Published in Dhaka Tribune | May 13, 2020Photos by Mahmud Hossain Opu Dhaka’s streets are no longer empty. Shops are slowly reopening. There are rickshaws and cars. Traffic is beginning to pile on. Emerging out of a 43-day “lockdown”, some are calling the country’s guidelines in limiting public interactions a “new normal”. Most people, including … Continue reading How Pandemics Should Not End
Will Easing Social Distancing Save the Poor?
Published in Berkeley Public Policy Journal | April 22, 2020 Co-authored with Rifaiyat Mahbub Since the implementation of lockdowns in developing countries, debates have ensued on whether the poor will starve to death before the virus kills them. People are on the streets demanding the right to wages and food. In the US, a country with a much larger GDP … Continue reading Will Easing Social Distancing Save the Poor?
The Future of Digital is Human
Rafia dreads going to her phone carrier’s customer service center. Her commute to work at the local clinic is roughly forty minutes, while she spends at least an hour and half, inclusive of traffic, in a public bus to reach the nearest center. In addition to standing in the bus in sweltering Dhaka summer, longer … Continue reading The Future of Digital is Human
A Non-Engineer’s Year in Silicon Valley
In April 2011, my organization from Bangladesh signed a contract with Khan Academy and their partners, Agami from the U.S. to translate and localize their education content in Bangladesh. It took nearly seven months to finalize the deal, meticulously reviewing the requirements, capacity to execute and leadership of the contract. A social enterprise working in … Continue reading A Non-Engineer’s Year in Silicon Valley
How Oakland PD is Collecting Sensitive Location Data
Police cars mounted with automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) are always winding their way through the streets of Oakland. The cameras are recording the plate numbers of vehicles in the front and behind, as well as collecting footage on the surrounding areas. The policy of the Oakland Police Department (PD) is to utilize ALPR technology … Continue reading How Oakland PD is Collecting Sensitive Location Data
Inside Bangladesh’s Night of Terror
Published in Huffington Post | December 06, 2017 Minutes before, the upscale restaurant had been brimming with life. “I was waiting for my food when they walked inside—barely a year or two older than me, wearing jeans and t-shirts. Within minutes they pointed their weapons at us, killed the foreigners and took us hostage,” says … Continue reading Inside Bangladesh’s Night of Terror
sabhanazrashiddiya.com 