Mobile computing in the humanitarian assistance setting: an introduction and some first steps

We developed a Palm operating system-based handheld computer system for admin istering nutrition questionnaires and used it to gather nutritional information among the Burmese refugees in the Mae La refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border Our experience demonstrated that such technology can be easily adapted for such an austere setting and used to great advantage. Further, the technology showed tremendous potential to reduce both time required and errors commonly encountered when field staff collect information in the humanitarian setting. We also identified several areas needing further development.