The document outlines the 2013 work plan for Objective 3 of the Agriculture Sector Linkages Program (ASLP2) in Pakistan, focusing on leveraging ICT for communication and collaboration in agricultural value chains. It details several initiatives, including the establishment of a farmphone system and the development of an iPad app for extension workers, aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity among marginalized communities. The plan emphasizes participatory design, the importance of mobile technology access, and the need for tailored solutions that consider regional and demographic differences.

1. ICT & LINKAGES FOR LIVELIHOODS
Overview of 2013 work plan for Objective 3
Social research: Applying ICT for communication, collaboration and development
through participatory design and engagement
Professor Robert Fitzgerald
ASLP2 - Agriculture Sector Linkages Program in Pakistan (Phase 2)

2. A challenge
• There has been a fundamental shift in the way traditional
value chains and distribution systems operate that are
breaking down traditional roles and generating new ways
of working with the user
“The disappearance of intermediaries, new production processes, higher IT
productivity, new pricing mechanisms and new distribution systems have
generated a “direct economy”, where the customer/user has been
sucked, willingly or not, into the production process or value chain. All this is
leading to new business models, some immediately profitable, others not yet but
hugely successful in terms of users”.
Krasna, B. (2007) ThinkStudio From Direct Economy to Direct Everything, English
Write-Up, Lift 07.

3. Social research objectives
1. To engage the poor and marginalized groups that can
potentially benefit from participating in the selected value
chains of ASLP2 (Sandra)
2. To enhance collaboration across project teams (Barbara)
3. To assess and enhance information and communication
modalities and technologies for collaboration and value
chain enhancement (Rob)
4. To foster effective collaborative development in rural
Pakistan (John)

4. Baseline Survey: Some headlines
Very good access: Most men and about 50% of women have access
to a mobile phone
Mobile phone skills, most at beginner level: Similar patterns for
men, women and children
Personal device: Phones are used primarily for personal
communications
Limited use of SMS: Only 30 % use SMS. Similar patterns for men and
women
Limited access to computers (7-35%): About 25% have access to a
computer and only 6% have access to the internet

5. Baseline Survey: Implications
• Good access to mobile phones but they are personal devices
• Limited use of SMS, significant training would be required
• Limited access to computers and internet
• Consider the demonstration effect – pictures & videos to tell a
story
• Given the above and low literacy levels, SMS (i.e text) have
limited reach. A voice system may be more accessible (i.e.
speech)
• Regional differences, no one size solution will fit all
• Consider different technologies, modalities and content
• Need to address different languages: English, Urdu and Sindhi

6. Background: Mobile for Development (M4D)
• M4D has been ignored in the ICT4D research largely because
of its focus on the computer despite in developing countries
the use of voice calls & SMS is increasing
• “most of the benefits of the mobile phones in development
processes remain unobserved and under-studied, in
unorganized “peer to peer” voice calls and text messages”
(Donner 2010: 9).
• the dual heritage of M4D (the user choice and the embedded
directionality) “will and should continue to provide alternative
framings to inform both theoretical models and practical
policy” (Donner 2010: 11).
Donner, J. (2010). Framing M4D: The Utility of Continuity and the Dual Heritage
of “Mobiles and Development” EJISDC: the Electronic Journal on Information
Systems in Developing Countries, 44, 3.

7. Background: Research Needs
• Increase integration between ICTD and non-ICTD studies -
Donner sees much of this work as involving a tighter
integration between development work (ICTD) and the
communication/recreational use of mobiles work (non-ICTD)
• Understand linkages between richer and poorer
communities - Comparing and contrasting the ways rich and
poor use text messaging in order to understand the linkages
and opportunities
• Disaggregate the artifact - Looking both within and around
the handset can yield a better understanding of the mobile as
a complex technology. Developing more complex and
nuanced understandings of how mobile phones work to
reconfigure social relationships and networks
Donner, J. (2008). Research Approaches to Mobile Use in the Developing World:
A Review of the Literature, The Information Society, 24, 3, 140-159.

8. Background: Complex interaction between
technology and users
• A reminder that the interaction between technology and
users is complex cf Adaptive Structuration Theory (DeSanctis
& Pool, 1994)
“So, there are structures in technology, on the one hand and structures in
action, on the other. The two are continually intertwined; there is a recursive
relationship between technology and action, each iteratively shaping the other”
(DeSanctis & Pool, 1994)
DeSanctis, G., & Poole, M. S. (1994). Capturing the Complexity in Advanced Technology
Use: Adaptive Structuration Theory, Organization Science, 5, 2, 121-147.

9. Approach: Users in context
• Our approach to exploring possible applications of low-cost
ICT is participatory – we use the same basic participatory
approach as we do in other situations – to ensure the
technology is useful and used
• We focus on flexible, two-way communication systems that
can be adapted by different communities of users to meet
their particular information and communication needs
• Developing more complex and nuanced understandings of
how mobile phones work to reconfigure social relationships
and networks will allow us to move beyond simple technical
impact studies and understand the device in context

10. Objective 3 2013 workplan
1. Establish a Farmphone system based on Freedomfone in Sindh
province to be hosted by Mustafa Nangraj. Collaborate with Babar
Shubaz (UAF) to trial the software in Faisalabad.
2. Demonstrate and test the “Seeing is Believing” app developed by
ACIAR/UC (ACIAR to consult with teams for dairy, mango and
citrus extension material)
3. Conduct youth survey to specifically explore the establishment of
an ICT skills project (Community Service Centre model)
4. Establish links with UAF’s CyberExtension project Zarai Baithak
(http://zaraibaithak.com/)
5. Connect with Dairy, Citrus and Mango teams once the ICT trials
have been undertaken in March

11. Task1: Farmphone
• Farmphone is the name to be given to the ASLP2 information
system using the Freedom Fone software (http://freedomfone.org)
• Freedom Fone is free and open source software that enables you to
create and share audio content using Interactive Voice Response
(IVR), voicemail (leave a message) and SMS.
• Audio content can be easily organised in multiple Voice Menus
which callers can navigate using their phone keypad
• Freedom Fone is an an interactive voice recording system that
farmers can use to access production and marketing information

12. Freedom Fone
Source: Freedom Fone

13. Pilot work to date (March 2013)
1. We have established a FF server on a laptop connected to a
2N Officeroute modem. We have also tested a USB modem
(Huawei 173)
2. Voice Menus: A sample menu called Farmphone will be
available immediately after installation
3. Leave a Message: In the sample menu Farmphone, you are
able to test the Leave a Message functionality
4. Polls: A simple and fast way to measure opinion on an issue
is to conduct SMS-based polls. SMS polls enable your callers
to respond to a structured question via an SMS response
Note: The next release of FF will offer expanded SMS capabilities
including broadcast SMS

14. Farmphone Menu Structure
1. Farmer calls Farmphone number
– +92 300 8529014 (Pakistan)
2. Selects language – English, Urdu, Sindhi (Only English available)
3. Hears the following welcome message
4. Hears the following menu system overview
5. Selecting 1 for “News & Weather” hears
NB: All top-level menus can be nested to create sub-menus

15. Farmphone configuration
Up to four concurrent users
Prepaid sim cards
2N Office Route
GSM SIP Gateway

16. Creating audio information
• Farmphone can be used across telephone networks in Pakistan
however this introduces a number of issues that creators must be
aware of when creating audio files for the platform
• Telephony infrastructure transmits audio in a low quality format.
This means that the audio content we create should be simple, easy
to understand and created to specific technical specifications
• Since content is accessed by calling the phone numbers connected
to a Farmphone server, playback duration will be directly related to
the cost of calling. Clarity and brevity will be valued by most callers
• The best format for audio files is mono, wav with 8 kHz sample rate
• Audacity & Hindenburg are two free (NGO) audio editing programs
• Read more about creating audio at: FF Audio Cookbook

17. Task 2: The “Seeing is Believing”
(SIB) iPad app
• SIB is an iPad app connected to a web database that
allows extension workers to quickly locate and present
high quality extension material
• SIB is based on the following principles:
– Applying research methodologies to application
design and replication
– Best practice in extension of agricultural research
methodologies
– A review and evaluation cycle
• SIB has been developed by ACIAR and Robert Fitzgerald from
UC

18. Background
• The SIB app is aimed at the extension audience, to provide a
means delivering outcomes in a user friendly, technologically
up to date, and portable way.
• This approach should be able to be replicated between
projects, across commodities and regions/nations/locations.
• Our thinking is to use the following approach as an entry point
to the app (see design example 1 below):
– Case study of project success
– Steps to reach this
– Each step capable of being selected individually and
unpacked
– One or a collection of steps capable of being packaged as
an output/ output group

19. SIB interface

20. Sample search results for “mango”

21. Generating SIB data
• ACIAR has developed a Non Technical Reporting guide, aimed
at capturing the reasons why a project has been successful in
the field, during the life of the project.
• While this needs some refinement, it serves as both the
generator of the case study, and as tech notes for extension
workers in terms of better practice to identify barriers and
incentives to adoption.
• The aim is to deploy this amongst the project team in
Pakistan, to test the approach.

22. Data capture
• A database would act as the repository for project information
to populate the app (see design element 2). A series of fields
and templates would need to be identified and the database
structured to accept and house these.
• The fields may include (not discounting the amount of design
work):
– Project name
– Locations (including by geo-coding)
– Commodities
– Step/phase notes
– Step/phase instructions

23. Case study (3-5 mins – before ACIAR project and
after project)
Commodity – ie mango
Step 1 – Pruning
Step 2 – Orchard management
Step 3 – Diseases and pests
Step 4 – Harvesting
Step 5 – Postharvest management

24. Presentation templates
• SIB will contain a range of templates to allow users to create
extension presentations
• A presentation will could comprise:
– Posters
– Video
– Audio files
– Technical notes
– Case studies

25. Example: A presentation assembled “on the fly” from
four video resources located in the data base

26. Design cycle
• Each step could have a video file, and a set of technical
notes, or could utilise whichever of the existing templates
have been filled – ie a poster for step 3 showing the type of
pests
• The user could select a step and skip those before it, or walk
through from the start. The user could also self select the
technical notes for all or some of the steps for printing as an i-
book
• Each step would be designed to represent a ‘package’ of
technologies used in the project. In the above example the
pruning package would likely show:
– Tree before pruning
– How to prune – ie correct cutting technique
– How tree should look after pruning

27. • This could be done via a video, with supporting tech notes to
illustrate this using photos and explanatory text. The
extension worker could show the farmer, then
demonstrate, then the farmer could do the cutting
• The app does not replace the extension worker, rather it is
almost a conversation starter. The extension worker would
effectively translate/interpret the video and tech notes for the
farmer
• The idea of a cycle – action: (show, do), reflect: (listen, think)
, improve drives the app. The app would therefore also
introduce best practice extension approaches
Step design

28. Non-
technical
reporting
guide
template
D’base
Input
fields
(Commodity and
location
sensitive)
D’base
templates
Posters
Video
Audio
Tech notes
Case studies
Outputs
I book
E-pubs
You tube videos
Multi-media
presentations
Other ACIAR
and project
reports and
materials
Dashboard
Case study
Commodity
Steps
Utilise links
to existing
resources
Project
team to
populate
Review and evaluation
User feedback – star rating
Community of users develop
taxonomy/ folkso
= template for channel
SIB Information Ecology

29. Task 3: Community Service Centres
• A conveniently located public place that is recognised and valued in the local
community as a gathering place for people and an access point for a wide range of
community activities, programs, services and events (Rossiter 2007)
• Following on from the youth survey we are currently
undertaking, we want to explore the idea of establishing an ICT
skills and resource centre
• Learn from Hole-in-the-wall and Internet café models
• Encourage youth to run centre
• Recently in Dolat Leghari we identified a community room that
could be used
• Other villages include Nachang (Mango), Sargodah (Citrus with Mr
Ilyas) and Okara (Dairy)
• Possible configuration: fixed computer with internet, walls painted
with Ideapaint (writable) and large LED screen or wireless projector

30. The following images are from our recent visit to Daulat Leghari, Sindh
Province, Pakistan (26 March 2013)
1. Youth focus group facilitators
2. Youth focus group (12-17 males)
3. Youth focus group (18-25 males)
4. Youth focus groups (12-17 males) showing SIB app in foreground
5. Two boys try the SIB app installed on iPad with ruggedised case
6. RF with villagers trying out the Farmphone information service

37. The following images are from our recent visit with UAF team to Nachang, Punjab
Province, Pakistan (29 March 2013)
1. Nachang Community House
2. Youth survey in full swing
3. RF & Izhar conducting youth focus group (18-25 male)
4. Youth focus group (12-17 male)
5. Young man (17 yo)
6. RF demonstrating SIB
7. RF talking to a young teacher about education in the village

45. Task 4: Zarai Baithak Cyber Extension
• “Technology transfer through cyber extension” is an outreach
project being undertaken by the Department of Agricultural
Extension, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (Pakistan)
• An online agricultural information portal and Village
Information Centres or VICs (cyber extension units) to be
established
• We see opportunities to connect and share information and
integrate the Farmphone system and SIB as complementary
technologies
• RF is working closely with Dr Babar Shabaz from UAF and
evaluate this project
• Create an account at: http://zaraibaithak.com/