Ken Banks, Founder of kiwanja.net, has given a wide-reaching interview with Project Diaspora. During the interview with Siena Anstis, they talk about the thinking and history behind kiwanja and FrontlineSMS, and issues and challenges working in the social mobile field

July 2009: FrontlineSMS at Better World by Design 2009

After an appearance at the same event last year, Ken Banks has been invited back to sit on a panel discussing "Decentralized Technology" at A Better World by Design 2009. In October, A Better World by Design will bring together a global community of innovators to Providence, Rhode Island, to reach across disciplines and unite under a common goal. Presenters share engaging stories, workshops teach creative skills, and discussions reframe perspectives. According to the organisers, "A Better World by Design is an immersive experience that deepens our understanding of the power of design, technology, and enterprise to reshape our communities and sustain our environment". For a short introduction to kiwanja's work in decentralising technology, check out this video of a recent talk at Georgia Tech

July 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 next 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

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

July 2009: Ken Banks invited to speak at "The Feast"

kiwanja's Ken Banks has been invited to speak at this year's "The Feast" conference, slated for October at The Times Center in New York. "The Feast" is a cross-disciplinary series of programs addressing social innovation and new ways to make the world a better place. According to the organisers, "An open exchange of ideas across industries and society is necessary to produce lasting, sustainable, meaningful change. "The Feast" brings together the world's leading creative entrepreneurs, revolutionaries, radicals, doers and thinkers to inspire more action, share best practices, and create valuable connections that will change the world"

June 2009: kiwanja interviewed by Clark Boyd for Discovery Channel

Clark Boyd recently interviewed Ken Banks as part of the "Wide Angle" series. In the short interview, Ken talks about kiwanja's background, and gives advice to others looking to work in the ICT4D and mobile fields. The interview, along with a brief introduction, is available on Clark's blog here

June 2009: Brad and Angelina support FrontlineSMS project in Cambodia

Researchers from the University of Canberra are working with the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation (MJP), an organisation founded by philanthropists Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, to trial a cost effective text-messaging system built around kiwanja's FrontlineSMS software. The project with the University of New England is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research to help improve the lives of some of the poorest people in Cambodia. Full details are available via the kiwanja.net Blog

June 2009: kiwanja keynote at International m-Libraries Conference

Ken Banks was recently invited to give a keynote address at the second International m-Libraries Conference, held and sponsored by the University of British Columbia in conjunction with Athabasca University, The Open University and Thompson Rivers University. The Conference aimed to explore and share work carried out in libraries around the world to deliver services and resources to users "on the move" via a growing plethora of mobile and hand-held devices. The conference brought together researchers, technical developers, managers and library practitioners to exchange experience and expertise and generate ideas for future developments. A short blog post by one of the attendees is available here

June 2009: Panel appearance at Cambridge University, UK

Cambridge University's Technology Ventures Conference 2009 is one of many events planned to mark the 800th Anniversary of the University. Under the overarching theme of "Innovative Technologies for Global Challenges", the conference seeks to explore "the myriad of challenges we are facing in this historical period - global needs for clean energy, a need to eradicate diseases in poor countries using cheap medical technologies, an increasing need to find a way out of the current financial climate, and personal needs to keep everyone connected and in touch with their data, anywhere and anytime". Ken Banks has been invited to sit on the Technologies for Sustainable Development Panel along with representatives from Aptivate, Inveneo and Vodafone

June 2009: kiwanja keynote at Humanitarian Technology Challenge

Ken Banks, Founder of kiwanja.net, will be giving the opening keynote address at this month's "Humanitarian Technology Challenge" (HTC) in Washington DC. Organised by the UN Foundation, the Vodafone Foundation and the IEEE, the two-day event aims to introduce definitions of three key challenges identified by humanitarian and health experts, and kick off a solutions development process that will continue through an online, collaborative platform after the conference closes. The solutions development process will then continue into 2010, with product development and piloting expected in 2011 and 2012. Copies of the slides from the talk are available here (PDF, 2.5Mb)

June 2009: FrontlineSMS:Medic sweeps the board at N2Y4

FrontlineSMS:Medic, the student-run project adapting kiwanja's FrontlineSMS software for rural healthcare settings in the developing world, has just won three awards at the annual N2Y4 NetSquared event in California. You can read more from the team themselves on their blog. Congratulations from everyone here, and commiserations to FrontlineSMS:Alerts and IJ Central, who both also had FrontlineSMS-based projects in the competition

May 2009: FrontlineSMS and kiwanja.net featured in the Guardian

Following an appearance at Africa Gathering in London last month, FrontlineSMS and kiwanja.net have been featured in the Guardian, one of the UK's main daily newspapers. In the article - "Talking about a revolution" -  Guy Collender looks at the application of mobile technology for social change

May 2009: FrontlineSMS helps media track Malawi elections

FrontlineSMS is being used to help the media track and co-ordinate their reporting of the May 2009 Malawi elections. The African Elections Project (AEP) Malawi focuses on developing the capacity of the media through the use of ICTs, and mobile-enabled AEP Malawi team members are working across the country, using voice and SMS to stay in touch with a central newsroom based in Blantyre. This newsroom is equipped with a copy of FrontlineSMS, which is helping manage incoming and outgoing SMS to and from newsroom members, and helping auto-manage and disseminate news via SMS to subscribers. Further details are available via this kiwanja blog post

May 2009: Hope Phones launched by team behind FrontlineSMS:Medic

The student-led team behind FrontlineSMS:Medic have launched a handset recycling scheme designed to equip Community Healthcare Workers (CHWs) in developing countries with mobile phones. According to the project, "every cell phone given to community health workers connects distant patients to a medical clinic. A $10 cell phone will give 50 families access to emergency medical care, health information, transport services, and clinic resources". Further details, and information on how you can donate your own phone, are available on the Hope Phones website

May 2009: FrontlineSMS:Medic appearance on CNNMoney

"A Stanford student is revolutionizing health care in rural Africa using cell phones and text messaging". Josh Nesbit's "Mobiles in Malawi" - which has since spurred the creation of FrontlineSMS:Medic - has been profiled on CNN. Josh, who took a copy of FrontlineSMS, 100 recycled mobile phones and a laptop to St, Gabriels Hospital in Malawi, now writes about his work via Jopsa.org. The CNNMoney video is here

May 2009: kiwanja.net interviewed by BBC's "Digital Planet"

Ken Banks has been interviewed by Gareth Mitchell on Digital Planet, BBC's technology show broadcast on the World Service. In a slight departure from previous appearances - which concentrated on mobile technology - in this interview he talks about the 'battle' between proprietary and open source software in Africa. The interview, which can be heard here, was followed up by an article on the BBC website, and a discussion on Slashdot. Dr Cheikh Modibo Diarra, Chairman of Microsoft in Africa, was also interviewed for the show

May 2009: Interview on FrontlineSMS at Africa Gathering

Filmed at the Africa Gathering event in London in late April, this short interview between Ken Banks and Jonathan Marks covers the history, thinking and use of FrontlineSMS, and contains some priceless footage of over 100 Africa Gathering attendees doing an impression of the FrontlineSMS \o/ logo

May 2009: "Mobiles in Malawi" project profiled on Discovery Science

Josh Nesbit's "Mobiles in Malawi" - which has since spurred the creation of FrontlineSMS:Medic - has been profiled as 'Video of The Week' on the Discovery Science Channel. Josh, who took a copy of FrontlineSMS, 100 recycled mobile phones and a laptop to St, Gabriels Hospital in Malawi, now writes about his work via Jopsa.org. The Discovery video is here

May 2009: FrontlineSMS to demo at "Thinking Digital"

Thinking Digital is an annual conference where the world's greatest thinkers and innovators gather to inspire, to entertain and to discuss the latest ideas and technologies. FrontlineSMS will be demonstrated and discussed during the "Show and Tell" session on the first day (this session aims to focus on "jaw-dropping demos of mash-ups and home-made technologies")

May 2009: "Computing at The Margins" talk

Ken Banks will be speaking about mobile technology, mobility and nomadicity at an event being organised by Georgia Tech this month. The "Computing at The Margins Symposium" brings together leaders from academia, industry, government, and the non-profit sector to discuss the scientific challenges of creating technology aimed outside the affluent, well-connected, infrastructure-heavy settings that have been the focus of so much computing research

May 2009: kiwanja invited to sit on Vodafone emerging markets panel

Ken Banks has been invited to sit on the Advisory Panel for Vodafone's Socio-Economic Impact of Mobile (SIM) programme. SIM has been running for five years and provides advice and peer review on papers focussing on the developing world. The Panel brings together a mix of academics, business, policy people and NGOs. Other Panelists include Professor Marc Ivaldi (University of Toulouse), Professor Rajiv Kumar (ICRIER, New Delhi), Ilkka Lakaniemi (Nokia Siemens Networks), David Porteous (Bankable Frontier, Boston), Amanda Rowlatt (ex-DFID and now DWP) and Professor Howard Williams (ex-University of Strathclyde and now ITU)

May 2009: kiwanja set to appear at Berkeley human rights conference

kiwanja.net's Ken Banks has been invited to attend a conference at the Human Rights Centre at the University of California, Berkeley this month which aims to "convene leading thinkers and practitioners to share best practices and develop new strategies for incorporating technology to address human rights abuses". Called "The Soul of the New Machine", Ken will sit on a panel with Joel Selanikio of DataDyne, Steve Wright of the Salesforce Foundation, Erik Hersman from Ushahidi and Robert Kirkpatrick from InSTEDD discussing the use of mobile technology in human rights data collection

April 2009: FrontlineSMS and Ushahidi to demo at ICTD2009

The final conference appearance of a frantic four week spell sees kiwanja join forces with Erik Hersman to demonstrate FrontlineSMS and Ushahidi at the annual ICTD2009 conference in Doha. In addition to the demo session, Ken Banks is sitting on a panel discussing the "Opportunity and Challenges of the Mobile Web for Social Development". Fellow panelists include Stephane Boyera (W3C), Jesse Moore (GSMA), Jonathan Donner (Microsoft Research), Gaetano Borriello (University of Washington) and David Edelstein (Grameen Technology Centre)

April 2009: Public Radio International (PRI) reports on FrontlineForms

The recent launch of FrontlineForms, an SMS-driven data collection tool for FrontlineSMS, has been covered on the Public Radio International website. Described as "one of the most interesting and useful mobile phone tools I've ever written about", the piece is based on an earlier interview with Clark Boyd at National Public Radio, the article looks at the use of FrontlineSMS in the field, and the potential for the new data collection tool. The article, and an audio clip of the original radio interview with Clark, can be found here

April 2009: kiwanja.net contribution in new Boston Review publication

Described by Publishers Weekly as "a refreshing take on the fortunes of Africa in the current century, and a fascinating compendium of some of the leading theorists of African development" - Africa's Turn is a new publication by the Boston Review which emerged from an earlier magazine discussion on the progress of development in Africa

Economist Edward Miguel writes the main article, discussing his time working in Busia, a small Kenyan border town, where he noticed something different starting in 1997: modest but steady economic progress, with new construction projects, flower markets, shops, and ubiquitous cell phones. In "Africa’s Turn?" he tracks a decade of comparably hopeful economic trends throughout sub-Saharan Africa and suggests that we may be seeing a turnaround

Responding to Miguel, nine experts gauge his optimism. These include Olu Ajakaiye, Robert Bates, Paul Collier, Rachel Glennerster, Rosamond Naylor, Smita Singh, David N. Weil, Jeremy M. Weinstein and Ken Banks (a snippet can be read online here)

April 2009: FARA interview with Ken Banks

The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa recently interviewed Ken Banks on the use of mobile technology in activism, and more specifically the use of FrontlineSMS for climate change campaigning and delivering information to rural farming communities. The short informal video, which was made during the recent W3C Workshop in Mozambique (see news item below), can be viewed here

April 2009: kiwanja at the Global Engagement Summit

Ken Banks, Founder of kiwanja.net, has been invited to take part in this year's Global Engagement Summit (GES), an annual student-run event held at Northwestern University in the US. Ken mentored two students working on social- and environmental-change projects, took a workshop focusing on appropriate technology, lead a small group discussion on technology and social change, and met students interested in careers in the development field. A blog post, written by Change.org's Nathaniel Whittemore, drew comparisons between kiwanja's work and the objectives of GES

April 2009: kiwanja.net speaks at W3C Workshop in Mozambique

Following successful workshops in Bangalore, India (2006) and Sao Paulo, Brazil (2007), the W3C Mobile Web Initiative held their Africa-based workshop in Maputo, Mozambique on 2nd and 3rd April. "Africa Perspective on the Role of Mobile Technologies in Fostering Social Development" aimed to understand specific challenges of using mobile phones and Web technologies to deliver services to underprivileged populations of developing countries, and to capture the specificities of the African context. kiwanja.net's Ken Banks is a member of the Program Committee, and spoke at the event about the challenges in adopting mobile technologies among grassroots NGOs

March 2009: FrontlineSMS:Medic profiled in the Guardian

The Guardian newspaper in the UK has published an article on FrontlineSMS:Medic, a student-led initiative which sprung from the exciting work started by Josh Nesbit's "Mobiles in Malawi" (now Jopsa.org) initiative last year. The article looks at the impact of FrontlineSMS on St. Gabriel's Hospital, discusses future plans, and includes short video interviews with Medic's co-founders. The Guardian piece can be read here

March 2009: kiwanja.net interviewed by The Independent

kiwanja.net's Ken Banks has been interviewed by The Independent newspaper for a special supplement on 'ICTs and globalisation'. The interview centred around the spread, use and application of mobile technology in the developing world. The Independent is the UK's youngest compact newspaper, first published in 1986. A link to the article - "Closing the digital divide" - is available here

March 2009: Ken Banks interviewed by PRI's "The World"

Ken Banks has been interviewed by Clark Boyd for Public Radio International's "The World" weekly radio programme. Ken and Clark - who has reported on FrontlineSMS before - touched on the history of FrontlineSMS, the impact it is having among a number of social change projects around the world, the launch of the new data collection tool - FrontlineForms (see news item below) - and the addition of new language support. The interview can be heard here (MP3, 8Mb)

March 2009: kiwanja.net announces the launch of FrontlineForms

On 2nd March, kiwanja.net and Masabi - the FrontlineSMS developers - announced the launch of FrontlineForms, a data collection tool which seamlessly integrates into the existing FrontlineSMS platform. Providing an end-to-end SMS data collection solution, FrontlineForms removes the need for high-end data collection devices, or internet connectivity in the field, both key barriers to entry for grassroots NGOs. You can read more on the kiwanja.net blog, and reviews on the Ushahidi, Afromusing and Aid Worker Daily websites. To hear PRI's radio interview, see the news item above

March 2009: IREX to host talk on FrontlineSMS and mobile technology

The IREX "Technology Serving Civil Society Speaker Series" is a bimonthly event that brings a unique, locally-focused perspective to international development policy dialogue in Washington, DC. Initiated in April 2007, the series hosts practitioners with "grassroots experience using technology in innovative ways to increase the effectiveness of community and civil society initiatives throughout the developing world". Later this month the speaker series will host Ken Banks from kiwanja.net and Alex Ngalande from Saint Gabriel’s Hospital in Malawi, who will talk about the impact of FrontlineSMS on patient care since it's introduction last year. A summary of the talk is available on the IREX website