Behind the Scenes at the iLab SEA: Friday Demos for Agile Software Development

Friday (ថ្ងៃ​សុក្រ​), both in Khmer and in most Romance Languages convey the same meaning as the "day of Venus".  In Cambodia, Friday marks the end of the work week for most of the foreign companies and organizations.

While you may think of wearing your lovely jeans with your favorite T-Shirt and sneakers on Friday, something even better than "Casual Friday" happens inside the iLab SEA.  Friday is the day where each of us shows off and surprises everyone with our new and improved features that we worked on that week.

Malaria Day Zero Alert System

The Malaria Day Zero Alert System had the first pilot test in Cambodia on August 1.  We are trying to use this new system instead of relying only on the paper based report because we know it has the potential to make reporting more accurate, faster and easier than the current paper based reporting system.

In the past, the Village Malaria Workers (VMW) submitted their monthly malaria reports to the health center.  From there, the health center submitted their reports to the Operational District (OD).  And from there, the OD submitted their reports to the Provincial Health Department (PHD). And finally, once all the reports are collected, the PHD submitted them all to the national level.  This whole process can take up to 3 months!

Using Pictures to Facilitate Understanding

Billboards, traffic signs, company logos, instructions, and the other signs are designed with pictures more than text, so that people can easily understand what they mean. Picture help people understand much faster than with text.
When people see the yellow sign with black exclamation make on the middle of the sign, they know that they have to pay attention of their driving. Also with company logos, they usually represent what the company is about. For example, if a company is working in agriculture, their logo may be designed with green colors and some agriculture products they serve.

From idea to product

In day to day working life, one often runs into various kinds of exciting challenges. Life in the iLab SEA is no exception starting from one passionate idea to a grateful finished software product that can solve certain radical human problems in pursuing a safer and healthier life through "early detection, early response" in affected communities as well as the world.

In the developing world, the latest critical information such as current flooding levels, available vaccines, total casualties and location coordinates are rarely available to the most remote and vulnerable people. Due to the lack of information,  people's health and safety as well as the economy have been affected. By the time relief workers are made aware of what is going on, things might have already gone worse. Thus making the rescue and recovery process the much more of a struggle.