Call for Papers (PDF), (TXT)

The decreasing cost and increasing access to information and communication technologies (e.g., mobile phones) are rapidly enabling access to new services and markets for previously disconnected populations. However, due to a variety of factors, including cost, literacy, education, and organizational capacity, conventional approaches to technology design and implementation are often not relevant. Moreover, empirical evidence for the impact of such technologies is largely anecdotal, beyond a few well-known and well-cited examples.

Addressing this requires engagement of several disciplines, including but not limited to economics, sociology, anthropology, and political science, and expertise in a variety of application areas - including government, health, finance and agriculture. NSDR focuses on addressing significant technical challenges (e.g., communication infrastructure in rural areas, novel caching techniques for challenged networks, security issues arising in such contexts), and on the deployment and evaluation of novel technologies or applications that address a specific need (e.g. providing remote financial services or health care).

Papers

We encourage submission of position papers or the results of preliminary work describing interesting, original, previously unpublished ideas or results pertaining to the design, implementation and/or evaluation of networks and systems for developing regions. Accepted papers will:

• propose new research directions;
• target a specific application;
• inform design and/or deployment;
• or generate lively debate at the workshop.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Low-cost wireless connectivity
• Intermittent systems
• Power-efficient systems
• Low-cost computing devices
• Mobile systems and applications
• Adapting content and applications for local languages
• User interfaces for low-literacy populations
• Design and evaluation of applications for public health, microfinance, agriculture, e-governance, education, monitoring, disaster management, etc.