A global network of people using mobile technology for social impact.
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.
The newest addition to the MobileActive YouTube channel is a video interview with Tamaryn Nelson, the program coordinator for Latin America and the Carribean at WITNESS. In the interview, Tamaryn discusses the Hub, a website that she calls a "YouTube for human rights," which allows people to upload videos of human rights and create campaigns around them by adding context and joining discussion groups. The site has some videos taken on mobile phones and plans to add direct upload via mobile in the future.
Other MobileActive videos include an interview with Alô Cidadão! a Brazilian NGO that ran an SMS campaign for community information and an interview with Graziela Tanaka of Avaaz.org about mobilizing world opinion through SMS campaigns.
When Matthew Kam first went to India, he noticed the lack of English literacy of children that had studied English for three or four years. Most couldn't read, didn't know simple words, and sometimes couldn't spell their own names. "We realized that those students who had taken English for three years couldn't read every letter in the alphabet," Matt said. "Teachers who were teaching English couldn't speak English themselves." However, the English literacy of these same children improved dramatically when presented with a unique learning tool: a mobile phone.
As part of his research for a computer science Ph.D., Matt is working with a team of researchers and students at the University of California at Berkley in the United States. The project, called MILLEE, or Mobile and Immersive Learning for Literacy in Emerging Economies, works to develop mobile phone games aimed at teaching literacy to children in India.
This video about women's rights is one of three mobile phone videos made by Egyptian artist Ahmad Sherif, designed to be spread virally on mobile phones.
The text, translated into English, says
Muslim? Great. Christian? Perfect. Jewish? Shalom. Veil? Why not. Niqab? Be my guest. No Niqab? Your choice. Atheist? Whatever. You're ready to die for God? It's your life. You would die for Adel Imam? Who wouldn't...
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."
A video circulated on Egyptian mobile phones begins with a picture of a couple holding hands. Images follow of condoms, birth control pills, and even the mouths of a man and woman kissing. "Love: so what?" reads the text. "Love before marriage isn't a shame. Egypt, start loving."
The video is one of a set of three mobile phone videos made by Egyptian artist Ahmad Sherif, designed to be spread virally from mobile phone to mobile phone. The campaign, which started in 2007, aims to generate discussion of subjects that are considered taboo in Egyptian society. The other two videos deal with issues of free speech and women's rights.
Imagine if every member of the legislature could see a message from your constituents, just by looking out of the window. A text-to-screen campaign allows for exactly this: A large screen, placed right outside the State House, for example, that brings your constituents’ text messages to legislators' eyes.
Not only can people in front of the screen see the message, but anybody can watch a live feed of the messages on a website. "Text to screen allows people in remote locations to interact in a meaningful way with one location," says Jed Alpert of Mobile Commons, a vendor providing a text-to-screen platform.
Individuals interact with the screen by sending a text message or SMS to a short code (a five or six-digit phone number). The SMS is then displayed on jumbatron screen, as well as on a web screen.
The brightly-colored umbrellas of mobile phone vendors, selling top-up airtime and the use of mobile phones for calls, dot the landscape of urban and rural Nigeria. However, says a new book on mobile phones in Nigeria, cell phones haven't just visually changed the landscape of Africa's most populous country, but have transformed the country economically, socially, and democratically as well.
MobileActive has aggregated dozens of videos focused on the use of mobile phones in civil society on our new MobileActive YouTube channel.
The MobileActive channel features playlists about mobile phones used in a variety of different fields. On the Mobile Phones in Advocacy playlist, you can watch videos about Greenpeace Argentina's work to pass the Ley de Bosques (Forest Law) by using mobile phones and an advertisement for FishMS, a South African SMS infoline that allows users to text in the names of fish and get a rating about their environmental sustainability. Watch the Mobile Phones in Global Development channel for videos on mobile banking, the Village Phone program, and the growth of mobile phones in the developing world. Check out the Mobile Phones in Human Rights playlist for a variety of videos of human rights abuses taken on mobile phones, including the mobile videos of Egyptian police brutality by blogger Wael Abbas.
Other MobileActive YouTube playlists include Mobile Phones in Citizen Media, Mobile Phones in Disasters and Relief, Mobile Phones in Education and Learning, Mobile Phones in Elections and Participation, Mobile Phones in Poverty Alleviation, and many others.
Check out the new MobileActive YouTube channel and add your videos on the mobile revolution!
MobileActive releases the first-ever comparison of do-it-yourself SMS campaign tools, designed especially for NGOs. The Guide helps NGOs get started in setting up a SMS campaign and includes a comparison of different SMS campaign software.
Over the last several years, it’s become clear that mobile phones are becoming one of the most influential devices in our social, political, and civic lives. Savvy nonprofit organizations and NGOs are experimenting with using mobile phones as persuasive devices to recruit new supporters, organize groups, and advocate for causes.
Thus far, most of the successful mobile-phone campaigns have relied on text messaging as their persuasive technology of choice. It’s the only mobile phone technology that works reliably across the majority of mobile phones in most countries. In addition, most people in most countries are familiar with text messaging.
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Advirtek
student
Ben Freda Consulting