MobileActive's Blog

The 2008 election in America has seen a much greater use of mobile technology than in any election before in this country.  The Obama campaign in particular has been touted as very innovative innovative in its use of using text messages as part of their voter and volunteer engagement, culminating in the unprecendent text message announcement of the vice-presidential pick that went to an estimated million new text subscribers. 

But these are not the only innovations. In the waning days before the election, a number of other efforts stand out that take advantage of mobile phones.  Here are a few:

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On Day 3 of MobileActive ’08, I attended a session presented by Pragnya Alekal of the XPrize Foundation. Pragnya is a water sanitation and energy engineer who has spent a lot of time in the field. She knows that technology has its limitations – it’s not the whole solution. Her entire goal has been to make up for the fact that technology is important but how to encompass other factors.

XPrize’s goal is to revolutionize sectors – they have a commons-based philosophy. Pragnya is here to get our ideas. How do you solve poverty? How do you get more people to think of solutions?

XPrize started with a big dream and got scaled out.

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On Day 2 of MobileActive '08, Benjamin Brandzel of Avaaz.org led a session on best practices for cross-border mobile engagement.

Avaaz.org is an international network of activists who work through the internet to directly influence policy issues such as global warming, poverty, peace, democracy, and human rights. They have used internet and email. There is still plenty of room to grow with that, but now a growing segment of the world’s population uses mobiles and not the Internet.

Avaaz.org can do crowdsourced research. By taking collective action, we are more powerful than operating alone.

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On day 2 of the MobileActive ’08 conference, I attended The Humanitarian Technology Challenge: In Search of Innovative Solutions presented by Claire Thwaites, who heads the technology partnership between Vodaphone and the UN Foundation.

The goal is to find technology solutions to humanitarian challenges. The IEEE lists five key challenges:

1. Reliable Electricity – power availability for electronic devices

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On day two of MobileActive ’08 in Johannesburg, I attended Mobile Use By Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) by Jonathan Donner of the Technology for Emerging Markets Group, Microsoft Research India.

Microsoft Research does long-term R & D – it’s not tied directly to products. Its goals are to:

-    understand potential technology users in developing countries
-    adapt/design technology that contributes to socio and economic development of poor communities

Research focus was on tiny informal businesses with less than 5 employees. These businesses are past agriculture and past family farm. Example businesses include basket weaving, fruit stands, informal pipe fittings manufacturing, cooking breakfast.

Donner studied how mobiles have had a positive impact in Kigali, Rwanda in 2002-2004, and Bangalore and Hyderabad, India 2005-2007.

He found: “information needs are very different than those of my colleagues in Redmond.”

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Mobile phones bridge the rural digital divide, bring economic benefits, and act as agents of social mobilization through improved communication. But what are the real challenges of reaching rural areas, and what are some of today’s most beneficial applications that can help rural communities, specifically regarding agriculture development?

The Virtual Forum on "Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas" will examine the challenges that rural communities face in enhancing the benefits of mobile telephony, and look at some examples of interesting initiatives and good outcomes from around the globe.

Subject Matter experts include:

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We are very privileged to co-host MobileTech for Social Change, a barcamp on 4 November 2008 in San Franciso from 10 am - 2 pm.  We are especially pleased to co-organize the event with Dan Appelquist from Mobile2.0, Mobile Monday UK, and Vodacom. Registration is here!

Fresh back from MobileActive08, we'll explore mobile tech to advance social development and social change goals. Expect this to be highly participatory and interactive, and cover anything you wanted to know about using mobiles for social change. MobileTech for Social Change is open to anyone with passion and interest in the topic and since it's a barcamp, bring your ideas, innovations, products, tools, projects, and organizations!

And if you want to be an angel and sponsor the event, contact us at info at mobileactive dot org!  Registration again: Go here!

 

With the advent of ubiquitous mobile phones recording video, audio, and photos and easily connecting to a worldwide audience, everyone has the potential to become a citizen reporter on the spot, as news and events are happening.  Traditional news organizations (aka mainstream media) are struggling to keep up and find relevance among the new voices from around the world.  Al Jazeera, the Arab news company (and arguably not exactly mainstream media) has been testing mobile phones with its reporters and for its media coverage. Safdar Mustafa, head of Al Jazeera's mobile media unit, explains how in this coverage from MobileActive08.

More videos are on the MobileActive YouTube channel.

On the first day of the MobileActive '08 conference in Johannesburg, I attended the session M-banking and M-Payments for Social Impact, with Jonathan Donner, Tonny Omwansa, Jesse Moore, Brian Richardson, and Alex Comninos. This session gave an overview of m-banking (mobile banking) and m-payments (mobile payments). Wizzit and M-PESA are two examples of mobile banking solutions.

Telecom and banking are the two most regulated parts of the economy. Mobile banking lowers the cost of banking. It is popular in the Philippines, South Africa, and Kenya.

Brian Richardson, the CEO of Wizzit, says that in South Africa, more than 11 million people live with cash only. 600 million in Africa don’t have access to basic financial services. It’s hard to be an economic citizen without accessibility to basic financial services. People don’t have these because of affordability, accessibility, and availability.

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I have long been a great fan of Paul Notzold, the ingenious SMS graffiti artist and inventor of Txtual Healing.  He is embarking on a 10-night tour through key states in America, projecting interactive displays where bystanders can text in why they are voting for Obama.  Paul is famous for his interactive and whimsical SMS displays.

He describes how it works: "The simple explanation is that it’s a cellphone paired to a mac using proprietary software, custom scripting and graphics, and then the results are displayed through a projector connected to the computer. The whole system is mobile and with the right projector/beamer, quite bright."

The tour will lead him through so-called battleground states that are contested for the presidential vote:  Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.  If you are in any of the states, go visit with him and text in why you are voting for Obama!

Photo courtesy Paul Notzold, Textual Healing