To design better tech, understand context | Tania Douglas

翻译人员: gaolilo Cai 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

This is an equipment graveyard.

这是一座设备的墓地。

It's a typical final resting place

是为非洲医院中的

for medical equipment from hospitals in Africa.

医疗器械提供的 一个典型的最终归宿地。

Now, why is this?

为什么会有这样一番景象？

Most of the medical devices used in Africa are imported,

大多数在非洲使用的 医疗设备都是进口的，

and quite often, they're not suitable for local conditions.

很多情况下， 它们并不适用于当地的条件。

They may require trained staff

它们可能要求 训练有素的医护人员，

that aren't available to operate and maintain and repair them;

然而现实中这些人并没有能力 去操作、保养或者维修这些设备；

they may not be able to withstand high temperatures and humidity;

这些设备可能无法 承受高温和潮湿的环境；

and they usually require a constant and reliable supply of electricity.

并且它们需要持续 可靠的供给电源。

An example of a medical device

一个医疗设备在某个时间

that may have ended up in an equipment graveyard at some point

可能被弃置于设备墓地的例子是，

is an ultrasound monitor to track the heart rate of unborn babies.

一个用于实时跟踪胎儿 心跳的超声波监测仪。

This is the standard of care in rich countries.

在发达国家，它是 孕检的标准配置。

In low-resource settings, the standard of care is often

然而在低配置的环境中， 孕检的标准常常是

a midwife listening to the baby's heart rate

一位助产士用角状听诊器

through a horn.

去听宝宝的心跳。

Now, this approach has been around for more than a century.

至今，这种方法已经 沿用了超过一个世纪。

It's very much dependent on the skill and the experience of the midwife.

这种方法很依赖于 助产士的技术和经验。

Two young inventors from Uganda

几年前，两位年轻的乌干达发明家

visited an antenatal clinic at a local hospital a few years ago,

来到了一家当地医院的 附属产前诊所，

when they were students in information technology.

他们当时还是信息技术专业的学生。

They noticed that quite often,

他们注意到，很多情况下，

the midwife was not able to hear any heart rate

当那里的助产士 尝试用角状听诊器去听的时候，

when trying to listen to it through this horn.

其实根本听不到任何心跳的声音。

So they invented their own fetal heart rate monitor.

因此，他们发明了 自己的一套胎儿心跳监视器。

They adapted the horn and connected it to a smartphone.

他们改造了角状听诊器， 并将它和智能手机相连接。

An app on the smartphone records the heart rate, analyzes it

在手机上有一个应用 可实时记录心跳、分析数据，

and provides the midwife with a range of information

并且提供给助产士 一系列关于宝宝

on the status of the baby.

当前状况的信息。

These inventors --

这两位发明家——

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

are called Aaron Tushabe and Joshua Okello.

是亚伦·杜尚别(Aaron Tushabe) 和约书亚·奥凯洛(Joshua Okello)。

Another inventor, Tendekayi Katsiga,

另一位发明家， 滕德卡伊·卡特西戈(Tendekayi Katsiga)，

was working for an NGO in Botswana that manufactured hearing aids.

是博兹瓦纳一个民间组织的成员， 这个组织是制造助听设备的。

Now, he noticed that these hearing aids needed batteries

当时，他注意到这些助听设备

that needed replacement,

需要经常更换电池，

very often at a cost that was not affordable

而这样的花费是许多使用者

for most of the users that he knew.

负担不起的。

In response, and being an engineer, Tendekayi invented

为此，作为一名工程师的滕德卡伊

a solar-powered battery charger with rechargeable batteries,

针对这些助听设备， 发明了一款带可充电电池的

that could be used in these hearing aids.

太阳能电池充电器。

He cofounded a company called Deaftronics,

他与别人共同创立了一家名叫 “Deaftronics”的公司。

which now manufactures the Solar Ear,

这家公司如今 在生产“太阳能耳(Solar Ear)”，

which is a hearing aid powered by his invention.

这是一种由他发明的电池 供能的助听装置。

My colleague, Sudesh Sivarasu, invented a smart glove

我有一个同事名叫 苏德什·思沃苏(Sudesh Sivarasu)，

他发明了智能手套来帮助麻风病人。

for people who have suffered from leprosy.

Even though their disease may have been cured,

即使他们的疾病可以被治愈，

the resulting nerve damage will have left many of them

但是麻风对神经的伤害会导致

without a sense of touch in their hands.

他们手部的触觉丧失。

This puts them at risk of injury.

这会使他们很容易受伤。

The glove has sensors to detect temperature and pressure

这款手套拥有温度和压力传感器，

and warn the user.

可以帮助使用者（远离潜在的伤害）。

It effectively serves as an artificial sense of touch

它有效的提供了 一种人造的触觉感受，

and prevents injury.

从而避免使用者受伤。

Sudesh invented this glove after observing former leprosy patients

苏德什在仔细观察了之前的 麻风病人每天要做的事情，

as they carried out their day-to-day activities,

而且在得知这些病人

and he learned about the risks and the hazards in their environment.

时刻面临受伤的风险之后， 发明了这款手套。

Now, the inventors that I've mentioned

上述提到的这些发明者

integrated engineering with healthcare.

结合了电子工程和健康管理的知识。

This is what biomedical engineers do.

这也是许多生物医学 工程师做的事情。

At the University of Cape Town,

在开普敦大学，

we run a course called Health Innovation and Design.

我们开设了一门名叫 “健康的创新设计”的课程。

It's taken by many of our graduate students in biomedical engineering.

主修这门课程的是 生物医学工程的研究生。

The aim of the course is to introduce these students

这门课程的目标是 为学生们介绍

to the philosophy of the design world.

设计世界中的哲学。

The students are encouraged to engage with communities

他们鼓励学生加入一些团体，

as they search for solutions to health-related problems.

寻找与健康相关问题的解决方案。

One of the communities that we work with is a group of elderly people

其中一个我们工作的社区是

in Cape Town.

一个开普敦的老年团体。

A recent class project had the task of addressing hearing loss

一个最近的课程项目任务是

in these elderly people.

去登记丧失听力的老人。

The students, many of them being engineers,

这些学生，大部分是工程师，

set out believing that they would design a better hearing aid.

他们很自信自己 会设计出更好的助听器。

They spent time with the elderly,

他们跟那些老人相处了一段时间，

chatted to their healthcare providers and their caregivers.

与老人们的卫生保健人员 和看护人聊天。

They soon realized that, actually, adequate hearing aids already existed,

他们不久就意识到， 事实上，合适的助听器早已存在，

but many of the elderly who needed them and had access to them

但是很多需要并使用这些设备的老人，

didn't have them.

却并不拥有这些设备。

And many of those who had hearing aids

并且很多有助听器的人，

wouldn't wear them.

却不会佩戴它们。

The students realized

这些学生意识到，

that many of these elderly people were in denial of their hearing loss.

很多的老年人拒绝接受 他们有听力障碍的现状。

There's a stigma attached to wearing a hearing aid.

戴助听器会与耻辱联系到一起。

They also discovered that the environment in which these elderly people lived

他们还发现这些 老年人居住的环境，

did not accommodate their hearing loss.

十分不利于有听力障碍的人。

For example, their homes and their community center

比如说，他们的家和社区中心

were filled with echoes that interfered with their hearing.

充斥着干扰他们听力的回声。

So instead of developing and designing a new and better hearing aid,

因此，这些学生把工作重心从开发 并设计出全新且更好的助听设备，

the students did an audit of the environment,

改为在该环境中进行一项调查，

with a view to improving the acoustics.

以此制定出提高传声效果的计划。

They also devised a campaign to raise awareness of hearing loss

他们还设计出一个活动计划， 来提高人们对于听力丧失群体的关注，

and to counter the stigma attached to wearing a hearing aid.

从而消除戴助听器与耻辱之间的关系。

Now, this often happens when one pays attention to the user --

当一个人开始关注使用者， 这种情况常常发生——

这里是指那些老年人——

in this case, the elderly --

and their needs and their context.

他们的需要和环境。

One often has to move away from the focus of technology

一个人常常不得不 离开科技的聚光灯，

and reformulate the problem.

纠正这个问题。

This approach to understanding a problem through listening and engaging

去理解一个问题的方法是 去倾听并且参与它，

is not new,

虽然这个方法已经是老生常谈，

but it often isn't followed by engineers,

但是它并不经常被那些

who are intent on developing technology.

一心想发展科技的工程师们所采用。

One of our students has a background in software engineering.

我们有一个学生 有软件工程方面的背景。

He had often created products for clients

他曾经为顾客发明产品，

that the client ultimately did not like.

但那些产品顾客根本就不喜欢。

When a client would reject a product,

当有顾客想去 拒绝一件产品的时候，

it was common at his company

他的公司经常表明的是

to proclaim that the client just didn't know what they wanted.

顾客只是不知道 他们自己想要的是什么。

Having completed the course, the student fed back to us

在完成课程学习之后， 那个学生给我们的反馈是，

that he now realized that it was he who hadn't understood

现在他意识到 不知道顾客想要什么的

what the client wanted.

是他自己。

Another student gave us feedback

另一个学生给我们的反馈是，

that she had learned to design with empathy,

她曾经怀揣着同理心学设计，

as opposed to designing for functionality,

反对单纯的实用性设计，

which is what her engineering education had taught her.

这是她的专业教育教给她的。

So what all of this illustrates is that we're often blinded to real needs

我上述所有的举例说明了 我们在盲目追求科技过程中

in our pursuit of technology.

忽视了真正的需求。

But we need technology.

但是我们需要科技。

We need hearing aids. We need fetal heart rate monitors.

我们需要助听器， 我们需要胎儿心跳监视器。

So how do we create more medical device success stories from Africa?

那么我们如何去创造更多的 医疗设备在非洲成功的案例呢？

How do we create more inventors,

我们如何去培养出更多的发明者，

rather than relying on a few exceptional individuals

而不是依赖于 一小部分有杰出能力的人，

who are able to perceive real needs

那些有能力去感知 真正被需要的东西，

and respond in ways that work?

并且在他们的工作中做出对策的人？

Well, we focus on needs and people and context.

我们关注具体的需求、人群和环境。

"But this is obvious," you might say,

“但这不是很明显的吗，”你可能会说，

"Of course context is important."

”环境当然是很重要的因素啊。”

But Africa is a diverse continent,

但是非洲是一块多元化的陆地，

with vast disparities in health and wealth and income and education.

在健康、财富、收入 和教育方面有很大的差异。

If we assume that our engineers and inventors already know enough

如果我们假定我们的 工程师和发明家足够了解

about the different African contexts

非洲多元化的环境特点，

to be able to solve the problems of our different communities

从而有能力去解决不同社区

and our most marginalized communities,

和我们最边缘化的社区问题，

then we might get it wrong.

我们就有可能会向错误的方向发展。

But then, if we on the African continent

但是，如果我们在非洲大陆上

don't necessarily know enough about it,

得知了超出计划的环境信息，

then perhaps anybody with the right level of skill and commitment could fly in,

然后也许有一定技术水平和 责任感的人都会飞到非洲，

spend some time listening and engaging

花一些时间来聆听、参与，

and fly out knowing enough to invent for Africa.

并在了解了足够信息之后 回到自己的国家开始为非洲打造新发明。

But understanding context is not about a superficial interaction.

但是对非洲环境的理解 并不仅限于浅层次的互动。

It's about deep engagement

这是一种深度的参与，

and an immersion in the realities and the complexities of our context.

需要深入了解现实情况 以及环境的复杂性。

And we in Africa are already immersed.

我们早就深入了非洲的环境之中。

We already have a strong and rich base of knowledge

我们早已拥有一个 强大且丰富的知识储备，

from which to start finding solutions to our own problems.

并且开始寻找我们 自身问题的解决方案。

So let's not rely too much on others

所以，我们不需要过分依赖他人，

when we live on a continent that is filled with untapped talent.

特别是当我们正身处一个 拥有众多潜力人才的陆地上。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）