Posted by kiwanja on Feb 17, 2006
According to a GSM Association spokesman quoted on the BBC Online website today, "The mobile phone is the only viable technology that can bridge the digital divide". This is quite a bold statement in a debate which has been running for a fair old time. It goes along the lines that by putting something digital – a mobile phone in this case – into the hands of the worlds poor you can economically empower them, among other things. If it were only this simple.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Feb 14, 2006
Fury over Danish cartoons - A cell phone is held aloft as protesters angry over caricatures of Muhammad burn Danish and U.S. flags in Amman, Jordan. Digital communication has become a lifeline for protest organizers. (Photo by Ali Jarekji -- Reuters - published on the The Washington Post). [via textually.org]
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Jan 20, 2006
Control Arms, a joint campaign of Oxfam, Amnesty, and Iansa, is running the 'Million Faces' campaign to push for an international arms trade treaty. Mobile users can upload teir picture and join the petition via their mobile phones in the UK (curiously this is not mentioned anywhere on the site..)
Here is how it works: To join the call for an international arms treaty on a mobile phone, participants text the word 'petition' followed by their full name to a number in the UK (84118) and their name is automatically added to the Million Faces petition. Alternatively, they can upload their picture (to 07955 474747) with their name and age and their photo will be added to the petition.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Jan 12, 2006
BBC: How mobiles changed the face of news -
A wonderful 22 minute video from the BBC looking at how user-generated content and mobile phone footage on stories like the London bombings has changed the way broadcasters report the news. The BBC has been looking back at how user generated content has become part of everyday news throughout 2005. Input from news editors from around the world, including Dan Gilmore. [via Cyberjournalist.net]
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Jan 11, 2006
TXTPower brings gospel of mobile activism to Hong Kong's anti-WTO protests - On Dec. 16 at Victoria Park in Hong Kong, amid anti-globalization forums and protests left and right, convenors of TXTPower successfully mounted a meeting of mobile activists.
Nineteen
souls gathered for the meeting, coming from Africa, North America and
Asia. The meeting focused more on sharing the telecommunications
situation on our respective countries and the challenges facing the
individuals and movements using mobile technology for social activism.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Oct 13, 2005
Justin over at Personal Democracy has a great article on MobileActive participant Becky, Firoze, and Patrick from Fahamu and their cell phone petition: SMS, Social Justice Style, in Africa - I
had the pleasure of meeting with three representatives of Fahamu while
at the MobileActive convergence in Toronto, one of which was the groups
director Firoze M anji.... [Live from the conference:]
Posted by on Oct 07, 2005
From today's New York Times: "Malicious hackers could take down cellular networks in large cities by inundating their popular text-messaging services with the equivalent of spam, said computer security researchers, who will announce the findings of their research today." (more)
Interesting research to follow. While it has always seemed that it would be easy to jam a specific phone with many simultaneous messages, the overall networks have always seemed quite resilient to me. I think this research is assuming that the operators don't have a quick way to shut down DOS attacks coming through Internet gateways.
Hopefully, this won't lead to the operators rethinking how open they currently are via SMTP and HTTP, which wouldn't bode very well for us and the type of free and open applications we've all developed and rely on.
Posted by Marty on Sep 29, 2005
"Mobile phones serves communication. Communication serves humanity. Humanity serves social change. MobileActive: tech4people changing the world."
The message is 160 characters, suitable for a text message.
The longer declaration of Intent for MobileActive:
From 22-24 September 2005, organizations and activists from across the world working on the use of mobile/cellular technology for activism met in Toronto to better understand the strengths and limits of the medium and to disseminate lessons learned, as well as strategically to increase activists' ability to organize constituencies with this new technology.
Mobile phones and SMS have become one of the coolest gadgets on the planet and can be used in new ways to connect the people of the earth.
We affirm that:
• Communications technology is a right derived from the inalienable right of freedom of expression;
