More or Less: the flexibility of the informal
One of the things that stood out for me during the recent household consumer behaviour study was the lack of weights and measurements used to sell foodstuffs and commodities in the market. There were no weighing scales at all, unless they themselves were for sale. Instead, some form of “socially accepted” measure was used to […]
A tale of two Africas
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. By the middle of the year 2013, the continent of Africa finally put her foot down and said to the world that enough is enough, “We’re taking over the reins of our future and giving voice to our own story.” Ghana and Kenya […]
Photosets from Kenya feasibility trip
Small clusters of photographs from our recent travels in rural Kenya are up on the The Prepaid Economy: African edition tumblog. Here’s a quick look at: rural Market Days – from Migwani in the east and Kagio in centre; a collation of formal and informal mass communication styles from wall paintings to billboards; David the […]
Dangerously obsolete: questioning the use of the all purpose label “The BoP”
Siim Esko wrote a short piece on his blog that inspired me to write out these thoughts. Since much of his work focused on the BoP in India and I’ve recent East African experience with the demographic, it was but natural for us to compare and contrast the challenges and the conditions of the lower […]
Uncle Cooks with dal from Malawi in your desi kitchen
Indian brand Uncle Cook’s Malawi Toor Dal sold in Singapore My mother lives in Singapore and prefers to do her monthly shopping at the well known megamall Mustafa’s – frequented by South Asians from every region plus anyone looking for anything, all of which is available under one humongous roof. This packet of toor dal, […]
The Letter writer: Yesterday’s social mediators
Letter writer Mr Thangaraju s/o Singaram, who is 85 years old and was from Tamil Nadu, India. Click to enlarge and read the stories of those who were lucky enough to have been educated when they migrated looking for work. They made their living helping others… as the Tamil letter writer Mr Thangaraju says, we […]
Vignettes from Singapore’s past: Independent Women
Look up more on Samsui women , pioneering globe trotting. independent employment for women. The Samsui women were a proud and independent lot. Prostitution, opium peddling and various vices were common with other women mired in poverty. However, Samsui women chose to be engaged in hard labour with little pay instead of being lured into […]
Consuming the future: a wide angled perspective
This was written at the end of August 2007; how far have we progressed? Even as I have just written about sustainable design and ecodesign, I find myself pondering the larger issues at stake. I didn’t set out to go green and I’m not wholly sure what my outlook is on this topic as yet. […]
Human centered systems design: Navigating complexity through flexibility
Drawing credit: JAM visualdenken Systems designed for use by communities tend to operate differently from back end or operational processes. Its only natural given the unpredictable nature of crowds. I’m sure there are a lot of people looking into this field, with greater experience and knowledge than I. However, I bring this up due to […]
Lowering barriers: Its about access, not the device
When Vanderbeeken sent me a link yesterday about Nokia working closely with Facebook to get the next billion online, it reminded me of this crude diagram I’d constructed back when I was watching this space far more closely than I do now. Twitter and Facebook are the two big names that weren’t even on our […]
