Hybrid Digital Slate Prototype Device!!!!!!!

   Every person earns and spends money for their wanting, some they use to record those expenses and incomes in a book or a paper. These records might be incorrect or incomplete or there will be difficulty of maintaining those records accurately. 

  To get ride of these, In India, they have found hybrid digital slate that allows both paper-based and digital record-keeping. It is a low-cost system which combines writing on paper and recording entries in digital format. 

   Nowadays, global micro-finance sector has grown substantially with mainstream banks realizing its benefits for social support and meeting profit margins.

   This solution was explored by Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan with colleagues at Microsoft Research and with a partner non-governmental organization. This device is named as PRADAN, is a low-cost digital system that combines the convenience of writing on paper, it simultaneously records the handwritten entries and instantly storing them in a digital format.

   This hybrid digital slate comes with an A5- size digitizing pad and digital pen as well as a small touch screen. The ledger book is placed on the digitizing pad and entries are made with the pen in ink. The minute we start writing the movement of the pen is tracked in the background and all the entries have a corresponding digital copy created.

   The digital entries are then run through a digit recognition tool and the numbers are fed into a local database on the device. These figures are then processed and instant updates are generated. A financial record management application, based on the paper accounting system used by the self-help group, allows the accounts writer to verify all entries on the screen. Audio feedback in the local language is then played back so that the entries are validated by the members. Once the errors are corrected, the data is saved.

    These digital records can be shared easily with banks supporting the self-help group. The hybrid digital slate is very helpful because the paper records are sent to town and then someone transcribes them into digital records for processing. Printouts of updates are then sent back to be used at the next meeting. The logistics of getting the data transcribed were heavy, and the reconciliation of errors was difficult, since the people who entered the first set and those who were transcribing it were different.

   This device is attached by solar charging unit which has raised the cost of it. This will really help those people in India who stays in rural areas like farmers, building workers and who are dealt with small scale industries etc…….