More and more integration and convergence

The Digital World Forum “Africa Perspective on the role of Mobile Technologies in fostering social and economic development” held in Maputo 1 – 2 April 2009 seemed to have produced numerous interventions in support of the idea of convergence between tools.
Have a look at this two interviews with Ken Banks of FrontlineSMS on “Using SMS [...]

Numbers of the world of mobile phones

A very useful summary of the International Telecommunications Union’s 2009 edition of  Measuring the Information Society – The ICT Development Index (PDF, 1.53MB) has been published by Antonella Pastore on the blog of the ICT-Km Program.
A very interesting question comes out of the analysis: “is this the end of the Web as we know it?“
The [...]

\o/ FrontLineSMS new release

kiwanja is releasing a new version of its famous software FrontLineSMS, the leading SMS management platform. Now the software allows users to manage forms to collect and share data:

You can read more on afromusing, an interesting blog on innovation, technology and beyond or on Ken’s blog.

Share Fair 09 Session Report on “Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas”

On January 21, 2009, during the Share Fair 09 I was calle as panel expert at this interesting session on “Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas“. The session is the follow up of the Online discussion on the same topic that I facilitated in November ‘08.
In this report you can read more about the topics discussed [...]

Blogging from your iPhone

WordPress released an application with which you can blog directly from your iPhone. You can download it form here.
I’ve been starting using it!

Can you imagine what does that mean in addition to another app which can record voices, the images you shot with the embedded camera and the video you can ultimately shot with the [...]

Mobile Telephony in Rural Area – Final greetings

The Forum on Mobile Telephony just ended. I think this has been a very interesting discussion, not only for the postings themselves, but mainly for the large number and value of people involved, experiences described and points of view reflected during two weeks.
To give an idea the complexity and the value of our last discussion [...]

Map of mobile projects for development

To have a visual approach to mobile for development, I prepared a map on GoogleMaps to distribute geographically the projects I’ve been monitoring so far:
View Larger Map
It would be very nice if people knowing other projects would like to contribute to this mapping effort.

Mobile Telephony in Rural Area – Week I Summary

The summary of the discussions of Week I of the online forum on “Mobile Telephony in Rural Area” is ready to be downloaded.

Will cellphones replace other ICTs?

With his article called “Rural communication: Is there still a need for telecentres now that there are mobile phones?” Ion Howard of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) affords a very interesting topic.

The problem is real: will mobile phones replace other ICTs wherever they are not yet developed? In my opinion, they are a killer [...]

Forum on Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas

The Forum is up and running.
People from more than 40 different countries already introduced themselves and are ready to share experience, ideas and vision with us.
Join it at http://www.e-agriculture.org/regform.html

Who is using mobile phones for development – part 2

As the online Forum on “Mobile Telephony in rural areas” is getting closer, the list of projects using mobile is getting longer and longer. I have to thanks the participants to the KM4Dev list who have been proposing examples of application they were aware of. Let’s see what’s new around the table:
mDevelopment

Launched in the late [...]

Open Invitation to the Virtual Forum on “Mobile telephony in rural areas”

This is an open invitation to take part to the online forum on “Mobile Telephony in rural areas” which will take place from the 17 to the 28 of November.
Mobile technology for development seems to be today an excellent solution in support of many development activities. As you remember, we introduced the topic [...]

This closer marriage between Mobile and Internet

The IAALD-AFITA-WCCA Conference in August 2008 in Japan highlighted the importance of mobile communication to bridge the digital divide. In the final declaration about “Theme 1″ of the conference – Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas – one of the panel prediction was:
“mobile phones will be used as workstations and effective Web2.0 platforms“
I totally agree with [...]

MobileActive 08

Mobile for development is definitely taking off and many events which celebrate its applications, can help collecting knowledge and experiences.

This is the time of Mobile Active 08, in Johannesburg, South Africa from 13 to 15 October 2008. Entitled “Unlocking the Potential of Mobile Technology for Social Impact”, this international fair co-organized by SangoNet, will gather [...]

The first competitor for the iPhone

A new challenge for the iPhone was launched yesterday: it is the first mobile phone with Android inside.
Even if not everybody seems to be so enthusiast about the product, more than everything else in the DEV perspective, at least, I see a very interesting trend for prices. The announced price is 120 Eur (at certain [...]