MobileActive.org turns five this fall. We think that this is a perfect time to highlight the creative and amazing practitioners in the m-4-change field. Our community of developers, organizers, advocates, field staff, researchers, donors, and many more is what makes this peer network so strong and vibrant.
We wanted to hear from you on where the field of 'mobiles for change' has been, where it's going, and how a community like MobileActive.org can help along the way. So we called people around the world who have been in the field for a while to hear their thoughts.
Last week's tech salon, "Mobiles for Women and Women in Mobiles," brought together practitioners, researchers, and mobile developers. The event highlighted both the amazing women working in the field of mobiles, and also showcased the promise that mobiles offer to improve the lives of women and girls around the world.
Designed to encourage discussion, the tech salon featured both presentations and an open marketplace, where attendees mingled and shared their work and experiences.
In late September 2005, a group of 40 innovators and activists who were exploring the socially beneficial applications for mobile phones as more than just a personal communication device, convened in Toronto for a 3-day meeting.
From that meeting, MobileActive.org was born.
Today, five years later, MobileActive.org is a growing international digital community of 20,000 highly skilled practitioners, technologists, campaigners and strategists like you.
In 2005 there were just over 1.5 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide. Today, we have already cleared the 5 billion mark. And thanks to the visionary work of the people in this community, the idea of leveraging mobile technology to improve people’s lives, is at top of mind.
This month, NYC will be abuzz (and grid-locked in traffic) with leaders and practitioners in town for two high-profile gatherings focused on international development: The UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals and the Clinton Global Initiative’s Annual Meeting.
With that opportunity and energy in mind, this month’s MobileActive.org Tech Salon (on Thursday Sept. 23rd) is themed “Mobiles for Women & Women in Mobile” - calling attention to the growing role of mobile technology in development, and particularly the role and needs of women in this field.
Through a mix of short presentations on projects & research, we will take a closer look at:
The Mobile Citizen Project, which aims to fund and support mobile initiatives for social change in Latin America, launches today. The program is a project of the Science and Technology Division of the Inter-American Development Bank, with the support of the Italian Trust Fund for Information and Communication Technology for Development. MobileActive.org is a media partner, powering the Program's "Ideas Box."
According to the project's press release, the "Mobile Citizen Program aims to accelerate the development and implementation of mobile services to address acute social and economic problems. We will provide support to develop citizen-centric solutions that target low-income groups in urban and rural areas of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region."
It's been an eventful week here at MobileActive.org with much going on. So it's only now that we are happy to announce that MobileActive.org is a 2009 Knight Foundation News Challenge Winner. The prize is for the Mobile Media Toolkit, a comprehensive directory of mobile tools and strategies that will allow anyone use mobile tech for citizen media and journalism. We believe that there is a critical need for better aggregation and presentation of tools, tech, and resources for citizens and media organizations around the world. MobileActive.org is one of nine winners, out of more than 3,000 applicants.
For more, watch this video, courtesy of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, where I explain what the Mobile Media Toolkit is all about. Thank you, Knight Foundation, and Gary Kebbel, Knight Foundation journalism program director, for your support of our work. (video after the break)
Mobile Tech 4 Social Change camps are participant-driven, interactive, and highly productive events of people who are working with mobile technology for social impact.
Mobile Tech 4 Social Change includes interactive discussions, hands-on-demos, and collaborations about ways to use, deploy, develop and promote mobile technology in health, advocacy, economic development, environment, human rights, citizen media, to name a few areas. Participants for Mobile Tech 4 Social Change barcamps include nonprofits, mobile app developers, researchers, donors, intermediary organizations, and mobile operators.
The second in the MobileActive barcamp series, we'll explore mobile tech to advance social development and social change goals. Expect this to be highly participatory and interactive, and cover anything you wanted to know about using mobiles for social change. MobileTech for Social Change New York is open to anyone with passion and interest in the topic and since it's a barcamp, bring your ideas, innovations, products, tools, projects, and organizations!
And if you want to be an angel and sponsor the event, contact us at info at mobileactive dot org!
MobileActive.org welcomes on staff Patricia Mechael, an expert in mobiles for health, and mobiles for development. I am personally so pleased to work with Patty!
Here is a bit more: Dr. Patricia Mechael has been involved in the field of International Health for over 12 years with field experience in over 25 countries with a special focus on Africa. She holds a Masters in International Health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Hygiene, and a PhD in Public Health and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she examined the role of mobile phones in health in Egypt.
In this report we explore the dynamics of the role of mobile phones in enhancing access to and creating information and citizen-produced media. We explore trends in the use of mobile telephony with a focus on software and platforms that make content creation and broadcasting easier. We also present an inventory of current and potential uses of mobile phones to promote citizen media and freedom of information, and present short case studies of examples--all from the MobileActive.org community.
We are very privileged to co-host MobileTech for Social Change, a barcamp on 4 November 2008 in San Franciso from 10 am - 2 pm. We are especially pleased to co-organize the event with Dan Appelquist from Mobile2.0, Mobile Monday UK, and Vodacom. Registration is here!
Fresh back from MobileActive08, we'll explore mobile tech to advance social development and social change goals. Expect this to be highly participatory and interactive, and cover anything you wanted to know about using mobiles for social change. MobileTech for Social Change is open to anyone with passion and interest in the topic and since it's a barcamp, bring your ideas, innovations, products, tools, projects, and organizations!
And if you want to be an angel and sponsor the event, contact us at info at mobileactive dot org! Registration again: Go here!
Two great blog-posts wrap up MobileActive08. Ismail Dhorat from ignite^2 gives an overview of one of the best sessions on ReadWriteWeb:
I found this presentation by Tino Kruetzer, a researcher at the University of Cape Town, extremely interesting. It was based on the interim results of a pilot study on mobile internet usage by low income youth in Cape Town. Some of the key findings were:
How are social movements in the global South taking advantage of the ubiquity of mobile phones? Melissa Loudon, a researcher now working at the University of Capetown, looked at how the South African Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is using mobiles in their work to advocate for a comprehensive HIV/AIDS policy in South Afric, and wrote this article based on her research.
Kevin Gillan, a researcher on the British anti-war movement, describes social movements as “definitionally collective and communicative”. Co-ordination of protest action, mobilisation of financial resources and strategic interaction would be almost unthinkable without information and communication technologies (ICTs). Although the importance of mass media to social movements has long been recognised, new ICTs burst on the scene in 1999 when demonstrators in the 'Battle of Seattle' orchestrated unprecedented protest action using mobile phones, email and the Internet. Ever since, ICTs have been accepted as an integral part of mobilisation in the North.
We are pleased and proud to welcome and thank the sponsors and supporters of MobileActive08. We are very grateful for the generous and amazing funding from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada which is a major supporter of the event. IDRC has also been instrumental in the mobile-for-social-impact field with extraordinary research and support, so we are very pleased that IDRC staff and grantees will be contributing their expertise and innovations to MobileActive08.
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!
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:
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!
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.
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.
