCD projector is one of the items we spent a great deal of time researching and are keen to see how it performs. The projector will be used in kiosk sites and villages along the way to deliver public service announcements, NGO multimedia, short films in the local language, and so forth. It will be a way for us to build awareness of the Cyber-tigi project while also delivering worthwhile content to these communities.

Using an LCD projector in villages is very appealing to us. It is a way to bypass the cultural hurdle of introducing new products by delivering a service indirectly linked to our Cyber-tigi project. It builds our brand. Also, in the villages we plan on using it in there is little activity in the evenings. Some homes use a television run off a car battery and always draw large crowds every time to watch the nation channel ORTM. In many instances members of the community watch it solely for the visual aspect and don’t catch much of the French being spoken. Remember that Mali is officially Francophone, but the majority of people living in the countryside speak a local language, predominantly Bambara in our part of the country. A fair portion of the materials available to us are in Bambara, something previously nearly unavailable to most.

We are not your standard product testers. Our environment is more harsh and our demands are greater. For this reason you might often find hardware listed here that you otherwise wouldn’t consider for other projects. Point in case: the Hasbro Zoombox listed above. Yes, we bought a child’s toy. Why? Because it seems like just the right fit for our needs. Our communities will be pitch black at night, negating the need for high-brightness lamps; we need portability, and the Zoombox weighs fewer than 6lbs/2.7Kg; we need a lamp that is affordable enough for Malians to be easily replaceable - the Zoombox’s cost roughly $7USD; we need something inexpensive and flexible - the Zoombox meets those criteria; we understand its limitations, but for use as the mobile-projector we believe it will meet our needs sufficiently.

We also chose the InFocus LP120 for the more demanding applications and for delivering messages from our partners in the larger communities hosting permanent kiosks. These communities are always larger than the hamlets and have more demand for larger, crisper projections. We narrowed our choices down to 3 main: the InFocus LP120, the Epson PowerLlite S3, and the Epson PowerLite S1+. Our reasons for choosing the InFocus LP120 are many, but some stand out more than others: the operating temperature on the LP120 is 40C, the others only 35C - major factor here; its power consumption - remember, we’re using solar systems and batteries; the size and weight of the unit; the clarity of the image; where the vents and hot-spots are and how we can build an external casing to reduce the unit’s temperature; and access to the unit to be able to clean it out. There are other considerations, but these were some that stood out on the LP120.

Arguably the most impressive item among our order are the T-amps. For those who don’t know, T-Amps are integrated amplifiers which are causing an enormous stir among audiophiles. They deliver heretofore unmatched audio quality at seemingly impossibly low prices. Reviews abound describing how the inexpensive $30USD amps are outpacing systems 100X more costly, They are portable, inexpensive, pack a punch, battery powered, of the highest quality, innovative, and just the right thing for our project. We are eagerly awaiting their arrival.

So that’s the hardware wrap up for the week. The orders are in and we are waiting. We are looking to go out to Ouelessebougou and Faraba next week to begin the formal protocols necessary before beginning any projects. Look back late next week for more pictures from the sites.

The Epson PictureMate Deluxe printer arrived in the mail on Tuesday at the office. What a treat. We had been eagerly awaiting its arrival since the order was placed to see if it held up to the high praise it has received in reviews. Since the printer will play such an important role in the project it is essential that we have a piece of hardware that can perform the way we need it to. From our research the Epson seemed like the strongest lead, at least on paper.

During the course of the project we hope to use the photo printer in a variety of ways. Of course we will be printing photos taken with the Canon PowerShot A410 (yet to arrive), that’s a given. Additionally, we hope to corner the markets of ID cards, wedding and baptism prints (very big culturally here), badges, and myriad other similar services. The photo printer had to be well built and durable, develop high quality prints, and be efficient enough for us to be able to find a margin between the cost of the print and the sale price.

No fewer than 5 minutes after arrival the Epson PictureMate Deluxe was put through its paces. We needed to see what it could do for ourselves. We approached the unit as objectively as possible. As expected, we found the printer easy enough to get set up and ready for the first round of prints. Good. Simplicity is exactly what we’re looking for. Next came printing the pictures. Of course we had to christen the unit by starting with just the right picture. Total printing time took under 2 minutes and we were very pleased with the LCD display and the ease of use of the control panel. The one drawback we noticed was that we aren’t able to switch the language of the display into French, somewhat unfortunate since Mali is Francophone not Anglophone. But since our Cyber-tigi agent will be familiar with how to operate the machine this isn’t too great a drawback.

We started the hands-on part of the test by taking the picture outside and throwing dirt, dust and sand on it and generally just getting it good and dirty. No problem. With a good shake and a wipe the picture was back to normal with no scratches on the page.

Next we took it inside, poured water on it, let it sit for 2 minutes or so, and then wiped it off. Again, no problem. The photo held up without so much as a dribble of ink out of place.

Lastly we took it up to the roof for its real test. We wanted to see how the ink and paper would fare against the intense sun we get here. There is no hotter place we could think of than on the roof where there is no shade all day long. Taped to the ground our shot of Gizmo went 7 days straight exposed to the scorching sun. When we looked at it 7 days later we saw no visible difference compared to a week ago. We understand a week is hardly enough time to judge it fairly, so we’re going to leave him up there for a while longer. We’ll keep you updated if there is any significant loss of quality.

So far we are very pleased with the purchase. The Epson PictureMate Deluxe is more than holding its own in our view. It’s always refreshing to walk away from an investment in a piece of hardware knowing you received value for your dollar.

Next test: how it holds up in the field.

-BC

** Post script: This past weekend Matt and I had the opportunity to grill a PCV, Paul Keljik, who began a photo-printing venture similar to ours in his remote village of Dogofry. We found that among the most important elements of his printing project was the weight Malians would put on having exceptionally vibrant colors in their photos. In some cases people refused to pay for the photo when the colors were not deemed of high enough quality – a surprising statement because of how difficult it is to even find photos in these areas. Additionally, there is a significant competitive advantage to having prints immediately available, or delivered before the 2-3 week average time period it takes for traditional photos to be processed. Paul also gave advice for training the photographer and some cautions on how to manage the operation. Thank you Paul for your input.

It has been a flurry of activity over here in the past week. From deciding the Canon PowerShot A410 might be a slightly better fit than the A400, to Matt Berg our director negotiating tooth and nail for the Yamaha motorcycle we need for the project. By the end of the week we had the photo printer ordered, the camera on the way, lots of ink ready to be turned into photos, a shiny new YB100 moto, and an action packed Saturday lined up.

The printer we ended up choosing was the Epson PhotoMate Deluxe. It has received numerous strong reviews and was highlighted in Wired Magazine among its Best Picks. The price should be between $0.218 and $0.30 per photo, leaving a generous enough margin for us to work with. On top of that, the quality of the photos are good, and they are smudge proof and water resistant. The paper is supposed to be quite durable too. From everything we’ve seen, it all seems like a perfect fit for Mali.

The moto is the YB100 model, here known as Chinois premiere qualité since they are manufactured in China and rank the first of the three qualities of bike. A local colleague did substantial research a week ago for his project and referred us to the fellow he negotiated with previously. In true Malian style, Matt Berg fiercely negotiated the price down for the bike, helmets, and all its accessories. We left the place with all the gear, a little bit of gas, had a mechanic tune it up, and all the essential parts paying just about the same price we thought we’d have to pay for just the bike itself. As is said in Bambara, the predominant local language, “I ni baara, Matt” [translation: “You and your work, Matt” - meant as an acknowledgement of someone’s efforts]. Here’s are a couple shots of the bike and of Hamadou our guard-extraordinaire with the bike:

Saturday at the Geekcorps office we hosted a group of Mali Peace Corps Volunteers to talk about what Geekcorps does here, how we can find ways to work together, and particularly hash out a few ideas on the LMI project. It was here when we stumbled onto the name with the help of Katie McDonald, a third year PCV who lived in the most rural of rural villages. “Why not call it ‘Cyber-tigi’? After all, that’s what they’re going to call it in the villages anyway.” Bingo! Thank you Katie. We liked cyber-something; we liked tigi because of the way it sounds; we wanted to lean away from mobili because there’s so much more to it than just the moto [and mobile is vehicle not moto]. Cyber-tigi. Perfect. From this point forward our LMI has a name: Cyber-tigi.

Today we has the moto licenced and tuned up just perfectly – nice, tight, and fully fuelled. Tomorrow I (Brennan) will be heading out to Ouelessebougou (lat=11.99474, lon=-7.91285 if you want to see it through Google Earth) and then on to Faraba to begin field assessments of some of the other rural communities we plan to service. I’ll be heading to Ouelessebougou first, then immediately on to Faraba, located about 30Km West of Oueless on a well packed dirt road. I’ll arrive, meet the dugutigi* and the mayor again to carry out protocol, and then spend the rest of the day collecing information. I’ll spend the night in the village with a jatigi* I’ll find at some point over the course of the day, and then head out the next day for the next village 30Km on a seasonal road south of Faraba called Dalalaba. Following Dalabala I’ll return to Faraba and then head onward to the next site, Miagandia, 40Km Northwest of Faraba. Miagandia back to Faraba, back to Ouelessebougou. Get all that? Riveting isn’t it, especially when you don’t have any idea where these places are and have one-of-a-kind names thrown at you. Don’t worry, early next week you’ll have pictures.

For the moment how about a Google map? We have begun using Google Earth to help track some of the spots we plan on servicing. Because so many of the little hamlets we will be passing are on no maps we will be taking GPS readings and then placing them on Google Earth to help better organize and identify our sites. For the moment, here’s an idea of where we’re heading:

(on the top is a close-up of the Ouelessebougou region. Beneath is West Africa - look for the blue writing in the southwestern part of Mali to find Ouelessebougou)

So that’s it for now. Check back soon and we’ll have plenty more to tell you. And pictures too!

On that note, here’s one for the road, so to speak. We’re certainly not mean enough to be Hell’s Angels, nor do we hold a candle to Marlon Brando in The Wild One. So who are we? We are the coolest Geeks in Mali with what is soon to be the most technology-equipped bike in all the land. Word! ….wait…. OpenOffice Writer!

Cheers.

*dugutigi: Chief of the village.

*jatigi: Host family. When a person is housed and fed by someone the host is called the jatigi.

So today was digital camera hunting day.

For the project we need to find a decent, all purpose, inexpensive camera that we can use for taking pictures in and around the villages that we plan to service. Why, you might ask, do you need to take pictures in these villages? Well, the answer is simple: it’s a service we plan to offer. No, not the picture taking itself but the prints we plan to make from the photos.

See, one of things here is that people LOVE having pictures. They’re tangible, they’re a record of family members, they’re cool to show to guests, and frankly, who doesn’t like a picture or two of those they care about, right? The issues here though are cost and time. Plain and simply, it’s expensive and it’s a hassle. Sometimes when the photo-tigi* comes around and people want their pictures taken they have to wait weeks until the guy fills up the roll of film, gets the pictures processed (tough!), and then get them back to them. What a hassle! On top of all this people have to pay a bunch of money sometimes for prints that didn’t even turn out all that well. Can you say disappointing?

The real kicker is that there’s a real demand for photos. When there is a marriage or a baptism going on you can rest assured someone would like a photo of the event. They are, after all, often the social event of the season. Who wouldn’t want a photo? And those are only two events. There’s always demand for photos.

But I digress…

We see an opportunity here. There’s a demand for this service. We are in the perfect position to offer it. So what do we need? Well today we were looking at some of the hardware we’d have to pick up to get this fraction of the project taken care of. Here’s what we thought…

We know we need a camera that was very easy to use. We had to keep in mind that the people using it would not need many of the super-duper-deluxe-fantastic features of a high-end camera. The tool would be used chiefly as a simple point-and-click camera.

We wanted something that used AA batteries, not a camera specific battery you very often find in many models. If possible we also wanted to shoot for a camera that only used 2 batteries at a time. This way we can always have at least 2 charging back at our hub and 2 in the machine. We need to have some flexibility in how and when we recharge our batteries, and having to wait around in one area for our only battery to charge is not practical.

We needed it to be inexpensive. Priority. We want to keep our costs low so that that can be recouped more easily. We set a cap of $150 USD and if possible lower.

We wanted between 3-4 Megapixels. We’re printing photos not posters. This should suit our needs adequately.

We wanted something compact. We are going to have to travel with it often after all.

We needed a memory card that would be compatible with our photo printer. [Epson PictureMate Deluxe]

We wanted the camera to have some durability. Chances are it’ll get knocked around from time to time by accident. Who knows? Also, we needed to consider the heat conditions here. Generally we try to shoot for hardware that is in the 55C range, but it seems as though all the models that fit our criteria always fall in the 0-40C range. Not much we can do.

Lastly, if possible, we’d like to have a video function, even if it is only basic. But only if possible.

So, after taking all those things (and more) into consideration, after checking dozens upon dozens of cameras, and after looking at numerous review sites we found one that we think is the right balance for what we need it for. We chose the Canon PowerShot A400 from Amazon (currently on sale at $100 down from $180).

The price was great. Ease of use was just where we needed it to be. 2 AAs is what it takes (don’t worry – we’ll be using NiMH batts). 3.2 Megapixels is fair for our needs. Relatively compact. SD memory card. Somewhat durable – although we read reviews going strongly for and against (most for). It even does very small 3 minute videos (although only at 15 fps).

All together it seems like the right fit for us, at least in comparison to the others we evaluated. And considering we’ll also need to pick up batteries & a charger, a dust proof case (maybe wrapped in Ziplock to keep sand out – what do you think?), and a memory card the price helps us defray these costs more.

So that’s it. For the moment it’s the Canon PowerShot A400. The reviews are solid, it meets our needs, the specs line up on paper, and the price seems fair. Good.

Now all we have to do is agree on which one of the 4 colors we want it in. I’m partial to the green. St. Patrick’s day is coming up after all. You?

Cheers.

*-tigi : When you put “tigi” at the end of a word it means that someone is the one in charge of that thing. For instance, a woman selling bananas (called namasas) would be called the namasa-tigi. She is the banana lady. If it’s your donkey cart (wotoro) you are the wotoro-tigi – the donkey cart man. See the pattern? In our case we have a camera person, therefore they become the photo-tigi.