I just sat in on two classes of the
D-Labs family of offerings --
Wheelchair Design for Developing Countries and
Information and Communications Technologies for Development or ICT4D.
Wheelchairs had two guests visiting MIT for the week from their wheelchair manufacturing
![](http://web.mit.edu/sp.784/www/IMAGES/Proposed_Project_Pics/Women_products.jpg)
workshop in Tanzania. Very interesting to hear of their challenges. For instance, you would think that donated chairs from well-meaning US foundations would be a good thing. But if they're shoddy chairs which break quickly and they undercut local manufacturing capacity, maybe they're not so good. Mostly we brainstormed new design ideas for brakes, on-chair storage space, ease-of-use innovations, and other improvements. Way cool!
ICT4D had mid-semester progress reports from the students teams on their initiatives. These included a microfinance tool in India, a
![](http://dc.media.mit.edu/ICT4D-Class_files/droppedImage.jpg)
mobile-phone labor market in Brazil, mobile camera-phones for diagnoses in Tanzania, and an education system in Malawi. Several of the teams are traveling to their target markets over Spring Break! This Thursday is the second-half of projects. One especially pleasing development is how many projects continue over from previous Developmental Entrepreneurship seminars and other D-Lab offerings. This continuity means ongoing intensity of effort and progress!
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