Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Knight Foundation Recognizes SpeakEZ Efforts with Prototype Grant

Monday, September 21, 2015, By Diane Stirling
Share
Research and CreativeSchool of Information Studies

The Knight Foundation Prototype Fund has recognized the work of a School of Information Studies (iSchool) faculty member and several classes of his students in creating a system to help a refugee population use mobile phones to more easily communicate regarding their community needs.

Murali Venkatesh

Murali Venkatesh

The $35,000 Media Innovation Award will help advance the next development phases of SpeakEZ, a project led by Associate Professor Murali Venkatesh. The Knight Foundation Prototype Fund grant will help bring a project to implementation that Venkatesh has been leading since 2013, developed with the research help of students from successive years of his “Technology as Public Good” classes.

Designed from an open source interactive voice response platform (IVR) that is activated through mobile phones, the system was specifically designed initially to help the sizeable Burmese Karen population in Syracuse. Textual illiteracy is an issue. SpeakEZ is designed to assist them by facilitating one-stop access to resources and services necessary for successful resettlement.

The research project is based out of the Center for Convergence and Emerging Network Technologies (CCENT) Lab at the iSchool. Assisting in the prototype and testing are project team members and graduate students Sagar Dherai, Aakash Mody, Nicholas Lehrman and Ethan Glustoff. The project technical lead in CCENT is iSchool Assistant Professor of Practice Bahram Attaie.

The project began in Spring of 2013 when Venkatesh and his class completed a survey of the Syracuse Karen community’s technology needs and resources. They discovered that although there was an urgent need for an easy-to-use communication system with community-sourced content and control in that community, there were limitations as to what technologies were suitable. The class found that the Karen population’s English literacy and computer levels were low, and their reading and writing skills were unevenly distributed, and yet mobile phone ownership among Karen individuals was high.

Spring 2014 class students subsequently researched suitable platforms for a cell phone-based system. They recommended Freedom Fone, an open source interactive voice response platform that does not require Internet connection and which is accessed by a simple cell phone.

Karen Involvement

In spring 2015, Venkatesh’s students conducted a large focus group session to determine how the Karen community wanted to use the IVR system. They discovered that the community desired two-way communication between leaders and community members; from community members to leaders; and from community members to other community members. They found that rather than using mobile phones for everyday communication, text and voice alerts could help the Karen population communicate in important functional ways. Those included receiving voice and text alerts for health check-ups and weather alerts; notifications about the need for rides, requests for translators and voting on community issues. Voice services were useful for helping people who were trying to learn English, and for parents who were attempting to communicate with teachers and their children regarding the children’s homework.

“We have a highly motivated CCENT team. We cannot wait to field-test the prototype with the Karen”, says Venkatesh.

Next Phases

In fall 2016, a limited test of the advanced prototype is planned. In spring 2017, large-scale field tests and refinements are anticipated, and deployment of a full-fledged system is targeted for the fall of 2017.

Venkatesh envisions that the prototype eventually could be developed to serve additional refugee populations that have settled in Syracuse.

More information about the CCENT project is available here.

 

  • Author

Diane Stirling

  • Recent
  • New Program Connects Law and Social Work Disciplines to Assist Veterans
    Friday, June 9, 2023, By Valerie Pietra
  • ’Cuse Scoops Ice Cream Shop Now Open at Drumlins Country Club
    Friday, June 9, 2023, By Abby Haessig
  • Summer Snapshots 2023: Submit Your Photos for a Chance to be Featured
    Friday, June 9, 2023, By News Staff
  • Syracuse Libraries Supporting the Faculty Tenure and Promotion Process
    Friday, June 9, 2023, By News Staff
  • During PTSD Awareness Month Legal Clinic Helps Veterans Apply for Benefits They Have Earned and Deserve
    Friday, June 9, 2023, By Robert Conrad

More In STEM

Mechanical Engineering Student Ruohan Xu Receives Norma Slepecky Undergraduate Research Prize

Recent mechanical engineering and applied mathematics graduate Ruohan Xu ’23, G’24, has received the Norma Slepecky Undergraduate Prize for his research activities. Xu received the award from the Women in Science and Engineering Review Committee and was nominated by his…

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Sam Clemence to Receive Deep Foundations Institute Legends Award

The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) and the DFI Educational Trust Legends Committee has chosen Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Sam Clemence as a recipient of one of the DFI Legends Awards for 2023. This award was established to honor practitioners…

Physics and Mathematics Major Chance Baggett ’24 Named an Astronaut Scholar

Chance Baggett, a rising senior in the College of Arts and Sciences studying physics and mathematics and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program, has been named a 2023-24 Astronaut Scholar by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF). Founded…

Aphasia Research Lab Seeks Participants for Stroke Treatment Study

Strokes affect nearly 800,000 individuals in the United States each year. To bring attention to the risk factors for strokes and how to prevent them, the National Stroke Association holds Stroke Awareness Month during the month of May. Those who…

Syracuse Center of Excellence Announces New Co-Chairs of Industry Partners Council

The Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems at Syracuse University (SyracuseCoE) is proud to announce the appointment of Yu Chen and Scott MacBain from Carrier Corporation as the new co-chairs of the SyracuseCoE Industry Partner Council. In…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.