On this episode of Spark:
- As laptops overtake desktops, ergonomist Rabiya Lallani explains the effect computers can have on our bodies
- Rabiya and Nora make a video to explain how to set up your laptop for proper ergonomics
- Nora asks for your ideas on redesigning laptops
- Ethan Zuckerman explains why the big wide world of the Web may actually be limiting the kind of information you get (full interview)
- Craig Desson reports on Sierra Leone’s computer virus pandemic (Craig’s photos)
This episode features Creative Commons music and sound effects:
- “Wadidyusay?” by Zap Mama
- “simple synths” by mb74
- “Trampoline Girl” and “Go There Pierce” by Windom Earle
- “Kalimba Loop” by DoKashiteru
- “eighteen pieces (soda)” by soda
Play audio:
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For more information (and instructions) visit cbc.ca/podcasting
sorry, wrong link, this is the correct one: http://www.splicemusic.com/songs/mb74/simple-synths-003/
Throw away your little posture zapper! Sitting up straight is no longer recommended. Sitting in a slightly reclined position puts much less strain on your back.
See link to research which changed the thinking:
http://www.rsna.org/rsna/media/pr2006-2/aching_back-2.cfm
I have since adjusted my desk chair and have notice a huge improvement.
I hope I’m posting in the right place for this.
A good idea for a redesign for a laptop I think would be something along the lines of the computer the character “Hiro” from the book Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson uses. Not particularly a “lap”top computer but more of something like an iPhone with video eyewear and interface peripherals (maybe something like a Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard). Not sure if this would help bad posturing but it definatley wouldn’t be confining to your body since your able to separate all the interfaces.
This might be a little bit far fetched but the technology is there and waiting but in need of some refinement to bring it together. Mobile technology has been heading down this road for quite a few years now anyways.
I hope this comment helps, I’ve been a quiet fan of this show for a long time now. Great stuff, please keep it going and can’t wait for the next one.
@Conicon,
This is the place for your comments, thanks!
@airtone — thanks for the correction. Updated.
Wow! The discussion about computer viruses in Sierra Leone was a great idea. As soon as I heard the subject, I knew I had to tune in for such a deep and meaningful subject.
Sadly, what a disappointment in fully informed journalism it turned out to be.
I have a long standing complaint with the quality and level of competence shown by CBC when reporting on computer-related subjects.
I have yet to hear CBC offer a deep understanding of computers and report about the shortfalls of how we come to use them today.
This bit on Sierra Leone was a perfect example because the entire time it lived in a purely marketing designed container labeled “Windows”.
I have mentioned this show to a few people already and each one said “their solution is a simple one”.
Nowadays, nobody has an excuse to be using proprietary, overpriced and under performing software.
If somebody has access to computer hardware, they have access to the best operating system and software suite man kind has produced – without question: GNU/Linux.
I was just waiting after each sound byte to hear Craig say “but then they discovered Linux and nobody suffered at the hands of a virus since”.
Acquiring this software is easier than accidentally stumbling upon a computer virus or even a pirated copy of Windows. Canonical, the umbrella company for the Ubuntu project will mail out CDs and DVDs to anyone, anywhere in the world for free!
There is simply no reason for the CBC to continue on so blindly and starve the Canadian public of this knowledge. Especially when the views embodied by the free open source software (FOSS) community parrot those of Canada as a nation so fluently!
I hope reporters and hosts with CBC will spare people this shopping-channel grade fluency and start to incorporate a proper understanding of computer technology today.
Check your links, Dan.
Craig Desson’s report was very interesting, but I could not help but want to scream “use Free Software!” Messes like this, where computers are older and there is much less money for software is the perfect place for Free Software to gain dominance. I wonder why it was not mentioned. (Ok, I don’t wonder, it was not mentioned because its just not considered, computers=windows, there are no other options in the dominate view. How many Apples are in Sierra Leone?) The idea that dealing with viruses and pirated software as a way of “learning computer skills” is just silly. Learning real (free software) computer skills is much more valuable than learning workarounds for proprietary software. Additionally I’ve never some across a virus for GNU/Linux.
Take Linux for example, people still do an aweful lot of work and development still using the tools than have been around for 20 years, grep, perl, sh, even awk, sed etc.. Knowledge of GNU/Linux is relevant for much longer than knowledge of commercial software.
Re: Sierra Leone’s computer virus pandemic
It comes as no surprise to me that, despite the ready availability of cheap, virus-resistant alternatives, the people of Sierra Leone suffer from a computer virus pandemic. The corporate world publicly decries the violation of their copyrights when “pirated” versions of software surface, but they also profit immeasurably from both the public exposure and the after-market economic effects of such violations. What need does the casual web surfer in Sierra Leone need for the heavyweight facilities of Microsoft Windows, when lighter, cheaper, more virus-resistant software is so readily available. Microsoft loses nothing but an unrealizable potential profit (who, in Sierra Leone can pay for a legitimate copy of Microsoft Windows?), and gains thousands of devotees who, when offered the chance at legitimizing their computer usage, will jump at the chance to spend tens of dollars for Microsoft’s products. And, Microsoft isn’t the only software vendor to profit in this manner.
There are legal alternatives that would keep those Sierra Leones computer users virus free, and still give them all the functionality and power that Windows (and those other products) does. Open Source Software (from the Open Source operating system Linux and BSD on down to the open source applications and utilities like Firefox, OpenOffice, GnuCash, etc.) are free, easy to use, virus-free (and so virus-resistant that, in over a decade of existence, no viruses have been found for them), and legal for use. The cost alone should put these tools at the top of the list for every computer user in Sierra Leone, never mind their immunity to viruses and spyware, and their independence from corporate cost structures.
Anyway, I guess that the citizens of Sierra Leone will learn on their own; they can continue to be vassals of the corporations that they “rip off”, or they can have freedom, security and independence with open source software.
Seems lew is having a similar issue as I, I posted twice, got a “thank you” but still see no posts here. Maybe the name I was posting under (b, or .b.) was being silently dropped? Or there is a long delay in posting? Anyhow I think the posting interface needs some work. I guess someone can blame yahoo?
@ben
It seems your comments were caught up in the spam filter. We’ve done lots of tweaking to the settings, but good comments are still finding their way into the junk folder. We check it several times a day and fish out the good ones. We were in a meeting this afternoon, so just got a chance to check it now.
Not ideal, we know.
Thanks for posting!
RE: Sierra Leone’s viral epidemic. I know “a number of other people” who use pirated software. Many haven’t paid for software in a decade or more. Its all about safe surfing habits, possibly installing it on a backup computer with older hardware and using common sense approaches to handeling unknown information. This also helps:
http://free.avg.com/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition
Its an anti-virus program that’s free. It doesn’t have all the fancy features its not supposed to. Grisoft, the authors of the software, use the virus data users give them to update thier virus database. Thus protecting both thier free and paid users who buy the extra features.
Thanks all for the thoughtful comments. A few follow-ups:
Re: Linux/FOSS — here’s a quote from Mambo Mandsaria, the IT technician in Craig’s story:
“I think it would be better for a country like Sierra Leone to use most of those softwares. Why we don’t use Linux here, for us to use those types of software we need to get experts to come to this country to give us the know-how. We need to get two to three hundred technicians, get them to workshops, give them the know-how and we can take the know-how to the users on the streets. It would be good, because software like that is free and it’s authentic.”
It seems there’s an awareness of Linux in Sierra Leone, but based on the people Craig interviewed, there’s a lack of Linux expertise in the country.
I also emailed Craig to ask about AVG and other free anti-virus software. Craig’s response:
“The IT techs I spoke to use AVG and other free anti-virus software.
But they believe because it isn’t a paid registered version it is not as effective … that is the attitude I encountered.”
Thanks for listening, and commenting.
Did windows experts come in to teach the locals how to use windows? I imagine that it may be much more difficult for users to even get GNU/Linux installed if Internet access is rare.
From this quote it sounds a bit like they want people to come in. Last time I looked into it the http://www.container-project.net/ did not very actively support Free Software, but they could. I for one would be willing to visit to share knowledge. 100s of technicians seems like overkill, a few people that are good at teaching teachers is all that is needed, to plant the seeds, not manage adoption. If its not grass-roots it will not work anyhow.
I wonder if Craig Desson did any workshops or share any knowledge, or even if journalism is still stuck in the trap of objectivity. At least in research the hold of objectivity is loosening and the idea of the participating observer is becoming more important. I wonder if there will be a day when journalists participate, contribute, inspire and observe. Of course there is the colonialist issue, but that can’t be helped when an outsider visits, whether they simply observe or also participate for change.
Honestly, is not Microsoft, along with Macdonald’s and Coca-Cola the ultimate colonialists? I’ll stop now as that is quite off topic.
“I think it would be better for a country like Sierra Leone to use most of those softwares. Why we don’t use Linux here, for us to use those types of software we need to get experts to come to this country to give us the know-how. We need to get two to three hundred technicians, get them to workshops, give them the know-how and we can take the know-how to the users on the streets. It would be good, because software like that is free and it’s authentic.”
So long as he/she promises to freely share that knowledge with others: Bring me a tech who is interested from any country and I will teach them everything I know!
Regarding antivirus:
I think it’s important to understand that they are not by any stretch of the imagination a true solution. Even in their own promise to provide protection, the most aggressively updated antivirus software only perpetuates the cup-and-ball game.
Address the problem by not being a victim of the almighty dollar. Make a conscious choice to use software that is not only better designed, faster and leaner, but also prettier and more productive.
They won’t ever admit it, but the “ecosystem” of Windows is more than a marketing term. It’s a sad reality people have been lured into accepting without question. Consider it the “economy” of Windows…
Re: Dan Misener’s response
If anyone in Sierra Leone wants advice and help in getting started with Linux (or any of the other Free and Open Source systems or applications), there are thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of people who would be glad to contribute their time and expertise.
In fact, if Spark wishes to forward my email address (they have it, courtesy of the comment posting system) onwards to Craig Desson and/or any of those technicians on the front line of the virus battle in Sierra Leone, I would be more than willing to contribute my expertise and assistance via email. I’ll even arrange for delivery of Linux install CDs to anyone in Sierra Leone that asks for them.
At the moment, I can only offer email support. In the future, who knows? I might be able to swing a visit to the country, to help out directly.
Lew Pitcher
Yes – why are ANY NGO’s bringing the curse/miracle of computers anywhere, and depending on pirated copies of M$ operating systems/applications, instead of using Nix systems? Linux is not only free, it’s freely available – the developer community invites people to pass it around – and since computers are ‘a new thing’, one can guess countries like Nigeria and Sierra Leone aren’t full of gaming addicts yet – Linux desktop and server solutions provide a full range of every other application, and also run on older, slower components…I don’t need to be a Linux mouthpiece, but I really don’t understand why Linux (or Unix or even the pricier, but still less-hacky Mac OSX) aren’t actively pursuing these markets, and why the NGO’s IT staff aren’t insisting on it. Also, there are reasonable free A/V programs out there, as well as things like SPybot and Ad-Aware…mostly it’s weird that the doc maker never even mentioned these alternatives. Nix systems are also excellent for learning about hardware and networking, since they are a global work in progress.
RE: Sierra Leone’s viral epidemic
Recently someone asked in a computer forum: “what would be a good computer system to give to my elderly parents?”
Most of the computer geeks from both the Windows side and the Linux side of the fence agreed that Ubuntu Linux is the best choice for ease of use, trouble free, and of course no need to worry about malware on the computer.
I am 55 years old and my mother has been using Linux for about five years now. I still get questions on how to do this or that but I no longer get phone calls about the computer doing something goofy.
So Linux is the best choice for anyone in any country. More Canadians should switch to Linux.
As Michelle (January 14, 2009 11:09 AM), I was quite disappointed with your piece on laptops’ ergonomics.
As Michelle points out, a reclined position is quite good for laptop use if one puts it at a proper heights for the hands to rest comfortably and a proper distance from the head/eyes for proper angle (a bit difficult in many coach buses and some planes, but easy on intercity trains and automobiles). At home, I like to sit in a reclined rocking chair (with proper lighting so it won’t vary with the rocking movement). At office, the opened angle of the body is achieved by inclining my seat forward (so that it almost as if one took a kneeling position).
Disappointed also at the proposal of additional keyboard and mouse. The mouse is not that ergonomics for those who use computer mainly to write (because of the constant movement of the hand to and from the keyboard). As someone who writes a lot, I definitely prefer the laptop’s track pad which permits to keep your hands on the keyboard (must say I have large hands and my thumbs or indexes easily cross the whole pad with minimal movements). As someone who also do lots of graphics, I work directly with the touch screen and pencil pointer of my laptop when converted into a tablet PC that then becomes a giant track pad (tablet PC is good also for ergonomical hand notes taking). In these conditions, the right add-on is an additional large screen for desktop use that permits to keep the keyboard, track pad and touch screen at the right positions under the fingers. That is not to say that additional keyboard and mouse are not a proper solution, but only for specific uses and conditions.
Disappointed also of no mention of the laptop’s glossy screens. Unfortunately, nowadays most models available come with glossy screens which is absurd since laptop are meant to be used in various places where one could not have much control on lighting environments, thus on glares that damage vision. An ergonomical laptop is one that have an anti-glare screen also capable to provide a clear readable image even in the most enlighted environment (like near a large window or outside).
In brief, your piece only dealt with a fraction of laptop’s ergonomical issues, did not acknowledge the variety of ways by which its multiple uses could be improved and provided doubtful advices because none can be of universal application.
You asked for desired laptop design features? Here’s one I’d like, a double minded laptop with the one half (it’s own processor and own mem) internet connected, the other half completely isolated and insulated from the internet, where you can place all your secure information, work on your projects, what not, absolutely freely without any fear of any hacker intrusions. (I work on some screenplays I don’t want to be accessed or leaked, and never feel completely secure when online).
If you want to post online any stuff from the secure part, just pop in a cd to its cd slot, copy that info, and pop in the cd to the other side’s slot. Then wipe clean the cd to resue.
As neither side is hooked up in any way to the other, essentially two entirely unconnected separate computers in one machine, you can freely work and store information on one hand, and still be online anywhere and do your browsing, research, entertainment watching etc., which of course would be the stuff that would still be open to snoopers.
If the net side should go down via a virus thingy, the secure side would not be one bit affected.
If you want any content from the internet side, just have to pop in a disc, copy that, and pop the disc into the non-net part. That info to go through a security software screening during the process. Any spy bugs would not be much of a concern, as there’s no connected feedback connections from secure side to online side.
One thing to work out with this though is the imputing of up to date security software updates into the non net part. Perhaps have that download right into a CD copy, with that used as mechanism to pass it along over.
Rather than use an external keyboard, I use an external monitor (OK, full disclosure, a secondary monitor–I still use the laptop monitor too!). I’ve become so comfortable using a trackpad that using a regular mouse seems weird to me. Is that a good thing?
Speaking of laptops and ergonomics, how about a story on keyboard layouts? Most of us are probably familiar only with QWERTY, but I’d be interested in hearing from people with experience with other layouts (e.g., AZERTY or Dvorak). A few months ago, I tried an alternative to QWERTY known as Colemak, which claims to be more efficient. One of my friends switched to it full-time and has been proselytizing it ever since–I ultimately decided not to switch, however.
It’s possible to take the discussion of keyboard layouts beyond mere ergonomics, of course. Given the greatly-expanded vocabulary of hypertext these days, does the current QWERTY layout still meet our needs? Or does it, much like our laptops, need a redesign? And why are we still using keyboards anyway–whatever happened to voice recognition? And how many people here, like me, can type around 90-100 WPM but have only achieved this speed to the detriment of the neatness of their printing? (Let’s not even mention cursive!)
I must echo those others about the use of Free/Opensource alternatives. I shocks me that people believe, and the NGO’s perpetuate the idea that there are not other solutions. I incredibility disappointed in Craigs’ lack of knowledge of OS alternative. People like him help Microsoft richer.
Regarding virus transmission rates, digital and biological, in Sierra Leone and other low-income countries. Dunno, maybe every one of these arguments is weaker than the open source ones already discussed:
1. One Laptop Per Child – a Massachusetts-based non-profit education project directed at developing countries, using very low-cost, open source computers dubbed “XO”, running on Linux, Javascript, Firefox, etc. http://www.laptop.org/en/laptop/software/specs.shtml
They state that ten thousand XO laptops were donated in 2008 to schoolchildren in Rwanda, and five thousand in Ethiopia. Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, and South Africa received smaller XO shipments. There was a lively discussion in a Spark blog, May 2008, 22 (“Does Location Matter?”) about OLPC’s relationship with Microsoft, mentioning that some countries are contemplating shipping OLPC laptops with Microsoft Windows XP. African and South Asian adult literacy rates are the same, 60%, at least 10-30% below all other regions of the world. Perhaps OLPC should eventually expand to adult education in those regions too?
2. Shouldn’t Bill Gates subsidize Microsoft software costs to poor countries as he does HIV antiretrovirals through his philanthropic foundation? Windows is a proprietary operating system, a technology that is patented, legally protecting the developers’ intellectual efforts. But patents generally have only twenty year liftetimes, and in the case of pharmaceutical drugs such as antiretrovirals for HIV infection, the effective patent life is quite a bit shorter when requirements like clinical trials are included. ?As opposed to paying the full annual cost of $20k per patient in high-income countries, the Clinton Foundation and other groups have negotiated one dollar a day ARVs for many African countries, sourced through pharmaceutical companies in India or South Africa who manufacture generic versions of Western-invented, expired patent ARVs. That’s the proof of concept, so I’m wondering if anyone is doing the same for rich country software? Can emerging economies like India generate low-cost equivalents to Microsoft products? Among its many global health objectives, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is subsidizing the cost of ARV delivery in a number of African countries. Is Microsoft also subsidizing Windows versions sold there?
3. Epidemiological correlations with geopolitics are significant and positive, whether the viral mode of transmission is computer-to-computer, or human-to-human. Sub-Saharan Africans have the lowest average per capita income of any continental group at purchasing power parity, $1,998 compared to a world average of $9,543 in 2005, according to the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report for 2007/2008; for life expectancy and adult literacy rates, the Africa:world gaps are much smaller, both about 25% below the world averages. If costed equitably, global software prices would be variably indexed to the payer’s region, i.e. according to per capita national income or some other human development measure such as average nutritional intake. Sub-Saharan Africans comprise just 13% of humanity, but they carry 67% of the global HIV burden and 75% of all HIV/AIDS-related deaths (UNAIDS Global Report 2008: 30). Are international organisations monitoring “computer virus infection rates” as closely as HIV seroprevalence is monitored by region and country by the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS? Extreme poverty, having the lowest national incomes alone could explain a large proportion of what’s going on in Freetown’s computer culture. HIV is sexually- or shared-needle-transmitted, while computer viruses, as Craig Desson learned, is commonly transmitted in Sierra Leone by many people connecting their portable data storages to shared computers. Could our understanding of infectious diseases control offer parallel solutions in digital environments? For example, placing “disinfection stations” in cybercafés and business centres that scan, quarantine and disarm viruses on USB keys before users are provided access to a computer? Just as antimicrobial foam hand dispensers stand prominently in the public areas of Canadian hospitals.
4. IP addresses as poverty indicators. I worked in Nigeria doing research for a human rights NGO for a couple of years and found that when I was at Internet cafés, from some organisations’ websites (www.nber.org was one of them), I could download copies of research papers for free that would require a fee if accessed from Canada, presumably because my computer’s IP address was identified as Nigerian in origin, therefore poor, therefore deserving of a free copy. Microsoft and other proprietors like McAfee and Norton could also use IP recognition to provide free or low-cost updates to low-income countries.
5. Remote file storage. For a few African countries with reliable Internet connectivity, South Africa and Botswana perhaps, the use of free Google email accounts and Google Documents (text documents, spreadsheets) could circumvent the need for Microsoft or Linux. In other words, save and process all your work remotely, on servers situated in rich countries that can afford good antivirus management. Most major email services automatically perform virus-checking during file upload. But Internet access in most of Africa is not cheap, considering the living standards. Earlier this decade, the typical cost for one hour on the Internet in Nigeria, about $0.60 to $1.00 Canadian, could easily buy a basic meal at a roadside food canteen. Seventy-one percent of Nigerians are estimated to be living on under $1 a day, and 57% in Sierra Leone (Human Development Report 2007/2008, Table 3), meaning the vast majority neither use the Internet nor eat out. Neither electricity nor water flows reliably and indoors in the typical African compound. Only the wealthy can afford a water delivery tank to fill their private cistern. The average urban dweller has only a neighbourhood standpipe or well to rely on. People sharing the same resource is an invitation for smaller organisms, DNA-based or binary-encoded, to hitch a ride and replicate.
6. Recycling rich-nation e-waste into usable IT infrastructure elsewhere. Many Canadian charitable organisations round up old computers and ship them off to developing countries. Usually from that point on the charitable act ends. Can something be done before leaving Canada, or after arrival to ensure that we donors provide ongoing support such as bona fide antiviral software licenses and registered copies of the software? CBC Radio’s Dispatches programme ran a story on Jan. 25 about e-waste recycling in the slums of Accra, Ghana. The United States is one of just three countries who have not signed onto the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes, the other two being Haiti and Afghanistan, and reporter Laura Lynch found used e-trash with the Circuit City logo among the rubble. If Americans diligently packed up their two-year-old laptops and shipped them as donations to places like Sierra Leone instead of chucking them curbside, by how much would that attenuate viral transmission?
Thanks for the Sierra Leone story. It was intriguing, but it left me wanting so much more. How about a continuing series on technology culture in other nations?