In the days when interconnectivity meant basic text on a flickering screen, Beth Kolko was already researching the internet and its usages. Today, she is professor at the University of Washington and founder of the institute Design for Digital Inclusion (DDI).
Together with her research team, she investigates how technologies and their uses can be developed in countries with limited resources. Their primary aim is not to pass on their gained information to the respective users, instead the focus lies in understand how certain technologies are used and for what purposes. The hypothesis behind the research is that a concrete lack of knowledge creates the conditions for innovative actions. It is these conditions which lead to new leaps in technologies, and thus revolutionise the “Game”. In the words of Albert Einstein: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand…”
Some of DDI’s projects include portable ultrasound machines for midwives in Uganda, researching patterns of playing in Brazilian children, as well as researching the needs of the homeless and other transit dependent communities in the United States.
More information on her session at #rp12 can be found here.