May

kiwanja.net was recently invited to respond to a Boston Review paper by Edward Miguel, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. The paper, entitled "Is it Africa's Turn? Progress in the world's poorest region", discusses recent economic developments on the continent. In response, Ken Banks highlights the increasing economic activity spurred on by the arrival of mobile telecommunications, and suggests that much of this 'informal' activity falls under the radar of many studies on African economic development

kiwanja's response can be read in full here

May 2008: "Silverback" debuts on BBC TV

kiwanja's "Silverback" mobile phone game, recently launched to help raise awareness and funds for gorilla conservation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has been featured on BBC TV's Fast Track programme. This follows its 'appearance' on the BBC World Service "Digital Planet" radio programme late last month

According to the BBC, "Fast Track is a travel programme on the BBC World News, designed to appeal to viewers who travel frequently for both business and leisure". Fast Track goes out weekly on BBC World TV. A link to the segment of the programme is available via the BBC website here

May 2008: Ken Banks writes article for Vodafone receiver

Ken Banks was recently approached by the publishers of the Vodafone receiver and has contributed a picture essay on kiwanja's work, based on images from the Mobile Gallery, for the April/May edition of the online magazine. According to Vodafone, "receiver is Vodafone's magazine for future thinkers, attracting a wide range of influential writers and industry leaders. It is a neutral space, where pioneer thinkers challenge you to discuss exciting and future-oriented aspects of communications technologies. Launched six years ago, receiver is now established as one of the industry's key idea generators". A link to the article will be made available within the next few days

April 2008: kiwanja.net launches conservation mobile phone gorilla game

kiwanja.net, in partnership with Fauna & Flora International and Masabi, have re-launched a mobile phone gorilla game originally developed for the Vodafone wildlive! service back in 2003. Revised and updated, the game aims to educate people about gorilla conservation, and increase awareness of the current conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a rebel war which is adversely affecting both the people who live there and the last remaining mountain gorilla population

The game, which is being distributed for free, can be downloaded from the Silverbackers website, where voluntary donations can also be made. There's also a Facebook Group for people who want to help promote the game, show their support or simply discuss the game, and a kiwanja Blog entry which discusses the thinking behind its re-release

The game was also covered by the BBC News website and discussed on "The World"
(MP3, 1.6Mb, 3 mins) - for background on the Programme see the News item below

April 2008: Kubatana and kiwanja interviewed on "The World"

Following recent news of the use of kiwanja's FrontlineSMS system in the ongoing Zimbabwean election crisis, Kubatana and kiwanja.net have been interviewed by the Technology Correspondent from "The World", a radio programme which goes out to over 240 stations throughout the United States. "The World" is a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston. A podcast of the news segment is available here (MP3, 2Mb, 3 mins)

April 2008: FrontlineSMS used during the 2008 Zimbabwean elections

Kubatana.net, a grassroots NGO seeking
to improve the accessibility of human rights
and civic information in Zimbabwe, have
been using FrontlineSMS to keep members
of the public up-to-date with election news,
and to solicit opinions on the ongoing crisis.
Used as part of their "What would you like
a free Zimbabwe to look like?" initiative,
Kubatana commented that "Without
FrontlineSMS we would not have been
able to process the volume of responses
we have received, and we would not have been able to establish a two-way SMS communications service in the way that we have". kiwanja's FrontlineSMS software has just been selected as a finalist in the Stockholm Challenge for its use last year in the Nigerian elections. To read kiwanja's Blog posting on FrontlineSMS in Zimbabwe, click here

April 2008: Ken Banks interviewed for New York Times mobile article

    Ken Banks has been
    interviewed for an article
    published in the New York Times
    Magazine, and New York Times Online, looking at how the mobile phone is being used to help end global poverty. A shortened version of the article was also published in the International Herald Tribune. The full article can be read on the New York Times website, or via kiwanja's Mobile Database

April 2008: "The FrontlineSMS story" published in Stanford Africa Journal

The story behind FrontlineSMS - from conception in early 2005 through to its use two years later in the Nigerian Presidential elections - has just been published in the slightly-delayed Fall 2007 edition of SAUTI, Stanford's Journal of African Studies. The article was chosen by the Editor's because of its "optimistic, positive and empowering theme"

It hopes that readers will "come to a position where they feel adequately primed to leverage their knowledge and skills to make the dream of Africa’s economic, political and social development a reality"

The article can be read here (PDF, 150Kb)

April 2008: OSI to fund third phase of FrontlineSMS development

The Open Society Institute (OSI) have just announced funding for kiwanja's FrontlineSMS system which will follow the completion of the current MacArthur Foundation round of funding which ends in May. The OSI grant will see the exploration and development of a sustainable business model for the software, and the identification of the optimal open source license. OSI is a private operating and grant-making foundation which aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform

April 2008: kiwanja.net invited to Microsoft mobile gathering

kiwanja.net has been invited to attend an
"intimate conference" at Microsoft Research
in Cambridge. Mobile Design Dialogue is
bringing together what it describes as a group
of leading lights in mobile research and design to explore and re-invigorate the future of the mobile landscape. The event, which takes place early this month, in supported by Microsoft Research, Google, FIT Lab and the University of Cape Town

March 2008: Calabasas meeting with Nokia design team

Ken Banks has been invited to meet
with members of the Nokia design
team, based out of their offices in
Calabasas, Los Angeles, to discuss
and share kiwanja's work in developing
countries. This meeting continues a
trend which is seeing increasing numbers
of industry bodies, academic institutions and international companies taking interest in kiwanja's focus on bottom-up, human-centered, replicable appropriate technology solutions. Next stop is a conference at Microsoft - see earlier April 2008 news item for details

March 2008: Hat-trick of kiwanja.net appointments

Following the recent announcement of his Advisory Role position for the innovative Question Box initiative (reported here late last month), Ken Banks has been appointed a member of the Program Committee for the W3C Workshop on the Role of Mobile Technologies in Fostering Social Development, and a judge for the forthcoming 2008 Mobile Messaging Awards. FrontlineSMS, which was short listed for a 2007 Mobile Messaging Award, will be at the centre of Ken's speech in Cannes - where the 2008 winners will be announced, and where he will be making the non-profit keynote address on the use of SMS by grassroots NGOs around the world

The W3C Workshop, scheduled for Sao Paulo in June, aims to understand the specific challenges of using mobile phones and web technologies to deliver services to underprivileged populations in developing countries. kiwanja presented a paper at W3C's Bangalore Workshop in 2006. A Call for Participation for the 2008 event went out at the end of February

March 2008: nGOmobile competition on the BBC World Service

Ken Banks has been interviewed by Gareth Mitchell for the BBC's "Digital Planet" programme, discussing the origins of the nGOmobile competition and profiling the four winners (see News item on the next page). Digital Planet announced the launch of the competition last year, and plan to report on the progress of the winners - from Kenya, Uganda, Mexico and Azerbaijan - in a future programme. The interview, which was broadcast on the World Service on 4th March, is available here, courtesy of the BBC
(running time: 6 minutes, MP3, 6Mb)