Reflections and Updates

Hello,

I’m Takuya, a writer of Altruistic Byte 👋 Thank you for subscribing to and reading the newsletter! In today’s issue, let’s take a moment to reflect on our journey and think about next steps.

Reflections

It’s been half a year since I started collecting tech-for-good case studies here, hoping to learn from their commonality. I’d love to hear about your experience so far 😀 Feel free to share your honest feedback via the poll below or via email by hitting the reply button.

To me, the experience was eye-opening and fruitful; the content curation process sensitized me to various possibilities and challenges of applying modern technology to urgent, real-life issues worldwide. It also had a tangible impact on my work.

A few months ago, I met with a doctor from an African country who wanted to develop an e-learning application for vulnerable people in their community. During our inception meeting, I recalled case studies in Altruistic Byte, such as AI-powered dissemination of healthcare information and an SMS-based low-tech option for distance learning. Using them as guiding examples, we had a productive discussion about how to design and deliver the desired application in a scalable manner.

In the meantime, as I take on a consultant and management role in developing nations, stories about the importance of leadership and the power of effective information dissemination have helped me strategically prioritize what matters most. Resources are always scarce in the field. Therefore, we need to address critical issues efficiently and systemically. Keeping the simple principle in mind without a weekly reminder from Altruistic Byte would be difficult in the complex, ever-changing environment.

Updates

As I build my private database of tech-for-good stories collected online, the curation and editorial tasks have become repetitive. In the era of AI, I also don’t see much value in resharing 3rd-party content with others. I’d rather spend my time making authentic narratives, much like I used to write on my personal website.

With that in mind, I’ll make the following changes to Altruistic Byte:

1. Change publication frequency to monthly; the next issue will be sent in November.

2. Link the content to my blog; think of Altruistic Byte as a feed and commentary for takuti.me/notes.

Additionally, I’m looking for an alternative way to manage the newsletter community rather than the current revenue-focused Beehiiv platform.

Yet, nothing fundamentally changes: what we care about the most is the ethical and humane use of technology, especially in the development context.

Stay tuned for a new reading experience next month! I appreciate your continuous support and subscription. Should you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to share them by replying to this message.