Kentaro Toyama | |
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Alma mater | Yale University (PhD) Harvard University (AB) |
Scientific career | |
Fields |
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Institutions | Microsoft Research University of Michigan |
Thesis | Robust vision-based object tracking (1998) |
Website | kentarotoyama |
Kentaro Toyama is a computer scientist and international development researcher, who works on the relationship of technology and global development. He is the W. K. Kellogg Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information [1] [2] and author of Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology. [3] [4] [5]
Toyama was founding assistant director of Microsoft Research India, a Bangalore-based computer science laboratory, where he established the Technology for Emerging Markets group which conducts interdisciplinary research in the field of "information and communication technologies for development" (ICT4D). [6] [7] [8] Together with AnnaLee Saxenian and Raj Reddy, he co-founded the International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development, a global platform for rigorous, academic, interdisciplinary research in ICT4D. [9]
Toyama received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Yale University, and an A.B. in Physics from Harvard University. [8]
Toyama's research spans several disparate areas, including ICT4D, development studies, computer vision, human-computer interaction, geographic information systems, and multimedia. [6] [7] [10] [11] He is best known for his research in ICT4D, which includes technology projects such as MultiPoint, [12] [13] Text-Free User Interfaces, [6] Warana Unwired, [6] and Digital Green, [13] as well as observational studies of rural telecenters, [14] [15] mobile phones in developing countries, [16] and the limits of technology for international development. [17]
He is an outspoken critic of the "technological utopianism" that he sees in initiatives such as One Laptop Per Child, and argues that technology only magnifies existing human intent and capacity. [10] [17] A two-part essay making this point appears in a Boston Review forum. [18] [19] The argument is expanded upon and extended further in Geek Heresy. [3] He is also a faculty affiliate of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) program at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. [20]
Toyama's research in computer vision involves automated tracking of objects in video. In 2002, he taught calculus at Ashesi University in Accra, Ghana. [21]
Toyama was named to the 2022 class of ACM Fellows, "for contributions to the innovation and critique of digital technology for socio-economic development and social justice". [22]
A paper he co-authored with Andrew Blake was awarded the Marr Prize at the 2001 International Conference on Computer Vision. [23] [24] That work was a precursor to some of the technology in Microsoft's Kinect product. [25]
Chester Gordon Bell is an American electrical engineer and manager. An early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) 1960–1966, Bell designed several of their PDP machines and later became Vice President of Engineering 1972–1983, overseeing the development of the VAX computer systems. Bell's later career includes entrepreneur, investor, founding Assistant Director of NSF's Computing and Information Science and Engineering Directorate 1986–1987, and researcher emeritus at Microsoft Research, 1995–2015.
A telecentre is a public place where people can access computers, the Internet, and other digital technologies that enable them to gather information, create, learn, and communicate with others while they develop essential digital skills. Telecentres exist in almost every country, although they sometimes go by a different names including public internet access center (PIAP), village knowledge center, infocenter, Telecottage, Electronic Village Hall, community technology center (CTC), community multimedia center (CMC), multipurpose community telecentre (MCT), Common/Citizen Service Centre (CSC) and school-based telecentre. While each telecentre is different, their common focus is on the use of digital technologies to support community, economic, educational, and social development—reducing isolation, bridging the digital divide, promoting health issues, creating economic opportunities, and reaching out to youth for example.
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The B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences is one of the largest colleges at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and is home to the institute's computing education and research facilities. Golisano College is home to RIT's computer science, cybersecurity, information sciences and technologies, and software engineering departments, and to the Ph.D. program in computing and information sciences, and the School of Interactive Games & Media. Golisano College is housed in a 125,000 square foot facility, opened in 2003 on RIT's campus in Rochester, New York. In 2020, the facility added an additional 52,000 square foot building, which joins the original Golisano College on all three floors and houses the ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute.
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Andrew Blake FREng, FRS, is a British scientist, former laboratory director of Microsoft Research Cambridge and Microsoft Distinguished Scientist, former director of the Alan Turing Institute, Chair of the Samsung AI Centre in Cambridge, honorary professor at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, and a leading researcher in computer vision.
Fusion is the ICT for Development (ICT4D) movement of Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka, the leading NGO, serving over 15,000 villages. The name Sarvodaya is taken from the Sanskrit meaning of 'awakening (udaya) of all (sarva)', and roots back to the Gandhian ideals. Fusion, as implied by the true meaning of the word, envisages the fusion of the vision and mission of Sarvodaya into the broader development scenario, using Information and Communication technologies (ICT) as a common fabric. Thus, Fusion is identified as the ICT for Development (ICT4D) movement of Sarvodaya.
Heung-Yeung "Harry" Shum is a Chinese computer scientist. He was a doctoral student of Raj Reddy. He was the Executive Vice President of Artificial Intelligence & Research at Microsoft. He is known for his research on computer vision and computer graphics, and for the development of the search engine Bing.
Zhang Hongjiang is a Chinese computer scientist and executive. He served as CEO of Kingsoft, managing director of Microsoft Advanced Technology Center (ATC) and chief technology officer (CTO) of Microsoft China Research and Development Group (CRD). Hongjiang is currently Chairman of BAAI. In 2022, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his technical contributions and leadership in the area of multimedia computing.
Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of flight calculations, which can in turn be used to perform real-time gesture recognition and body skeletal detection, among other capabilities. They also contain microphones that can be used for speech recognition and voice control.
PrimeSense was an Israeli 3D sensing company based in Tel Aviv. PrimeSense had offices in Israel, North America, Japan, Singapore, Korea, China and Taiwan. PrimeSense was bought by Apple Inc. for $360 million on November 24, 2013.
Michael L. Best is an American computer scientist and international development specialist. He is professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he holds a joint appointment with the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Interactive Computing. He is Executive Director of the Institute for People and Technology(IPaT) and Director of the Technologies and International Development Lab. Best served as founding director of the United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society established in 2015.
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Lucinda "Lucy" Sanders is the current CEO and a co-founder of the National Center for Women & Information Technology. She is the recipient of many distinguished honors in the STEM fields, including induction into the US News STEM Leadership Hall of Fame in 2013.
P. J. Narayanan is a professor at the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, and the institute's current director since April 2013. He is known for his work in computer vision, computer graphics, and parallel computing on the GPU.
The relationship between education and technology has become a defining feature of modern development, fueled by the rapid growth of internet connectivity and mobile penetration. Our world is now interconnected, with approximately 40% of the global population utilising the internet, a figure that continues to rise at an astonishing pace. While internet connectivity varies across countries and regions, the number of households with internet access in the global South has surpassed those in the global North. Additionally, over 70% of mobile telephone subscriptions worldwide are now found in the global South. It is projected that within the next twenty years, five billion people will transition from having no connectivity to enjoying full access.
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