“Few companies innovate with the intensity and frequency of those working in mobile, and today’s present is a future that only a handful of people would have predicted just a few short years ago. While most of us happily soak up rampant innovation as mere consumers, a handful of people in the hallowed corridors of … Continue reading Having fun with the future
Month: May 2009
Unintended consequences
This is a subject which always fascinates me – “potential negative outcomes” from “perceived positive acts”. I’ve seen this kind of thing in the field before, but today found a blog which brings it much closer to home and, as a result, makes it far more relevant to far more people. On her inspiring “Good … Continue reading Unintended consequences
The Social Mobile Long Tail explained
What follows is a short extract from the recent “Soul of the New Machine” human rights/technology conference hosted by UC Berkeley, in which I explain my theory of the Social Mobile Long Tail. This video is also available on the FrontlineSMS Community pages A full video of the session – PDA’s and Phones for Data … Continue reading The Social Mobile Long Tail explained
FrontlineSMS, media, and the Malawi elections
It doesn’t quite make the headlines in the same way as elections in Nigeria, the DRC or Zimbabwe, but today the people of Malawi are awaiting the results of a general election which many are saying is too close to call. A peaceful and orderly outcome is crucial. Malawi has one of the fastest growing … Continue reading FrontlineSMS, media, and the Malawi elections
Hope meets phones.
It’s been another landmark day in the short history of FrontlineSMS:Medic. For those of you who don’t know, today saw the launch of their latest initiative – Hope Phones – which, generally speaking, encourages people to dig out their old phones and give them a new lease of life in the hands of a community … Continue reading Hope meets phones.
Why does this picture trouble me?
I wonder. Is it because it looks staged? Or because it reinforces our perceptions of the “old” and the “new”, the “developed” and the “underdeveloped”? Is it because it likely shows the beginning of the end of a complex relationship going back generations between a people and their culture? We have so much to learn … Continue reading Why does this picture trouble me?
Conservation friends win Award
I’ve been friends with Lawrence and Gladys Zikusoka – founders of Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) – for a few years after meeting them in Stockholm at an ICT4D conference. Our meeting was particularly exciting because of our shared interest in technology and primate conservation, and because of my previous conservation work in Uganda, the … Continue reading Conservation friends win Award
Tackling domestic violence: An SMS SOS
This is the seventh in our series of FrontlineSMS guest posts. Here, Anthony Papillion – Founder of OpenEMR HQ – discusses his initial thoughts on being introduced to the software, and outlines his plans for its use in his Oklahoma home town to help women suffering domestic violence “I only recently became involved with the … Continue reading Tackling domestic violence: An SMS SOS
Human rights, SMS and the power of film
Tonight sees the screening of “The Reckoning” – a film about the battle for the International Criminal Court – at The Soul of The New Machine human rights conference in Berkeley, California. In this – the sixth in our series of FrontlineSMS guest posts – Paco de Onis, the films’ Director, talks about how they … Continue reading Human rights, SMS and the power of film
Caught on camera
They say a picture paints a thousand words, and that may be the case. But if they cost the earth or you don’t have permission to use them, they end up painting nothing much at all. When my mobile ‘career’ kicked off in 2003 with research trips to South Africa and Mozambique, I took the … Continue reading Caught on camera
The world according to FrontlineSMS
We’re not far off a year since the launch of the revised version of FrontlineSMS, and great progress has been made on many fronts. One of the challenges we’ve faced is that there’s no manual for what we’re trying to do, so it’s been something of a shot in the dark much of the time. … Continue reading The world according to FrontlineSMS