Trop Anim Health Prod (2010) 42:1353–1361
DOI 10.1007/s11250-010-9592-4
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Creating the Livestock Guru: ICTs to enhance livestock-
related knowledge among poor households in Orissa, India
Yibo Lin & Claire Heffernan
Accepted: 22 April 2010 / Published online: 25 May 2010
# Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Abstract
Introduction The following paper details the creation and
dissemination of a multi-media learning program for poor
livestock keepers in Orissa, India: the Livestock Guru.
Methods To devise the learning content, interviews were
held with 240 poor livestock-keeping households in four
districts in Orissa State. Methods for measuring user
demand and assessing disease priorities are detailed in
addition to a description of the software content, design,
and dissemination strategy. The software was based on
situated learning theory. Following this approach, the
Livestock Guru was created to be contextually specific to
the learning environment of the users. Further, to support a
demand-led paradigm, the software was designed to be
fully inter-active, where users have a choice over the
learning material on offer.
Conclusions The results demonstrate that appropriately
designed information and communication technologies can
help alleviate barriers to knowledge acquisition by poor
livestock keepers at the community level. As such, the
overall aim of the paper is to enable the software to be
replicated in other contexts.
Keywords ICTs . Disease prioritization .
Knowledge transfer . Multi-media learning tools . Orissa .
India . Situated learning
Y. Lin : C. Heffernan (*)
Livestock Development Group, School of Agriculture,
Policy and Development, University of Reading,
P. O. Box 237, RG6 6AL Reading, UK
e-mail: c.l.heffernan@reading.ac.uk
Introduction
Poor livestock keepers pursue knowledge. Indeed, studies
in India, Kenya, and Bolivia have illustrated that the poor,
far from being passive, are active seekers of livestock-
related knowledge (Fuller 2006; Heffernan and Nielsen
2007; Nielsen et al. 2010; LDG 2004).
However, researchers have found that at the commu-
nity level, the primary source of livestock-related
information is friends and relatives regardless of the
country, production system, or income level (IFAD
2004). Indeed, the majority of individuals indicated that
they had learned livestock-keeping skills from their
parents or grandparents. Therefore, knowledge loops at
the community level appear to be horizontal for adults and
largely vertical for children. The findings fit into wider
conceptions of the inter-generational transfer of knowl-
edge as being primarily from adults to children (Drèze and
Sen 1995; UNDP 1998). However, many households
offered that as children spent more time in formal
education, their ability to draw on the social capital
relations and the customary knowledge, which they bring,
became limited (Kratli and Dyer 2006; Yu 2009). Thus,
formal education was often viewed as having a negative
impact on livestock-based livelihoods (ibid).
A further problem impacting livestock-related knowledge
is the lack of access to formal veterinary services in the South
(Heffernan and Misturelli 2000; Heffernan et al. 2003).
Indeed, with the structural adjustment policies of the 1980s,
the veterinary services in many southern countries were
reduced as a conditionality of aid (see de Haan et al. 2001).
This policy has undermined the delivery of services, as the
manpower required to deliver both information and practical
help was no longer available, leaving the poor largely to fend
for themselves.
1354
While it has been argued that community-based animal
health workers can improve animal health service delivery
(IDL Group 2003; Rubyogo 2003), there has been little
evaluation of the impact of such programs on community-
level knowledge transfer. Other issues have been raised
regarding the competencies of such providers ranging from
their vulnerability to the purchase of adulterated drugs to
incorrectly dosing animals, etc. As such, there have been
calls for greater consistency in supervision and training of
community workers (Dasebu et al. 2003). Consequently, it
is clear that new tools and approaches to enhance animal
health-related knowledge would benefit all stakeholders at
the community level.
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are
one means of enhancing information transfer and, therefore,
the connectivity of the poor to wider knowledge sets
(Joseph and Andrew 2008; Castro and Gonzalez 2008).
Within the livestock sector, studies have shown that ICTs
are more effective at transferring instructional content than
traditional forms of extension media (Nielsen and Heffernan
2006; Heffernan and Nielsen 2007). Therefore, to meet the
knowledge needs of poor livestock keepers, the following
paper details the creation and dissemination of a multi-media
learning software for poor livestock keepers: the Livestock
Guru. The focus of the study is poor livestock keepers in
Orissa India. As will be described below, the touch-screen
program was developed for users with little to no formal
education and/or exposure to computers. Equally, the
software was designed to capture the demands of the poor
for information and to transfer these demands to participat-
ing organizations. In this manner, the organizations involved
can identify specific issues in knowledge acquisition for the
particular group involved. The software was underpinned by
situated learning theory.
Situated learning theory
Situated learning theory places the leaner at the center of
instruction while contextualizing the subject matter to the
existing knowledge frames of the individual involved (Lave
1988; Wenger 1991). This process of contextualizing
learning is referred to as anchoring instructional content
(Tretiakov et al. 2003). It is argued that technology-based
learning programs can support anchored instruction as they
“provide the means to render context and to offer
explorative tools” (ibid). Therefore, from the outset, the
Livestock Guru must account for both specific environ-
mental factors and prior knowledge.
However, with multi-media programs, the visual aspects
of the software and ability of the user to engage with the
learning material are equally important. For example, a
study explored the use of local cultural referents in
enhancing the learning environments among the poor in
Trop Anim Health Prod (2010) 42:1353–1361
Bolivia (Heffernan and Nielsen 2007). Within this culture,
knowledge, social relationships, and nature are intricately
intertwined (Genge 2001). Therefore, to build on and
support the Andean “cosmo-vision,” the multi-media
program utilized visuals with specific and identifiable
environmental features and which reflected the social
norms relating to knowledge transfer (Nielsen and Hef-
fernan 2006). The study found that the software was
superior to traditional visual and text-based media such as
videos and pamphlets in relation to messages with
instructional content (Heffernan and Nielsen 2007). As
many messages regarding animal health require instruc-
tional content, i.e., “do this” or “don’t do this,” it is clear
that such an approach may be beneficial to aiding the lives
and livelihoods of poor livestock keepers in Orissa.
Background to Orissa
Orissa, located on the East Coast of India, is one of the
nation’s poorest states. The majority of the population
(approximately 85%) lives in rural areas and is highly
dependent on agriculture production (Pradhan et al. 2003).
Despite numerous development programs and investment in
the state, the official statistics in the late 1990s showed that
48.6% of the population lived below the poverty line (Babu
et al. 2005). The depth and severity of poverty is more
acute in rural rather than urban areas (ibid). Nevertheless,
there have been improvements in poverty in recent decades;
indeed, in 2002, only 40% of the population lived below
the Indian national poverty line of 454 rupees per person
per month (World Bank 2008).
Livestock production is a major agricultural activity in
Orissa, providing an estimated 30% of rural and landless
household income (Turner 2004). According to the latest
livestock census, the total livestock population in the state
was over 23 million, which represents approximately 5% of
India’s national herd. It is estimated that more than 80% of
poor households are involved in this industry, which
contributes 7.3% of the net domestic product for this state
(Government of Orissa 2002). Thus, the majority of
livestock production is small scale (Ahuja et al. 2003).
Methods
]In the first stage of software development, the demands of
poor livestock keepers with regard to animal health knowl-
edge were assessed. Therefore, to inform the content of the
software, a base-line survey was undertaken involving 240
poor livestock keepers residing in four districts in Orissa:
Cutack, Khurda, Puri, and Gangam (Fig. 1).
The authors utilized purposive sampling to target poor
livestock-keeping households. As such, community meet-
Trop Anim Health Prod (2010) 42:1353–1361 1355

Fig. 1 Map of the study sites

Orissa, India

ings were held in each of the districts to explain the aims The above rankings formed the basis of the learning
and objectives of the study and to identify prospective content of the software program. In total, the software
households. Key criteria included living below the rural comprised of the following 18 modules on livestock disease
poverty line of 454 IR per person per month and owning or and 11 modules on livestock production and feeding
keeping livestock. Within the households, those individu- (Table 3).
als, responsible for livestock-related decisions and caretak- Therefore, after identifying the priority livestock dis-
ing, were selected for inclusion. Semi-structured interviews eases, scripts were created for each disease, which detailed
were then performed with household members. Participants disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The scripts
were asked to discuss their herds and key animal health were checked by local veterinarians to enhance buy in and
constraints. ensure that the advice offered to farmers was consistent.
Across the study set, the species breakdown across Engaging local animal healthcare providers was critical to
households is shown in Table 1. ensuring that the software was viewed as augmenting the
As illustrated in Table 1, cattle were the dominant services of vets and not as some form of competition. The
species, with over 90% of the households interviewed scripts were then translated into Oriya language. To ensure
owning cattle. The other species represented only a accuracy, all scripts were then back translated and any
minority of household livestock holdings. corrections were made. As the client group of the Livestock
The disease priorities for each species are displayed in Guru software had low levels of literacy, it was critical that
Table 2. the learning modules were not text-based. Therefore, voice-
overs were collated for each of the scripts.
The voice-overs were performed by local people to
ensure that the accents and colloquial language use were
Table 1 Herd composition
appropriate to the area in which the Livestock Guru would
Species Number of householdsa Percentb be disseminated. The voice-overs were also tested for trust
and acceptability among sample groups of farmers. As will
Cattle 221 92 be described further below, the scripts were then illustrated
Sheep 17 7 by local illustrators. Again, prior to building the program,
Goat 16 7 different visual styles for the illustrations were tested
Chicken 14 6 among focus groups. As such, the illustrations were tested
Buffalo 8 3 for stylistic preferences and use of color. Once the style was
a
As each household may own more than one species, the total herd size is
chosen, the focus groups were utilized to evaluate key
greater than the total number of individuals interviewed (n=240) illustrations for the denotative and connotative meaning of
b
The percentage was calculated by utilizing the total number of key object signs. In this manner, the visuals were tested for
participants (n=240) cultural suitability.
1356 Trop Anim Health Prod (2010) 42:1353–1361

Table 2 Disease priorities

Species 1st priority 2nd priority 3rd priority

Cattle Hemorrhagic septicemia 43% FMD 38% Black quarter 11%

Buffalo Hemorrhagic septicemia 50% FMD 38% Diarrhea 13%
Sheep Diarrhea 35% Internal parasites 18% Bloat 6%
Goat Bloat 19% Diarrhea 13% Internal parasites 13%
Poultry Newcastle disease 64% Pox 7% Coccidiosis 7%

The software design and functionalities are described as
follows.
The system flow
The following section details both the process and data
flows, which support the major functionalities of the
program. The program was built utilizing Macromedia
Director. As illustrated in the figure below (Fig. 2), there
are four predefined processes of the program: “Screen-
saver,” “Registration,” “Animal Navigation,” and “Disease
Navigation.”
Each of the processes is responsible for a specific action.
For example, the Screensaver presents the welcome page
and introduces to the user what is contained within the
program and provides instructions on how to use the touch
screen.
Further, during this process, the program will ask if it is
the user’s first time and if so, launch the registration feature.
The registration feature captures user data regarding
livestock herds, household size, livelihoods, and the client’s
education level. During the Registration process, the
program also captures the user’s image, which is stored in
the database via the “Video Capture” process. This feature
enables decision makers and practitioners to explore the
number of repeat users and to verify the identity of users.
By including a registration feature, participating organ-
izations can monitor the use of the touch screens and can
determine the demands of the poor for particular livestock-
related knowledge. Ultimately, future versions of the
software should address the specific learning needs of
individual users as such, by collating user background, the
registration feature is the first step towards such a
development.
After registering, the system launches the Animal
Navigation process. The Animal Navigation process
launches the species selection interface to enable users to
choose the species of interest, the results of which will be
stored in the database. After choosing the species, users are
then are asked to pick the area of interest: animal health,
management, or production. The system will then launch
the corresponding process, i.e., Disease Navigation, Feed-

Table 3 Learning modules

by species Species Disease modules Feeding and production modules

Buffalo Hemorrhagic septicemia Buffalo feeding

Foot and mouth disease Buffalo housing
Enteritis
Milk fever disease
Ruminal acidosis
Chicken Coccidiosis Chicken feeding
Newcastle disease Chicken housing
Pox
Typhoid
Cattle Foot and mouth disease Cattle feeding
Intestinal parasites Cattle housing
Mastitis Cattle artificial Insemination
Ticks
Goat Anthrax Goat feeding
Bloat Goat housing
Liver fluke
Tetanus
Sheep Blue tongue disease Sheep feeding
Pox Sheep housing
Trop Anim Health Prod (2010) 42:1353–1361
Fig. 2 Creating the learning
modules
ing, or Housing, which contain the individual learning
modules. Within these “Navigations,” the user then selects
the learning module of interest, which launches the
program. Again, all user choices are stored in the database.
At the end of each module, users were tested to assess
learning uptake. Questions were asked regarding key
concepts contained within the different components of the
module. For example, in the disease module, multiple-
choice questions are asked regarding disease diagnosis,
treatment, and prevention. The testing portion of the
program, while illustrated in a similar style as the main
program, utilized new illustrations to prevent users from
simply relying on visual recall. All user responses are
captured in the database. In this manner, the testing can
reveal areas of collective misunderstanding with regard to a
particular disease, which can then be addressed by
participating organizations. Thus, the software can both
measure the demand for specific information and measure
the understanding and processing of that information by the
individual involved.
After a particular disease module is finished, the system
then re-launches the Animal Navigation process to enable
the user to choose another species/disease topic of interest.
Further, a “timeout” strategy was combined with each of
the major processes to account for users leaving in the
middle of module. After 5 min of no interaction, the system
will return to the screen saver in preparation of the next
user.
The interface
To support a neutral learning platform, the visuals of the
program were created with cartoon illustrations rather than
1357
photographs and/or text. All visuals were tested as part of a
previous research project (see Heffernan and Nielsen 2007).
A key issue that arose in the testing of the Oriya language
version of the software was the need to keep the characters’
“caste” neutral. Visual testing participants expressed the
inability to relate to the characters they were perceived as
belonging to a higher caste (F. Misturelli, personal
communication 2007).
As detailed above, local language instructions were
embedded in the program. Indeed, the instructional content
of the program was devised to ensure that an external
person was not required to aid clients in using the program.
To enhance visual interest, the screen saver was
animated and utilized an actor from the local film industry
to introduce the program. The actor and icons move from
the outside to the center of the screen. The background
color is randomly generated from five color combinations,
which again were tested for suitability and preferences.
The button on the bottom right of the screen (Fig. 3)
activates the software program. The words on the button
read “Press me” in the Oriya language and support the oral
instructions on how to press the button. As early testing of
the program illustrated that users, when told to press on the
screen, would often utilize their entire hand, further
instructions on this aspect of using the touch screen were
required. Therefore, the button was created to dynamically
zoom in and out with the oral instructions “Press the button
lightly with one finger.”
After the button mentioned above is pressed to initialize
the program, the user then introduced to the main character,
the Livestock Guru, with further explanations as to the
content and flow of the software. After the introduction, the
“Registration Process” is initiated.
1358
Fig. 3 The screensaver
Registration is undertaken in three stages. During the
first stage, the client is asked for further information
regarding self-identify. As such, the user is asked to pick
a character from a page, which they most resemble. Again,
this self-selection acts to confirm the gender and age of the
user. Next, users are requested to press the figure that most
resembles their family composition with regard to size. The
aim is to enable an estimation of the amount of livestock-
related resources that will have to be derived to support the
households involved.
After family size, users are asked to detail the species
that make up their herds and the subsequent size of their
holdings. To obtain an accurate assessment of herd size, the
livestock registration process asks users to key in the exact
numbers of each species that they own or keep. Thus, vocal
instructions guide the user to touch the picture of the
species involved to reflect their holdings. The changing
number is then illustrated above the species in question. In
the next section of the registration, users are asked first to
detail their livelihood activities and second, their education
levels (Fig. 4).
The core livelihood activities included in the program
were derived from the baseline survey described above. The
most frequent activities reported by users were small-scale
trading, crop production, “coolie” or laboring work, being a
housewife, dairy production, small business owner/trader,
and/or auto-rickshaw driving. The years of schooling
included in the software reflect the state educational system
in Orissa, as such users could choose levels (or years) one
through ten. For those individuals who did not attend
school, the instructions told users to press the figure of the
children at the bottom of the screen.
To support the contextualization required by situated
learning theory, the software also included a range of
characters. For example, Shakti, a woman character, teaches
Trop Anim Health Prod (2010) 42:1353–1361
women about those livestock-related tasks performed by
women such as cattle feeding. Thus, the software attempts
to support user identification/contextualization with the
characters involved. Other characters include Dr Sankalp,
the veterinarian and his “veterinary scout.” The Guru
introduces the other characters and their roles, i.e., Dr
Sankalp teaches users about animal health issues, while the
vet scout and Shakti are in charge of livestock feeding and
housing. After introducing the characters, the next screen to
appear is Animal Navigation. Instructions guide the user to
press the species he/she is interested in learning about. A
back button is also present on this page to enable a new
user to return to the beginning of the program. A “time out”
script is also implemented on all pages from the Animal
Navigation page onwards to prevent new users from simply
beginning from where the previous user left off.
After choosing the species of interest, the user is offered
a choice of learning material, i.e., animal health, feeding, or
housing (Fig. 5).
Each learning module on animal health presents infor-
mation in the same sequence: disease diagnosis, treatment,
and prevention. For particular diseases, such as mange and
palliative care for foot and mouth disease, local veterinar-
ians recommend low-cost Ayervedic treatments. In these
cases, a description of the treatment is offered. As
mentioned above, the information regarding user choices
is recorded in the database for subsequent use by the
decision maker/organization involved. The following sec-
tion describes the database.
The database design
The database was designed to capture the dynamic elements
of the user–interface interactions. Therefore, the program can
provide decision makers with a real-time assessment of the
Trop Anim Health Prod (2010) 42:1353–1361
Fig. 4 a Livestock numbers. b
Livelihood activities
demands of particular individuals/groups for specific live-
stock knowledge. The database was created in Microsoft
Access and records both the time spent by the user in
particular areas of the program (such as the registration feature
or particular modules) in addition to logging the user’s choice
of species and learning module. The database can additionally
be utilized to identify any problematic areas, i.e., pages of the
program where the majority of users are spending too much
time and, therefore, may not understand the instructions.
To capture both preferences and any issues, the database
was divided into two separate portions: the “user_regis-
trationdetails” table and the “navigation” table to reflect the
different nature of the data and the user’s activities within
the program. The aim of the separate tables was to achieve
multi-entry consistency. As will be further described below,
1359
the software at the community level will be disseminated in
computer kiosks. Therefore, it is likely that there may be
instances of multiple users, i.e., the user who starts the
program and registers will not necessarily be the one who
initiates the learning content. Therefore, a traditional
database storage strategy, which only records all the data
once, at the end of the program, was not particularly useful
in this context. Indeed, to respond to this issue, more than
one database recording point needed to be implemented
within in the program in order to record each user’s
activities separately. The problem can be further ameliorat-
ed by the strategic placement of time-outs, i.e., if users
switch at the animal navigation page, there is only a limited
amount of time (1 min) in which this can occur. The
following section explores dissemination issues.
1360
Fig. 5 Navigating the learning
modules
Dissemination of the livestock Guru
The software was launched to over 1,000 households in 11
villages within the four districts detailed above in May/June
2005. Community-level workshops were held in the
Panchyat (local government) offices to demonstrate the
software and explain its use and application. A marching
band or “Dingura” announced the arrival of the Livestock
Guru in each village (this is the typical manner in which
community level news or events are announced in rural
Orissa). The aim of the launch was to support awareness
raising and ensure that the most “information marginalized”
groups, i.e., women and tribal and/or scheduled caste
households were informed of the program.
At present, the Livestock Guru in India is distributed via
two types of touch-screen kiosks (static vs. mobile). The
static kiosks are generally comprised of a metal box
covering a touch screen, speakers, a video camera, and a
PC unit. The cost of creating the kiosks using locally
sourced computers is less than US $400. Recurrent costs of
electricity varied across the communities, but an average
expenditure of 1.4 rupees/kW h was estimated.
The static kiosks are suitable for set locations but are not
very portable. To suit the needs of field staff, mobile touch-
screen kiosks were field-tested. However, while portability
was enhanced, there were some compromises to be made,
i.e., the system needs external speakers and web cameras,
which can be cumbersome. The external wires, etc. can also
be very vulnerable to break down under use in the field.
Other field-related dissemination issues include the
erratic electricity supply. Therefore, in each of the type 1
kiosks, a voltage stabilizer was included. However, the type
2 kiosks are very dependent upon local voltage stabilizers
being available for use at the village level.
Trop Anim Health Prod (2010) 42:1353–1361
Conclusions
Poor livestock keepers are often among the most margin-
alized in the world with limited means of obtaining accurate
and effective information about the livestock in their care.
However, among communities in the South, the social
barriers to information access can often be more powerful
than those which are economically based. Indeed, the
women who participated in the study rarely consulted
formal service providers due to both gender and caste-based
restrictions. Therefore, ICTs are one means of removing
and/or addressing these social barriers with regard to
knowledge acquisition.
However, the design and content of any such ICT-based
learning tool will clearly play an important role in both
adoption and uptake. As such, the Oriya version of the
Livestock Guru was designed to meet the unique needs of
poor livestock keepers in Orissa State based on the
priorities of the poor as expressed by themselves. In this
manner, the Guru ascribed to a demand-led approach.
Further, by basing the content on situated learning theory,
the software contextualized livestock-related information
within local knowledge frames.
Nevertheless, it was clear that the distribution and
accessibility of the traditional kiosk-based version could be
improved upon. Clearly, the rapid development of micro-
computers and the low cost of current models present an
opportunity for rapid dissemination of software such as the
Livestock Guru. However, the authors found that having a
kiosk in a single area tended to support much greater numbers
of users over time. Therefore, organizations considering such
systems need to weigh up the benefits of short-term exposure
to the software with portable or micro-computers to longer-
term use of computers in more static setups.
Trop Anim Health Prod (2010) 42:1353–1361
Acknowledgments The authors are grateful to Ms Sonali Patnaik
(Arupa Mission Research Foundation, Bhupaneswar, Orissa) and Mr
James McGrane (Chief Technical Advisor, FAO, Indonesia) for their
invaluable guidance and assistance in the launching of the Livestock
Guru in Orissa.
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