MobileActive.org

The most widespread information and communication technology (ICT) in developing countries today is the mobile phone. The majority of people in the least developed countries still live in rural areas and their livelihood depends on the primary industries. This study investigates the use of mobile phones among farmers in rural Tanzania in order to supply empirical data on the developmental role of this technology. The results show that the improved access to communication and information that mobile phones represent affects the entire cyclic farming life during the year and has resulted in considerable changes in the entire livelihood constructs, increased opportunities and reduced risks for rural farmer.

Mobile telephony has diffused more rapidly than any Indian technology in recent memory, yet systematic studies of its impact are rare, focusing on technological rather than social change. We employ network surveys of separate groups of Kerala residents in 2002 and again in 2007 to examine recent shifts in mobile usage patterns and social relationships.

Results show (1) near saturation of mobiles among both the professionals and nonprofessionals sampled, (2) a decrease in the number of social linkages across tie types and physical locations, and (3) a shift towards friends and family but away from work relationships in the core networks of Malayalis.

We interpret these findings as support for the bounded solidarity thesis of remote communication that emphasizes social insulation and network closure as mobiles shield individuals from their wider surroundings.

Drawing on ideas from the sustainable livelihoods approach to poverty reduction and the concept of technology appropriation, this article discusses findings from a mixed methods study exploring mobile phone use in Ghana. The results suggest that most respondents value their phone for the connectivity it affords with a variety of personal and professional contacts. In this sense, the mobile phone is not an overt means of poverty reduction for respondents but an integral part of their lives, in which it serves multiple functions. The study contributes empirical data to the emerging body of research on mobile phone communication in African countries

This qualitative case study describes the social appropriation of mobile phones among low-income communities in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) by asking how favela (slum) residents appropriate cell phones. Findings highlight the difficulty these populations encounter in acquiring and using cell phones due to social and economic factors, and the consequent subversive or illegal tactics used to gain access to such technology.

Moreover, these tactics are embedded in and exemplars of the cyclic power relationships between high- and low-income populations that constitute the unique use of mobile technologies in these Brazilian slums. The article concludes by suggesting that future research on technology in low-income communities focus instead on the relationship of people to technology rather than a dichotomization of their access or lack thereof.

While mobile phones have found broad application in reporting health, financial, and environmental data, there has been little study of the possible errors incurred during mobile data collection. This paper provides the first (to our knowledge) quantitative evaluation of data entry accuracy on mobile phones in a resource-poor setting.

Via a study of 13 users in Gujarat, India, we evaluated three user interfaces: 1) electronic forms, containing numeric fields and multiple-choice menus, 2) SMS, where users enter delimited text messages according to printed cue cards, and 3) voice, where users call an operator and dictate the data in real-time. Our results indicate error rates (per datum entered) of 4.2% for electronic forms, 4.5% for SMS, and 0.45% for voice.

These results caused us to migrate our own initiative (a tuberculosis treatment program in rural India) from electronic forms to voice, in order to avoid errors on critical health data. While our study has some limitations, including varied backgrounds and training of participants, it suggests that some care is needed in deploying electronic interfaces in resource-poor settings. Further, it raises the possibility of using voice as a low-tech, high-accuracy, and cost-effective interface for mobile data collection.

This report draws on the experiences of projects using mobile phone-based information and communication technologies (ICT) applications in a number of situations, including mobile monitoring and evaluation, m-banking, community development, literacy, anti-corruption, agricultural extension and agricultural value chain information and access.

The report begins with a general overview of the role that mobile phone-based ICT can play in development and commercial projects, focusing on the situations in which mobile phonebased applications are particularly appropriate, on the potential impacts that they can achieve and on their comparative advantages vis-a-vis other forms of mobile ICT.

The report then considers in more detail the experience of the projects in using mobile phone-based ICT, shedding light on such issues as the appropriateness and relevance of the systems used, their replicability and scalability and their sustainability.

The paper suggests that research on the role of mobile telephony for socioeconomic development (M4D) draws on two frames. One frame stresses the relative freedom of telephone users to do whatever they choose. The other stresses how technologies and technology-led interventions are embedded in recursive, context specific relationships with user communities. Together these frames support M4D’s “dual heritage”. After detailing current M4D archetypes representing each heritage, the paper introduces a conceptual and practical synthesis, that is, large-scale platforms for distributed, semi-constrained interaction.

This paper considers two examples of such platforms—MXit, South Africa’s mobile social networking service and M-PESA, Kenya’s mobile money transfer system—including both anticipated and unanticipated consequences of operating “at scale” and beyond the confines of a controlled M4D intervention. Finally, this paper introduces implications of the dual heritage and of the rise of hybrid platforms for research and practice.

In sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in rural Nigeria, students in high school face the challenge of lacking exposure to English. For most, English language class are the only opportunity for learning English. Consequently, English skills are poor.

On the other hand, the use of mobile phones in Nigeria has continued to soar, with everyone having at least one mobile phone and Short Messaging Service (SMS) becoming the cheapest and regular mode of communication across different socio-economic spheres. Thus, there is great potential for this technology to be used as an instructional tool.

In this study, an SMS-based mobile learning system is employed in teaching high school students English. In order to determine if there were significant differences between students' success rate, pretests were administered to the experimental and control groups, after both received classroom instructions from the same Instructor. Subsequently, post-tests were administered to both groups, after the experimental and control groups had received SMS-based instruction and extra classroom instructions respectively. A paired sampled t-test was carried out and the results clearly revealed that after receiving the SMS-based instruction, the experimental group performed better than their counterparts who had received additional classroom instructions.

Although para-social workers carry the primary responsibility in providing essential services to the growing population of orphans and vulnerable children in Tanzania, they are often not paid for this work. Moreover, these para-social workers are unable to access governmental resources due to the lack of an efficient means of reporting their needs to relevant government officials in a timely manner.

In this paper we describe a text message (SMS) based solution that harnesses the prevalence of mobile phones coupled with several Open Source tools to empower these para-social workers. Specifically, we build a more efficient mechanism for reporting summary data on orphans and vulnerable children to relevant government officials in a cost-effective and efficient manner. This paper reports on our needs assessment process, reviews the related work, describes the implementation and testing of our prototype solution, and concludes with a discussion of relevant future work.

This paper describes an ongoing research project exploring the business practices of mobile entrepreneurs, specifically mobile food vendors, and the potential use of location aware and mobile phone-based application to support their information needs. Mobile food vendors are a ubiquitous phenomenon in the developing world and can be seen hawking their wares in carts, bicycles, or motorcycles.

In this paper we report findings from 28 interviews around business practices, challenges, personal histories, and economic wellbeing among mobile food vendors and 10 of their customers from five major Indonesian cities. Based on these findings, we point to characteristics and features of a mobile phone-based application that will enable these vendors to advertise their current location, accept orders from customers, enable customers’ recommendation of vendors, and inform fellow vendors of various special events.

We combine data from a field survey with transaction log data from a mobile phone operator to provide new insight into daily patterns of mobile phone use in Rwanda. The analysis is divided into three parts. First, we present a statistical comparison of the general Rwandan population to the population of mobile phone owners in Rwanda. We find that phone owners are considerably wealthier, better educated, and more predominantly male than the general population. Second, we analyze patterns of phone use and access, based on self-reported survey data. We note statistically significant differences by gender; for instance, women are more likely to use shared phones than men. Third, we perform a quantitative analysis of calling patterns and social network structure using mobile operator billing logs. By these measures, the differences between men and women are more modest, but we observe vast differences in utilization between the relatively rich and the relatively poor. Taken together, the evidence in this paper suggests that phones are disproportionately owned and used by the privileged strata of Rwandan society.

The aim of this master’s thesis is to identify design challenges and opportunities for mobile based community communication services for marginalized communities belonging to Indian urban slums.

The thesis is based on two ethnographic field studies done in urban slums of India and it is grounded in the conceptual frameworks of Community Informatics, Communicative Ecology and Communities of Practices. This qualitative research is best identified as participatory bottom-up exploration.

In the context of Indian urban slums, this thesis discusses the existing practices of mobile phone's use, identifies the 'Human Nodes' of community communication, presents design opportunities and challenges for community communication services, and proposes a design concept called 'Asynchronous Voice based Community Communication Service'.

There is growing pressure for farmers in countries such as Uganda to accelerate their efforts to commercialize production in the face of increasing market competition from neighboring countries and across the world. To assist farmers, a new generation of low cost market information services is being developed that takes advantage of information and communication technologies such as FM radios, mobile phones, and internet-based communications systems, to enable farmers to monitor and adjust to dynamic market conditions in local, national, and export markets.

Although there is much interest in market information from farmers, other market chain actors, and service providers, there is skepticism from funding agencies to support such services over the long term, due to past failures. This study therefore aims to evaluate how farmers access and use market information to improve their market decision making. It also evaluates whether there are any advantages of collective action in using market information to improve marketing decisions. This is considered an important point of analysis as virtually all extension plans in Uganda currently use farmer groups as key element of their learning and intervention strategies.

Survey results found that all farmers interviewed were able to access market information through radio and mobile phones. In Uganda, up to 94 percent of farmers interviewed owned a radio and 25 percent of farmers owned mobile phones. Up to 52 percent of farmers indicated that receiving Market Information Services (MIS) had a positive impact on their business, and 39 percent stated that it had a lot of impact in terms of decision making and stabilizing incomes.

An increase in gang and drug activity in South Africa has been causing tension within communities and has a negative effect on society. Treatment and counselling facilities are finding it difficult to cope with the influx of substance abuse cases. Traditional face-to-face counselling and telephone help-lines have come under pressure with this increased demand. This presented an opportunity to use mobile and web technologies to provide advice and support to people impacted by substance abuse problems.

This study indicates how a substance abuse counselling service called Drug Advice Support (DAS) uses technologies such as Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) and social networks to benefit and empower these communities in tension (CiT). The service makes it easy for persons with a mobile device with internet connectivity to access the service.

This paper takes an evolutionary journey through the design and development of the DAS system. It studies how the system evolved as an environment in which DAS was operating and co-developed with citizens in the Athlone Living Lab (ALL). The DAS system started with one advisor advising a few people, to multiple advisors advising as much as 471 conversations during a two hour period. It also shows how the implementation of such a system could be used to aid communities facing other social issues in South Africa and other parts of the world.

Background: There is a recognised problem with drug taking in South Africa. In socially deprived areas immediate help for drug users and their families is a problem. As part of their work in a community in tension, Impact Direct Ministries (IDM) and Reconstructed Living Lab (RLabs) in Cape Town provide a drug advisory service using mobile phone technology that can support multiple conversations. It is staffed by trained volunteers and is available to drug users and their families.

Methods: This article investigates historical counselling help for drug users. It explains the importance of family involvement in the life-changing process of a drug user and the importance of co-operative counselling. The Drug Advice Support (DAS) service provided by IDM and RLabs is introduced as a case study to explore how mobile phone technology can support the co-operative counselling model in a Living Lab context.

Results: The advantages of the DAS technology and what it offers to community-based organisations are discussed. Data on relatives of drug users using the system are included.

Conclusion: The use of mobile phone technology has advantages for community-based organisations acting as a first point of contact to drug users and their families. Minimal cost to the person in crisis and the organisation serves as an example. The co-operative counselling model it employs is also of benefit. As the community experiencing tension due to the problem of drug abuse becomes aware of this service, help and support for family members will increase in time.

The aim of this paper is to present the main findings of the interviews and observation undertaken in health locations in rural areas of Peru, aimed at exploring the application of mobile technology for health in isolated areas, and thereby to provide wider reflections about the use of mobile phones to improve health delivery in isolated areas in developing countries. It also reflects on methodological complexities, particularly those related to the application of online research methods, through the experience gained during the research.

The great growth of the penetration of mobile phones in developing countries has attracted the attention of the ICT4D community and numerous publications reflect about their impact for development (see for example Donner, 2005; Vodafone, 2004; Sullivan, 2007 or Scott et al., 2004). A part of this literature is focused on the application of mobile phones for health delivery (bridges.org, 2005; Katz, 2005 or Voxiva, 2005). Nevertheless, publications about the application of mobile phones for health focused in rural areas of developing countries are still scarce. This paper focuses on this gap of the literature, focusing on rural areas of Peru and wider reflecting about the behavior of mobile phones in this specific context. 

Given the evolution and forecasts of penetration of mobile phones in developing countries (see Gartner, 2006 or Donner, 2005) as well as the appealing of these devices for the population (Castells et al.,2007), it is important to remark that Health Ministries in developing countries and development agencies have not paid enough attention to the possibilities that mobile technology brings for health delivery. 

This paper reports on the interviews to healthcare workers undertaken in rural areas of Peru, aimed at exploring their perception about how mobile phones can contribute to the resolution of their information and communication needs, as well as provide wider reflections about the general debate about the benefits of mobile phones for health for development. The workers were chosen as participants in two innovative and contrasting ICT4D projects: CellPREVEN and EHAS, seeking at obtaining valuable feedback about their experience on one side, and their opinion as healthcare workers with no previous experience on the use of mobile telephony within an ICT4D initiative, on the other. Additionally, the paper aims at exploring the complexities involved in the methodology, particularly the difficulties in the appliance of online research methods during the research.  

The article is structured as follows: first, the context of the research is presented; after that, some methodological issues about the field work in Peru are discussed. Next, the most remarkable findings of the interviews are presented, linked to wider reflections about the benefits of mobile phones in rural areas of developing countries. These results highlight three important advantages provided by mobile phones: the value of the immediacy in the communication for emergencies, the potential of multimedia capabilities of mobile phones and the improved reliability comparing to other technologies, but they also reflect on the recent limitations for their adoption and use in isolated communities. The article ends concluding that the application of mobile phones for health delivery is clear and of great impact in isolated areas of developing countries, but limited at this moment, with great potential in the short term.

Mobile phones are becoming prolific in society, both in industrialized and non-industrialized countries. Of all of the developments in new media, mobile is the only one that seems to be narrowing the digital divide rather than widening it, making it a crucial tool in improving the health of poor and hard-to-reach populations. Organizations around the world are beginning to implement mobile technology into their health behavior interventions and are seeing rising success. In diabetes and other chronic disease management, mobile phones are being used for medication alerts and health reporting. The technology is being used to send sexual health and HIV/AIDS information in places like downtown San Francisco and rural Africa, as part of ongoing testing, counseling and prevention services. In the US, applications involving GPS technology, video games, and persuasive technology are all being tested for their effectiveness in influencing health behavior and applicability on mobile phones.

Through published research and interviews with key leaders in the mobile health field, this paper outlines the benefits of mobile technology and the barriers to integrating mobile fully into public health campaigns. Despite the enormous work already being done and a host of new technologies on the rise, most experts will agree that mobile phones on their own will not serve as primary tools for influencing health behavior.  A comprehensive and integrated campaign that incorporates mobile will be most effective, but mobile alone faces too many barriers to fostering social norms on the wide-scale. In fact, many argue that the ways in which public health advocates are able to place health messages in broadcast media cannot be applied on cell phones because of society’s growing resistance to mobile marketing.

The paper asks: What are some examples of how organizations around the world have harnessed mobile technology to improve the health behavior of disease-specific and target populations? What lies in the future for mobile technology and health? Is mobile the answer we have been looking for?