MobileActive's Blog

We have written a lot about providing consumers with just-in-tine information about products on their mobile.  Shoppers can receive an SMS about sustainable fish or climate impact of products already.  This is the idea of the new GoodGuide, a new start-up spun out of the University of Berkeley. Good Guide provides 'green' consumer information for shoppers who want to buy products in line with their values.

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One India reports on how mobile phones are used after the devastating floods in Bihar, India. While relief and aid have been very slow to get to Bihar, mobiles are proving to be a life saver.  According to One India,

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This conference might be of interest to the Mobile Active community!  September 22, 2008 is the last date for submission of papers for the 3rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD2009).

ICTD2009 will be be held in Doha, capital of the small, oil-rich country of Qatar along the Arabian Gulf. This conference is a focal point for new scholarship in the field of ICT and international development. Confirmed speakers include a keynote by Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corporation.

Conference Co-chair Richard Heeks notes: "As noted previously, we will particularly welcome papers about mobiles and development."

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Yael Schwartzmann is a social entrepreneur, a programmer, and a mobile innovator.

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When we hosted MobileActive07 in Brazil last year, this beautiful mobile baby was still in his mother's belly -- Graziela from Avaaz.org who was a MobileActive07 participant.

As we are getting ready for MobileActive08 in Johannesburg, we are happy to report that, in true MobileActive.org fashion, this child (a baby no more) MOVES!   We hope to see more of the next generation of MobileActives in South Africa!  Register now for MobileActive08  as the spaces (and baby motos) are filling up fast! And congratulations, Mama Graziela!

MobileActive is a member of a new working group on the 'mobile web' for social development. (Discloure: we underwrote a recent event in Brazil of the group). Now the Economist has written a piece on the working group. Here are some excerpts and some thoughts and critiques of this effort.

The Economist states the case:

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By Katrin Verclas and John Soeren Petterson

There are two notable events this fall focusing on mobile telephony for social impact and for development. The first event is MobileActive08, October 13-15 in South Africa. The second is M4D 2008: Mobile Communication Technology For Development, December 11 and 12 in Sweden.

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Strengthening ICT4D Research Capacity in Asia (SIRCA) Programme is announcing a call for grant proposals.

The SIRCA Programme seeks to identify research leaders, and to facilitate their development through the support of research grants. The awards are focused in the area of Information and Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D or ICTD) in Asia.  There are three (3) categories of funding – 20,000 Singapore Dollars (SGD), 26,500 SGD and 33,000 SGD. Project proposals exceeding 33,000 SGD must specify the source of additional funds.

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A new study from the University of Manchester argues that conflict is benefitial to mobile infrastructure investments.  These investments have long thought to be dependent on 'pillars' like security and stability, finance and infrastructure, workers and labour markets, and the regulatory framework and tax. "Overarching all of these, the view is that good, stable governance forms the crucial basis for investment," write Agnieszka Konkel and Richard Heeks from the University of Manchester in the UK.

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Beauticians in Pakistan, sex-workers in Serbia, taxi drivers in Thailand. What do they have in common?  They're all being helped by mobile phones which make it cheaper to start up businesses, and reduce the cost of operating.  Besides sparking off "entrepreneurship," mobiles across the globe are giving a spurt to productivity, says a June 2008 World Bank report on The Role of Mobile Phones in Rural Poverty Reduction.

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