Cholera was reported in Haiti for the first time in over 50 years last October. There was no way to predict how far it would spread through water supplies and how bad the situation would get. And not knowing where help was needed always ensured that help was in short supply in the areas that needed it most.
去年十月, 在海地 50多年來首次報導 有霍亂。 沒有辦法預測由供水系統中 它會傳播多遠, 和情況會的嚴重程度。 往往令在最需要支援的地區 最缺乏支援及協助 原因在於無法即時得知最需要協助的地區
We've gotten good at predicting and preparing for storms before they take innocent lives and cause irreversible damage, but we still can't do that with water, and here's why. Right now, if you want to test water in the field, you need a trained technician, expensive equipment like this, and you have to wait about a day for chemical reactions to take place and provide results. It's too slow to get a picture of conditions on the ground before they change, too expensive to implement in all the places that require testing. And it ignores the fact that, in the meanwhile, people still need to drink water. Most of the information that we collected on the cholera outbreak didn't come from testing water; it came from forms like this, which documented all the people we failed to help.
儘管我們已經得到了很好的預測風暴和準備, 及時阻止無辜生命的犧牲, 以及防止無法彌補的損壞 但我們仍然不能預測水質的監測上 原因如下。 現在,如果你想在現場測試水, 你需要一個訓練有素的技術員, 這樣昂貴的設備, 你必須等待大約一天 才得到化學反應並提供結果。 要偵測到 地面水質被改變之前的狀態 實在是太慢了 而且要跑完全部的測試 成本實在是過於昂貴。 它忽略了一個事實是 在測試的同時人們仍然需要喝水。 我們的大多數收集霍亂疫情的信息, 不是來自測試水; 而是來自這樣的形式, 記錄了所有 我們沒有幫助到的人。
Countless lives have been saved by canaries in coalmines -- a simple and invaluable way for miners to know whether they're safe. I've been inspired by that simplicity as I've been working on this problem with some of the most hardworking and brilliant people I've ever known. We think there's a simpler solution to this problem -- one that can be used by people who face conditions like this everyday.
煤礦中的金絲雀 已挽救了無數人的生命 -- 用一個簡單和寶貴的的方式 讓礦工們知道他們是否安全。 我一直被這種簡單啟發,並且我針對目前水質偵測器這個問題上\ 與一些我所見過最勤勞和最傑出的人工作一起解決。 我們認為有一個簡單的解決這個問題 -- 一個可以讓常常面對 類似這樣問題的人使用的方法。
It's in its early stages, but this is what it looks like right now. We call it the Water Canary. It's a fast, cheap device that answers an important question: Is this water contaminated? It doesn't require any special training. And instead of waiting for chemical reactions to take place, it uses light. That means there's no waiting for chemical reactions to take place, no need to use reagents that can run out and no need to be an expert to get actionable information.
這是在其早期階段, 這是現在的樣子。 我們把它稱為水金絲雀。 這是一個快速,廉價的設備, 可以回答一個重要的問題: 這水是否污染呢? 它不需要任何特殊的訓練。 亦不是等待化學反應發生, 它使用光。 這意味著不用等待 任何化學反應發生, 無需使用試劑便可以運作, 不需要成為專家 便可獲得可用的訊息。
To test water, you simply insert a sample and, within seconds, it either displays a red light, indicating contaminated water, or a green light, indicating the sample is safe. This will make it possible for anyone to collect life-saving information and to monitor water quality conditions as they unfold.
要測試水,只需插入一個樣品, 在幾秒鐘內, 它會顯示紅燈,表明水被污染, 或顯示綠燈,表明樣品是安全的。 這將有可能 使任何人都可以收集拯救生命的訊息 和監測水質條件,基於情況變化。
We're also, on top of that, integrating wireless networking into an affordable device with GPS and GSM. What that means is that each reading can be automatically transmitted to servers to be mapped in real time. With enough users, maps like this will make it possible to take preventive action, containing hazards before they turn into emergencies that take years to recover from. And then, instead of taking days to disseminate this information to the people who need it most, it can happen automatically. We've seen how distributed networks, big data and information can transform society. I think it's time for us to apply them to water.
最重要的是,我們還在 整合成一個負擔得起的 用GPS和GSM 的無線網絡設備。 這也意味著每次的讀取可以自動實時傳輸到伺服器 進一步繪出一同步的地圖上。 有了足夠的用戶, 這樣的地圖 能夠及時採取預防措施, 不需要等到好幾年的時間才可復原的嚴重汙染發生 就能夠先進一步的控制並防止其惡化 然後,不是要等待數天 才能將這個信息傳播到最需要的人民處, 它可以自動發生。 我們已經看到了分佈式的網絡, 很多的數據和訊息 可以改造社會。 我認為是時候我們將它們應用到水上。
Our goal over the next year is to get Water Canary ready for the field and to open-source the hardware so that anyone can contribute to the development and the evaluation, so we can tackle this problem together.
我們的目標是在明年讓水金絲雀準備實際被應用 並且開放其硬體開發 使任何人都可以作出貢獻的發展和評價, 讓我們可以一起解決這個問題。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)