Hackathon Titian Digital

1. For most students in Indonesia, they would minimally need a smartphone to learn online. However, not everyone is able to afford or have access to smartphones and devices.
2. We believe that the use of KaiOS smart feature phones can close the digital divide and create more equitable classrooms. These low-cost mobile devices (starting from USD23) are internet-enabled and pre-loaded with digital services to facilitate digital learning. We aim to introduce these devices through a hackathon where students would learn how to use and make beneficial applications through it.
3. Through the use of these devices and by being introduced to it through hackathons, students who would otherwise fall through the cracks of society would be able to gain access to the internet and essential digital services. Learning online would finally be possible and ultimately, the digital divide will start to close.

In Indonesia, over 530,000 schools have closed amid the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19), affecting 68 million students from pre-primary through tertiary levels.

In response to this, an approach called 'Kulwap', short for 'Kuliah Whatsapp' or 'Whatsapp classroom' has been implemented. Teachers record themselves teaching on video and share it to their classes on a Whatsapp chat group. The students would then be able to answer or ask questions on the platform. While this has been helpful for most students, many households cannot afford multiple devices, and they may have to share a single device amongst themselves. Combined with the lack of affordable internet access, conflicting class and work schedules, (etc), many students are left behind. 

Being unable to be on par with other students who already have access to the online learning tools has considerable impact not just in the immediate future but also the long run. Not only would the students be left behind in their education, they would also lag behind the global digital movement. The digital divide keeps widening.

We want to make sure students have access to digital services through low-cost, KaiOS-powered devices. We would also like to bring awareness of these digital device options.

Hackathon Titian Digital engages Indonesian tertiary students through learning by doing. In this covid-safe face-to-face hackathon, students are first introduced to KaiOS smart feature phones. These phones are essentially low-cost devices based on an alternative operating system (unlike Android and iOS) that are internet-enabled and are pre-loaded with digital services. Like regular smartphones, one can download applications like YouTube and Whatsapp into the phones. These phones are an ideal combination of low cost and sufficient processing power; it is at its heart an affordable and suitable device for underserved communities as a channel for internet access.

After the students are familiar with these devices, they will then be mentored through the process of ideation, conceptualisation and design of applications for these smart feature phones. The challenge posed to them would be to enhance the online learning for other students like themselves. 

We hope to partner with various schools across Indonesia, particularly in second and lower-tier cities like Medan and Balikpapan. Digital access as well as digital innovation programs are lower in these cities and we hope to bring this program to them so as to benefit a wider audience.

This solution is to ultimately serve underprivileged tertiary-level Indonesian students who do not get to participate with their peers in the digital learning environment due to lack of device and internet access. 

By running this hackathon, not only are we facilitating access to information, we also hope to empower them to improve their digital literacy and tech skills, whatever their socio-economic background may be.

In Indonesia, most innovation programs occur in cities in Java where the capital, Jakarta is. There is disparity in the digital learning experiences of students across the country. Moreover, not everyone has digital access; mostly because of inability to afford smartphones, a crucial component of digital learning amid the pandemic.

Our solution of a hackathon in lower-tier cities not only offers accessibility of these devices by introducing a low-cost alternative to smartphones, but also the knowledge and skills to build digital competency.  

SpudnikLab as a company began operating in April 2020. Since our inception, we have been exploring opportunities to bridge the digital divide for underserved communities. Sharing with the world about  KaiOS has been one of our focus areas. We have since developed an application recommendation platform for users to make decisions before they download a KaiOS app. 

As of now, we have a concept and plan in mind as well as partners to work with. We have an array of experience working with schools and innovation organisations across Indonesia and we would like to test our solutions with them. 

There has never been an innovation program that specifically focuses on the development of the KaiOS devices. Most innovation programs involve creating applications only for Android or iOS devices. 

With KaiOS devices being low-cost at about USD$23, it has the potential to allow more people to step into the digital space, including students who currently who cannot get access to the digital learning sphere. 

We hope to work with 500 youths in 10 different cities in a year. Currently, our engagement with our partners in Indonesia looks at 50 participants. We project that a similar number of participants would partake in our hackathon in each city. 

Should this solution be a regular event, we hope to train local educators and fellow hackathon graduates to run the event on their own. Depending on the uptake and feedback on the first year, we hope to grow the number of beneficiaries by 40% the following year.

We will be measuring the success and impact of the program with several metrics:

1. Number of participants involved in the program.
2. Number of schools willing to run the event again.
3. Number of schools willing to run the event by themselves given proper training.
4. Number of participants willing to assist in facilitate the following year's program.

SpudnikLab is a wholly owned subsidiary of Potato Productions. We're a for-profit entity with a Social Enterprise mission bridging digital divides through digital education and frugal innovation.

There are 3 full time staff and 1 part time staff. We work with a pool of freelance writers and voice talent. Hiring for 2 person in-house tech team while working collaboratively with a tech development partner.   

1. Saad Chinoy
With 20+ years of experience in the tech sector, Saad is best positioned to bring in technical expertise into the project. He has experience mainly in tech for Digital Storytelling and ePublishing. As a globally-networked Maker and Innovator, Saad will be bringing in technical partners into this project. Saad is also a known tech volunteer for social impact projects in Singapore.

2. Farah Sanwari
Farah has 8 years of experience as a social innovation leader and an innovation-for-good facilitator. She has run over 20 hackathons with the most recent one being a virtual event for 400 participants across 5 countries. She is product design-trained with a Masters in Tri Sector Collaboration. She's ASEAN-networked in youth changemaker sector, with experience opening an office in Indonesia. 

3. Bernadette Fah
Bernadette has worked in market research, strategy, and entrepreneurship for the past 9 years. She is globally-networked in venture capital and entrepreneurship sectors. She is also an educator and counselor. With her experience, she will be supporting the project in creating holistic curriculum that would empower youths to develop solutions that are not just innovative but human-centred.

4. Melissa De Silva
Melissa is an award-winning author with much experience in content curation and editorial. She is also experienced in running educational programs for youths. She will be supporting this project with educational content development.

Saad, SpudnikLab's founder, set the precedence for this company to be as diverse as possible. We are conscious of the diversity and put in the effort to ensure a well represented group of staff. 

At hand, we have 3 female and 1 male staff and are practically the racial representation of our country, Singapore - Indian, Malay, Chinese and Eurasion. 

Our backgrounds in career also vary, and all these experiences and expertise, we believe, would allow us to have a range of perspectives when managing a project. 

We would like to seek funding for a more scaled solution. Indonesia is a large country and we hope to run the Hackathon Titian Digital in multiple cities, particularly in the lower-tier cities like Medan and Balikpapan. Outside of Java, there is a lack of digital innovation programs that address their digital needs and so, we hope that by providing this solution in multiple cities, it would spark the initiative for more digital innovation activities in the regions.

We also hope to get connected to other like-minded innovators on this platform. We find that their work is amazing and we would like to find opportunities to work with them.