"However, in order to reap the full benefits from connectivity in a long-lasting manner, underlying issues of policy, affordability and technology need to be addressed," LIRNAsia's Executive Director Rohan Samarajiva and co-editor of the book with Ayesha Zainudeen, told Mobileactive.org in an email interview.
Currently Asia is the fastest growing region in the world in terms of connectivity. Between 1984 and 1993, the Asia Pacific as a region overtook the other regions of the world (mainly due to mobiles), and it continues to grow, he noted.
"The book looks at the recent experiences of some countries in emerging Asia that are improving connectivity.
We welcome to our team two new occasional bloggers from India and Uganda: Frederick Noronha and Esther Nasikye. You will see blog posts and stories from them starting today. Both are experienced in ICT for Development and have a special interest in mobiles for social change. We are looking forward to your contributions, Esther and Frederick, and welcome you to the MobileActive community!
We also say the warmest of Goodbyes to Cory Ramey, who, for the past year, has been an incredible team member, blogger, writer and researcher here at MobileActive. She is returning to graduate school for her Master's in Journalism in New York City. We very much hope she'll stay in touch with an occasional contribution about how mobiles are changing the way we organize ourselves as a people - as a full-fledged reporter! We'll miss you, Cory!
Below are some awards and funding opportunities that we have come across that might be of interest to the MobileActive community. None of the opportunities listed are adinistered by MobileActive; we are just the messenger!
Women in Science Competition Recognising women scientists in sub-Saharan Africa who are "engaged in innovative and pioneering research and communicating the outputs - knowledge, technologies, approaches - for enhancing agricultural performance in sub-Saharan Africa." This competition is also designed for women scientists who are repackaging and communicating existing knowledge to improve the agricultural productivity and livelihoods of rural communities, or who are advocating for policy change to optimise the benefits of scientific and technological developments. Deadline: August 15 2008, more information here.
SANGONeT and MobileActive.org invite you to register now for MobileActive08. MobileActive08 is the only global gathering that is connecting leaders who are working at the convergence of civil society, mobile technology and social change. If you:
have expertise in the field of mobile technology for social development,
are a researcher working on mobile technology for social impact, or
are a mobile service provider with interest in the social market,
MobileActive08 is the largest event to date focused on mobile technology for social development. This global gathering brings together people like you - practitioners, researchers, technologists and donors experienced and interested in the use and application of mobile technology for social impact. Register now!
At MobileActive08 you will explore how mobile phones are effectively used to advance civil society work, assess the current state of knowledge in the use of mobile technology to advance social development, and investigate trends, needs and investment opportunities.
We will cap attendance at 350 people and we expect to fill up quickly, so please register now to ensure your participation. Our partners at SANGONet and we at MobileActive.og look forward to welcoming you to South Africa!
Preparations for MobileActive08 are in full swing! MobileActive08 is all about mobiles for social impact - and submissions for some great sessions on mobiles in health, data collection, humanitarian relief, advocacy, human rights, environmental protection and other areas.
We are still accepting proposals for sessions for MobileActive08 with YOUR ideas for mobiles of social impact until June 30th. MobileActive08 will take place in Johannesburg October 13-15.
If you want to run a workshop, give a talk, showcase your project or product in the SIMplace or SIMlab, submit a proposal! Deadline is June 30th for submission of proposals; general event registration will open AFTER that date.
We've gotten dozens of great proposals from some of the most stellar names in the field. But we want to hear from you! Here is how it works:
We have written previously about mobiles as sensing devices to collect data and develop maps and understand patterns of human movement, traffic, air pollution, and even the spread of diseases. The mass-tracking of mobile devices and the use of mobiles as ubiqitous sensing devices are very promising but also have generated controversy, most recently when a Boston University study published in Nature revealed it has tracked 100,000 anonymized mobile phone users' position in an unidentified country (we suspect the UK) without these users' consent.
MobileActive08 session submissions are looking amazing. We have received suggestions from some of the most interesting people and projects in the field. We are still accepting submissions for workshops, talks, the SIMplace and SIMlab - the deadline for submissions is June 30th. But we are filling up, so please go ahead and submit your sessions!
Within the next few months, ZMQ Software Systems will be launching new mobile games to educate people about climate change as part of its Connect2Climate initiative. The first three games that ZMQ will release are called Polar Teddy Quiz, Mission Lighting, and DeCarbonator. On their website, ZMQ explains why they choose to use mobile phones for the games:
SANGONeT and MobileActive.org invite you to contribute your expertise to MobileActive08 that will take place from 13-15 October 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Do you have expertise in the field of mobile technologies for social development?
Are you a researcher with research findings to showcase about mobile technology for social impact?
Are you a mobile service provider with specific products to exhibit that benefit the social market?
If so, we invite you to submit your ideas to be part of MobileActive08!
MobileActive08 is the largest event to date focused on mobile technology for social development. This global gathering brings together practitioners, researchers, technologists, and donors interested in the use and application of mobile technology for social impact. At MobileActive08 participants will explore how mobile phones are effectively used to advance civil society work, assess the current state of knowledge in the use of mobile technology to advance social development, and investigate trends, needs and investment opportunities.
Danny Quah is Head of Department and Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics. I had the pleasure of meeting Danny at the recent release of "Wireless for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use," in London. This report is an exploration of how mobile technology is changing the way NGOs do their work, and includes case studies of how mobiles are used in social development. Danny had an articulate and cogent critique of our findings. We thought it would be interesting to MobileActive readers to hear his thoughts -- with which I could not agree more -- re-published here with permission.
Guest Blogger Sanjana Hattotuwa from ICT4Peacebuilding is reviewing Frontline SMS, a software that allows you to run an SMS campaign from your computer. It is one of a class of do-it-yourself SMS campaign tools that we have previously reviewed on MobileActive.org. Sanjana took a look at the new release of Frontline SMS and had this to say.
"I’ve written on FrontlineSMS before, so I won’t go into details about what it is and how great a programme I think it is. Ken Banks, the programmer, launched the new version of FrontlineSMS and it’s got a spiffy new website to boot.
Mobile phones are nothing new for Greenpeace Argentina. The organization has used mobile phones multiple times to mobilize its now 350,000 person-strong mobile list to successfully lobby for important environmental legislation. One of Greenpeace's significant accomplishments was the passage of the Ley de Bosques, or Forest Law.
Every hour, trees covering an area the size of forty soccer fields are cleared from the old growth forests of Argentina, home to indigenous tribes and numerous endangered species. According to Greenpeace, 300,000 hectares (3,000 square kilometers or 1,150 square miles) of native forest are cleared in Argentina each year.
Mobile phones aren't just for texting. An emerging field of research uses mobiles for "urban sensing," allowing phones to collect scientific data in new and innovative ways. The recently released UN/Vodaphone report, Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use, describes this new field.
Mobile sensing—also known as ‘participatory sensing,’ ‘urban sensing,’ or ‘participatory urbanism,’—enables data collection from large numbers of people in ways that previously were not possible. By affixing a sensory device to a mobile phone, mobile sensing provides the opportunity to track multiple data points and collect dynamic information about environmental trends from ambient air quality to urban traffic patterns. “sparse sensing strategy does little to capture the very dynamic variability of air quality that depends on automobile traffic patterns, human activity, and output of industries.”
Mobile technology is transforming the way advocacy, development and relief organizations accomplish their institutional missions. This is nothing new to readers of MobileActive. Our recent report Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use, released today by the United Nations Foundation and The Vodafone Group Foundation, brings this point home.
Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use was written by Sheila Kinkade (ShareIdeas.org) and Katrin Verclas (MobileActive.org), and commissioned by the United Nations Foundation-Vodafone Group Foundation Technology Partnership. The report examines emerging trends in “mobile activism” by looking at 11 case studies of groups active in the areas of public health, humanitarian assistance and environmental conservation.
In the United States, a used mobile phone is likely to end up in the trash can, or more likely, in the back of a desk drawer for several years, collecting dust. But in the rest of the world, this just isn't the case. Mobile phones -- or even parts of mobile phones -- are reused, recycled, and refurbished.
Jan Chipchase, a phone anthropologist for Nokia, has seen the way that old mobile phones transform into new ones while traveling for Nokia around the world. According to this CNET News article, Chipchase and his team (MobileActive wrote about Younghee Jung, an anthropologist who works with Chipchase, here) have found that refurbishing phones is a booming market in developing countries, with small businesses springing up that sell phone parts, repair manuals, and pirated versions of the newest software.
JD Lasica interviewed me at the Aspen Roundtable on Mobile Phones in Civic Engagement and posted the video on OurMedia - quite fitting. I am talking about MobileActive.org, and how the incredibly innovative and creative people of the MobileActive community are making the world a better place with your work, ideas, and knowledge. I describe some of the great projects that we have featured here - your projects, and your work. Thank you for all you do!
As we've written before, QR codes (a mobile bar code like the one in the image) have great potential for use by nonprofits and advocacy organizations to provide "just-in-time" issue information, be used as a recruitment tool, or provide an easy way to connect with an organization or make a donation. As QR codes become more widely used in the commercial sector, and as more people download the necessary software on their phones to be able to read the codes, nonprofits are likely to take advantage of the codes as well.
MobileActive was in an article in the Boston Globe yesterday, titled "Ringtones with a conscience." The reporter took her stories from the MobileActive blog and compiled them into an article that describes some of the ways that mobile phones are being used for social good. The article is below, with links to the original MobileActive stories.
In 2005, Samsung released a phone designed especially for women. The phone, with a "curvaceous, feminine design" included applications like a fragrance and aromatherapy guide, a shopping list, a calorie counter, a biorhythm clock, and a calendar to help women keep track of their periods. "Almost every woman will desire it," wrote one reviewer, in a piece entitled "High tech for the ladies."
Those marketers and reviewers have it all wrong.
For women around the world, mobile phones are not about sexy designs and knowing when it's that time of the month. Mobile phones are slowly changing the lives of women who use them and the communities in which they live. They've created a path out of poverty for many women in the developing world, as microfinance and "phone ladies" running businesses increase in numbers. Mobiles are enabling translation for victims of domestic violence in the United States, provide Ukrainian sex workers a way to safety, and protect Philippine domestic workers in the Middle East. Mobile phones are giving voice to female reporters in Africa and encouraging free speech in Egypt. And as mobile phones become increasingly ubiquitous -- they're already at 3.3 billion and counting -- they are likely to continue to influence the lives and societies of the women who use them in the future.
We are happy to announce MobileActive08, a three-day conference on mobile technology for social impact to take place October 13-15 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Organized with our amazing colleagues at Sangonet in South Africa, the theme of the 2008 event is "Unlocking the Potential of Mobile Technology for Social Impact." MobileActive08 will convene 250 civil society, development and technology practitioners interested in the use and application of mobile technology in civil society. This will be the largest international civil society event to date focusing on this topic.
Participants include non-profit practitioners using mobile phones in innovative and creative ways or considering mobile applications in support of their activities, mobile technologists, researchers studying the use of mobile phones, government officials, donors and representatives from the telecommunications industry.
We are especially pleased to welcome IDRC as a major supporter of the event. IDRC has been conducting research in how mobile telephony is advancing development and civil society goals, and is emerging as the major knowledge center of research on mobiles in health and development.
Two upcoming conferences will address issues relating to mobile phones in development.
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a Canadian organization focused on helping organizations in developing countries use technology, will be hosting a conference on mobile phones used to improve access to health services in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The conference will be held on March 17 and 18 in Florianópolis, Brazil. More information is available on the IDRC website.
A WC3 workshop on the "Role of Mobile Technologies in Fostering Social Development" is currently accepting proposals. According to the website, "The goal of the workshop is to understand specific challenges of using mobile phones and Web technologies to deliver services to underprivileged populations of developing countries."
