Frontline SMS has just launched FrontlineSMS:Medic — a team committed to supporting community health workers (CHWs) in the developing world using appropriate mobile technology.

http://medic.frontlinesms.com/

A friend of mine sent me this great link to a blog post by Steve Kayser.  It goes through several kinds of social media and possible uses, as well as examples of different large corporations and how they are using social media…. These could be some great examples for us to experiment with. Take a few minutes to check it out if you have time!

http://www.writingriffs.com/2009/02/10/the-end-of-marketing-and-pr/

This is the first in a series of summaries of what was covered in the Social Media for Social Change workshop in Kenya, Dec 8-12.

Day 1

We started off with all the normal workshop-y things like getting to know each other, logistics, etc.  Then we gave a summary of the pre-workshop survey. 

Some of the more interesting points from the survey were that:

• Participants:  52% from country offices, 30% national offices, 13% regional offices, 4% from international HQ (IH)
• 62% of the participants consider themselves as having a very comfortable relationship with ICT
• The top 4 tools that participants use are:  text messaging, google search, skype and social network sites
• Tools that participants least often use are:  microblogging, mobile data gathering, frontline SMS, mobile banking
• 80% felt that Plan’s work could be enhanced by mobile phone technology or better use of ICT

(A post workshop survey will be going out in the next month to SM4SC participants, so watch for it!)

Erik Hersman from the blog White African (www.whiteafrican.com) was our first speaker, tasked with giving us an overview of social media, what it is and what are some of the different tools. Following that, we had a hands-on session to practice with different tools such as blogging, uploading digital photos, Flip cameras, mobile banking, etc.

"The world is changing and you have to change with it or you will become irrelevant."

Erik’s Presentation:

Erik said that the cool thing about social media is that you as an individual user can share things.  So he shared some ‘dirty secrets’ about social media.

Dirty Little Secret 1

It’s what you do everyday, just add a digital element

Dirty Little Secret 2

If you’re from Africa, you’ve been doing it for centuries

Dirty Little Secret 3

It’s communicating with the tools that your community already uses

(so you need to look at what is relevant and available in your own community or locale and use it)

Dirty Little Secret 4

Youth in the west also have a ‘leg-up’ on those in ‘power’ because they ‘get it’

So…. 

What exactly is Social Media?

It’s basically using Digital Tools to extend your current communications and connect with more people.

How is it different?

• There are low barriers for entry…. Anyone can do it – it’s only about having access to the ‘device’ or technology.
• More accessible
• Everyone has the opportunity to have a voice.
• It’s cheaper (sms vs phone, face book vs advertising)
• Not one to many, but everyone to everyone
• No one controls it

Social media is about community.

In Africa it’s augmenting what we have…. and in the West it creates what is non-existent.

Erik spoke also of the 3 D’s of social media:

• Disruptive technologies
• Displace Mass media
• Decentralize

He advised that the first thing is to know what are you trying to achieve.  Then choose the social media tool.

Several short videos exist about social media tools.  We will be making a Social Media toolbox DVD which will be available shortly.  In the meantime, here are 3 recommended videos from the Common Craft series on Social Media 1) Social Media in Plain English; 2) Social Networking in Plain English; and 3) Blogging in Plain English.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a_KF7TYKVc&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI&feature=channel

Participants!  What was the most interesting thing about the first day for you?  Please comment!

The title is a bit nicer version of the hilarious presentation by Martha Z.  Kagan, see here.  Anyhow, both versions asks the same questions: does social media (or mobile technology) have any relevance (to Plan’s work) or are they only fancy buzz words?  Based on presentations and discussions in the Social Media for Social Change Workshop, the quick answer would be yes – and yes.

Whether we are talking about blogs, wikis, SMS or youtube, they are all powerfull tools for telling everyone that you like your pets. But also that there are human rights violations happening in your country. Thus, as Hannah Beardon writes in the soon-to-be-published Mobile for Development: how mobile technologies can enhance Plan’s work in Africa:  …it is the information and communication, not the technology, which is at the heart of social change”.

Still, it’s ok to get excited about all the potential and possibilities of new technology. At their best, they can radically amplify the messages, information and communication between the “North” and the “South”, between rights-holders and duty-bearers, the state and the citizens, the communities and individuals – just to name a few.

Because I’m impressed by the incredible documentary called “Burma VJ – Reporting from a close country”, I’m quoting here what hand-held cameras and internet connections can do even in the most totalitarian country:

The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) consists of a group of about 30 Burmese reporters who secretly film the abuses in their country. The footage is then smuggled across the border and broadcast via satellite from the headquarters in Oslo. These are the images that could be seen across the globe when a revolution was about to erupt in the late summer of 2007. Led by Buddhist monks, more than 100,000 people took to the streets to march peacefully against the military dictatorship that has held the country in an iron grip for 40 years now. Burma VJ is almost exclusively compiled from footage shot by DVB reporters. One of them from his hiding place in Thailand,  uses the telephone or Internet to stay in touch with colleagues who report on the uprising: shaky hand-held images of emergency deliberations by protesters, of the dispersion of the crowd, of monks and civilians getting knocked down. Their cameras hidden in bags or clenched under their armpits, the DVB reporters risk their lives and take the viewer right into the heat of the turmoil.
(quote from here)

This probably an extreme case of using lastest technology for human rights and development, but therefore also shows the potential of ICT (whether in the form of social media, mobile technology or any other service/equipment) in in the most difficult circumstances.

Do you agree or disagree? What do you think?  Please feel welcome to comment this post!

Hello all! This is a blog called “global pICTure” and it is dedicated for sharing ideas, examples, thoughts and comments on social media, mobile technology and ICT for Development from Plan’s perspective. As you can see, there are already some posts from the MobileActive08  (esp. from Matthias Wevelsiep, the founder of this blog) and now we’ll continue with sharing the most interesting highlights of the Social Media for Social Change Workshop that took place in Nairobi, Kenya 8-12 December. 

The idea is that every week by Monday there will be a new post of one the main themes that were presented and discussed during the workshop (e.g. landscape/overview; mobiles, mapping, advocacy; citizen media and blogging/twitter/etc.; how young people use social media; modernizing plan/modernizing sponsorship.)

You are very welcome to comment any of the posts, discuss and fill in your views. So, instead of posting one big report to the participants, let’s do this in a participatory and interactive way. The comments you post will then influence the next blog report we (Linda Raftree and Mika Välitalo) write.

Yesteday I volunteered to do mobile surveys using the application from Mobile Researcher. The whole experience was very positive  as the survey application was easy to use, intuitive and well designed (not to mention all the interesting people I met while conducting the survey).

In addition to Mobile Researcher there are actually a wide variety of data gathering software show cased in the conference. RapidSMS, FrontlineSMS, OpenROSA, Nokia Data Gathering Software to name of few. Check out also SMS Reception Center. Freeware, open source, propietary, SMS based, 3G, for all devices, for high end devices… Just pick your choice depending on your needs, capacity and resources.   

During several workshops there has been interesting discussions on how to actually use the acquired data/information/results in development and research projects. One the topics has been advocacy where e.g. visualisation of data (see e.g. Ushahidi or Hans Rosling in TED.com) can be very useful.

There is lots of excitement about HIV / AIDS related messaging during MobileActive08, especially from South Africa. Great prevention and support work has been started, but as SMS messages go out, researcher found also unexpected effects. When SMS arrive late at night it migth cause suspicion with partners, husbands and wives. Language use and culturally sensitive translation is causing concern as messages contain sensitive content on doctor’s appointment and safer sex. 
Some recipients complain about messages simply being boring. However, many others do recognize that these messages are helpful and appropriate. As with the field as a whole, the discussion on monitoring and evaluation, effect, outcome and impact assessment has only started. So this anecdotal evidence can not yet be supported by medium-term success demonstration or even hard evidence.

Well, no surprise that at MobileActive mobile phones are used to survey participants to improve communication and documentation. The team around http://www.mobileresearcher.com/ has done a great job, presenting the results in the second day of the conference and asking the audience for additonal questions. It improves the documentation of the conference and creates a rich information base for participants and “remote participants” to follow up on. Mika has the chance to “test drive” mobile researcher as an interviewer and will follow up in this blog on the usability and usefulness.

In one session we discussed long on the issue of Mobile Internet. But what exactly do we mean? In the medium term, the question is about access to information via any device. The border of so-called Mobile Internet to access to the Internet through mobile devices, and further differentiated by browser access and widgets. Some people say that any kind of database access is considered “web access”, so then even SMS access qualifies. While it is important to be precise, future projects will probably be based on a variety of access points (and user might not know anymore when they use mobile network, WLAN, LAN etc.

After the first plenary, it becomes more clearer what are the main challenges of the field of mobile phones for social change (which has a cross section of ICT, development and business people interested in it).

Sustainability
Many pilots come up with interesting findings; however, they often go along with high upfront investment, which in replication often raises questions about sustainability.

Costs in general
With mobile operators often having a powerful position within their markets, many participants felt that the costs of having and using a mobile phone is an issue. Also note the different between cost of SMS and costs of GPRS connection in Africa, with GPRS getting cheaper and likely effecting the use of mobile phones.

Open source versus software / service business model
For many specific projects you find approaches using open source and others using software / service as business model. While the business option has its own set of advantages (for example further product development and potentially high quality of service, usability), it comes with a costs and some participant voiced concern on this.

Collaboration
In summary, many pilots demonstrate great ideas, good models, and some progress. However, the field remains scattered and would need collaboration to be able to show as a group of people (together with their organizations) the usefulness of mobile phones for social change.