RadioMarché:Distributed Voice- and Web-interfaced MarketInformation Systems under Rural Conditions. Paper presentation at CAISE 2012, Gdansk, Poland.

1. RadioMarché:
Distributed Voice- and Web-interfaced Market
Information Systems under Rural Conditions
Victor de Boer, Pieter De Leenheer, Anna Bon, Nana Baah
Gyan, Chris van Aart, Christophe Gueret, Wendelien Tuyp,
Stephane Boyera, Mary Allen, Hans Akkermans

3. CAUTION!
DIGITAL DIVIDE AHEAD

4. Can the Web (be made to) mean
something for knowledge sharing even
under very constraining conditions?
No internet, no computer, no electricity
Multitude of languages, levels of literacy

6. • Integrate local community radios and mobile ICT for knowledge
sharing
• Better support and integrate local languages in voice-based
services
– Development of appropriate speech elements (text-to-speech
and Speech recognition)
• Develop a free and open source toolbox for local developers.
• Investigate self-sustainability
– Develop appropriate business models
– In collaboration with local communities.

7. (adapted) Living Labs
• Involvement of local communities
– Trust and ownership
– Co-creation
• Rapid cycles
– Use case gathering
– Observation and prototyping
– Test, adapt
• Context-specific issues
– Lack of infrastructure
– Illiteracy, ‘small’ languages
– Local ownership and maintainability
– Distance between developer and user

8. M-agro Use Case
Context: Regreening in Africa

9. SMS
Internet cafe
== =
====
==
translate

11. SMS
Radio 1:
French and Bambara
Radio 2:
French and Bomu

12. SMS
Radio 1:
French and Bambara
Radio 2:
French and Bomu

13. RadioMarché system
Local market data
Data / communique layer
Interface handler layer
Web Email SMS GSM/Voice
Local
radio
Farmers Buyers
(producers) (consumers)

14. Web frontend for Market data management
and communiqué generation
RadioMarche.com

15. Voice channel: Multiple solutions
HTTP
Netbook
Orange Emerginov Platform
Netbook SIP over
running Ethernet
Prophecy
Officeroute
running Asterix
Netbook Bluetooth
running
Prophecy + Mobile phone
Asterix

16. Audio communiqué
• Audio communiqué generated by slot-
and-filler Text-to-speech system
– concatenating prerecorded phrases
– Each radio host uses own voice (!)
• Malian French (deployed)
• Bambara
• Bomu
Radio Segou Radio Mountian

17. VoiceXML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<vxml version="2.0" lang="en">
<form>
<prompt bargein="false">
Welcome to RadioMarche!
<audio src=“audio/communique_1_bambara.wav"/>
</prompt>
<option dtmf="1" value=“1">Press one for X</option>
<option dtmf=“2" value=“2">Press two for Y</option>
...
</vxml>

18. Deployment

19. Current testing phase
• Limited usage due to:
– Political situation
– Ecological situation
– Social barriers
– Technical issues
• Feedback informs next phase
– More languages (Bambara, Bomu)
– More radio stations
– End user

20. Business model integration
Onno Wassenaar

21. Beyond the use case:
Sharing the Data

22. Linked Market Data
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
Market data Linked market data @prefix rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
@prefix rm: <http://purl.org/collections/w4ra/radiomarche/> .
rm:offering_68
a rm:Offering ;
rm:com_number "6" ;
rm:contact_address "" ;
rm:currency "CFA" ;
ClioPatria Linked Data server rm:has_communique rm:communique_4f2918bc6a7af ;
rm:has_contact rm:Fidel_Kone ;
rm:price "450.00" ;
rm:prod_com_id "3" ;
rm:prod_name rm:product-Graine_de_nere ;
rm:quality "Graine propre" ;
rm:quantity "120.00" ;
rm:store_id "68" ;
rm:ts_date_delivered "2012-02-01 10:54:57" ;
rm:ts_date_entered "2012-02-01 10:18:27" ;
rm:unit_measure "Kg" ;
rm:user_id "6" .

23. Sharing across regions
Local market data
Local market dat a
Data / communique layer RadioM arché market informat ion s ys t em
Dat a / communique plat form
Interface handler layer
W eb Email SM S GSM /Voice
Web Email SMS GSM/Voice
Local radio
Farmers Buyers
( producers ) ( cons umers )
RadioMarché in second region
Local
radio
Farmers Buyers
(producers) (consumers)

24. Linked Data for Development (LD4D)
Inst. of Development
Studies LOD
Sahel Pluvial
data
SemanticXO
DBpedia
GeoNames
Citizen Journalism
Agrovoc data
RadioMarché
Linked market data

25. Linked Data for Development (LD4D)
Agrovoc
GeoNames
DBpedia
‘Allo, Linked
RadioMarché Data?
Linked market data
*
<VoiceXML> to
SPARQL
Web applications
Voice browser
Tel: +31208080855
Skype: +990009369996162208

26. EcoMash
Henk Kroon

27. Related use cases and projects

28. VOICES use cases
• M-agri event organizer
– Schedule events, automatic calls to
farmers’ representatives.
– Agricultural knowledge sharing
• M-health knowledge sharing
– Use case in Senegal
– Share health knowledge

29. Foroba Blon
• Citizen journalism platform
– using the same technology as
RadioMarché
• Multiple use cases
– Letters to editor
– Trusted users ‘journalists’
• Funded by IPI news innovation contest

31. Crowdsourcing voice fragment gathering

32. Interaction design for low-
literacy communities

33. Research questions
• Data management via voice
– Data presentation/UI
– Voice-based browsing
• Web of Voices
• Linked data / microservers
– Downscale2012 @ ESWC
• Integration with (development)
economy
• ICT development in rural areas
– Living Labs, Sustainability

34. Questions?

35. @victordeboer
v.de.boer@vu.nl
dev4d.com
w4ra.few.vu.nl
semweb4u.wordpress.com
worldwidesemanticweb.wordpress.com