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February 2010: FrontlineSMS to feature at activist conference
FrontlineSMS will be on the agenda for women activists in the Middle East, who are set to gather later this month for a conference on social media. The aim is to help women innovators from the MENA region take their causes to the next level through social media and emerging online tools. Further details available here
Tech4Society is described as a "celebration that explores the cutting edge of global technological social change. It is an event where rural meets urban, low-tech meets high-tech, and where the lines between business and social, education and creation, begin to blur". Ken Banks will be taking part in panel discussions on innovation at the event, due to take place over three days in Hyderabad in India. Further details are available on the AshokaTech site
February 2010: Ken Banks to talk at London School of Economics
February 2010: Interview with BBC Click on Ushahidi in Haiti
The use of social media and crowdsourcing in the current Haiti crisis has been unprecedented, and Ushahidi - the crowdsourcing/visualisation tool which emerged from Kenya's recent post-election violence - has been at the forefront of co-ordination efforts. As part of their coverage of events, BBC Click invited kiwanja's Ken Banks to their London recording session to talk about crowdsourcing and social media. The short three-minute programme segment is available here
February 2010: "SMS Uprising" presentation at Cambridge University
Following the publication of "SMS Uprising" last month (see earlier news item for December 2009), Sokari Ekine - the books' Editor - will join Ken Banks for a talk on its contents and conclusions at the Centre of Governance and Human Rights at Cambridge University. Details of the event, scheduled for 1st February, are available on the Centre's website here
January 2010: RANET FrontlineSMS guides in English, French, Portuguese
January 2010: FrontlineSMS featured in The Guardian
FrontlineSMS, and kiwanja.net, have been featured in The Guardian in an article discussing mobile technology in Africa. "Whether it's checking market prices of crops, transferring money or simply making a call, mobile phones are transforming Africa. But could this new technology end up bypassing the poorest?". The full article - "Are mobile phones Africa's silver bullet?" - is available on the Katine Chronicles Blog here
January 2010: Farmer Voice initiative looking to mobile
Farmer Voice, a Gates Foundation-funded initiative, recently held a one-day workshop at the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University in the UK. The initiative brings together best practice in farmer feedback systems for agricultural development, and the workshop investigated ways and means of assisting farmers communicate better with agriculture-based initiatives. Ken Banks was invited to discuss the use of mobile technology, and to present the work of FrontlineSMS users in agriculture. A video of some of those uses - compiled by the Gates Foundation - is available here, and a link to the Farmer Voice initiative here
January 2010: BBC coverage on the use of technology in Haiti
January 2010: Judging complete for the 2010 Global Mobile Awards
January 2010: Guest article in HCI "Interfaces" magazine
January 2010: Rockefeller announces new funding for FrontlineSMS
Last month the Rockefeller Foundation announced a one-year $150,000 grant to The kiwanja Foundation to continue its work developing FrontlineSMS. The funding will allow an expansion of the software development team, and increased outreach, development and support of the user and developer communities. The funding was initially announced on the kiwanja.net blog here
January 2010: Ken Banks appointed Inveneo Advisory Council member
kiwanja's Ken Banks has joined Inveneo's Advisory Council along with Gerry Douglas (Baobab Health Trust), Clyde Rodriguez (Microsoft) and Ethan Zuckerman (Global Voices, Berkman Center at Harvard Law School). Inveneo's mission is to get ICT tools such as computers, telephony and Internet access to those who need it most - people and organizations in rural and highly underserved communities of the developing world. You can read more about Inveneo here
December 2009: kiwanja's Humanitarian Centre talk now online
Last month, kiwanja's Ken Banks was invited to speak at the Humanitarian Centre in Cambridge on his work with mobile technology, and his wider interest in entrepreneurship and mobile innovation in the developing world. The Humanitarian Centre supports innovation and enterprise amongst the Cambridge humanitarian community, and during October/November welcomed three Cambridge-based speakers to give their own unique perspectives on what is meant by 'social enterprise'. A PDF summary of Ken's talk is available here, and an audio version of the whole talk here [30 minutes]
December 2009: FrontlineSMS featured on BBC News website
FrontlineSMS has been featured on the BBC News website as part of their coverage of the release of the latest UN/Vodafone Foundation report (see news item below). The news report - "Aid agencies must use new tools" - focuses on technologies such as Ushahidi, Twitter, Facebook and FrontlineSMS, described as a crucial part of disaster management. Click here to read the article
December 2009: FrontlineSMS featured in latest UN report
Following their recent examination of the mHealth landscape, the UN/Vodafone Foundation partnership have now turned their attention to a new topic – "New Technologies in Emergencies and Conflicts". The new study, available for download on the UN Foundation website, examines how authorities and humanitarian/aid organisations balance the opportunities and challenges of exploiting different technologies at key stages during the timeline of a crisis. The report provides a useful overview of the topic, and gives a number of good examples of how social media tools are being deployed on the ground in emergency and crisis situations. The report also highlights a number of mobile-related tools and services – including FrontlineSMS and Souktel - and provides a number of examples of how Ushahidi has been deployed in trouble spots around the world
December 2009: kiwanja.net presenting at UK Government science gathering
Ken Banks will be one of four presenters at a gathering on 9th December discussing "Science, Technology and Innovation for Poverty Reduction". The seminar is jointly organised by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, the Institute of Physics and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Ken's talk will be on grassroots mobile innovation, and his work with NGOs and FrontlineSMS. A PDF brochure detailing the event, which is open to the public, is available here [1.4Mb]
December 2009: Guest chapter in forthcoming "SMS Uprising" book
"SMS Uprising" provides a unique insight into how activists and social change advocates are addressing Africa's many challenges from within, and how they are using mobile telephone technologies to facilitate these changes. Other contributors to the book include Nigerian activist Sokari Ekine, who runs the prize-winning blog Black Looks, Juliana Rotich from Ushahidi in Kenya and Berna Ngolobe of WOUGNET in Uganda. Further details on the book, and how to order, are available on the Fahamu Books and Pambazuka Press website here
November 2009: Month of student talks continues in San Francisco
The past few weeks have seen a flurry of talks at conferences, workshops and universities, including two lined up to computer science classes interested specifically in building mobile tools for social change. The first of these talks is to students at Mills College, a nationally renowned independent liberal arts college for women with co-ed graduate programs. The second is set to take place at the University of San Francisco to a class focusing primarily on Android applications development. Details of that talk - and the homework set for the class! - are available here
November 2009: Collaboration with Ashoka on "SMS Guide"
An ongoing collaboration with the Ashoka Changemakers network has resulted in the publication of the first of three text message-related guides. The first - "SMS Quick Start Guide" - was released this week and is designed to help non-profit organisations quickly get up and running with their own FrontlineSMS messaging hub. The other guides, one of which will be a case study of Ashoka's own use of the software earlier this year in Africa, is due out next month. The first guide is available here (PDF, 1Mb)
November 2009: FrontlineSMS wins prestigious international award
The Tech Museum at Santa Clara University recently announced the 2009
October 2009: Interview with CNN for "anthropology innovation" article
Ken Banks, kiwanja's Founder, was recently interviewed by CNN for an article on "Human behaviour: The key to future tech developments". The article looks at the focus of mobile innovation at the bottom of the pyramid, and how anthropologists are helping gain a valuable insight into the way people use mobile technology. The full article can be read here
October 2009: FrontlineSMS:Credit launched at Africa Gathering
October 2009: kiwanja.net at Humanitarian Centre, Vodafone and Stanford
October 2009: Second appearance at Africa Gathering London
The organisers behind Africa Gathering London have announced that kiwanja.net will be the first speaker of this year's Friday night networking event. Ken Banks, Founder of kiwanja.net, will draw on years of experience working at the intersection of technology, anthropology, conservation and development in Africa and talk about the impact of mobile technology on the continent. Tickets for the event, which is being held on 9th and 10th October, are available on the Africa Gathering Eventbrite page
October 2009: FrontlineSMS featured in Commonwealth Broadcaster
The role of FrontlineSMS in rural radio is the topic of an article in the latest edition of the Commonwealth Broadcaster, a quarterly publication published by the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) which seeks to further the concept of public service broadcasting. CBA's interest in FrontlineSMS follows a significant increase in interest among media organisations. The magazine article can be read here (pages 16 and 17)
October 2009: FrontlineSMS at Better World by Design 2009
October 2009: Ken Banks speaking at "The Feast"
September 2009: kiwanja.net guest article published on BBC website
This month the BBC have been covering the arrival of the Seacom fibre optic cable off the coast of East Africa, focusing on Kenya initially and today moving on to Rwanda. The coverage - video, news, blogs, photos and opinion - is all brought together in a new “Connected Africa” section of their website. kiwanja's Ken Banks was asked to submit a guest article as part of the series, focusing on mobile technology and innovation. The article can be read here
September 2009: kiwanja keynote at mLife conference in Barcelona
September 2009: FrontlineSMS demos at Cambridge/Microsoft event
September 2009: kiwanja.net/FrontlineSMS at Nokia World 09
Nokia World 09 is described by Nokia as a dynamic experience, co-created by the community, arranged by Nokia and focused on developing new business opportunities. The event offers products, services and solutions that connect communities, help realise potential, entertain and celebrate people’s lives. kiwanja's Ken Banks has been invited to speak - and take part in a Q&A session - covering mobile technology, grassroots innovation, mobile applications development and FrontlineSMS. Full details of the main event are on the Nokia World website
August 2009: FrontlineSMS featured on the BBC News website
"Any attempt to rig or interfere with Afghanistan's election could be caught out by a system that allows anyone to record incidents via text message. The text messages are collected via a free-platform known as FrontlineSMS, developed by UK programmer Ken Banks". On the eve of the 2009 Afghan elections, the BBC News website reported on "Alive in Afghanistan", a project which used FrontlineSMS and Ushahidi to help citizen monitoring of the elections. The full BBC report can be read here. Congratulations to Brian Conley and his team for putting together such a great initiative
August 2009: Debut TV appearance for kiwanja.net on VoxAfrica TV
August 2009: FrontlineSMS:Medic featured in Economist video
During a recent Economist interview on predicting pandemics, Nathan Wolfe - a global virology expert - talked briefly about his work with FrontlineSMS:Medic, who are helping set up a data collection network as part of his work in Cameroon. You can watch Nathan's full video interview here
August 2009: FrontlineSMS at the 6th Annual Youth Assembly at the UN
FrontlineSMS will be profiled at the 6th Annual Youth Assembly at the United Nations, due to take place at the UN headquarters this month. The background and uses of the software will be profiled during a panel discussion during the "Innovations for Change! MDGs in Action" session. Full details on the Assembly, and a draft program, are available on their website
August 2009: Talk on building mobile applications at the CCC
Early this month sees the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Workshop on Computer Science for Global Development at Berkeley, California. The aim of the workshop is to build a community of interested researchers to develop a field of legitimate academic inquiry through the establishment of a set of values, methods and metrics of evaluation that can unite research in this area, and create bridges to existing sub-areas of Computer Science research. Ken Banks will be giving a talk at the conference, discussing the design and development of mobile applications for developing regions (a similar talk is available here)
July 2009: kiwanja.net to speak at George Washington University
Ken Banks has been invited to speak at the "Fifth International Workshop on Political Management for Change Projects", an event being held by the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University later this month. More than a hundred leaders from different parts of Latin America and Spain will attend sessions which seek to begin an exchange of information on the application of technologies to address the type of problems participants face in their everyday activities
July 2009: FrontlineSMS and Ushahidi help monitor drug stocks in East Africa
July 2009: Ken Banks interviewed by Project Diaspora
July 2009: Ken Banks keynote to postgraduate students at IPID
The 2009 Annual Conference of the International Network for Postgraduate Students in the Area of ICT4D (IPID) is due to be held at Royal Holloway, University of London on 11th and 12th September, and will be hosted by the ICT4D Collective and UNESCO Chair in ICT4D. The conference aims to provide postgraduate students opportunities to present short papers about their research in a supportive environment where they can gain positive feedback from other participants, and to provide an opportunity to discuss key themes of interest to ICT4D postgraduates. Ken Banks, Founder of kiwanja.net, has been invited to make a keynote opening speech at the conference. Further details nearer the time |
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