The Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (Sida) recently published a report, The Innovative Use of Mobile Applications in East Africa, that provides an overview of the current state of mobile phone applications for social and economic developments in East Africa. The report seeks to answer “what hinders the take-off of m-applications for development in East Africa" and asks what role donors should play.
While mobile phones are the main channel for information in East Africa, with mobile penetration covering over 40% of the population, sustainable, scalable mobile services for social and economic development are limited. The report is supported by secondary data, statistics, and field work carried out in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania, along with numerous interviews, meetings and discussions with key stakeholders in East Africa. Major trends in mobile usage, barriers for increased use of m-applications, as well as opportunities for scaling are discussed.
Today's Mobile Minute brings you coverage on why the the idea of a "cyber-utopia" is flawed, a demonstration of a hacked phone tower, a report on Alabama's increasingly mobile-based news consumption, licensing iPad and iPhone apps from the New York Times, and mBillionth's mobile awards.
Mobile Diffusion and Development: Issues and Challenges of M-Government with India in Perspective data sheet 2016 Views
Author:
Kavita Karan and Michele Cheng Hoon Khoo
Publication Date:
Jan 2008
Publication Type:
Journal article
Abstract:
Mobile telephony has emerged as the new frontier where governments around the world are making themselves more accessible through the remote delivery of government services and faster rate of data transfer. In developing countries, the lower cost of mobile technology as compared to Internet has allowed for the expansion of mobile government or m-government services to the poorer segments of the population. From a literature review on m-government, including the various strategies required and successive practices across the world, we build five parameters for a framework for evaluation of m-government services. These include Infrastructural Investment, Regulatory and Political environment, Awareness and Acceptance, Security and Privacy, and Equitable Acceptance.
Using these factors, we review the m-government initiatives in selected countries both in the West, Asia and India. This paper provides an updated review of the current mobile government initiatives, including: m-government’s facilitation of development; the issues and challenges in India; and, finally, proposes some strategies that can be adopted by India.
[Update below] On the morning of July 29, Reporters Without Borders reported that several citizens of the United Arab Emirates has been arrested for allegedly using BlackBerry Messenger to coordinate a protest against the high price of gasoline. This news comes on the heels of several countries’ working to block or severely limit the use of BlackBerry Messenger in their respective countries. There have also been reports on RIM setting up a server in China under Chinese pressure, even though MobileActive.org could not directly verify these reports.
On July 25th, the United Arab Emirate’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said that they believed BlackBerrys could be used in a way that compromised national security, in April of 2010 Bahrain issued a ban against using the chat feature to share local news, and now India has joined the ranks of countries requesting access to data and information sent over BBM.
Reporters Without Borders has been covering the controversy in the Middle East. Regarding the arrests in the U.A.E., the organization reports:
The authorities were able to trace the organizer, known as “Saud,” because he included his BlackBerry PIN in a BBM message he sent calling for the protest. They held Saud for a week and used his phone to trace those he had been messaging. Accused of inciting opposition to the government, he has lost his job. At least five other members of the group have reportedly been summoned by the police or are still being sought.
Today's Mobile Minute covers how mobiles are improving students' performance in a North Carolina school, personal data theft from a malicious Android app, a $100 million USAID grant for health services in Malawi, the effect of mobile applications on the East African economy, and the release of Opera's "State of the Mobile Web."
Today's Mobile Minute brings you coverage about revenue from Brazil's mobile youth, a Pew report on mobile habits, the conclusion of NPR's look at race and the digital divide, a guide to building voice infrastructure in developing regions, and what m-banking services need to consider about non-literate consumers.
India is a country of villages, with over 70% of its population living in rural areas. For mobile operators, this means future mobile subscribers in the country are going to come from India’s villages.
Between 2002 and 2006, mobile penetration increased by a more than 40% in India (source ITU). Still, rural penetration is low, making up just over one fifth of the total mobile user base in India, as reported by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in 2007. The future of the mobile industry is exanding in rural India, but what do mobile operators need to do to tap into this market?
In 2009, Accenture, a global management consulting company, surveyed 2,400 current and potential rural consumers and interviewed 15 senior-level executives representing the mobile telephony ecosystem. The goal was to understand the needs of rural customers for mobile services and identify the value propositions for rural services by mobile operators.
The Innovative Use of Mobile Applications in East Africa data sheet 3377 Views
Author:
Johan, Hellstrom; Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
Publication Date:
Jan 2010
Publication Type:
Report/White paper
Abstract:
The Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (Sida) recently published a report that gives an overview of the current state of mobile phone applications for social and economic developments in East Africa. Drawing on successful adoption of mobile applications in the Philippines, this Sida report seeks to answer “what hinders the take off of m-applications for development in East Africa and what role donors play in the process.” While mobile phones is the one of the most widely accessible gateways for information in East Africa, with mobile penetration covering over 40% of the population, sustainable, scalable mobile services for social and economic development are limited. The report is supported by secondary data, statistics, and field work carried out in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania, along with numerous interviews, meetings and discussions with key stakeholders in East Africa. Major trends in mobile usage, barriers for increased use of m-applications, as well as opportunities for scaling are discussed.
While August may be the month when the Northen Hemisphere is taking vacations, the mobile world is still cranking out events for developers and practitioners. Here's what's happening this month. As always, add an event in the comments if we missed it!
2 Aug. Tech@State (Washington, DC, U.S.A.) The occasional series of tech events at the US State Department in Washington DC., is hosting a morning of talks on mobile money. If you are in DC, register to come or watch the live stream from afar.
5 Aug. Mashable U.S. Summer Tour (Washington, D.C., U.S.A.): On August 5th, Mashable brings its web and social media tour to D.C.. The popular blog's event brings together contributors from Mashable and attendees interested in Web 2.0 and social media. (The tour also stops in New York City on August 9th and Chicago on August 11th.)
At MobileActive, we’ve held a bi-weekly Research Ignite series to keep up with the latest in research related to mobiles for development. For the past few weeks, our team has been learning and discussing new research and reports. We invite you to put on your learning caps and plug into our screencasts, where we will feature some exciting developments in the world of m4d.
For this Ignite, we’re featuring three studies that were presented at the 28th ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. The research covers mobile games in rural India and China that address literacy, and a study on mobile Internet use in South Africa.
Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of California, Carnegie Mellon University and Nokia Research Palo Alto developed two mobile games, Multimedia Word and Drumming Stroke, which aim to help young children in rural China recognize Chinese characters and practice strokes. It is the first known m-game that leverages a mobile learning tool for the Chinese language.
A Mobile Marakothi, a Traditional Children’s Game in India, that Teaches English
In rural India, empirical studies show that children often miss school largely due to family labor, assisting in domestic work at home or in the farm without wages or as hired labor. The authors believe that “Mobile learning can empower poor children to balance their educational and income earning goals,” and so, pursued the development of a mobile game to teach English vocabulary. Mobile phones with the m-game were deployed to children living in rural Uttar Pradesh, India for 26 weeks. The pilot identified opportunities for out-of-school learning, revealed gender influences on m-game usage and surprisingly, showed that m-games traversed caste and village boundaries and facilitated social interaction.
Presentation starts at 4:03 min.
Challenging Assumptions of Mobile Internet Access: The Experience of Women in A Township in South Africa
More and more mobile users are surfing the internet on their phones. For most people in developing countries, there is no plan B – in other words, no PC-based internet access. This study reports the experience of a group of women in Khayelitsha, in Cape Town, South Africa who connected to a mobile-based internet for the first time. In this article, six challenges facing mobile-only internet users in developing countries are identified. The authors propose how to the mobile industry can move forward by keeping the end-users in mind and introduce the concept of “digital divide” that is secondary to mobile access – it’s “after-access”.
Presentation starts at 9:59 min.
Thank you to the authors for providing permission to use images, screenshots and data as well as helpful feedback for the screencast. For more research, reports, and white papers about mobile technology for social change visit our mdirectory.
The Mobile Minute is here to bring you the day's mobile-for-development new. Today's Minute covers disaster assistance applications on smartphones, a BBC guide to using pocket-sized video cameras for reporting, the UN ICT Hub's first Briefing Report on ICT4D in the Asia-Pacific region, the development of two new systems that allow mobile phones to work in areas with no reception, an intriguing idea for an iPhone app to combat homelessness, and an event on mobile payments in the Tech@State series in Washington DC.
Today's Mobile Minute brings you news about the relationship between consumers and telecoms in Sierra Leone, potential problems with mobile phones for transparency in elections, law enforcement officials pulling evidence from iPhones, how international roaming charges were dropped in East Africa, and why geotagging photos may not be in your best interest.
Today's Mobile Minute covers the mobile gender gap, mobiles in the classroom that allow deaf children to learn alongside hearing children, a study about mobile over-sharing, mobile credits on cell phones during disasters, post-Haiti disaster management with ICTs, and a 90-second interview with Patricia Mechael about mobile health.
The Child Africa International School in Kabale, Uganda encourages the use of SMS at school in order to foster communication between hearing and non-hearing students, as described in "Deaf Children are Being Heard in Africa." (Hat tip Textually.org)
According to a Webroot Study of 1,645 social network users, 55% of people polled said "they worry over loss of privacy incurred from using geolocation data" on mobile phones."
"Disaster Response 2.0: Learning from Haiti" looks at how ICTs were used after the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, covering mobile donations, Ushahidi, and how ICTs can help during emergencies.
[Mobile Minute Disclaimer: The Mobile Minute is a quick round-up of interesting stories that have come across our RSS and Twitter feeds to keep you informed of the rapid pace of innovation. Read them and enjoy them, but know that we have not deeply investigated these news items. For more in-depth information about the ever-growing field of mobile tech for social change, check out our blog-posts, white papers and research, how-tos, and case studies.]
The Mobile Minute, our new daily feature, is here to keep you up-to-date on mobile-related news.
HP Labs India develops "SiteOn Moobile India" a program that allows users with basic mobile phones to access the Internet.
"Digital Diplomacy" The U.S. State Department's Jared Cohen and Alec Ross show how they use ICTs in foreign policy work in this in-depth New York Times article.
[Mobile Minute Disclaimer: The Mobile Minute is a quick round-up of interesting stories that have come across our RSS and Twitter feeds to keep you informed of the rapid pace of innovation. Read them and enjoy them, but know that we have not deeply investigated these news items. For more in-depth information about the ever-growing field of mobile tech for social change, check out our blog-posts, white papers and research, how-tos, and case studies.]
The Mobile Minute, our new feature, is here to keep you up-to-date on mobile-related news. Today's stories are about the number of Google searches made on mobile phones, an updated version of the PDA survey kit, the relationship between ICTs and accountable governments, and an octopus-themed mobile app.
"Mobile Accounts for 10% of Google Searches, Says Analyst" This Read, Write, Web article looks at comScore search market data – and found that mobile phones are used to make more than 1 billion monthly Google searches in the U.S.
"WFP PDASurvey" The World Food Program released an updated version of its PDA-based data collection tool. The group says that the program "allows very large questionnaires to be built very rapidly and deployed onto many PDAs using flash memory cards."
"Full Circle: ANSA-Africa Newsletter" The latest ANSA-Africa Newsletter looks at government accountability and the role ICTs can play in giving citizens a means of expression. Other topics include local government social media and responsibility, ICTs in Kenya, and creating connections in Bangladesh. (via Accountability 2.0)
"Paul the Psychic Octopus Gets an App" If you find yourself without psychic guidance now that Paul the Octopus (who gained fame by correctly predicting all of Germany's World Cup matches, as well as the final) has retired, a new iPhone app called "Ask the Octopus Oracle" can fill the void.
[Mobile Minute Disclaimer: The Mobile Minute is a quick round-up of interesting stories that have come across our RSS and Twitter feeds to keep you informed of the rapid pace of innovation. Read them and enjoy them, but know that we have not deeply investigated these news items. For more in-depth information about the ever-growing field of mobile tech for social change, check out our blog-posts, white papers and research, how-tos, and case studies.]
This guest post is written by Neal Lesh of D-Tree International, and was originally published on the Open Mobile Consortium blog. MobileActive.org is a founding member of the Open Mobile Consortium. The article is reposted here with Neal's permission.
As fair warning, this post is part rant, part confession, part promotion (see links below!), and part call to action for increased investment in local innovation in low- and middle-income countries.
I spend a good deal of my time raising money, working on budgets, and generally championing open source software designed to be used by health workers in low-income countries. Most of this ‘eHealth’ software ends up being developed by extremely talented and dedicated software developers from the United States and other wealthy countries. I spend a relatively small portion of my time trying support and strengthen local software development capacity.
For example, we’re working with a small, all Tanzanian innovation company called ITIDO. While equally talented and motivated, ITIDO’s staff has less training and, consequently, less expertise than those of the organizations I’m affiliated with. However, it’s hard to shake the feeling that in the long run, Tanzania needs successful ITIDOs more than it needs organizations I’ve helped create. It seems that a well-functioning ITIDO is more likely to build lasting, relevant, solutions that will actually be used in Tanzania.
A key challenge is time. We often feel the need to deliver results in a few months. And, indeed, there is no time to waste in developing and deploying technologies that have the potential to improve desperately needed healthcare. Given limited funds and the need to deliver quickly, the most efficient approach is almost always to go with highly experienced software developers. And this becomes more and more true once you start building software with one group of experts. The people who know the current software best are the ones who can most quickly extend it. Capacity building takes time.
One approach we advocate is establishing a “Coded in Country” (CIC) label for software, akin to a Fair Trade label for projects. There is ongoing discussion about the best definition of CIC, and if there should be an official certification process, but the original idea was that a software application or module is CIC if at least half of the money goes into local development. CIC nodes will provide capacity strengthening and opportunities for international exposure to talented local developers. The idea has generated a good deal of enthusiasm from many groups, especially those deploying eHealth software for use in Sub-Saharan countries in Africa.
CIC and other related topics will be discussed during an online panel hosted by GHDonline on the topic of local development of global eHealth software from July 19-30 (sign up now!)
Tariffs and the affordability gap in mobile telephone services in Latin America and the Caribbean data sheet 1345 Views
Author:
Hernán Galperin
Publication Date:
Mar 2010
Publication Type:
Journal article
Abstract:
This study focuses on the affordability of the OECD’s low-usage basket of mobile telephony services, which includes 360 calls and 396 text messages (SMS) a year, segmented by duration, time of day and destination. In other words, the study compares the monthly cost of prepaid service for a user who makes approximately one call and sends one text message per day. Because our main interest lies in estimating the affordability of this basket of services for users at the bottom of the income pyramid, two indicators are used: (1) The proportion of income that the cost of this basket represents for users in the third income decile, which acts as a proxy for income at the bottom of the pyramid; (2) The affordability gap, which corresponds to the difference between the cost of the basket and 5 percent of the income of the potential users in each income decile.
The main findings are summarized. (1) There is significant dispersion of mobile telephony tariffs in the region, with costs of the low-usage basket ranging from US$45 in Brazil to US$2.20 in Jamaica (in current dollars). The average for the region is US$15. (2) For users who consume a minimum basket of mobile services, prepaid service is less expensive than post-paid service in 13 of the 20 markets in the sample. (3) Overall, mobile telephony tariffs in Latin America are significantly higher than those of OECD countries (2 times more) and other emerging markets (3 times more). (4) The only country in the region in which mobile telephone services can be considered affordable for low-income users is Costa Rica. (5) Despite advances in the adoption of the service, the results of this report highlight a significant affordability gap that limits consumption of mobile telephony services for most people in the region, and point to a need for continued efforts and initiatives to reinforce competition in the market and review the heavy tax burden that affects mobile telephony service in the region.
Wanted: New Business Models for Profitable Rural Expansion data sheet 1563 Views
Author:
Accenture, Ranjan, K., Falk, S., Narsalay, R., O'Brien, D., and Sennik, R.
Publication Date:
Jan 2009
Publication Type:
Report/White paper
Abstract:
In 2009, Accenture conducted a research study into the future of mobile industry expansion in rural India. We explored the views of rural consumers—both current customers and non-users—and also interviewed senior-level executives from companies that occupy strategic positions across the mobile telephony ecosystem. The key objective of this research was to understand the value proposition of mobile services to rural customers, and also to see how the potential to serve rural markets is making mobile network operators re-think key elements of their existing business models.
This first phase of this research consisted of 15 in-depth, hour-long telephone or in-person interviews completed in June and July 2009 with executives in India representing mobile operators, handset manufacturers, passive and active telecom infrastructure providers, technology enablers/application providers, and content developers and aggregators. Additionally, in association with an independent research company, Accenture conducted an exploratory qualitative study using a focus group discussion methodology. The focus group invitees included primary wage earners, homemakers and students from rural areas.
For the second phase of the Accenture research, more than 2,400 rural citizens in India were surveyed—802 current mobile customers and 1,634 non-users— to gain a broader understanding of what customers value most in mobile devices and services. The insights drawn from this research can help mobile network operators evolve their business models, and can support more effective design of profitable packages for rural consumers
Crowdsourcing Critical Success Factor Model data sheet 2777 Views
Author:
Ankit Sharma
Publication Date:
Jan 2010
Publication Type:
Report/White paper
Abstract:
Crowdsourcing, simply referring to the act of outsourcing a task to the crowd, is one of the most important trends revolutionizing the internet and the mobile market at present. This paper is an attempt to understand the dynamic and innovative discipline of crowdsourcing by developing a critical success factor model for it. The critical success factor model is based on the case study analysis of the mobile phone based crowdsourcing initiatives in Africa and the available literature on outsourcing, crowdsourcing and technology adoption. The model is used to analyze and hint at some of the critical attributes of a successful crowdsourcing initiative focused on socio-economic development of societies. The broader aim of the paper is to provide academicians, social entrepreneurs, policy makers and other practitioners with a set of recommended actions and an overview of the important considerations to be kept in mind while implementing a crowdsourcing initiative.
In 2008, Bruce Girard concluded in a MobileActive.org guest post that the addition of text messaging technology into the community radio toolkit was still in its infancy. SMS use at radio stations was informal, he wrote, and the few cases of more complex use of SMS messages accompanied political crisis or natural disaster and were largely donor financed.
Two years later, we delve once again into the state of SMS and mobile technology at community radio stations, by way of an informal survey. While advances have been made and creative projects have emerged, integration remains an ad-hoc and individual enterprise.
This report summarizes existing projects and success stories, highlighting the most popular uses of mobile technology. It concludes with a discussion of the challenges that community radio stations face in adopting SMS and mobile technology.
After Access - Challenges Facing Mobile-only Internet Users in the Developing World data sheet 2129 Views
Author:
Gitau, Shikoh, Marsden, Gary, & Donner, Jonathan
Publication Date:
Apr 2010
Publication Type:
Journal article
Abstract:
This study reports results of an ethnographic action research study, exploring mobile-centric internet use. Over the course of 13 weeks, eight women, each a member of a livelihoods collective in urban Cape Town, South Africa, received training to make use of the data (internet) features on the phones they already owned. None of the women had previous exposure to PCs or the internet. Activities focused on social networking, entertainment, information search, and, in particular, job searches. Results of the exercise reveal both the promise of, and barriers to, mobile internet use by a potentially large community of first-time, mobilecentric users. Discussion focuses on the importance of selfexpression and identity management in the refinement of online and offline presences, and considers these forces relative to issues of gender and socioeconomic status.
Engineering Rural Development data sheet 2501 Views
Author:
Parikh, Tapan S.
Publication Date:
Jan 2009
Publication Type:
Journal article
Abstract:
Presented here is an overview of the operational needs of NGOs and CBOs and the role information systems can play to increase their accountability and efficiency. Information systems need to fit the diverse operational needs of NGOs and CBOs, which include coordinating activities, training and monitoring staff, documenting results, accounting, reporting, decision making and learning, acquiring external information and encouraging community participation.
Unfortunately, there are gaps in information systems that impede the ability of NGOs to embrace ICT. To name a few, the lack of open, accessible, cross-platform mobile development tools, limited opportunities and resources provided to local small software companies to engage with NGOs, and the lack of long distance networking technologies to reach remote locations.
Two examples of technologies that were applied successfully are shared: Self Help MIS, an application to monitor activities of small microfinance organizations and credit groups and DigitalICS, an application for data collection used by agricultural cooperatives. The author stresses that ICTs should be viewed as a tool to allow local change agents to be more effective and accountable and shows how computing is able to support local organizations by inspiring innovation, implementation and dissemination of projects, and measuring impact.
Counting Mobile Phones, SIM Cards and Customers data sheet 1688 Views
Author:
Sutherland, Ewan
Publication Date:
Apr 2008
Publication Type:
Report/White paper
Abstract:
The GMSA reports that the mobile subscriptions worldwide is at 3 billion (2008) with 270 million subscriptions in Africa at the end of 2007. This policy paper considers the challenges faced by public policy makers in understanding the true number of individuals with mobile access. There are many reasons why customers might have more than one phone, phone number or SIM card, which results in the double-counting of customers. As a result, it is difficult to assume that the number telephone numbers or SIM cards translates into individual customers. The author discusses the issue of ambiguity in the estimates of mobile teledensity as an indicator for the MDGs and the subsequent challenge for public policy makers in interpreting the large numbers and how they reflect the reality of their countries, cities, towns and villages. Case studies in Bulgaria and South Africa are presented.
Kerala State Information Technology Mission (KSITM) is an autonomous nodal IT implementation agency for Department of Information Technology, Government of Kerala which provides managerial and technical support to all the ICT initiatives in Kerala KSITM's primary responsibilities are: 1. Interfacing between the Government and the industry 2. Interacting with potential investors 3. Strengthening the IT / ITES industry base 4. Holding promotional campaigns for hard selling the state. 5. ICT dissemination to bridge the digital divide 6. E- Governance 7. Developing Human Resources for IT & ITES 8. Advising the Government on policy matters Kerala State IT Mission is a team of professionals from the industry and the Government and is headed by the Director, with the Secretary - IT as the Chairman.
Innovation and M-Governance : The Kerala Mobile Governance Experience and Road-Map for a Comprehensive M-Governance Strategy data sheet 2781 Views
Author:
Sanjay Vijayakumar, Sabarish K, Gokul Krishnan
Publication Date:
Apr 2010
Publication Type:
Journal article
Abstract:
The M-Governance project in Kerala, is a comprehensive Mobile Governance project covering ninety odd Government Departments. The objective of the project is to integrate the advancements in mobile technology with various Government departments with an aim to create cost effective, efficient and round the clock Government information systems. The three channels of mobile communication (Voice, Signalling and Data) and a wide range of technologies (Voice Applications, Applications using signalling channel and data service based Applications ) are being used for this purpose. A comprehensive and integrated Service Delivery Platform is being created to roll out the various services and the M-Governance strategy is being formulated.
This paper examines the approach adopted to identify services and design solutions, wherein the primary focus has been to leverage the existing networks and available wireless technologies. The core platforms being used for M-Governance are based entirely on Open Source Technologies.
The paper also tries to present the various challenges faced while trying to implement M-Governance, and the solutions deviced to address some of those challenges, with relevant case studies. The Service Delivery models for various M-Governance Services, some of which have already been frozen, and others that are being considered are also being discussed. The paper also tries to examine the strategy adopted for deployment of these services.
