LiveCast enables live video streaming directly from a cell phone, mobile internet device, PC or Mac to anyone connected to the Web. Coupled with GPS-enabled mobile devices, LiveCast adds detailed location data within each frame of the video stream. The integration of location based services with the stream enables dynamic mapping of the video.
Established in 2007, Myframe is working to change the way people instantly share life from wherever they are. We are a group of Internet and telecom veterans with over 30 years of combined experience in R&D, Product Development, Marketing, and Sales, working hard to turn our vision into a reality. We are a small family of creative minds working together to create what we believe will be the next big thing in mobile communications.
Uses of Mobile Phones in Post-Conflict Liberia data sheet 5008 Views
Author:
Michael L. Best, Edem Wornyo, Thomas N. Smyth, John Etherton
Publication Date:
Jan 2009
Publication Type:
Report/White paper
Abstract:
Liberia is a country emerging from years of protracted and devastating civil conflict. Left without any fixed line telephone infrastructure, it relies solely on the mobile phone for telephony. This study investigates the usage of mobile phones in this immediate post-conflict setting. In particular, the authors adopt the uses and gratification approach to media research, giving focus to both instrumental and intrinsic motivations for use. Mobile phone users in both the capital city of Monrovia and in various rural areas were surveyed using the Q methodology, which identified distinct perspectives within these urban and rural groups. Participants were then sorted into groups where each group contained users with similar perspectives on their mobile phones. These identified groups included sets of users who saw their phones as productivity enhancers, means of connectivity to family and friends, essential business tools, technological curiosities, and sources of personal security. The idea of a phone as a stylish object was markedly rejected, especially in rural areas. We contrast these Q-sort results from Liberia with previous work from Kigali, Rwanda, finding differences especially as related to security.
Hispanic Broadband Access: Making the Most of the Mobile, Connected Future data sheet 2580 Views
Author:
The Hispanic Institute, Mobile Future
Publication Date:
Sep 2009
Publication Type:
Report/White paper
Abstract:
As the U.S. develops a national broadband strategy, much is at stake for American consumers, the country’s economy, as well as future innovation and its many social benefits. Complex issues from infrastructure deployment to digital literacy to consumer-friendly tax reform all play into U.S. efforts to close the digital divide and usher in a new era of innovation and opportunity. Equally important to ensuring these benefits are shared throughout our society is a deeper understanding of the unique needs, challenges and connected behavior of diverse Americans.
This paper explores the broadband behavior, challenges and opportunities of the nation’s 48 million Hispanics. A better understanding of this community and its connectivity—increasingly defined by a strong preference for mobile broadband access—can help shape a successful national broadband strategy that spurs substantial new opportunities at the intersection of broadband, mobility and the Hispanic community.
Here are some mobile events for the month of October that we thought are noteworthy and of interest to the MobileActive.org community. If you know of others, please mail us at info at MobileActive dot org.
The first Mobile Web Conference in Africa is a two-day event in Johannesburg that focuses on some of these key questions: How will the mobile industry evolve to a point where the vast majority of people have access to the mobile web and the content they want to view? How can societal and economic problems be tackled by the development of the capabilities of the mobile device?
PopTech explores major trends shaping our future, the social impact of new technologies, and new approaches to addressing the world’s most significant challenges. Several PopTech Fellows are part of the MobileActive.org community, including Deb Levine from Isis.inc, a leader in using mobile phones for sexual health education.
Does ICT Benefit the Poor? Evidence from South Africa data sheet 2874 Views
Author:
Stefan Klonner, Patrick Nolen
Publication Date:
May 2008
Publication Type:
Report/White paper
Abstract:
The authors study the economic effects of the roll-out of mobile phone network coverage in rural South Africa, addressing identification issues which arise from the fact that network roll-out cannot be viewed as an exogenous process to local economic development.
The authors combine spatially coded data from South Africa's leading network provider with annual labor force surveys, and use terrain properties to construct an instrumental variable that allows us to identify the causal effect of network coverage on economic outcomes under plausible assumptions.
The study finds substantial effects of cell phone network roll-out on labor market outcomes with remarkable gender-specific differences. Employment increases by 15 percentage points when a locality receives network coverage. A gender-differentiated analysis shows that most of this effect is due to increased employment by women. Household income increases in a pro-poor way when cellular infrastructure is provided.
The Digital Provide: Information (Technology), Market Performance, and Welfare in the South Indian Fisheries Sector data sheet 1263 Views
Author:
Robert Jensen
Publication Date:
Aug 2007
Publication Type:
Journal article
Abstract:
When information is limited or costly, agents are unable to engage in optimal arbitrage. Excess price dispersion across markets can arise, and goods may not be allocated efficiently. In this setting, information technologies may improve market performance and increase welfare.
Between 1997 and 2001, mobile phone service was introduced throughout Kerala, a state in India with a large fishing industry. Using microlevel survey data, we show that the adoption of mobile phones by fishermen and wholesalers was associated with a dramatic reduction in price dispersion, the complete elimination of waste, and near-perfect adherence to the Law of One Price. Both consumer and producer welfare increased.
The ICT4D 2.0 Manifesto: Where Next for ICTs and International Development? data sheet 3926 Views
Author:
Richard Heeks
Publication Date:
Jan 2009
Publication Type:
Report/White paper
Abstract:
ICT4D – the application of information and communication technologies for international development – is moving to a new phase. This will require new technologies, new approaches to innovation and implementation, new intellectual perspectives and, above all, a new view of the world's poor. All these must be understood if we are to harness digital technologies in the service of some of our world's most pressing problems.
This paper explains the phase change – from "ICT4D 1.0" to "ICT4D 2.0" – and its implications. The background to these phases is reviewed, charting the logic and chronology of applying ICTs in developing countries. The implications of the phase change are then analysed.
First, in terms of new technology and application priorities. Then, in relation to new models of innovation we may need to embrace: from laboratory to collaborative to grassroots innovation. Next, in relation to new implementation models for funding, managing, and applying digital technology. Finally, the paper looks at necessary new worldviews to guide our thinking and our policies in this field; integrating perspectives from computer science, information systems and development studies. Additional commentaries and models provide a further set of rich insights into the future of ICT4D.
Mobile Phones in Africa: How Much Do We Really Know? data sheet 5539 Views
Author:
Jeffrey James, Mila Versteeg
Publication Date:
Jan 2007
Publication Type:
Journal article
Abstract:
Mobile phones are a crucial mode of communication and welfare enhancement in poor countries, especially those lacking an infrastructure of fixed lines. In recent years much has been written about how mobile telephony in Africa is rapidly reducing the digital divide with developed countries. Yet, when one examines the evidence it is not at all clear what is really happening. In one country, Tanzania, for example, some observers point to the fact that 97% of the population lives under the mobile footprint, while others show that ownership is very limited. These extreme values prompted us to review the situation in Africa as a whole, in an effort to discover what is really going on.
Even though the article is from 2007, the content is still extremely relevant. The authors write: This paper accordingly seeks to clarify the conceptual confusion that underlies the grossly different estimates of the extent to which mobile telephony exists on the continent. To this end we employ a framework that distinguishes between mobile phone subscribers, mobile phone owners, mobile phone users, those who benefit from usage and those who have access to this technology. This classification, we feel, will provide the reader with a better understanding of the state of mobile telephony in Africa and will have important implications for the type of data that are needed, but at present are unavailable. The categories that are identified, moreover, help us better to understand different views as to the extent of the digital divide in mobile phones between Africa and the rest of the world."
Currently, most SMS surveys have questions that ask people to respond to a menu of multiple choice answers. But Textonic, an open-source tool that helps sort open-ended text responses, seeks to change that.
"I think it's potentially a major shift in terms of the way we do social research," said Thomas Robertson, one of the lead developers on the project.
Textonic, which has yet to be actually used, was developed as part of a graduate class taught by Clay Shirky in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. The tool is a way of connecting RapidSMS, the data collection platform used by UNICEF, with Amazon Mechanical Turk.
South Africans use the word hectic to mean anything from cool, crazy, fun, to stressful. I mean hectic as the last sense of the word when I describe my efforts to accomplish a fairly simple goal in South Africa: set up a blog that I could update via SMS for a quick demo.
In the US
If I had tried to do this in the US, I would have had a myriad of possibilities, some good, and some bad. I will go through these possibilities to show the scope of what could be available in many countries, but isn't.
ICF Macro's mission is to deliver high-quality, research-based solutions to complex problems, integrating objective information with the advisory and implementation tasks needed to improve real world performance. This goal has shaped the firm's history since its founding in 1966. In its pursuit ICF Macro has nurtured core competencies in research and evaluation, management consulting, marketing and communications, and information technology.
In a classroom in Thies in Senegal, two teachers master an educational game on their mobile phones. Ten minutes later, their pre-school group is using the game to recognize number and count to 10. Noumounthi, Tamsir, Khady Coly and Mamadou, computer science students at the University of Thies, designed and developed the game following a recent Mobile Camp in Senegal. The exitement in the classroom helps the team of students understand the power of their new skills in mobile application programming, and what it means to be a mobile entrepreneur in Africa.
Mobile camps may be building the next generation of mobile programmers by helping to develop a new field of study in African higher education. Recent camps have produced tools for social development and provided educators with new skills.
Partners International is a Washington, D.C.-based independent information technology consulting firm, specializing in quality project management software, outsourced IT support services, and custom software development services.
Kineto Mobile is a mobile commerce solutions provider focused on enabling the transactional functionality of business through the use of mobile technologies. Kineto Mobile has products that equip businesses and individuals who require mobility and connectivity to operate business environments, according to their specific needs.
MAP owns and operates a flexible, multi-dimensional financial services platform, built around open, modular technology—much of it proprietary. The platform seamlessly integrates with and dramatically enhances existing national financial infrastructure. By making mobile banking, ATM’s, point of sale devices, electronic bill payments, merchant processing, web-based tools, electronic funds transfer, and debit/credit cards easily available to all citizens, we deliver a mass-market virtual payment solution linking consumers, merchants, banks, and service providers.
Clyral is a vibrant company made up of a group of computer engineers, creative experts and developers. Since its inception in 2004, Clyral has grown from strength to strength to become a well respected contributor in the digital solutions sector.
We'd like to think that mobiles are a great economic equalizer, decreasing the gap between rich and poor.
But in a case study [PDF] published earlier this year about cloth weavers in Nigeria, authors Abi Jagun, Richard Heeks and Jason Whalley contest the conventional wisdom that more mobile phones result in a more equal society.
"There were few signs, then, of mobile telephony levelling the playing field; and more signs that it had been a technology of inequality," the authors wrote.
The study, which looked at the use of mobiles by the aso oke cloth weaving sector in Nigeria, found that mobiles did help those who had them. "By substituting for some journeys, plus in-person meetings, we can see that phone calls have reduced the time and financial cost of information-gathering, often by several hours and several U.S. dollars respectively per call (not to mention the opportunity cost gains)," wrote the authors.
The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then-Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship.
Since that time, more than 195,000 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in 139 host countries to work on issues ranging from AIDS education to information technology and environmental preservation.
Souktel, an SMS service based in the Middle East and East Africa, is all about connections. The service, launched in 2006, uses SMS to connect users to everything from jobs and internships to humanitarian aid and youth leadership programs.
The name comes from "souk," the Arabic word for "marketplace," and "tel," or "telephone. Although at least 80 percent of people in Palestine have access to mobile phones, most people have Internet access only in cafés or public places, said Jacob Korenblum, co-founder of Souktel. "Getting information about medical care, jobs, and food bank services can be difficult," he said. And even at Internet cafes, Korenblum said that many people, especially women, lack access to these services. "We wanted to develop a very simple service," he said. "That's how Souktel started."
The World Wide Web (WWW) enabled quick and easy information dissemination and brought about fundamental changes to various aspects of our lives. However, a very large number of people, mostly in developing regions, are still untouched by this revolution. Compared to PCs, the primary access mechanism to WWW, mobile phones have made a phenomenal penetration into this population segment. Low cost of ownership, the simple user interface consisting of a small keyboard, limited menu and voice-based access contribute to the success of mobile phones with the less literate. However, apart from basic voice communication, these people are not being able to exploit the benefits of information and services available to WWW users.
The World Wide Telecom Web (Spoken Web) is our vision of a voice-driven ecosystem parallel and complementary to that of the WWW. WWTW is a network of VoiceSites that are voice driven applications created by users themselves and hosted in the network.
