Open Data Kit (ODK) is a free and open-source platform which helps organizations create mobile data collection solutions. ODK has tens of thousands of users around the world, and the platform provides an out-of-the-box solution to:
1. Build a data collection form; 2. Collect the data on a mobile device and send it to a server; and 3. Aggregate the collected data on a server and extract it in useful formats.
While these three features cover the common use case in ODK, the real power in the platform is in how users, particularly in developing regions, combine these tools into data-driven apps. Examples include crisis response apps that embed images and location in survey data, decision support apps for healthcare workers, and even apps for students to assess their literacy level.
In this talk, I will discuss how our work in developing regions motivated the creation of ODK, describe a few of the popular ODK tools being used at scale, and end with a glimpse at the future of the platform.
Bio
Yaw Anokwa is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at the University of Washington. Originally from Ghana, Yaw first realized the impact technology could have on the world's poor while working on a medical record system in rural Rwanda. That experience was the driving force behind his current work on Open Data Kit (ODK). Find out more about Yaw at http://cs.washington.edu/homes/yanokwa