Title: SMS for Violence Prevention: PeaceTXT International Launches in Kenya
Author: Patrick Meier
Source: iRevolution blog
Date (published): 12/12/2011
Date (accessed): 14/12/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"One of the main reasons I’m in Nairobi this month is to launch PeaceTXT International with PopTech, Praekelt Foundation, Sisi ni Amani and several other key partners. PeaceTXT International is a spin-off from the original PeaceTXT project that several of us began working on with CeaseFire Chicago last year.
…
The purpose of PeaceTXT is to leverage mobile messaging to catalyze behavior change around peace and conflict issues. In the context of Chicago, the joint project with CeaseFire aims to leverage SMS reminders to interrupt gun violence in marginalized neighborhoods. Several studies in other fields of public health have already shown the massive impact that SMS reminders can have on behavior change, e.g., improving drug adherence behavior among AIDS and TB patients in Africa, Asia and South America.

Our mobile messaging campaign in Chicago builds on another very successful one in the US: “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink and Drive.” Inspired by this approach, the PeaceTXT Team is looking to launch a friends-don’t-let-friends-get-killed campaign.
…
Note that CeaseFire has been directly credited for significantly reducing the number of gun-related killings in Chicago over the past 10 years. In other words, they have a successful and proven methodology; one being applied to several other cities and countries worldwide. PeaceTXT simply seeks to scale this success by introducing SMS.
…
In the meantime, PeaceTXT is partnering with Sisi ni Amani (We are Peace) to launch its first international pilot project. Rachel Brown, who spearheads the initiative, first got in touch with me back in the Fall of 2009 whilst finishing her undergraduate studies at Tufts. Rachel was interested in crowdsourcing a peace map of Kenya, which I blogged about here shortly after our first conversation. Since then, Rachel and her team have set up the Kenyan NGO Sisi ni Amani Kenya (SnA-K) to leverage mobile technology for awareness raising and civic engagement with the aim of preventing possible violence during next year’s Presidential Elections..."

Title: Rapid response system : An SMS service delivers quick answers to farmers’ climate questions
Author: Darlington Kahilu
Source: ICT Update
Publisher: CTA Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (ACP-EU)
Date (published): December 2011
Date (accessed): 14/12/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Farmers in Zambia with climate change questions can now receive quick answers via SMS from a new system developed by the country’s National Agricultural Information Services.

In recent years, the Zambia National Agricultural Information Services (NAIS) has been receiving an increasing number of questions from farmers concerned about unpredictable weather patterns. Farmers are pointing out that sometimes the rains come earlier than usual, and when they do come, they are so heavy that they ruin the work the farmer has done to prepare the land. Sometimes the opposite is the problem and there is too little rain to water the crops.

‘The standard advice we gave in past is no longer relevant,’ says Darlington Kahilu, an agricultural information officer with NAIS. ‘For example, we used to tell farmers to plant their maize seeds as soon as the first rains came. The rains would usually continue for a few weeks and germinate the seeds. But now there could be a dry spell lasting a month or more, killing the new seedlings. The farmers then have to spend precious time and money replanting.’

NAIS uses a mixture of print and electronic media to provide agricultural information. Radio is especially useful, and many farmers listen to programmes in groups, often with an extension worker, and then discuss the issues raised in the broadcast. If they still have questions, they can fill in an evaluation form and send it to the nearest NAIS district office. The district office passes the form to the provincial office, where it is finally sent to the main country office. There, a NAIS radio producer assesses the questions, and contacts relevant specialists in agricultural research institutes and government ministries. Based on their feedback, the producer prepares a response for broadcast in a subsequent radio programme.
…
Together with the International Institute for Communication and Development, and a local software developer, NAIS developed a system, called SMSize to which farmers can send a question via an SMS from a cell phone. The question arrives directly at a server computer at the central office, where the producer researches the answer and sends back the information to the phone of the querying farmer, in the same language as the original request."

Title: Amplifying Somali Voices Using SMS and a Live Map: #SomaliaSpeaks
Source: The Ushahidi Blog
Publisher: Ushahidi.com
Date (published): 08/12/2011
Date (accessed): 08/12/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Somalia has been steadily slipping from global media attention over the past few months. The large scale crisis is no longer making headline news, which means that advocacy and lobbying groups are finding it increasingly difficult to place pressure on policymakers and humanitarian organizations to scale their intervention in the Horn of Africa. I recently discussed this issue with Al-jazeera’s Social Media Team whilst in Doha and pitched a project to them which has just gone live this hour.

The joint project combines the efforts of multiple partners including Al-Jazeera, Ushahidi, Souktel, Crowdflower, the African Diaspora Institute and the wider Somali Diaspora. The basis of my pitch to Al-jazeera was to let ordinary Somalis speak for themselves by using SMS to crowdsource their opinions on the unfolding crisis. My colleagues at Al-jazeera liked the idea and their editorial team proposed the following question:

Al Jazeera wants to know: how has the conflict of the last few months affected your life? Please include the name of your hometown in your response. Thank you!

So I reached out to my good friend Jacob Korenblum at Souktel. He and I had been discussing different ways we might combine our respective technologies to help in Somalia. Souktel has been working in Somalia and providing various SMS based solutions to several organizations. Jacob had previously mentioned that his team had a 50,000+ member SMS subscriber list. This proved to be key. Earlier this week, the Souktel team sent out the above question in Somali to about 5,000 of their subscribers. An effort was made to try and select geographically disbursed areas.

We’ve since received well over 2,000 text message replies and counting. In order to translate and geolocate these messages, I got in touch my colleagues Vaughn Hester and Lukas Biewald at Crowdflower in San Francisco. Crowdflower uses micro-tasking solutions to process and structure data flows. They were very keen to help and thanks to their support my Ushahidi colleagues Rob Baker and Linda Kamau were able to customize this Crowdflower plugin to translate, categorize and geo-locate incoming text messages..."

Title: Mobiles for Quality Improvement Pilot in Uganda
Authors: Pamela Riley and James BonTempo
Pages: 65 pp.
Source: Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector Project
Publisher: Abt Associates Inc.
Date (published): 01/12/2011
Date (accessed): 03/12/2011
Type of information: report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"This report reviews the Mobiles for Quality Improvement (m4QI) project that SHOPS piloted in Uganda. In an effort to address performance gaps in adherence to clinical protocols, SHOPS worked with a local software company to develop a software platform for sending health care providers text messages to either test their knowledge or remind them of particular protocols. The report finds that text messages provide a novel and cost-efficient way to raise awareness, promote behavior change, address common myths, identify performance gaps, incentivize new practices, refresh skills, and increase cohesion among peers. Report includes explanation of pilot design and evaluation of results."

Title: Text-Messaging for Health Still Has Its Challenges
Author: Larisa Epatko>
Source: PBS NewsHour
Date (published): 05/10/2011
Date (accessed): 17/10/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"At first glance, text-messaging health alerts to poor, rural populations with widespread mobile phone use is a no-brainer. But what about the challenges of providing useful information and the simple act of re-charging phones in isolated spots?

On a planet of nearly 7 billion people, 5 billion use mobile phones -- and of those mobile phone subscribers about 70 percent are in emerging economies, according to U.N. estimates.

It's no wonder health organizations are looking to the massive medium as a means to inform the public on health news, and in particular help populations that don't have easy access to medical treatment.

The use of mobile phones for medical purposes, known as mHealth, has been around for a decade and new projects are launching all the time.

For example, pregnant women in countries such as India and South Africa who can't visit doctors regularly now can register their due dates and receive SMS -- or text -- messages with information that matches up with their babies' development, such as what food they should be eating.

In Bangladesh, parents can receive alerts telling them when to bring their children into clinics for vaccinations.

In the United States, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently announced a new initiative to text-message tips and health information to motivate people to quit smoking.

But despite the promising implications for health, there are still some challenges to overcome -- as those involved in the effort can attest."

Title: Orange, Google launch sms service in Africa
Source: IT News Affrica
Date (published): 28/07/2011
Date (accessed): 28/07/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Telecommunications provider Orange and global search giant, Google have signed a partnership that aims to facilitate access to Google’s services across Africa, by leveraging Orange’s networks.

This will enable Orange’s mobile customers to stay in touch with their Google services and Google users to extend their network by using SMS-based services.
The Orange and Google partnership will leverage Orange’s SMS platform to bring Google’s services to African customers.
...

Through the development of SMS-based services that operate on all mobile networks (including GSM), Orange and Google will extend the reach of a wide range of internet services that were previously limited to smartphone and broadband users (through 3G, CDMA or WiMax networks) to all Orange mobile customers.
The “Gmail SMS Chat” service, which will eventually be launched across Orange’s footprint in Africa and the Middle East is already available in Senegal, Uganda and Kenya. It will be launched in four additional countries – Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Conakry and Niger – in the coming months, and will be launched as a trial in Egypt (Mobinil). Orange and Google are now looking to extend this partnership to include other services."

Title: Q&A: Google wants more African content online
Author: Denisa Oosthuizen
Source: IT News Africa
Date (published): 27/07/2011
Date (accessed): 28/07/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"In an interview with ITNewsAfrica, Brett StClair, Head of Mobile, Google South Africa, talks about the evolution of mobile media in Africa and the exciting times ahead for Google on the continent.
...
Brett StClair: Gmail SMS is a great platform for both users and mobile operators. What is great about the service is that it provides internet-like services to more ubiquitous technologies like SMS, which have a reach across 500 million African mobile subscribers. These sorts of services are an important stepping stone to diverse services on the mobile Web, helping consumers understand what’s possible, and showing why smartphones are so useful and relevant. We offer SMS services across a number of our products, for example, SMS Search (using SMS to search for services and content), and Google Trader, which is a classified platform to allow consumers in Ghana to trade goods on phones, therefore creating business via mobile.

ITNewsAfrica.com: In a recent article published in The Africa Report, “Is Google good for Africa”, one of Google’s VPs for the region speaks about the lack of information in Africa. How would you comment this statement?
Brett StClair: Our VP Carlo D’Asaro Biondo’s statement referred to the fact that Africa has only one web domain for every 10,000 people, versus a global average of 94 domains for every 10,000 people. In other words, information that is important and valuable to Africans is not yet available online. At Google we want to help create and enable more African content online. For example, we are launching Google products in many African languages, including the wide-reaching Swahili, Amharic, Zulu, Afrikaans and more. We launched MapMaker across the continent so that anyone can map their local roads, village, hospitals or schools. Great recent examples include mapping health locations in Korogocho in Nairobi and mapping new parts of South Sudan. These efforts and many more will help bring information online, and make the web more useful and relevant to Africans. And of course, before long they will be accessing this info on their mobile phones."

Title: Gartner: mobile payment market is growing slower than expected
Source: Gartner, Inc
Date (published): 21/07/2011
Date (accessed): 27/07/2011
Type of information: press release
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Worldwide mobile payment users will surpass 141.1 million in 2011, a 38.2 percent increase from 2010, when mobile payment users reached 102.1 million, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide mobile payment volume is forecast to total $86.1 billion, up 75.9 percent from 2010 volume of $48.9 billion.

Despite these strong growth projections, Gartner analysts said the mobile payment market is growing slower than expected.

“In developing markets, despite favorable conditions for mobile payment, growth is not as strong as was anticipated. Many service providers are yet to adapt their strategies to local requirements, and success models from Kenya and the Philippines are unlikely to be translated to other markets,” said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner. While developing markets have favorable conditions for mobile payments, such as high penetration of mobile devices and low banking penetration, this is no guarantee of success, unless service providers adapt their strategies to local market requirements.”
...
Gartner expects Short Message Service (SMS) and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) to remain the dominant access technologies in developing markets due to the constraints of mobile phones. Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) will remain the preferred mobile access technology in developed markets, where the mobile Internet is commonly available and activated on the phone. Mobile app downloads and mobile commerce are the main drivers of WAP payments, and WAP will account for almost 90 percent of all mobile transactions in North America and about 70 percent in Western Europe in 2011.

Money transfers and prepaid top-ups will drive transaction volumes in developing markets. These are seen as the "killer apps" in developing markets, where people value the convenience of sending money to relatives and topping up mobile accounts. This is most obvious in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where these two services will account for 54 percent and 32 percent of all transactions in 2011."

Title: Research of FrontlineSMS:Radio in Kenya
Source: FrontlineSMS:Radio
Date (published): 18/07/2011
Date (accessed): 18/07/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"FrontlineSMS:Radio is being developed and deployed in collaboration with the Centre of Governance and Human Rights (CGHR) at the University of Cambridge. This partnership represents a unique opportunity to gather evidence about how audiences interact with radio stations via SMS and how these interactions can affect their participation in public affairs. CGHR are utilising this opportunity to research whether and how innovations in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are enriching citizen-led governance in Africa, in particular through the combination of radio and SMS.

Entitled, New Communications Technologies and Citizen-led Governance in Africa, the two-year CGHR research project is now well into its operative phase. Between July and September, CGHR’s research team will start conducting fieldwork in Kenya and Zambia to critically analyse how technology is being utilised on the ground. Working closely with local radio stations, the project will seek to capture how information flows through local networks and how new communication technologies, such as mobile phones, interact with older ones. It will also set out to analyse how the hybrid of mobile phones and the radio fit together in long term patterns of use of communication for political participation."

Title: Smart Connect: a SMS communication appliance for rural healthcare
Author: Eric Blantz
Source: ICTWorks
Date (published): 06/07/2011
Date (accessed): 14/07/2011
Type of information: blog post/article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"SMS’s reach and reliability, combined with its popularity among users, make it particularly attractive to those working on applications for the developing world, where Internet and smart phones are not yet widely available or affordable.
...
Enter Smart Connect, a “communication appliance” developed by PATH and Inveneo which uses SMS to improve the reliability and performance of one of the most important systems in all of global health: the medical “cold chain.”
...
We decided to make Smart Connect a facility based device. Even though it has many parts in common with a cell phone, it is constructed to be secured in place. We did this to improve security of the device, to ensure that the device was associated with the health facility, to allow it to connect with external sensors and to make it possible to connect to an external antenna for improved reception.

One of the first applications for Smart Connect is temperature monitoring of vaccine refrigerators. Refrigerators which regularly drop below freezing are quite common – so it is important to bring these to the attention of cold chain managers. Temporary power disruptions and breakdowns are also a problem since they lead to vaccines getting too hot.
...
Previously, refrigerator temperatures were tracked and recorded by hand with long delays in collecting the records. Now Smart Connect records the refrigerator temperature and sends out alert messages when there is a problem. Messages are sent to a web site and then automatically relayed to service technicians. A daily summary of refrigerator temperatures is also sent to the web site so that the manager can understand how well the equipment is functioning.

Beyond temperature monitoring, Smart Connect has the capacity to run a range of additional applications. For example, the Smart Connect deployment in Vietnam includes an application to track the use of vaccines so that that “stock outs” can be avoided. In the future, we plan for Smart Connect to be used with a bar code scanner to be able to read tags on vaccines when they arrive, and a printer to be able to provide receipts of test results to patients.

With Smart Connect we have seen that a small amount of communication delivered by SMS can have a big impact. By “thinking outside of the phone” we have created a custom communication device that meets the specific needs of rural health facilities and improves healthcare services in communities in Nicaragua, Vietnam and beyond."