Frugal Digital is essentially a small research group at C.I.D. where we are looking to find alternate visions of how to create a digitally inclusive society. That's what we're after. And we do this because we actually believe that silicon technology today is mostly about a culture of excess. It's about the fastest and the most efficient and the most dazzling gadget you can have, while about two-thirds of the world can hardly reach the most basic of this technology to even address fundamental needs in life, including health care, education and all these kinds of very fundamental issues.
簡約數位研究小組是一個來自哥本哈根數位設計學院 這裡我們在追尋的是 可以創造一個普遍數位化的社會的各種可能發展方向 這就是我們努力的目標 這個目標源自於我們所體會到的一個現象 目前的電子科技的發展 絕大多數偏向過度追求 速度與效能 還有更炫的神奇小玩意 然而全世界有將近三分之二的人口 卻幾乎沒有機會利用電子科技 來解決生存的基本需求問題 包括健康醫療, 教育 還有其他的非常基本的生存問題
So before I start, I want to talk about a little anecdote, a little story about a man I met once in Mumbai. So this man, his name is Sathi Shri. He is an outstanding person, because he's a small entrepreneur. He runs a little shop in one of the back streets of Mumbai. He has this little 10-square-meter store, where so much is being done. It's incredible, because I couldn't believe my eyes when I once just happened to bump into him. Basically, what he does is, he has all these services for micro-payments and booking tickets and all kinds of basic things that you would go online for, but he does it for people offline and connects to the digital world. More importantly, he makes his money by selling these mobile recharge coupons, you know, for the prepaid subscriptions. But then, in the backside, he's got this little nook with a few of his employees where they can fix almost anything. Any cell phone, any gadget you can bring them, they can fix it. And it's pretty incredible because I took my iPhone there, and he was like, "Yeah, do you want an upgrade?" "Yes." (Laughter) I was a bit skeptical, but then, I decided to give him a Nokia instead. (Laughter)
我想先講一個小故事 在印度孟買的時候, 我遇到了一個神奇的人 他的名字叫 Sathi Shri 是一家小店的老闆 他的小店 在孟買的一條小街上 店面大概10平方米(三坪多一點) 營業項目之多 讓人無法想像 我幾乎無法相信我所看到的. 基本上, 他的店提供了以下的服務項目 小額付款, 訂購票劵, 還有你平常上網會做的其他事情 而他的店就是讓這些無法上網的人, 也能享用到數位世界的各種便利服務. 他的店的主要營收來源 是販賣儲值點數 給預付卡型態的手機用戶 當我進到小店的後半, 看到有個小小的工作台 還有幾個員工在那裏 負責修理各式各樣的東西 任何廠牌的手機, 數位小玩意, 他們都能修好 當我拿著我的 iphone 到這家店的時候, 被嚇了一跳 因為他問我 "先生, 你的 iphone 要刷機嗎?" "嗯...." (笑聲) 我有點擔心, 於是當時的決定 是把我的另一隻手機, Nokia 的交給他 (笑聲)
But what I was amazed about is this reverse engineering and know-how that's built into this little two meters of space. They have figured out everything that's required to dismantle, take things apart, rewrite the circuitry, re-flash the firmware, do whatever you want to with the phone, and they can fix anything so quickly. You can hand over a phone this morning and you can go pick it up after lunch, and it was quite incredible.
我非常訝異的看到了在這裡發生的逆向工程 還有在這兩米長的工作檯上的維修作業指引 他們搞懂了所有的維修所需的知識 如何拆開各種裝置, 分解模組與元件 修改電路板, 刷新版的韌體 你想怎麼搞你的手機, 他們都能做到. 而且速度超快. 早上把手機送進去, 吃過午飯就能去拿回來. 真的是非常神奇.
But then we were wondering whether this is a local phenomenon, or is truly global? And, over time, we started understanding and systematically researching what this tinkering ecosystem is about, because that is something that's happening not just in one street corner in Mumbai. It's actually happening in all parts of the country. It's even happening in Africa, like, for example, in Cape Town we did extensive research on this. Even here in Doha I found this little nook where you can get alarm clocks and watches fixed, and it's a lot of tiny little parts. It's not easy. You've got to try it on your own to believe it.
於是我們就開始在想 這個神奇的小店是個特例, 還是其他地方也有? 在有系統的研究了一段時間之後 我們開始了解到 這種 "修補匠" 的產業體系 並不僅僅存在於 印度孟買的一條小街上的一家小店 而是在印度整個國家的每個區域都有 我們在非洲調查時 也發現類似的狀況, 例如: 我們在南非開普敦 看到的這個小攤子. 還有在這裡(卡達的杜哈) 我也看到了這樣的小攤子 精修各式鐘錶 如果你自己試過修理鐘錶的話, 你就會知道 裡面有很多很小的組件, 修起來很不容易的
But what fuels this? It's this entire ecosystem of low-cost parts and supplies that are produced all over the world, literally, and then redistributed to basically service this industry, and you can even buy salvaged parts. Basically, you don't have to necessarily buy brand new things. You have condemned computers that are stripped apart, and you can buy salvaged components and things that you can reassemble in a new configuration.
這種 "修補匠" 產業體系 是怎麼形成的呢? 目前全球化的生產體系, 提供了低價的零件與原料的貨源 來支援這類型修補匠產業的運作 甚至於還可以利用拆船貨(二手零件) 不必花錢買全新的零件 從報廢的電腦裡面 解體拆出可用的零件 利用這些二手零件 組裝成新的用途
But what does this new, sort of, approach give us? That's the real question, because this is something that's been there, part of every society that's deprived of enough resources. But there's an interesting paradigm. There's the traditional crafts, and then there's the technology crafts. We call it the technology crafts because these are emerging. They're not something that's been established. It's not something that's institutionalized. It's not taught in universities. It's taught [by] word of mouth, and it's an informal education system around this.
這種新的 "修補匠" 對我們而言有什麼用處呢? 既然這種修補匠產業普遍存在於 每個資源貧乏的社會中 那就值得認真的想想, 如何來利用他們 這裡有一個既存的有趣類比 就是傳統的工匠產業 跟在這裡談到的科技修補匠 這種科技修補匠 是一種新興行業 並不算是完全定型的 也還沒有正式的定義 學校裡不會教到 只有口耳相傳 屬於非正規的教學傳承
So we said, "What can we get out of this? You know, like, what are the key values that we can get out of this?" The main thing is a fix-it-locally culture, which is fantastic because it means that your product or your service doesn't have to go through a huge bureaucratic system to get it fixed. It also affords us cheap fabrication, which is fantastic, so it means that you can do a lot more with it. And then, the most important thing is, it gives us large math for low cost. So it means that you can actually embed pretty clever algorithms and lots of other kinds of extendable ideas into really simple devices.
如同前面說過的, 這種典型有什麼用呢? 能發揮什麼重要的價值呢? 其中最關鍵的 就是 "在地解決" 的觀念 這是很棒的, 因為如果能這樣, 你的產品 或是服務的問題, 不必透過 龐大而官僚的體系就可以被解決. 另外一件很棒的事情, 就是可以用很低的成本, 來嘗試製造各種的新東西. 而且最關鍵的, 就是用很低的成本, 就能做到很大的彈性, 所以基本上你可以把 各式各樣的演算法 還有創意發想 做成簡單的裝置
So, what we call this is a silicon cottage industry. It's basically what was the system or the paradigm before the industrial revolution is now re-happening in a whole new way in small digital shops across the planet in most developing countries.
我們把這個取名為 家庭手工科技業 就好比工業革命發生前的家庭手工業 在現代以新的型態再次發生 就是這些出現在全球各地的 發展中國家的地方性的 科技修補匠工房
So, we kind of toyed around with this idea, and we said, "What can we do with this? Can we make a little product or a service out of it?" So one of the first things we did is this thing called a multimedia platform. We call it a lunch box. Basically one of the contexts that we studied was schools in very remote parts of India. So there is this amazing concept called the one-teacher school, which is basically a single teacher who is a multitasker who teaches this amazing little social setting. It's an informal school, but it's really about holistic education. The only thing that they don't have is access to resources. They don't even have a textbook sometimes, and they don't even have a proper curriculum.
從這樣的想法來激盪發想 問自己可以來嘗試些什麼呢? 能不能利用這些科技修補匠工房, 做出些產品或服務呢? 在我們一開始嘗試的案子中, 有一個是關於 多媒體的平台裝置, 我們叫它 "便當盒" 這個案子所研究的使用情境, 是在印度偏遠地區的學校裏頭 這些學校很特別, 只有一個老師 扮演學校裡的多種角色 在如此特別的環境下執行教育工作 雖然不算是正統的學校體系 但是所教的內容是相當全面化的 這種學校跟老師所需要的 是教學的資源 他們沒有教科書 有的甚至沒有經過規劃的課程
So we said, "What can we do to empower this teacher to do more?" How to access the digital world? Instead of being the sole guardian of information, be a facilitator to all this information. So we said, "What are the steps required to empower the teacher?" How do you make this teacher into a digital gateway, and how do you design an inexpensive multimedia platform that can be constructed locally and serviced locally?" So we walked around. We went and scavenged the nearby markets, and we tried to understand, "What can we pick up that will make this happen?"
我們能如何幫忙這些學校裡的老師 取得數位世界的資源, 來教得更多更好呢? 讓老師從一個孤獨的資訊監護者 轉身變成大量資訊的導引者 要如何逐步的幫忙這些學校老師變身呢? 如何讓他們變成數位資訊的門戶呢 能不能設計出一個 便宜的多媒體平台裝置 能夠 在本地製造, 並且使用呢? 於是我們到附近的商場裡 思考並尋找著有哪些材料 可以派上用場, 做出我們想像的東西.
So the thing that we got was a little mobile phone with a little pico projector that comes for about 60 dollars. We went a bought a flashlight with a very big battery, and a bunch of small speakers. So essentially, the mobile phone gives us a connected multimedia platform. It allows us to get online and allows us to load up files of different formats and play them. The flashlight gives us this really intense, bright L.E.D., and six hours worth of rechargeable battery pack, and the lunch box is a nice little package in which you can put everything inside, and a bunch of mini speakers to sort of amplify the sound large enough. Believe me, those little classrooms are really noisy. They are kids who scream at the top of their voices, and you really have to get above that. And we took it back to this little tinkering setup of a mobile phone repair shop, and then the magic happens. We dismantle the whole thing, we reassemble it in a new configuration, and we do this hardware mashup, systematically training the guy how to do this. Out comes this, a little lunch box -- form factor.
結果我們選上的 包括這個手機, 具有微型投影的功能 大約60美元 另外我們還買了一個 有著大電池的手電筒 還有幾個小型喇叭 我們是這樣盤算的: 把手機當作可連網的多媒體平台 透過網路可以下載各種格式的檔案 並且播放投影出來 手電筒裏頭包括了 高亮度的LED(發光二極體) 還有可用到六小時的充電電池組 這些所有的零件, 應該可以放到一個小小的便當盒裡 而這些小型喇叭 可以放大播放的聲音 蓋過教室裡面吵鬧的 小孩們的喊叫聲 讓大家都聽得到 所以我們把這樣的想法 跟這些零件 帶到一家手機修理鋪 神奇的事情就這樣發生了 這些東西被拆開之後 我們把它重新組裝 拼裝成為一個新的裝置 並且以系統化的方式 教工匠如何製作 這種只有便當盒大小的新產品
(Applause)
(掌聲)
And we systematically field tested, because in the field testing we learned some important lessons, and we went through many iterations. One of the key issues was battery consumption and charging. Luminosity was an issue, when you have too much bright sunlight outside. Often the roofs are broken, so you don't have enough darkness in the classroom to do these things.
然後我們以系統化的方式 進行現場實驗 從實驗中發現了很多重要的議題 進行一次又一次的反覆修改與實驗 有個議題 是關於電池的充放電 另外一個議題 是投影的亮度, 在好天氣陽光充足的日子 很多教室的屋頂是破的, 所以教室裡面不夠暗 投影的效果不好, 沒辦法上課.
We extended this idea. We tested it many times over, and the next version we came up with was a box that kind of could trickle charge on solar energy, but most importantly connect to a car battery, because a car battery is a ubiquitous source of power in places where there's not enough electricity or erratic electricity.
我們進一步的發想, 試了很多次 發展出的第二版的 盒子 上面有太陽能板可以充電 而更重要的是可以接上汽車電源 因為就算在供電不普遍 或是供電不穩定的地區 車電仍然是相當普遍可得的電源來源
And the other key thing that we did was make this box run off a USB key, because we realized that even though there was GPRS and all that on paper, at least, in theory, it was much more efficient to send the data on a little USB key by surface mail. It might take a few days to get there, but at least it gets there in high definition and in a reliable quality. So we made this box, and we tested it again and again and again, and we're going through multiple iterations to do these things.
另外還有一個重要的改變 是把內容用USB拇指碟的方式來傳送 因為我們了解到, 就算有行動上網可以下載資料, 直接郵寄USB拇指碟的方式 還是比較有效率的 就算郵寄要多花幾天的時間 但是寄到的內容可以有高解析度 播放的品質 也可以比透過網路更穩定 於是我們做了這樣的盒子, 再次實驗 一次又一次的反覆進行 持續的改進與實驗
But it's not limited to just education. This kind of a technique or metrology can actually be applied to other kinds of areas, and I'm going to tell you one more little story. It's about this little device called a medi-meter. It's basically a little health care screening tool that we developed.
這樣的方式與技巧 除了用在教育 也可以用在其他的地方 比如接下來我要講的另一個小故事 這是我們發展的一個 叫做 就醫篩檢儀 的小裝置 可以用在健康照護的篩選作業中派上用場
In India, there is a context of these amazing people, the health care workers called ASHA workers. They are essentially foot soldiers for the health care system who live in the local community and are trained with basic tools and basic concepts of health care, and the main purpose is basically to inform people to basically, how to lead a better life, but also to divert or sort of make recommendations of what kind of health care should they approach? They are basically referral services, essentially.
在印度的健康照護體系裡, 有一群特殊的叫做 ASHA 的工作者 (經認證的社會保健工作員) 她們是健康照護體系的主要戰力 居住在社區當地, 受過基本的訓練, 了解健康照護的知識與基本工具 她們的主要工作, 就是教育民眾 改善生活品質的做法, 並且提供 健康照護相關的指引與建議 例如: 該到什麼地方 看哪種科別的醫生 本質上算是一種健康照護的轉介服務.
But the problem with that is that we realized after a bunch of research that they are amazing at referring people to the nearest clinic or the public health care system, but what happens at the public health care system is this: these incredibly long lines and too many people who overload the system simply because there's not enough doctors and facilities for the population that's being referred. So everything from a common cold to a serious case of malaria gets almost the same level of attention, and there's no priorities.
我們對於這個案子做了一些研究後, 發現這些這些 ASHA 工作者 對於 轉介民眾到附近的診所 或是公立的健康照護機構 做得非常好. 但是當民眾到了那裏才發現問題大了: 轉介而來的民眾大排長龍, 就診的民眾數量太多 公立的健康照護機構 沒有足夠的醫生與設備 來服務這些被轉介來的民眾. 不管是小感冒 或是嚴重的病像是瘧疾, 都被一視同仁 不分輕重緩急
So we said, "Come on, there's got to be a better way of doing this for sure." So we said, "What can we do with the ASHA worker that'll allow this ASHA worker to become an interesting filter, but not just a filter, a really well thought through referral system that allows load balancing of the network, and directs patients to different sources of health care based on the severity or the criticalness of those situations?"
我們覺得, 這件事情 應該有更好的做法才對 那我們應該可以做些什麼, 讓這些 ASHA工作者 除了篩選出需要就診的民眾之外 還能在轉介時更周延的考量 不至於讓健康照護的體系網絡超過負載 而且生病的民眾 也能依據病症與嚴重度 被轉介到不同的適當的健康照護機構.
So the real key question was, how do we empower this woman? How do we empower her with simple tools that's not diagnostic but more screening in nature so she at least knows how to advise the patients better? And that'll make such a huge difference on the system, because the amount of waiting time and the amount of distances that people need to travel, often sometimes seven to 15 kilometers, sometimes by foot, to get a simple health check done, is very, very detrimental in the sense that it really dissuades people from getting access to health care. So if there was something that she could do, that would be amazing.
其中最關鍵的 就是要如何協助這些 ASHA工作者 用簡單的工具 還談不上診斷, 但是可以對病人進行篩檢, 得到更多的資訊來提供病人更好的建議 這樣應該可以讓整個系統的運作大大改善 要知道這些病人要排隊等很久, 而且也要走很久, 通常有 7 到15公里遠 才能走到這些機構讓醫生看診 而這也常常會讓民眾 不想花那麼大的力氣與時間 到健康照護機構就診 所以如果這些 ASHA 工作者 能有些檢測的工具 對整件事情會有很大的幫助
So what we did was that we converted this device into a medical device. I want to demo this actually, because it's a very simple process.
所以呢, 我們所發展的, 是把這個鬧鐘 改裝成一個 就醫篩檢儀 我想現場操作給大家看 因為用起來真的很簡單
Bruno, do you want to join us? (Cheers) Come along. (Applause)
Bruno, 請你過來幫忙好嗎? 請過來這邊
So, what we're going to do is that we're going to measure a few basic parameters on you, including your pulse rate and the amount of oxygen that's there in your blood. So you're going to put your thumb on top of this.
我們現在要做的呢 是要量測你的一些基本數值 包括你的脈搏, 還有血氧濃度 (血液裡的氧氣含量) 請把你的大拇指按在這上面
Bruno Giussani: Like this, works?
Bruno: 像這樣嗎?
Vinay Venkatraman: Yeah. That's right. BG: Okay.
講者: 對, 這樣就可以了. Bruno: 好了
VV: So I'm going to start it up. I hope it works. (Beeps) It even beeps, because it's an alarm clock, after all. So ... (Laughter)
講者: 接著我要啟動這個裝置, 希望不會出錯... (嗶嗶聲) 這裝置也會嗶嗶叫, 沒錯, 它本來就是個鬧鐘 (笑聲) 然後...
So I take it into the start position, and then I press the read button. (Beeps) So it's taking a little reading from you. (Beeps) And then the pointer goes and points to three different options. Let's see what happens here. (Beeps) Oh Bruno, you can go home, actually.
我把它設定在起始的狀態, 然後 按下這個 量測 的按鈕 (嗶嗶聲) 就會開始量測你的數值 ... (嗶嗶聲) 然後指針就會開始轉動, 可能停在三個不同的區域 我們來看看... (嗶嗶聲) 嗯, Bruno 你的健康沒問題, 可以回家了
BG: Great. Good news. (Applause)
Bruno: 這真是好消息啊! (掌聲)
VV: So ... (Applause)
(掌聲)
So the thing about this is that if the pointer, unfortunately, had pointed to the red spot, we would have to rush you to a hospital. Luckily, not today. And if it had pointed to the orange or the amber, it basically meant you had to have, sort of, more continuous care from the health care worker. So that was a very simple three-step screening process that could basically change the equation of how public health care works in so many different ways.
這個指針最後停下來的位置 如果不幸的是在紅色區域 那就得趕快送你去醫院才行 如果指到黃色區域 那就要小心了, 最好能持續且經常的 由 ASHA 工作者來關注你的健康 這個裝置是一個簡單的三等級的篩選工具 可以對健康照護工作的運作 產生多方面的改變
BG: Thank you for the good news. VV: Yeah.
Bruno: 感謝你帶來的好消息 講者: 嗯
(Applause) So, very briefly, I'll just explain to you how this is done, because that's the more interesting part. So essentially, the three things that are required to make this conversion from this guy to this guy is a cheap remote control for a television that you can almost find in every home today, some parts from a computer mouse, basically, something that you can scavenge for very low cost, and a few parts that have to be pre-programmed. Basically this is a micro-controller with a few extra components that can be shipped for very little cost across the world, and that's what is all required with a little bit of local tinkering talent to convert the device into something else. So we are right now doing some systematic field tests to basically ascertain whether something like this actually makes sense to the ASHA worker.
(掌聲) 我想大家會想知道這個裝置是怎麼改裝的 讓我簡單的說明一下 總共需要三樣東西 把一個 鬧鐘 變成 就醫篩檢儀 第一個是很便宜的電視遙控器 現在幾乎每個人家裡都有 第二個是從電腦滑鼠拆出來的零件 這也可以從報廢品裡廢物利用, 也很省錢 第三個是可以預先載入程式的 一個微控制器晶片, 還有幾個到處都買得到的便宜的電子零件 零件都齊全了 加上工匠的巧手 就可以把鬧鐘變身成不同的用途 目前我們正進行系統化的實地試用 希望知道這個裝置是否真的能 對 ASHA 工作者 有幫助
We are going through some reference tests to compare it against professional equipment to see if there's a degree of change in efficacy and if it actually makes an impact in people's lives. But most importantly, what we are trying to do right now is we are trying to scale this up, because there are over 250,000 ASHA workers on the ground who are these amazing foot soldiers, and if we can give at least a fraction of them the access to these things, it just changes the way the economics of public health care works, and it changes the way systems actually function, not just on a systematic planning level, but also in a very grassroots, bottom-up level.
我們也會進行一些對照測試 來比較這個簡單裝置與專業的設備 在成效上 有沒有程度的差異, 對於居民的生活有沒有影響 更重要的是 我們接下來打算要做的 是擴大使用的規模 現在總共有 二十五萬個 ASHA 工作者 在各地進行了不起的工作 只要能讓一小部分的人能用上這種裝置 就能改變公共健康照護的經濟運作方式, 改變整個體系的功能 不僅僅只於系統規劃的層面 而是從基層往上, 草根性的改變
So that's it, and we hope to do this in a big way. Thank you. (Applause)
這是我們想做的, 而且我們希望能做大它. 謝謝大家 (掌聲)
(Applause)
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