A global network of people using mobile technology for social impact.
Have you heard the joke about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? If you're a young person in Iran you probably have. Political jokes are spreading like wildfire in Iran, reports Parisa Dezfoulian in an article on texting in Iran in Middle East Online.
According to Desfoulian, SMS has become a way for young people to circumvent authority, largely through the spread of political jokes on subjects from nuclear energy to petrol bans to government rationing. She notes that with more than 20 million SMS messages sent every day in Iran,
Ever wondered how Walmart ranks when it comes to supporting gay and lesbian employment equality? What about Starbucks, Coca-Cola, or Microsoft? Employment equality is an issue that the gay and lesbian community has advocated for for years. It has now moved into the cellphone age with point-of-purchase company information for conscious consumers. The U.S.-based Human Rights Campaign recently launched a new tool: An SMS buyers guide that that brings instant information about businesses' support of gay and lesbian equality straight to your mobile phone.
Post-election violence has exploded in Kenya in the wake of the December 27 presidential elections. Ethnic killings -- which today's New York Times suggests may have been carefully planned -- have increased, and estimates of the death toll range from 650 to over 1000. In the midst of this, people both in and outside the country are using mobile phones in innovative ways to communicate political knowledge and circumvent the media blackout.
When most mainstream media report on Kenya's upcoming elections, they focus on the perspectives of people in cities or urban areas. However, since this October citizen journalists using cell phones have reported on news and political perspectives from rural Kenyan communities. A new collaboration between Media Focus on Africa and the Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) gives mobile phones to "Community Information Volunteers" to use as a reporting tool.
"Please Call Me" messages are a popular cultural form of mobile communication in South African society. These USSD messages are used to advertise everything from car insurance to domestic airlines to the local corner store. Today, thanks to a recent project by SocialTxt, these free messages are used for the first time ever for social marketing: to encourage South Africans to get tested for HIV and obtain AIDS information.
A new website called the Hub, calling itself "the global platform for human rights media and action," has its official beta launch today in honor of International Human Rights Day. The Hub, a project of human rights advocacy group WITNESS, hopes to create a new space for human rights related video content, including footage shot on mobile phones.
Tamaryn Nelson, program coordinator for Latin American and the Caribbean at WITNESS, told MobileActive that the Hub goes beyond the capabilities of YouTube. "There's no real place for human rights related material [on YouTube]," she said. "YouTube has tons of videos, but if you go onto YouTube and try to find a video related to human rights it's like finding a needle in a haystack. With the Hub, Tamaryn said, human rights advocates will be able to create a campaign around their videos, join online chats, provide context, and frame videos from a human rights perspective.
Mobile phone businesses are transforming families and villages in Uganda, writes Tatum Anderson of the BBC. The article profiles Joseph Ssesanga, a 24-year-old entrepreneur who started a mobile call center in his family's home.
The business began as part of a loan from a microfinance institution, and has grown into a company that operates in six villages and employs other phone operators. Ssesanga even bikes around the village offering the phone service to his neighbors. He says that the family is much better off financially, and can now afford to pay costs like school fees.
The family business now operates in six villages, employs phone operators and even provides a phone-charging service for those with their own handsets. They were able to repay the loan in four months, and today can afford to pay school fees. "We were farmers, but seasons are a major problem. We grow vegetables, but sometimes they can be damaged and you lose everything," he said to the BBC.
A mobile phone service launched in South Africa this past Saturday provides HIV testing station locations through the use of SMS. South Africans can send an SMS to the short code "31771" with the word "HIV" followed by the name of their town or postal code. The service then responds with the location of the two nearest traveling testing units.
iAFrica.com reports,
Did you know that you can dial up the Burmese government for free from your mobile phone? A new program called Call for Change allows users to call Burma and other humanitarian causes at no cost beyond what their mobile provider charges for a local call.
Call for Change is a program of Rebtel, a Stockholm-based company that provides low-cost and free ways to make calls on a mobile phone. The service works currently works in 40 countries and 50 U.S. cities.
Call for Change started about a month ago during the protests in Burma. Rebtel's staffers felt passionately about the Burmese protests, and were frustrated when Burma suddently disappeared from the nightly news. Greg Spector, one of Rebtel's founders, wrote on Rebtel's blog:
Mobile phones are creating connections between people living with HIV/AIDS in Mexico. A recently completed pilot project called Zumbido allowed its 40 test users of diverse backgrounds to communicate about the daily challenges they face in a meaningful and lasting support network. Unlike other hotline or support mobile phone services, where a user calls one person for help, Zumbido functioned as a network, with each text message sent to every member of the support group.
Mobileactive had a conversation with Anna Kydd, one of the project coordinators of Zumbido. Zumbido -- "buzz" in Spanish -- provided its 40 participants with mobile phones and unlimited text messages. The large group was broken up into four smaller groups of 10. Each group had a mix of different types of people from urban and rural locations, all from the Mexican state of Jalisco. Each group also included a professional doctor or psychologist. "The role of the professional was not to be a sort of leader in the group, however," said Anna. "Everyone in the group was an expert in their own experiences, and they all had something to give that group."
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