Posted by KatrinVerclas on Apr 04, 2006
A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project studies how Americans use mobile phones. A must read for US-based organizers and advocacy organizations. From the press release:
"The cell phone has become an integral and, for some, essential communications tool that has helped owners gain help in emergencies. Fully 74% of the Americans who own mobile phones say they have used their hand-held device in an emergency and gained valuable help.
Another striking impact of mobile technology is that Americans are using their cell phones to shift they way they spend their time. Some 41% of cell phone owners say they fill in free time when they are traveling or waiting for someone by making phone calls. And 44% say they wait to make most of their cell calls for the hours when they do not count against their “anytime” minutes in their basic calling plan....
Posted by Simon Pavitt on Apr 02, 2006
On 11 March 2004, just before the Spanish general election, bombs exploded on 4 trains as they entered Madrid killing 200 people.
The Government hurredly put the blame on ETA, an organisation fighting for Basque independance from Spain. But many people assumed the bombs were a consequence of Spain's support for the war in Iraq and started gathering in the centre of Madrid.
News of the protests spread by mobile phone and more and more people joined, accusing the government of managing the release of information about the attacks to their own political ends. The national newspaper El Pais referred to "the more than dubious attitude of the government in relation to the lines of investigation". Eventually the Government was forced to admit that the explosions might have been caused Al-Qaeda.
In the election a couple of days later the ruling Partido Popular, which had been ahead in the polls, surprisingly lost to the socialist PSOE. As one person put it:
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Mar 31, 2006
Description:
Large industry wireless and mobile marketing conference. A few MobileActives and mobilistas are meeting there. MobileVoter will receive a prize, and a number of mobile provoiders in the MobileActive network will be preenting on mobile marketing and fundraising.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Mar 30, 2006
The SMS petition campaign for justice in the Jessica Lal murder case that we wrote about here wrapped up last week with more than 200,000 SMS signatures (previous links no longer active). On air the 24-hour news station NDTV solicited their viewers – mostly middle class and mobile phone owners - to send a text message to the station protesting the injustice they saw in the acquittal of all nine men accused in the fashion model's murder in a crowded bar. These text messages, treated like signatures on a petition, were promised to be sent to the president to show the nation's outrage in what they saw as government corruption and a police cover up.
NDTV's managing editor said, "That just goes to show you technology has changed the face of mobilization completely. Because if this were like ten years ago and you were going door to door collecting signatures, which would have been its equivalent, it would have taken you many more logistics, just an army of volunteers. You didn't need any of that. You needed one rallying point on television."
Posted by justinoberman on Mar 28, 2006
Who would not want to save this guy?
As the seal hunting season opens, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is launching a major campaign at stopthesealhunt.com and on cell phones all across the UK.
Starting yesterday, IFAW launched advertisements, like the one showed above, in the Sunday Mirror and has already received well over 10, 000 responses which, according to Jed Alpert, CEO of Politxt (the political arm of his Rights-Group media) the company responsible for the back end technology of the campaign, is a very sizeable response rate for a newspaper ad. IFAW will be displaying the add in various UK newspapers throughout the week and will be putting them up in the London tube some time in early April. In the UK, send the text message "Ban It" to the short code 60123.
More on the story is at Personal Democracy.
Posted by admin on Mar 21, 2006
If you want more information about Aspiration’s programs and services, please send us an email at info [at] mobileactive.org or complete the form below. We will be in touch with you, and thanks!
Posted by admin on Mar 21, 2006
Thank you!
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Mar 21, 2006
Intro text here
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Mar 15, 2006
Great article in the UK Times about the mobile market in Africa and the enormous growth there.
"This remarkable growth — the African market is expanding nearly twice as fast as Asia’s — has confounded analysts and even service operators. As recently as 2003, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) forecast that there would be only 67 million users by the end of 2005.
“Many of us underestimated the strength of the informal sector in Africa,” said Michael Joseph, chief executive officer of Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest operator, with four million customers. “And the huge need and desire for people to communicate.”
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Mar 22, 2006
This campaign is powered by Mobile Voter and MobileActive Ben Rigby, supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
