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Strategy Consultant at ACM SIGCHI to Address Role of Mobile Phones in Driving Emerging Markets Development; Keynote Speaker Niti Bhan Describes Potential of Human Computer Interaction
[April 11, 2007]

Strategy Consultant at ACM SIGCHI to Address Role of Mobile Phones in Driving Emerging Markets Development; Keynote Speaker Niti Bhan Describes Potential of Human Computer Interaction


(Ascribe Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Strategy consultant Niti Bhan will help close CHI 2007 - the premiere international conference for Human-Computer Interaction - with a keynote speech that describes how the mobile phone has become a force for social and economic development within emerging markets. Ms. Bhan is an emerging markets strategy consultant with more than 15 years of experience helping companies conceive, develop and implement strategies for entering new markets.



CHI 2007 is marking its 25th anniversary from April 28 to May 3 in San Jose, California with the theme "Reach Beyond", which celebrates the past and embraces the future. The closing keynote speech will take place on Thursday, May 3, at the San Jose Convention Center.

"Niti Bhan is doing great work to support low-income persons in developing countries," said Mary Beth Rosson, Conference Chair. "She has a strong grasp of the future of human-computer interaction, particularly in emerging markets. With Ms. Bhan, we're sure to have a stimulating and provocative discussion."


Ms. Bahn's address, "The mobile phone as a post-industrial platform for socio-economic development," will describe how the mobile phone is providing access to a range of services like healthcare, finance, early warning and disaster communications for millions of underprivileged people around the world. She will also address how it became a means to foster political freedom and personal expression.

In 2006, the mobile phone became the first communications device to record more users in the developing world than in the developed one - a clear signal of its growing importance in these countries.

Ms. Bhan will illustrate her points with several examples. One describes a Bangladesh mobile phone company which recently launched "Healthline", a service that provides round the clock telephone consultations between mobile phone callers and physicians working from a medical call centre. Another example discusses a South African mobile phone company which is helping "unbanked" citizens ensure access to transactional banking accounts via their mobile phones.

With these resourceful new programs, health professionals and banks are enabling people in remote locations to obtain access to critical services.

Ms. Bhan will also explain how communications technologies can help bridge the digital divide between the "haves" and the "have nots" within our society. With vision and imagination, Ms. Bhan says, a higher standard of living for a great majority on our planet can be achieved, bringing the two socioeconomic and geopolitical stratas closer together.

Ms. Bhan is the founder of Bhan LLC, a San Francisco-based strategy think tank that offers early stage research and development of products and services for overlooked markets in developing nations. She partners with Readymade, a product design and innovation consulting studio based in Pretoria, South Africa; Spire Innovation of Vancouver, Canada; and Zago LLC of New York and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to offer new product design and development for new businesses, products or messaging.

CHI 2007 is sponsored by the Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction (SIGCHI), an active community within the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Organizations contributing to the financial support of the conference include (Hero Level) Intel Corp.; (Champion Level) Cisco Systems, Inc.; Cooper; Google, Inc.; Intuit; Microsoft Corp.; the National Science Foundation (NSF); SAP AG; Sun Microsystems, and Yahoo! Inc.

Human-Computer Interaction is a critical discipline dedicated to improving the interaction between users and computers by making computers more user-friendly and receptive to user needs. The impact of Human-Computer Interaction on our society has grown immensely over the past 25 years, and once again CHI provides a unique venue for professionals, academics, and students to discuss the most contemporary issues and make connections on a global stage.

Visit www.chi2007.org to learn more about the conference, or www.chi2007.org/attend/registration.php to register.

About ACM ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, http://www.acm.org, is an educational and scientific society uniting the world's computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.

About SIGCHI

The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction, http://www.sigchi.org/, is the world's largest association of professionals in the research and practice of computer-human interaction. SIGCHI serves as a forum for ideas on how people communicate and interact with computer systems. This interdisciplinary group of computer scientists, software engineers, psychologists, interaction designers, graphic designers, sociologists, and anthropologists is committed to designing useful, usable technology which has the potential to transform individual lives. SIGCHI has over 60 local chapters for HCI professionals across five continents, publishes the SIGCHI Bulletin quarterly, and co-sponsors conferences and workshops to advance the field of computer-human interaction.

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Copyright 2007 M2 Communications Ltd.. Source: Financial Times Information Limited.

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