Traditional Pens vs. Digital Pens for large surveys HAITI Emmanuel FLOREAL Database Manager March 30, 2011 ICT4 Development Conference Lusaka, Zambia

Introduction Emmanuel FLOREAL Port-au-Prince, Haiti Database Manager

Project Background Current Projects - Earthquake Emergency Response - MYAP (Multi Year Assistance Program) - CHAMP (Community Health and Aids Mitigation Project) - Others (with Caritas and Church Partners) Project Locations (South, West, Nippes, North-West, Artibonite, GrandAnse) Opportunities - Availability of electronic data Collection on field / Surveys - Regulate Gap and Coordinate data Collection for one Data source WHY (ICT4D its more POWERFUL to accurate data)

CRS-HAITI INTERVENTIONS AREA

Digital Pen as Solution Looks and feels like a traditional pen Contains a sensor that reads the tiny dot pattern on the page and records each ink stroke Stores approximately 50 forms at one time Can be used for 2-4 hours of continuous writing About 10 hours of normal use. Recharges in about 2.5 hours Description

Technology Designing

Connect Cradle to PC using USB Cable Place Pen Into Cradle Confirm that the Battery Indicator is Flashing Green Charging is Complete when the Battery Indicator stays on (no longer flashing) CHARGING THE PEN

Paper Form: Sample

STAFFING

Key Challenges Printing Issues During the testing of the digital pen prior to the pilot, an issue was noticed where the digital pen would vibrate while completing the form. Later, near the area the pen vibrated, it was found that the pen failed to capture a small amount of ink.(Programmatic, technical or other) Handwriting Recognition Issues Due to some form fields being freeform in nature (not a standard format ), such as the childs ID number (Kod), the application needed (for example) to try to recognize the difference between a zero and the letter O, without any context. Digital Eraser Just as the physical ink is permanent, there are limited options to erase digital ink. The animators were very careful to write neatly and avoid a situation in which they needed to cross out an answer. However, some mistakes are unavoidable and some children changed their answer after a response was recorded. This problem occurred three times during the pilot. Pen Issues As predicted, some users found the Anoto DP-201 pen to be too large to write comfortably. Due to nightly charging/upload, no issues were reported with regard to battery life or memory capacity.

Lessons Learned Printers Not all printers that met the documented minimum specifications worked correctly. Training The handwriting on the pilot forms was nearly always perfect, much better than anticipated. The time spent during training on handwriting proved to be worthwhile. This included: Emphasizing the importance of good handwriting Showing examples of ambiguous characters such as 4 and 9 Providing a quick reference page on the best way to write each letter/number Allowing users to practice and providing feedback before they were deployed to the field

Sustainability Cost Capacity Building Partner capacity to process data Logistical issues

Summary and Close Gathering simultaneously data from Field in two ways(Handwriting and Electronic) Facilitate Monitoring and Evaluation in a Short- Time or on Real-Time Finally be Efficient in Data Management Collection

Thank You!