English in Action: Mobile Learning in Bangladesh
This post is the latest in the FrontlineSMS Mobile Message series with National Geographic. To read a summary of the Mobile Message series click here. In her role as the Content Producer for the SOCAP conference series, Amy Benziger has the opportunity to interview innovators from around the world on how they are changing the landscape of social enterprise. For this installment of Mobile Message, she interviews Sara Chamberlain, project director... Read More
What is your Mobile Message? Sharing ideas via National Geographic
Photo credit: Ken Banks, kiwanja.net “Today, with over 500 million mobile subscribers across Africa alone, and more people around the world owning a phone than not, mobile phones seem to be everywhere,” points out FrontlineSMS founder Ken Banks in the opening post of our National Geographic blog series: Mobile Message. There has been a remarkable growth in mobile phone use in recent years, and increasingly mobile phones are being used for... Read More
FrontlineSMS:Legal – Running Justice’s House
By Sean McDonald. Re-posted from FrontlineSMS:Legal blog “Every day, dozens, if not hundreds, of people line up in front of each Justice House, seeking help to resolve life’s challenges. They wait, patiently, for hours, to approach the information desk, where they receive a simple intake form (name, age, gender, address, mobile phone number, cause of complaint, etc.). This form is then handed back to a lone information desk attendant,... Read More
User support remains priority as FrontlineSMS team grows
FrontlineSMS has recently appointed Florence Scialom into the role of Community Support Coordinator, to focus on connecting and supporting the dynamic global community of those using our software. Here, Florence shares what drew her to work at FrontlineSMS, and outlines the plans she has for her new role. FrontlineSMS user map: Add yourself via our community forum http://frontlinesms.ning.com/ “Inevitably, many small and innovative start-ups... Read More
Announcing the “Mobile Message”
Over the past year or so, it’s become increasingly clear to us that we need to take the “mobile message” out of its technology silo and make it more available – and accessible – to a wider audience. This was the thinking behind our regular series on PC World, and is the thinking behind a new series we’re launching today in collaboration with National Geographic. The “Mobile Message” is aimed at a broad... Read More
What could an SMS do in humanitarian aid? Monitor a programme, send in a complaint… and administer a cash transfer?
Lawrence Haddad’s recent column in the Guardian (23rd June) got me thinking about ways to use mobile to enable communities to hold agencies, whether governmental or not, to account for the aid they provide. This is a critical element of good development and aid work. As Haddad says; Helping communities report on whether the aid reached them is a good contribution to fixing the broken feedback loop in international development and to reducing... Read More
Using SMS in disaster response – and preparedness
A view over Grahamstown from Rhodes U campus A couple of weeks ago I had the great pleasure, and honour, of joining a wonderful panel, including Carel Pedre, Haiti DJ and activist, and Rory Williams of Carbonsmart.com, at the 5th Digital Citizen Indaba in Grahamstown, South Africa. The brief was to talk about digital communication in the context of natural disasters and climate change. I’ve spent the last three years working on humanitarian... Read More
