full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Tania Douglas: To design better tech, understand context

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So what all of this itestualrls is that we're often blinded to real needs in our pursuit of toohngcley. But we need technology. We need hirenag aids. We need fetal heart rate monitors.

So how do we create more medical device success soertis from afcria? How do we create more inventors, rather than relying on a few exceptional individuals who are able to perceive real needs and respond in ways that work? Well, we focus on needs and people and context. "But this is obvious," you might say, "Of course coentxt is important."

But Africa is a diverse continent, with vast disparities in hetalh and wetlah and income and education. If we assume that our engineers and inventors already know enough about the different African contexts to be able to solve the problems of our different communities and our most marginalized communities, then we might get it wrnog. But then, if we on the African continent don't necessarily know enough about it, then perhaps anybody with the right leevl of skill and commitment could fly in, spend some time listening and engaging and fly out knowing enough to invent for Africa.

Open Cloze


So what all of this ___________ is that we're often blinded to real needs in our pursuit of __________. But we need technology. We need _______ aids. We need fetal heart rate monitors.

So how do we create more medical device success _______ from ______? How do we create more inventors, rather than relying on a few exceptional individuals who are able to perceive real needs and respond in ways that work? Well, we focus on needs and people and context. "But this is obvious," you might say, "Of course _______ is important."

But Africa is a diverse continent, with vast disparities in ______ and ______ and income and education. If we assume that our engineers and inventors already know enough about the different African contexts to be able to solve the problems of our different communities and our most marginalized communities, then we might get it _____. But then, if we on the African continent don't necessarily know enough about it, then perhaps anybody with the right _____ of skill and commitment could fly in, spend some time listening and engaging and fly out knowing enough to invent for Africa.

Solution


  1. wealth
  2. africa
  3. stories
  4. health
  5. illustrates
  6. wrong
  7. level
  8. context
  9. technology
  10. hearing

Original Text


So what all of this illustrates is that we're often blinded to real needs in our pursuit of technology. But we need technology. We need hearing aids. We need fetal heart rate monitors.

So how do we create more medical device success stories from Africa? How do we create more inventors, rather than relying on a few exceptional individuals who are able to perceive real needs and respond in ways that work? Well, we focus on needs and people and context. "But this is obvious," you might say, "Of course context is important."

But Africa is a diverse continent, with vast disparities in health and wealth and income and education. If we assume that our engineers and inventors already know enough about the different African contexts to be able to solve the problems of our different communities and our most marginalized communities, then we might get it wrong. But then, if we on the African continent don't necessarily know enough about it, then perhaps anybody with the right level of skill and commitment could fly in, spend some time listening and engaging and fly out knowing enough to invent for Africa.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
hearing aids 6
heart rate 5
hearing aid 4
elderly people 4
hearing loss 4
equipment graveyard 2
medical device 2
fetal heart 2
stigma attached 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
fetal heart rate 2

Important Words


  1. africa
  2. african
  3. aids
  4. assume
  5. blinded
  6. commitment
  7. communities
  8. context
  9. contexts
  10. continent
  11. create
  12. device
  13. disparities
  14. diverse
  15. education
  16. engaging
  17. engineers
  18. exceptional
  19. fetal
  20. fly
  21. focus
  22. health
  23. hearing
  24. heart
  25. illustrates
  26. important
  27. income
  28. individuals
  29. invent
  30. inventors
  31. knowing
  32. level
  33. listening
  34. marginalized
  35. medical
  36. monitors
  37. necessarily
  38. obvious
  39. people
  40. perceive
  41. problems
  42. pursuit
  43. rate
  44. real
  45. relying
  46. respond
  47. skill
  48. solve
  49. spend
  50. stories
  51. success
  52. technology
  53. time
  54. vast
  55. ways
  56. wealth
  57. work
  58. wrong