Over the past three months, we have been engaged in an intense process of learning from the field—and we have learned a lot! Working with our new Indonesia Field Director, Alfan Rodhi, we have carried out nearly 100 user interviews and tested an early version of the AtmaGo application in several neighborhoods in Jakarta.
What we have found from these interviews is that water is just the tip of the iceberg. Urban residents of Indonesia do care about water—but they also care about education, crime, garbage, traffic and sharing solutions and advice. They want to share information, learn new skills and share solutions. Based on what our users are saying and doing, we have been working hard to expand the scope of AtmaGo to encompass more issue-areas and to feature a higher level of interactivity.
One user told us that Atma “should give space for people to discuss, share and complain about problems—and also to provide information” because there are often significant barriers to average citizens getting the information and assistance they need from government agencies or from private companies. Another user said that “awareness within my own neighborhood” is critical because when people become aware of the problems and resources, “they will help each other” and provide the kind of assistance that is all too difficult to find in many developing world cities.
Creating technology that allows people to connect with their neighbors, share information and develop solutions is why we started Atma Connect so we are very excited about the strong support we see from people in the field.