Bringing Devices to the Masses: A Comparative Study of the Brazilian Computador Popular and the Indian Simputer

TitleBringing Devices to the Masses: A Comparative Study of the Brazilian Computador Popular and the Indian Simputer
Publication TypeMiscellaneous
Year of Publication2003
AuthorsPal, J., & Fonseca R.
Other Numbers137
Abstract

The goal of empowering underserved populations to use technology has resulted in hardware solutions worldwide that have been deployed to varying levels of success. Despite the differences in the devices and their technology, their employment, and the benefits motivating the exploration of such solutions, there have been some common threads connecting such projects. The Computador Popular was a project in Brazil to bring computers to the urban poor in Brazil; the Simputer is a mobile computing device made for poor rural populations in India. Studying these two projects generates some underlying hypotheses about top-down approaches to technology and regional development.

URLhttp://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/pubs/bcis/bringingdevices03.pdf
Bibliographic Notes

http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~joyojeet/Simputer-CP.doc

Abbreviated Authors

J. Pal with R. Fonseca

ICSI Research Group

BCIS

ICSI Publication Type

None