June, 2011

Author’s Note: Reporting from the U.S. Imagine Cup finals in April we asked- are  social entrepreneurs the new heroes? The response was overwhelmingly positive so we thought we’d share some more stories of the students preparing for the Imagine Cup worldwide finals in New York this July.

Today is World Refugee Day-a day where we recognize the current reality of more than 43 million people displaced by war, conflict, and human rights abuse. Earlier today we heard from the UNHCR on their global efforts helping more than 36 million refugees worldwide.

This challenge has inspired a number of Imagine Cup contestants this year including Team Hawk from the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani (AUI-S), winners of the Iraq Imagine Cup competition.  The team consists of Choman Jalal, Kosar Osman and Enji Issa with Dr. David Cook acting as the team mentor.

We had the pleasure to hear from Choman Jalal who told us an inspiring story of how Team Hawk came up with their award winning concept to help refugees:

The Imagine Cup competition challenges students to use technology to address the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, so what specifically directed your focus on helping refugees?

Close to the AUI-S campus there is a refugee camp called Qawala. University faculty and students have been helping the refugees there in a number of ways for some time. There are various fund raising activities and donations going on throughout the year for these displaced people. These activities do not involve technologies but rather activities such as clothes collections, fund raising events and classes and entertainment organized and run by the students for the refugee children. We wondered what could we do with technology that would really help.

How did you decide on where to focus your efforts?

The concept came from talking through ideas with Dr. David Cook who is a faculty member and became the team mentor.  For several years before he came to Iraq he had worked in Namibia and helped with charitable work through the Rotary Club. He shared a story about someone he had met in Zimbabwe. Many years ago he had taught a Nun who had asked for help. She was desperate to help refugees in the North of Zimbabwe to register for aid quickly so that food and medical supplies would be allowed to reach them. Her request was for a Landover equipped with a generator to drive a computer which she wanted to use to get registration details to the government agencies quickly. In those days mobile phones were not very well developed and almost unheard of in the under developed areas of the world. That story inspired us. We believed we could do much better with modern technologies.

Can you tell us about your project?

We decided to develop a mobile phone based application which would help refugees register for aid quickly and efficiently. The idea works as an application for a Windows phone which is connected via wireless 3G to the internet where the data is stored for interpretation and access by those who need it. This will provide a mobile means for NGO’s to enter data relevant to the welfare and educational needs of refugees. In addition, this project will automate registration and hence speed up  access to welfare  for refugees.

So, what is next?

The excitement is building as we prepare to showcase Iraqi student achievements in July at the Imagine Cup world finals in New York City., to the world. Will we win? Of course!

Team Hawk is, like many of the finalists for this year Imagine Cup, a great example of the next generation of social entrepreneurs. Now here is where you come in! These students along with the other 123 teams heading to the Worldwide Finals in New York City, have worked hard to develop concepts that will hopefully make change for the future of the world as we know it, and you have the opportunity to VOTE for your favorite. That’s right, the Imagine Cup People’s Choice Award is open for you to vote on your favorite project. Who has your vote??

p.s. The People’s Choice Award winning team will receive a prize of USD $10,000. The prize will be awarded onsite at the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals in New York City on July 13, 2011, so VOTE VOTE VOTE! 

Guest post by Sajjad Malik, Chief Operational Solutions and Transition Section, UNHCR

Editor’s note: There are currently 43 million people displaced by war, conflict and human rights abuses around the world. The UN Refugee Agency – UNHCR – was established 60 years ago and currently deals with 36.4 million people of concern. Technology has enabled UNHCR to make progress in critical areas of communication, mapping and tracking, data collection, education and capacity building.

Sajjad Malik talks about his experiences working for UNHCR and the impact technology has had on his day to day work.

COMMUNICATION

I started working for UNHCR 23 years ago when I was fresh out of civil engineering school. After working in Pakistan I headed to Somalia for what I thought would be a short assignment. It was a time when fax machines were the height of innovation. In DoloOdo at the border of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia we used to use a hand held loud speaker to make announcements. It was a 3 day drive just to get to the embassy to drop off or pick up a letter that had been delivered by diplomatic pouch!

Today, we use mobile phones to notify refugees about food distribution, and help them reconnect with their families. With support from companies like Microsoft and HP we set up Community Technology Access (CTA) centers that build skills and capacity and enable refugees to communicate with family back home. Last year Skype created a low-bandwidth version of their product for UNHCR to use for its staff in remote field locations.

MAPPING AND TRACKING

In the 16 years I spent in the deep field I also oversaw the physical planning of numerous camps throughout East Africa and the Great Lakes region. We often set up camps a safe distance from the boarder to make it easier for those fleeing to find us, and for us to find them. But in some cases we didn’t know the exact boundaries of natural reserves or wildlife migration routes. Accurate mapping could truly mean life or death.

Nowadays, UNHCR employs satellite imagery and GIS to plan, build, and manage camps, roads, water, healthcare and schools. We use GPS to track our distribution trucks and the spread of disease and health information systems, and use crowd sourced maps to engage the community of emergency responders.

DATA COLLECTION

Back in 1994, during the Rwandan genocide, UNHCR was using ad hoc refugee registration systems. We used wristbands and tokens to help determine population numbers, and paper-based forms to gather family names and needs. Imagine using this for camps experiencing an influx of more than 200 thousand people!

Then Kosovo happened. In 1999 Microsoft helped us build, a mobile refugee registration system to respond to this crisis. Microsoft introduced us to the concept of a registration kit in-a-box, with a laptop, printer, and a fan to cool it. Now, we are working on solutions that collect data using mobile devices, and store information centrally in the cloud. Cloud-based solutions are key for an organization that needs to cost-effectively manage data across many locations around the world.

CAPACITY BUILDING AND LIVELIHOODS

I oversee teams that manage emergency shelter response, as well as long-term solutions. As displacement becomes prolonged, we try to serve the population’s long-term needs. We help people to be productive citizens, so their human development does not stop. The CTA Program provides refugees with access to technology to help them stay connected to the world, to learn skills and become self-sufficient.

I can confidently say that we would not have been able to achieve much of what we have without innovative technology. June 20 is World Refugee Day. I’ve seen first-hand the look of desperation and fear on the faces of so many men, women, and children when they arrive in a camp; and tear-filled joy when they are told they can go back home. Technology has allowed us to do a better job, to allow those we work for to connect to the 21^st century, to learn about the world and develop new skills. We now have the means to tell the story of those almost 43 million individuals who currently do not have a home to go to. You can be part of this year’s World Refugee Day. Please do 1 thing to help refugees and go to www.unhcr.org/do1thing or simply follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

1 family forced to flee is too many.

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Sajjad is responsible for overseeing UNHCR’s Operational Solutions and Transition Section at its Headquarters, including emergency shelter, livelihoods, environment, peace-building and reintegration in post-conflict situations, and innovative technology solutions Community Technology Access (CTA) Program for refugees and other displaced persons. During his 23 years with UNHCR, he served in the field in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan and covered emergencies in the Great Lakes region, West Africa and Kosovo. In 2005-2008, he led the complex repatriation and reintegration of hundreds of thousands of refugees from camps in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, and Egypt, involving multiple land and air routes to remote and war ravaged areas of southern Sudan.

For more information, please visit http://unhcr.org/microsoft/ 

and for more stories on the UNHCR’s work with Microsoft please see our Local Impact Map stories such as UNHCR Council of Business Leaders Mission to Southern Africa Helps Refugees.

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Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in a roundtable on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) hosted by PR Week magazine here in New York.  Joining me around the table were my counterparts at some of world’s leading brands – including McDonald’s; Chevron; Campbell’s; P & G; and L’Oreal.   The often lively discussion covered a range of the usual topics you’d expect such as CSR reporting, employee engagement, stakeholder engagement etc. But we also discussed one of those issues that we often overlook; namely the role CSR plays in breaking down silos within corporations.

I often refer to CSR as a horizontal issue in a vertical world.  By that I mean, CSR within a large, global company like Microsoft spans different product and business groups.  When you think about operational issues like supply chain management, human rights and environmental sustainability you quickly realize that these issues - really corporate functions- require a cross group, companywide approach.  I spend a lot of time here at Microsoft working with my colleagues in our product and business groups on these issues – developing consistent policies – based on our corporate mission – our corporate values and Citizenship mission and commitments. 

There was a robust discussion yesterday about how CSR actually helps breakdown silos within companies.  I know a lot of people across Microsoft – in many different groups – not because I am particularly outgoing or social but because it is my job!  How can I do my job if I don’t know my colleagues in our global corporate procurement group – working hand in hand with them on supply chain management issues?  How can I do my job if I don’t know my colleagues in our online privacy group and work with them on issues related to free expression and the protection of human rights?

While the specific issues may differ significantly from company to company, each of us talked about our horizontal work.  In fact, our conversation led me to think about some research Chris Pinney did for the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College on CSR competencies.  While the work highlighted a number of “core” competencies for people working in CSR, for me one of the most important is what I will call the collaboration competency.

Everyone around the table agreed that CSR can and does break down silos within an organization.  Furthermore there was consensus that that cross company collaboration is key to driving successful CSR programs.  None of us would have been on the panel today if we weren’t effective collaborators within our organizations. 

So, if you happen to be reading this because you are interested in “having my job” – here is a bit of advice - the collaboration competency is key and essential for successful, sustained CSR.

The U.S. Kodu Cup surprised us. As Brad Gibson, a senior program manager with Microsoft Research observed:

“These kids, frankly, did things in Kodu that I hadn’t thought of before. Kids had zombies and fantasy worlds, monsters and infective diseases, mythical heroes – there was just this incredible variety. On one hand you say, ‘Hey, they’re kids, you expect a lot of imagination.’ But when you see the depth of gameplay and the richness of the stories they created, I think many of these kids could be on their way to being world-class game designers.”

So without any further ado, onto the winners.

Grand Prize Winner (9-12 year olds category) - Hannah Wyman

Hannah is 10 years old and lives in Leominster, Massachusetts. Her game is called Toxic, and players collect coins and hearts while solving puzzles to help save the environment. In Hannah’s own words: “My game is about how the environment is getting polluted, and we need to help shut the factories down and cause less pollution.

First Prize Winner (13-17 year olds category) - Jacen Sherman

Jacen is 15 years old and lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. His game is called The Vortex. It’s a beautiful looking game which opens with the world under nuclear attack. While humanity has found a way to “upload” itself to a virtual world and launch into space to avoid extinction, one of the creators of this virtual world wasn’t able to make it into the virtual world on time. Out of anger, she unleashed a virus – Vira X – which the player must defeat. Jacen was inspired both by the programming experience, and by the movie Tron.

First Prize Winner (9-12 year olds category) - David Gardiner

David is 9 years old and lives in Leominster, Massachusetts - clearly a future hotbed of games development! David, draws comics about aliens and he took part in the competition following encouragement from his teacher. His game is called Alien Attack where the Galactaliens are trying to take over the world and you have to stop them.  It is a delightfully whimsical world with fish swimming in a bowl-less pond, flowers growing in strange places and enemies, and submarines bobbing in what looks like a floating island of lava.

The grand prize winner receives $5,000 for themselves and their respective school, as well as a trip to the Microsoft Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals in New York. The Imagine Cup is a global technology competition for students in over 100 countries. The grand prize winner also wins a Toshiba Windows laptop, Microsoft Office Professional 2010 and an Xbox 360 console with a Kinect sensor.

The first prize winners receive a Toshiba Windows laptop with Microsoft Office Home & Student.

Kodu Judging

The consensus among the members of our judging committee was that the creativity demonstrated by all the entries in this first U.S. Kodu Cup competition was outstanding. When you combine that creativity with the hard work and dedication evidenced in all the submitted games, choosing the winners was a very difficult process.

On behalf of all the judges we’d like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate everyone who took part in the competition. Well done!

You can read more about the winners on the Microsoft News Center.

More information on Kodu and STEM education

A note on sensible, safer gaming.

Microsoft is committed to helping families enjoy video games and online media in ways that are safer, healthier and more balanced. As part of this commitment we have created Get Game Smart.

GetGameSmart.com brings the most current parental controls tools, expert tips and resources together online, including the latest information on updated Xbox 360 Family Settings. This website offers a variety of resources in one place where parents and caregivers can find valuable information to make educated decisions about balanced media use. The site helps parents and kids to work together on fun activities and quizzes that will improve their knowledge about gaming and online safety, and help them create household agreements for media use ...along with easy ways to enforce them! GetGameSmart.com also provides tips and information from the nation's leading experts and organizations, and features its own blog to provide families with up-to-date information on the latest video game and Internet safety topics. The Get Game Smart program is a new approach to helping parents and their children get on the same page about making smart media choices.

Microsoft is proud to have led the effort to create and build in safety measures that enable parents to choose the right games, content and online access settings for their families. Xbox was the first video game and entertainment system on the market with built-in parental control systems. Virtually all of Microsoft's consumer products- Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE, Windows 7, Zune and MSN/Windows Live - feature family safety features.

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By William Jansen, CSS Community Program Manager, EMEA, Microsoft

In 2008, Freena Eijffinger’s brother was diagnosed with Asperger’s Disorder, a form of autism. It had taken more than seven years for the doctors to diagnose him, and that left Freena curious as to why it had taken so long. She did a bit of research and discovered that all diagnostics were still being carried out manually and without any computerization. This was mainly because regular vertical monitors interfere with direct communication, and the limited motor skills of Asperger sufferers make the computer mouse a poor tool for any diagnostic activities. When she first became acquainted with the Surface technology, which requires neither a monitor nor a mouse, she knew exactly what she had to do—raise funds to develop software on the Surface platform to change the lives of children with autism worldwide.

Her Surface activities soon got the attention of Microsoft Netherlands, who named her a “Surface-evangelist.” Freena has since been a frequently invited speaker at conferences such as DevDays, TechEd EMEA, DotNed, HealthValley, TEDxWomen, and CodeCamp as well as at other industry-specific healthcare and educational conventions. Together with Dennis Vroegop she taught Surface development at a university college in the Netherlands.

In early 2010 Freena entered a program for entrepreneurs sponsored by the Dutch government and TNO – The leading independent research organization in the Netherlands, known as SBIR (Small Business Innovation & Research). She was awarded €25,000 to do an attainability analysis and to develop four demo-applications that could be used to prove the value of her project to the autism branch of healthcare. When the Microsoft Surface team heard about her project, they donated a Surface developer unit. Following a review of the results from Freena’s research, TNO invested an additional €300,000 in her and her company Autitouch to develop applications to support diagnostics and treatment of autism worldwide.

In 2009, Dennis Vroegop, a Microsoft Surface Most Valuable Professional (MVP) and DotNed chairman, learned of Freena’s progress with Surface as well as her thoughts on its possible applications, and he asked to lend a hand.

“Developing for Surface is just like any other piece of software,” according to Dennis. “You have to have a design, skilled developers and designers, and of course a lot of passion.” Building on Freena’s design, Dennis drew up the functional specifications for the Surface applications. “When that was done, we set up a Team Foundation Server to hold all the project resources and then started working on the actual software,” Dennis added. (Pictured above left: Dennis Vroegop, Surface MVP from the Netherlands, and Freena Eiffinger, CEO of Autitouch)

The actual development has been completed in about 150 hoursand the applications will be released later this month, then a six-month scientific research project will begin in collaboration with the psychology department of the VU University Amsterdam for validation. A group of 60 kids – 30 diagnosed with autism and 30 without autism – will be tested using the applications. The goal is to show that with the help of the Autitouch applications, pre-diagnostics can be made possible, which will considerably shorten the diagnosis time for children with disorders such as autism. Other benefits will be improved and faster data mining and reporting, better quality observation and increased objectivity on the part of the diagnosing professional. All data will be unlocked through Microsoft’s Azure platform and Microsoft HealthVault, enabling autism experts around the world to gain better insight into autism as a disorder.

During the validation phase, experts will start to test the systems functionality and ease of use. So far the trial runs have gone extremely well-the patients have responded very well to the system.

We are extremely positive about the rest of the project. When the validation is done and we are ready to deliver to the actual intended users we won't sit back and relax: there is so much more to be done in this field and we're looking forward to the next phases!

For more information on Autitouch – visit www.autitouch.com

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