Archive for the ‘Fair Tracing project activities’ Category

Theorising in Lima

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

Panel at HDCA

Greetings from Lima!

I, [Fair Tracing project manager Dr Dorothea Kleine], am at Congresso HDCA 2009, the annual conference of the Human Development and Capabilities Association, in Lima, Peru. This is an interdisciplinary conference interested in human development as freedom (Amartya Sen).

I presented a paper called “Applying the capability approach to the ‘medium of choice par excellence’: Using the Choice Framework for a holistic analysis of internet usage”. In it, I used Fair Tracing as an example to show how action research can help consumers and producers in their choices. I argued that one can use Sen’s capability approach, translated with the Choice Framework, to theorise what we did.

The conference is also a great opportunity to draw the attention of Latin American academics to our work, including our participatory work with producers in Chile.

Android software now on SourceForge

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

Ivan Antipov, who has developed a Fair Tracing prototype for Android, has now posted his software on SourceForge. That means you can download the code and will hopefully feel inspired to develop it further!

Facebook app

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Last but not least, we have Vishal Shah’s MEng report on his Fair Tracing Facebook application. Vishal has done a really good job in exploring the social media potential of fair trade — looking at how users can discover new ethical products through friends’ recommendations.

Vishal has been working with the project for two years, previously as an EPSRC summer student, so he deserves special thanks!

Android app

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Ivan Antipov has been working on some Fair Tracing software for his BSc Computer Science degree. He has written an Android application both for accessing information on the consumer end, and to allow producers to upload information into the FT database. This is a great demonstration of how small-scale farmers could interact with this kind of ethical product information system. You can read more in his report — thanks Ivan!

iPhone app

Sunday, July 5th, 2009
iPhone interface iPhone map interface

Junaid Haq has been working for the last year on a Fair Tracing application for the iPhone as part of his MEng computer science degree at UCL. You can now see the results of his work in his report — well worth a read. Thanks Junaid!

Fair Tracing’s demo at ICTD2009 in Doha, Qatar

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Fair Tracing’s Research Fellow and Project Manager Dr Dorothea Kleine represented the project at ICTD2009, the international IEEE/ACM conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development held in Doha, Qatar from 17-19 April 2009, with over 300 delegates in attendance.

Our demonstration, “Understanding the Provenance of Ethically Produced Goods”, showed the early Fair Tracing computer screen version with the Google Earth map, and used the Upcode application to demonstrate the tool on a mobile screen. We were able to let people use the Nokia N70 or N95 to scan a barcode on a bottle (in Qatar alcohol is banned so we had to go for a water instead of a wine bottle) or a coffee package. The mobile could then go online and link directly to key information from our Fair Tracing data set. Information on offer included the pie chart of “Where does the money go?”, the producer’s website, and the YouTube videos which we have produced in partnership with the Chilean producers.

There was great interest the Fair Tracing demo stand which was up for two days. Over 70 people came to talk to us and try out the demo, including development practitioners from Ecuador, Pakistan, Australia and Egypt.

Fair Tracing presentation at BASAS Conference

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

BASAS logo
Ashima Chopra, a research student on the Fair Tracing project, will be presenting a paper on aspects of the project’s India case study at the forthcoming British Association for South Asian Studies (BASAS) conference to be held in Edinburgh from 30 March-1 April 2009. She will also be hosting the panel in which the paper will appear. The full details are as follows:

Monday, 30 March 2009, 4.45 pm – 6.15 pm
“Technology and Development” panel
Convenor: Ashima Chopra (University of Bradford)

  1. Vincent Bagiire (University of Bradford) Improving livelihoods in the south through technology: M.S.Swaminathan’s contribution
  2. Bidit Lal Dey (Queen’s University, Belfast) An overview of the use and appropriation of mobile telephony in rural Bangladesh from the perspectives of farmers
  3. Ashima Chopra, (University of Bradford) Is technological innovation necessary for socio-economic development? Designing a digital traceability solution for coffee growers in Southern India

For further information, see the BASAS website or the conference homepage, or contact Ashima directly at  a.chopra@bradford.ac.uk

Call for papers: “Technology and Development” at BASAS

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Due to a late cancellation, there is now place for an additional two papers in the ‘Technology and Development’ panel at the forthcoming British Association for South Asian Studies (BASAS) conference to be held in Edinburgh from 30 March – 1 April 2009. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PAPERS MUST BE CONFIRMED BY FRIDAY, 6 MARCH 2009.

The panel on “Technology and Development’ may include a number of areas, such as development studies, computer science, HCI, networks, mobile systems, satellite and/or telecommunications, and multimedia. Topics might include:

  • new and emerging technologies (both hardware and/or software),
  • ICTs for development (including those used in education, governance, health or livelihood systems), or
  • web-based gadgets or applications that can be used by communities.

The paper/presentation should demonstrate the actual or potential application of technology/technologies for development scenarios within the South Asian context. Presentations must last no longer than 20 minutes. Both established academics and/or research students are encouraged to apply.

The panel will include the paper “Technological innovation and development: the case of Fair Tracing in India” by A Chopra (University Bradford).

Full details on the BASAS conference are available at http://www.csas.ed.ac.uk/BASAS2009.php?menu=3. Early registration is £95 (by 9 March 2009), and there are few bursaries available for postgraduate students – see website.

To discuss your papers/presentations, please contact Ashima Chopra (Fair Tracing project research student) me via email at a.chopra@bradford.ac.uk

Third BGDD Conference

Friday, December 19th, 2008

The network of researchers involved in the four EPSRC-funded projects will meet at Emmanuel College, Cambridge on 5-6 January 2009 for a third “Bridging the Global Digital Divide” conference. The aim of the two-day meeting is to bring the project teams together to share news and information about our ongoing work, as well as plan for the final months ahead. 

Confirmed as attending on behalf of Fair Tracing are Dr Ian BrownDr Dorothea Kleine, Dr Apurba Kundu. In additional, selected research students who are contributing to the Fair Tracing Project may also attend. 

Academic Workshops

Friday, December 19th, 2008

As we enter the final stage of this project, it is worthwhile to note the following academic workshops co-organised by Dr Ann Light, all of which included various inputs from the Fair Tracing Project:

• CHI2007: Workshop on ‘UUCD and International Development’, April 2007.
• CHI2008: Workshop on ‘HCI for Community and International Development, April 2008.
• OzCHI2008: Workshop on ‘Inclusivity, Interaction Design and Culture’, December 2008.