Village Computer
Remote Desktop
(VCRD)
Project
The project involves seeing if I can establish a "Remote Desktop" peer-to-peer connection from a computer in the field to a "Virtual Computer" running on my Home PC. If do-able, then the Virtual Computer could be running the Peace Corps Appropriate Technology (AT) Library (AT Lib), & a person with a computer in the field could theoretically look something up in the AT Lib - this Online Library is a group of files on a CD set I got quite some time ago via our "help African village" organization/website called "Friends of African Outlet (FOAO)" SIG / "Paths of Native Africa" (PONA) NGO. The AT Lib contains all the village agricultural & appropriate technology, engineering & construction plans that the Peace Corps has developed over the years of it's existence, along with much additional information from related/partner NGO's. The VCRD system relies heavily on Google Toolbar Search Web/Site/Desktop functions to search sites & look inside PDF files. Currently there are 3 online libraries, all electronically searchable, in the system - an Appropriate Technology Library, a Healthcare/Doctor Library & a Peace Corps Volunteer Skills Library:
Appropriate Technology Library
contains scans of over 1000 books/articles on AT, typically construction
plans for things like windmills, water treatment/handling (for ex. hydraulic
ram pumps), farming methods, etc.
Healthcare/Doctor Library connects
to an online book from a Peace Corps Partner NGO describing common ailment
detection/treatment, what villagers can do when/"where there is no doctor"
Peace Corps Volunteer Skills Library offers files on how to train yourself on Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) skills, so villagers can "do it yourself" where PC/PCV isn't available (often kicked out by militaristic governments - currently the situation in Nigeria)
Legal/copyright boundary issues are met for AT Lib use, as it involves my personally-owned copy of the AT Lib running on my PC, as accessed only by our FOAO/PONA organization Staff/Project Team Members (which would include a village project representative/contact person in a project country, currently for us in Nigeria, Ghana & Mali, representing an instance of the "computer in the field" - their computer is often in a school, library or cyber café), with access controlled by an assigned secret Login ID/Password - while the Doctor & Peace Corps pieces are both public domain.
The reason I'm running it in a Virtual Computer (VC) is for security, if the system gets hacked/virus infected, it only affects the VC, which runs as just another program on the computer (like a computer within a computer), so I can close/delete/run a new copy as needed. So far I've tested the access from "across the room" (from my wife Toni's PC), as well as wirelessly (from my PDA) & was able to establish a connection. Additionally, I have a school alumni friend, Kevin DiPalma, teaching English & visiting villages in China, who regularly emails me reports from his PC there, so I was thinking of having him do a test. I'm working up a Help File for him; in the meantime here are a few Screen shots:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Window within window within window": In this view the outermost window
rectangle is my real computer's desktop screen, running Windows XP, its main
command "Start" button on bottom left corner. The next window in is the virtual
computer's desktop screen, running Windows XP also, it's main command "Start"
button on it's bottom left corner. It's running the innermost window, an
internet browser use to access the various Libraries mentioned above - the
browser is initially sized the way it is so as to just fit the smaller screens
of users coming in with handheld devices like a PDA such as a Pocket PC in
landscape mode. Also, the browser is setup to display all web pages in a single
window, using a "Tabbed" Display" - note that, at the top of the window,
where all the various horizontal bars of menus & control buttons are located, the
bottommost bar shows the
various "Tabs", (where it reads "The App...Instruct...Health...Peace Corp"
- a
little hard to see in this shot, but more readily seen in subsequent shots
below). Moving from left-to-right, the 1st 2 tabs are for the AT Lib webpage
searches, the 3rd is for the Healthcare/Doctor website searches, &
the 2 after that for the Peace Corps searches; the final tabs after that are one
to our "Friends of African Outlet (FOAO) SIG" & a final tab to a File Transfer
website that enables users to send a copy of a found document file to a webpage
from which they can download & print the file.
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD01.jpg
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"AT Lib Search Results": The innermost browser window has been maximized. A Search for the phrase "hydraulic ram pump" has been entered & returned the results shown - the 1st entry reads...
'Appropriate Technology Library: AT Library
Disk #12 (Water Supply ...Pumps. A Manual on the Hydraulic Ram Pump for Pumping
Water...The Construction of a Hydraulic Ram Pump. Use of Hydraulic Rams in
Nepal...'
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD03.jpg
"AT Library Disk #12":
Clicking the link above brings up the specific AT Lib CD info, listing its Table
of Contents, which are titles of books...
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD04.jpg
...& paging down a bit
reveals a yellow marker highlighted book title link that reads "The Construction
of a Hydraulic Ram Pump"
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD05.jpg
"The Construction of a
Hydraulic Ram Pump": Clicking on the link above brings up the actual document
named by the link...
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD06.jpg
...& paging down a bit
reveals a construction plan detail graphic illustrating the plan of the said pump
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD07.jpg
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"DR (Doctor) Lib Search Results": Now that a
typical AT Lib search has been demo'd, we move on to the next tab to bring up
the Healthcare/Doctor Lib webpage & do a healthcare issue search. In this
example, a baby in the village had developed red patches on the skin, so the
search words "red patches" are entered...
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD08.jpg
...& the 1st result returned reads...
'GENERAL RULES FOR
TREATING SKIN PROBLEMS...Beef-red patches...in the skin...'
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD09.jpg
"Skin Problems": As
before, clicking on the link above brings up the actual "Skin Problems"
document...
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD10.jpg
...& scrolling down a
bit reveals a highlighted detail graphic illustrating the said malady
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD11.jpg
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"PC (Peace Corps) Lib Search Results": Moving
on to the next tab brings up the Peace Corps Lib webpage to do a Peace Corps
Volunteer (PCV) Skills Training related search. In this example, a Peace Corps (PC)
team has been booted out of the country, leaving the villages high-&-dry in
mid-project, needing to find out how they can pick up the needed PC Volunteer
training skills, then resume Project planning from where left off. The PC
volunteer said a good PCV Training Manual to read on the basics of "how to be a PC Volunteer"
is in a book titled "Promoting Powerful People", & where the project left off at
was at a planning stage called "Participatory Analysis". So, as before, the
Peace Corps website is brought up...
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD12.jpg
& searched for the
title "Promoting...", found about 1/2 way down the page...
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD13.jpg
...click on which links
brings up the actual "Promoting document, sporting the cover graphic...
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD14.jpg
...& the book title...
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD15.jpg
...& scrolling down a
bit reveals the start of the instruction manual graphics...
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD16.jpg
...& the document can be further searched for
the planning stage called "Participatory Analysis", displaying a list of places
where the phrase occurs
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/FriendsOfAfricanOutlet/RemoteDesktop/RD17.jpg
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, that's it for the nickel tour ;)
This Remote Desktop prototype is currently in the development & testing phase. When running, the system is available as a single user system, morning to midnight daily, to people around the world. I need to complete this phase & a final documentation phase (to create Installation & Operation Help files) before the system will be regularly up & running in the world, available to people globally from 6am to midnight, Pacific Time, 7 days a week - & the system will remain running as long as the project's Internet Service Provider, "Yahoo", which runs our FOAO website & newsgroup for free, continues to exist.
Friends of African
Outlet (FOAO)
http://www.geocities.com/friendsofafricanoutlet/
Additional FOAO listed micro credit
financing links:
General
http://www.geocities.com/friendsofafricanoutlet/ResourceDirectory5.html
Update (see "Small Fortunes...December 27, 2005: " near bottom of page
http://www.geocities.com/friendsofafricanoutlet/AppropriateTechnologyUpdateUpds.html
Regards,
Cliff
Thompson
Mobile Developer Evangelist,
NorCal Mobile Computing SIG (NCMCS)
Appropriate Technology Evangelist
Paths of Native Africa NGO (PONA)
Webmaster,
Friends of African Outlet SIG (FOAO)
