July

An interview between Ken Banks and Erik Hersman, author of the popular African Digerati interview series, has now been made available on-line. In the interview, Ken talks about his work, and his thoughts on technology and development

July 2007: kiwanja.net interviewed for Sussex University alumni magazine

Following the recent uptake of news and a spate of interviews, Sussex University recently approached kiwanja.net and requested an interview for their own "Falmer" alumni magazine (Ken Banks graduated from Sussex University in 1999 with a BA (Hons) in Social Anthropology with Development Studies). The
interview was largely based on the one given to
Rhett Butler of Mongabay.com in April (thanks to Rhett for permission to reproduce parts of the interview). A PDF of the recent Sussex interview is available here (thanks to the Sussex University Alumni Department)

July 2007: New mobile interest group launched on Facebook

kiwanja.net has recently launched a new group on Facebook -
The Social Mobile Group - for non-profit organisations,
members of the general public and ICT professionals interested
in the growing use of mobile technology in developing countries.
For further details on the impact of mobiles in areas such as health,
education and economic empowerment - or to join the group -
click the link above or visit the external website here

July 2007: ZapBoom digital activism site launches with kiwanja in "Dream Team"

A new website has been launched to help disseminate information on how citizens use digital technology to organize campaigns for political change. Developed by Mary Joyce, a renown digital activism blogger and author, the site announced its Dream Team - "the people I admire as being at the top of the digital activism field worldwide". Visit ZapBoom to check out the full list

July 2007: kiwanja.net Blog now available via RSS

   As part of this summer's planned ongoing website development, the Blog is now
   available via an RSS feed. This News page will be next!

July 2007: Interview with Ken Banks on the new ShareIdeas.org website

Ken Banks was interviewed earlier
this month by Sheila Kinkade, one of
the Editors behind the newly launched
ShareIdeas.org website.
ShareIdeas.org is an online community
and a wiki for sharing ideas on how
mobile communications are being used
for social and environmental benefit.
It was created with support from Nokia
and Vodafone, but belongs to the
growing global network of individuals
and organizations that use this virtual
gathering place to communicate and
collaborate

July 2007: kiwanja.net to talk at the Digital World Research Centre

Ken Banks has been invited to speak at the next "Digital World Seminar", a monthly event hosted by the Digital World Research Centre at Surrey University, UK. Ken will discuss the use of mobile technology in international conservation and development, and talk about his present and future plans for FrontlineSMS

June 2007: Banff Expert Panel opening statement now available on-line

A video of Ken Banks' opening
position statement from Banff is
now available online. kiwanja
was invited to sit on the Expert
Panel discussing "Web Delivery
Models for Developing Regions"
at the 16th International World
Wide Web Conference, held in
Banff, Canada this May. Click
on the image to the right to open
the video page

(Running time: 10 minutes)

June 2007: FrontlineSMS used to help monitor Philippine elections

Last month, FrontlineSMS was used as one of a number of tools to monitor the Philippine elections. The results - and a report - on the monitoring project, run by the Philippine Computer Professionals Union, will be announced once analysis of the data is complete

June 2007: kiwanja at mobile activism workshop in Nairobi

kiwanja.net has just returned from a 'Mobile
Activism in Africa' workshop organised by
Fahamu and Tactical Tech, held in Nairobi,
Kenya. The purpose of the meeting was to
enable activists to exchange experiences and
plan strategies to support their work. There
are also plans to establish an African regional
network of social justice advocates who use
mobile technologies, and to facilitate an ongoing support network for these organisations

June 2007: FrontlineSMS shortlisted for 2007 Mobile Messaging Award

FrontlineSMS has been shortlisted in the "Messaging Application/ Service: Public Sector/Not-for-profit" section of the 2007 Mobile Messaging Awards. The winners will be announced at a Gala Awards Dinner in Monte Carlo on the 5th June 2007, immediately after the first day of the Global Messaging Congress

May 2007: New website audio players added for recent interviews

In response to the recent increase in interviews, audio player links have been added to the kiwanja.net website to allow users to listen directly. Players are now available for:

May 2007: NMEM release final report on the use of FrontlineSMS in Nigeria

The Network of Mobile Election Monitors (NMEM) have released their final report on the use of kiwanja's FrontlineSMS system in the recent Nigerian presidential elections. According to the White African website:

"This type of election monitoring is ground breaking in Africa. I wouldn’t be surprised if it continued to be a case study for future monitoring efforts around the continent - it perfectly showcases
how technology can be used to circumnavigate government and
organizational inefficiencies by going directly to the people"

A PDF version of the report can be downloaded here, courtesy of NMEM

May 2007: kiwanja interviewed by Erik Hersman of African Signals

Ken Banks recently gave an interview on the work of kiwanja.net to Erik Hersman, the man behind the hugely popular White African blog. African Signals is a new internet video news channel which highlights interesting technology stories from around Africa. The interview - which was podcasted - is available on the African Signals website or by clicking on the player below

May 2007: kiwanja at the 16th International World Wide Web Conference

kiwanja's Position Paper for the forthcoming MobEA V workshop in Banff, Canada was recently accepted by the Workshop Committee and Ken Banks will be there to present the paper in person. MobEA V is one of a number workshops taking place at the 16th International World Wide Web Conference in Banff, between 8th and 11th May, and tackles issues surrounding the implementation of the mobile web in developing countries. kiwanja presented a similar paper at a W3C Workshop last December in Bangalore, India

Ken Banks has also been invited to sit on one of only seven specialist panels at this international event, and will be discussing "Web Delivery Models for Developing Regions" as part of the Technology for Developing Regions track. Panel details are available here

May 2007: kiwanja.net interviewed by Nokia

Following a successful presentation at the W3C Workshop in Bangalore (see December's news item), kiwanja.net was interviewed about its work in Africa for Nokia's "New Horizons" magazine. "New Horizons" is a quarterly newsletter targeted at anyone interested in new growth markets and reaching the next billion subscriber milestone. It also provides industry insights from different players, including operators, regulators and research companies. The interview can be read here

May 2007: The inside story behind FrontlineSMS and the Nigerian elections...

Ken Banks of kiwanja.net has written an exclusive 'behind the scenes' article on the thinking behind FrontlineSMS, and how it ended up being used to help monitor the Nigerian elections last month. To read the article visit Pambazuka News. Thanks to Firoze Manji for his interest in the story

April 2007: WSIS: FrontlineSMS featured as "ICT Success Story of the Month"

    FrontlineSMS has been featured on the World Summit
    on the Information Society (WSIS) website as the
    "ICT Success Story" of the month for April/May 2007

April 2007: BBC "Have Your Say" discussion on the use of SMS in the Nigerian elections

Following news that FrontlineSMS was to be used to monitor the Nigerian elections, the BBC set up a Discussion Forum to
encourage debate on the subject. For an interesting insight into how voters in Nigeria feel about the new text message
monitoring phenomenon, visit the BBC forum

April 2007: kiwanja on the BBC

Following news that FrontlineSMS is to be used to monitor the forthcoming Nigerian elections (see below), kiwanja.net has been invited to talk about the technology, and the story behind it, on the next edition of "Digital Planet", the weekly BBC World Service programme that reports on technology stories from around the globe. A podcast of the segment of the programme relating to this story can be downloaded here (MP3, 5Mb) or via the player below. The story was also picked up by BBC News (all material courtesy of the BBC)

April 2007: FrontlineSMS to be used to monitor Nigerian elections

The Network of Mobile Election Monitors of Nigeria (NMEM) have recently implemented kiwanja's FrontlineSMS system and will be using the software from Saturday 21st April to monitor the country's Presidential Elections. Volunteer observers will text their observations into the FrontlineSMS hub where the election process will be monitored. kiwanja has provided free technical support and advice, as well as use of the software, to the Nigerian NGO. Full details are available via the official NMEM Press Release

kiwanja.net believes that all non-profits, whatever their size and wherever they operate, should be given the opportunity to implement the latest technologies in their work, and actively seeks to provide the tools to enable them to do so

April 2007: kiwanja interviewed by Mongabay.com

A recent interview with Mongabay.com has just been published on-line. Mongabay seeks to promote appreciation of wildlands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging local and global trends in technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development. The interview covered emerging technology trends, in particular the use of mobiles
 

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