Design of Video Collaboration, Video Town Halls and a Distributed Social Network for Humanitarian Environments

Over the last five years, the VSee team has worked in refugee camps from Asia to Mideast to Africa -- most recently at the Iraq-Syria border supporting Hillary Clinton and Angelina Jolie for a global broadcast by the UN Refugee Agency. We will present the design of three communication systems for refugee and humanitarian environments -- specifically, featuring robust network tolerance and ease of use for non-experts and illiterate first time computer users. The first system is a managed peer-to-peer multiparty video calling, application sharing, and file transfer tool. Its network tolerance made it a favorite tool among NGOs in Afghanistan for medical and education initiatives. The second system is an interactive video town hall on Facebook and Twitter where participants are physically dispersed and network-challenged. Successes include Mandy Moore's Facebook anti-malaria campaign, Nothing But Nets, and a multi-location musical exchange by PlayingForChange. The third system is a distributed social network that can be used offline and synced periodically over cost and bandwidth-constrained networks. We will share practical insight from our field experience, as well as goals for an upcoming i-ACT/Darfur Sister Schools trip in March, 2011.

Speaker: Dr. Milton Chen, CEO, VSee

HP Auditorium