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Thursday, December 11, 2008

Cell phones/text messaging for development

I'm looking at some links/info on this topic b/c a friend is involved with an organization called the Flip Flop Foundation, and is interested in if/how they can use cell phones in Zambia as part of their mission:
http://www.flipflopfoundation.com/

I remembered seeing this article in the NYT earlier this year, about how a Reuters employee named  saw an application for mobile phones and text msg'ing in providing market data to rural farmers in India; Reuters is currently testing the program, called "Reuters Market Light":



A Google search led to a number of news piece about how text msgs are being used in S Africa in a public health context.  This 2003 BBC piece describes how individuals who suffer from TB and/or HIV are reminded to take their medication:

"Text messages prove a life-saver"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2698533.stm


A related initiative in S Africa is using the extra space left in "PCM" ("Please call me") text msg's to ask people to get tested and treated for HIV; both these articles from the past few months describe this "Project M" (M is Masiluleke, which apparently means "wise council" in Zulu):

"Texts used to tackle South Africa HIV crisis"
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/01/hiv.text.messages/index.html

"The Transformative 120: Text Messages Prove a South African HIV Lifeline"
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009090.html


Here is the link to the Project M's homepage:
http://www.poptech.org/project_m_the_challenge/


Google also led me to this interview with a guy named Ken Banks, who has been working on applying mobile technologies to development--in particular in Africa--for a number of years:

"Cell phones, text-messaging revolutionalize conservation approaches: An interview with IT conservation expert Ken Banks"
http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0415-banks_interview.html

That page in turn led me to the website for Kiwanja.net, which Banks founded:
http://www.kiwanja.net


Finally, to bring this back around, both Banks and the Reuters employee who developed Reuters Market Light did so through the Reuters Digital Vision Program at Stanford:
http://www.rdvp.org/
http://rdvp.org/archives/2006/08/18/mans-olof-ors-05-and-project-market-light-in-timesonline/
http://rdvp.org/fellows/2006-2007/ken-banks/

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