Posted by Bonnie Bogle on Jul 01, 2006
In the latest edition in m-trends’ series on women in mobile, Rudy de Waele features Trixie Concepcion from TXT Power and Mobile Active. Trixie played a key role in spreading the infamous Hello Garci ringtone throughout the Philippines and helped make it the most well known political ringtone in the world. It's a great interview that you can't miss. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
While some of us are working and wondering what’s going to be the next new business model or next killer application in mobile technology, other people in different parts of the world are using the mobile phone to fight injustice. Trixie Concepcion of TXTPower, the group that popularized the Hello Garci protest ringtones in the Fillipines, is one of them. I think it’s essential for m-trends.org readers to know a bit more about her and her activities.
You can read the whole piece over at
m-trends.
Posted by Bonnie Bogle on Jun 26, 2006
It’s widely accepted that social networks are the latest online wonder child. MySpace.com is the fifth most popular website in the world, YouTube.com is the 20th, and Xanga.com is the 38th, according to Alexa.com traffic ratings. But will these communities work away from the computer?
MySpace thinks so. In April the website made a deal with Cingular to offer text message alerts to people whenever a new comment is added to their MySpace page. And Helio, a start up mobile company, has released a phone chock full of MySpace features that allow mobile users to view MySpace profiles and easily post comments and photos to the website from their phone. If this catches on, it could pave the way and even serve as a model for comprehensive mobile and web campaigns. Cell phones are already being effectively used around the world to contact government officials, register voters, and sway voters. Combining the text, photo, video, and voice capabilities of cell phones with a strong online community could make for very powerful, community-focused campaigns.
Posted by Bonnie Bogle on Jun 11, 2006
Cell phones have added $650 million to Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) and created almost 240,000 jobs in the country. On top of that, most of the jobs pay significantly more than the average job, a recent study by the international firm Ovum found. Grameen Phone, and its Village Phone program, should be given a lot of credit for this.
Posted by cspence on Jun 07, 2006
On May 21 the National Democratic Institute (NDI) provided technical assistance to a Montegrin NGO called the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) that successfully monitored their country's independence referendum using SMS as the primary observer reporting tool. We believe this is the first time an election monitoring group has employed text messaging to meet all election day reporting requirements. Details about the program follow.
General Information:
- Election monitors from the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) in Montenegro conducted the first ever election monitoring project where SMS was used as the primary tool for reporting election information with NDI technical assistance.
- 200 observers reported approximately 11 times each throughout the day including voter turnout and results data, transferring over 2000 reports to the reporting center in Podgorica. All reports were automatically entered into the reporting database where they were immediately included in analysis reports.
Turnout
Posted by Bonnie Bogle on Jun 06, 2006
With the expansion of cell phone access and text messaging use, it was only a matter of time before it started – the SMS joke. And not surprisingly, few subjects are poked fun at more than local politics and of course the politicians.
"Da Vinci Code to be totally banned in the Philippines. GMA [Gloria Macapagal Arroyo] has been informed by Dan Brown that she is a direct descendant of Judas."
That’s one of the many SMS jokes being circulated throughout the Philippines making fun of the current president and her restrictive policies, among other things. Tonyo Cruz from TXTPower, and a MobileActive, passed on a bunch of the jokes that he’s seen sent around the country. You can read them all at the bottom of this post – thanks Tonyo!
The Philippines has been ahead of the curve in using cell phones for activism (remember the 2001 revolution and the Hello Garci ring tones), but SMS political jokes are spreading to other countries too. In Tamil Nadu, India, residents are sending out SMS jokes to make fun of the candidates from a recent election and their policies. One message circulating the region is an image of a candidate crying – supposedly showing her dismay at her party’s poor performance in the election. Another criticizes one party’s idea to give out “freebies,” saying that these practices will hurt businesses and make people lazy.
Posted by on May 10, 2006
I have a robot that constantly looks for select information online about my campaign. It sends me an SMS if and when it finds what I need.
The world today is clearly threatened by information overload, but that's far from the worst problem we face. The right tools for dealing with the barrage of information available can help us deal with the long list of other, more frightening problems facing humanity.
One new class of tools will do just that - by delivering new items in any RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed to your mobile device by SMS or to your IM client. (If RSS is new to you, there are intro links at the end of this post.)
Posted by Bonnie Bogle on May 02, 2006
SMS campaigns are becoming common in many parts of the world, but perhaps no where so much as in India. Every couple days it seems like a new campaign has been started and is getting coverage in the Indian online newspapers.
On the heels of the Justice for Jessica SMS campaign that received significant press coverage in India and abroad, a campaign has been started seeking justice for a woman in Patna, India. Text messages asking people to forward the message on to friends and to the head of police showing their support for a woman who says she was sexually exploited by a police officer.
A political candidate in West Bengal, India, is sending text messages to reach out to urban and semi-urban citizens to ask for their vote in an upcoming election. Text messages are being circulated in Madhya Pradesh, India,asking people to conserve water. In several parts of India SMS campaigns are urging parents to send young children to schools that teach in their native language, rather than in English. And university students started a campaign for the quick recovery of Pramod Mahajan, an Indian politician who was recently shot several times.
Posted by kiwanja on Apr 27, 2006
I recently made a presentation at a Conference hosted by Technologies for Conservation and Development (t4cd) at Microsoft's Research Centre in Cambridge, UK.
The Conference, which I helped organise through my work with the lead project partner - Fauna & Flora International - brought technologists and conservationists together to try and join the dots in this 'mini digital divide'. My talk was on the growing use of text messaging within the conservation and development communities, and more generally in wider society.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Apr 27, 2006
From our colleagues at Donor Digital:
Mobile Text to Give for Amnesty and UNICEF
If you're one of the 100 million people with a PayPal account, now you can use your mobile phone to donate to Amnesty International USA and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Just register your cell phone at PayPal, then text AMNESTY to 78787 and you'll donate $10. Text WATER to 78787 and you'll donate to UNICEF.
Imagine you're at a baseball game or a rock concert and you're invited to get out your cell phone and donate $5 or $10. It may be another year or two before this gets big. PayPal's service is brand new and just launched its "Text to Give" tool. Verizon, Cingular, and Sprint take 40% off the top.
Try it out.
Posted by Bonnie Bogle on Apr 23, 2006
Most people access the internet from a computer, but more and more are going online from their mobile. A new study by IPSOS Insight looks at the internet and technology use of people living in 12 different countries, and predicts that “mobile phones are poised to overtake the PC at the dominant internet platform in some markets.”
One reason for this is that globally more people have mobile phones than computers. In Japan, 95 percent of households surveyed have at least one phone, and 40 percent of these people go online using their mobile phone. In developed countries, most homes have more than one mobile phone – the average is 2.2.
But even in countries where mobile phones are less prevalent – the study finds only 61 percent of Canadian households own one – people are using them to go online. Another interesting finding is that growth in mobile browsing isn’t being spurred by younger users who are usually the first to use new technology – it’s by users who are over 35.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Apr 10, 2006
SMS messages were in wide use in the recent Thai elections, both officially and inofficially.
In preparation for Thailands snap election last week, Thailand's Election Commission sent text messages to 25 million cell phone customers politely reminding them to vote. The message read: "You are cordially invited to exercise your right to vote on February 6, between 8 am and 3 pm."
At the same time, the Nation, a Thai newspaper, reported recently on a text message campaign among voters urging them to bring a a pen with them to mark their ballots.
The SMS stated: "Don't use the rubber stamp provided [by the authorities] to prevent fakes. Tell all your friends too."
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Apr 04, 2006
A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project studies how Americans use mobile phones. A must read for US-based organizers and advocacy organizations. From the press release:
"The cell phone has become an integral and, for some, essential communications tool that has helped owners gain help in emergencies. Fully 74% of the Americans who own mobile phones say they have used their hand-held device in an emergency and gained valuable help.
Another striking impact of mobile technology is that Americans are using their cell phones to shift they way they spend their time. Some 41% of cell phone owners say they fill in free time when they are traveling or waiting for someone by making phone calls. And 44% say they wait to make most of their cell calls for the hours when they do not count against their “anytime” minutes in their basic calling plan....
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Mar 31, 2006
The SMS petition campaign for justice in the Jessica Lal murder case that we wrote about here wrapped up last week with more than 200,000 SMS signatures (previous links no longer active). On air the 24-hour news station NDTV solicited their viewers – mostly middle class and mobile phone owners - to send a text message to the station protesting the injustice they saw in the acquittal of all nine men accused in the fashion model's murder in a crowded bar. These text messages, treated like signatures on a petition, were promised to be sent to the president to show the nation's outrage in what they saw as government corruption and a police cover up.
NDTV's managing editor said, "That just goes to show you technology has changed the face of mobilization completely. Because if this were like ten years ago and you were going door to door collecting signatures, which would have been its equivalent, it would have taken you many more logistics, just an army of volunteers. You didn't need any of that. You needed one rallying point on television."
Posted by justinoberman on Mar 28, 2006
Who would not want to save this guy?
As the seal hunting season opens, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is launching a major campaign at stopthesealhunt.com and on cell phones all across the UK.
Starting yesterday, IFAW launched advertisements, like the one showed above, in the Sunday Mirror and has already received well over 10, 000 responses which, according to Jed Alpert, CEO of Politxt (the political arm of his Rights-Group media) the company responsible for the back end technology of the campaign, is a very sizeable response rate for a newspaper ad. IFAW will be displaying the add in various UK newspapers throughout the week and will be putting them up in the London tube some time in early April. In the UK, send the text message "Ban It" to the short code 60123.
More on the story is at Personal Democracy.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Mar 22, 2006
This campaign is powered by Mobile Voter and MobileActive Ben Rigby, supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Mar 15, 2006
Hay gente que afirma que los investigadores pueden localizarte en un radio de 10 metros, otros hablan de una precisión mayor.
Te gusten o los odies, el teléfono móvil es una herramienta muy útil para el activista contemporáneo. De todos modos, los beneficios que aportan en términos de anonimato y movilidad tienen una cara negativa, la de ser otra herramienta que el Gran Hermano puede emplear para controlarnos. Cuando el teléfono móvil se convierte en algo indispensable supone una amenaza para tu seguridad y tu privacidad.
Pero no todo está perdido, con unas cuantas precauciones sencilla
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Mar 15, 2006
From India: The "Justice for Jessica Lal" campaign is fueled by massive sms campaigns across the country.
In Mumbai, "TV news channel NDTV launched a "Fight for Jessica Lal" campaign to garner support for a fresh trail in the ‘Jessica Lal murder case’ where all the nine prime accused were "honoroubly" discharged by a Delhi sessions court this week. (Lal, a model, was filling in as a bartender in a posh south Delhi restaurant when she was shot in the wee hours of 30 April 1999 after she reportedly refused to serve liquor to Manu Sharma, the son of Haryana Excise Minister Vinod Sharma." Sharma was recently acquitted.
Posted by kiwanja on Feb 17, 2006
According to a GSM Association spokesman quoted on the BBC Online website today, "The mobile phone is the only viable technology that can bridge the digital divide". This is quite a bold statement in a debate which has been running for a fair old time. It goes along the lines that by putting something digital – a mobile phone in this case – into the hands of the worlds poor you can economically empower them, among other things. If it were only this simple.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Feb 14, 2006
Fury over Danish cartoons - A cell phone is held aloft as protesters angry over caricatures of Muhammad burn Danish and U.S. flags in Amman, Jordan. Digital communication has become a lifeline for protest organizers. (Photo by Ali Jarekji -- Reuters - published on the The Washington Post). [via textually.org]
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Jan 20, 2006
Control Arms, a joint campaign of Oxfam, Amnesty, and Iansa, is running the 'Million Faces' campaign to push for an international arms trade treaty. Mobile users can upload teir picture and join the petition via their mobile phones in the UK (curiously this is not mentioned anywhere on the site..)
Here is how it works: To join the call for an international arms treaty on a mobile phone, participants text the word 'petition' followed by their full name to a number in the UK (84118) and their name is automatically added to the Million Faces petition. Alternatively, they can upload their picture (to 07955 474747) with their name and age and their photo will be added to the petition.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Jan 12, 2006
BBC: How mobiles changed the face of news -
A wonderful 22 minute video from the BBC looking at how user-generated content and mobile phone footage on stories like the London bombings has changed the way broadcasters report the news. The BBC has been looking back at how user generated content has become part of everyday news throughout 2005. Input from news editors from around the world, including Dan Gilmore. [via Cyberjournalist.net]
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Dec 11, 2005
MobileActive held its first conference call for activists, exploring sms bulk messaging.
Thanks to Ben Rigby of Mobile Voter! Audio of the conversation is here. (thank you, Eric!)
Notes from the call -a Primer on Bulk SMS messaging (focused on the US, for the most part) are here on the MobileActive resource wiki.
Topics discussed included:
* what is bulk text messaging?
* how does it work through an SMS gateway and through an aggregator?
* what are the pros and cons of either method?
* what are other systems (FrontlineSMS, and others) and how do they work?
* what does it cost?
* what is the connection to applications such as CiviCRM (a constituency relationship management system) and Drupal?
Meanwhile, MobileActive Justin Oberman wrote a feature of Frontline SMS, a low-cost tool for small sms campaigns:
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Oct 20, 2005
Date Published:
October 19. 2005
Published in:
CNET/News.com
Story Title:
Want to Vote? Text me Now.
Story Link:
http://news.com.com/Want+to+vote+Text+me+now/2100-1028_3-5900606.html?tag=ne
News:
Great story about MobileVoter, MobileActive, and mobiles in politics on CNET's news.com:
"On a billboard alongside a busy San Francisco boulevard, above a restaurant called "My Tofu House," a message aimed at young Asian-American voters is helping break new ground in political activism. "Register to vote," reads the advertisement, which looks more like an ad for a hip new Nokia phone than a public service message. "Text 'IVOTE' to 80837." The campaign, jointly produced by a new nonprofit called Mobile Voter and the city's Chinese-American Voter Education Committee, is one of the first in the United States to take the surge of political activity that has emerged around e-mail and the Web and move it wholly to the cell phones that are appearing in more and more pockets." More here.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Oct 06, 2005
Date Published:
October 5, 2005
News:
MobileActive is over but the work has just begun...Stories about the convergence and the use of cell phones and texting in avocacy and civic campaigns are coming in fast after the first-ever MobileActive. The event brought together a group of activists from around the globe to explore the use of cell phones for social justice and citizen participation campaigns.
Patrick Burnett, a participant from Fahamu, puts it well: "In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) SMS is being used to monitor child rights violations.
