1. mLearning in AfricaLessons from the m4Lit projectSteve
VoslooPresented at Mobile Technologies for Learning and Development
SummitBarcelona, October 2010
2. www.yoza.mobi
3. A tale of two halves1.m4Lit: The project2.Lessons With a
sprinkling of reader comments ...
4. A good story, although very short. Id like to see more on
MXit because it encourages reading! Lesleigh(F)The translated
version.
5. A gud st0ri alth0ugh vewi sh0rt id lyk 2 c m0re 0n mxit bk0z
it enc0uragez readin! Lesleigh(F)The original version.
6. 1. m4Lit: The project
7. m4Lit (mobiles for literacy) projectl South African project,
launched August 2009, to explore mobile novels (m-novels) as a
complement and alternative to printed literaturel Goals: To explore
whether teens are interested in reading stories on their mobile
phones To see whether and how they write using their mobile phones
To better understand mobile literaciesl Presented here: l Findings
of pilot phase (August-December 2009) l From Jan to Sept 2010
(Kontax to Yoza)l Project ongoing, incubated by the Shuttleworth
Foundation
8. 60,000 reads30,000 comments10,000 compo entriesSouth Africa
and KenyaStatistics are for period 29 September 2009 to 22
September 2010 (mobi, MXit,YAL)
9. Rationale for m4Lit
10. 51% South African households that own no leisure books (TNS
Research Surveys, 2006)TNS Research Surveys. (2006). National
Survey into the Reading and Book Reading Behaviour of Adult
SouthAfricans. Available at
http://www.saccd.org.za/objects/sabdc_reading.pdf
11. 7% Public schools in South Africa that have functional
libraries of any kind (Equal Education, 2009)Equal Education.
(2009). EE rejects DoEs statement on school libraries. Available at
http://www.equaleducation.org.za/press-a-views/press-releases/item/74-statement17dec2009.
12. The mobile revolution l South Africa has excellent mobile
infrastructure l Good mobile coverage l High uptake of phones up to
90% amongst urban youth (Kreutzer, 2009) l MXit, a mobile IM
service, claims 15m registered users in South Africa l Mobile web
access on the rise in the townships (Donner and Gitau, 2009) l
Relatively low charges for mobile data (but expensive voice and SMS
charges)Donner, J., and Gitau, S. (2009). New paths: exploring
mobile-centric internet use in South Africa. Paper presentedat the
Pre-Conference on Mobile Communication at the Annual Meeting of the
International CommunicationAssociation.
http://lirneasia.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/final-paper_donner_et_al.pdfKreutzer,
T. (2009). Generation mobile: online and digital media usage on
mobile phones among low-income urbanyouth in South Africa.
University of Cape Town, Cape Town.
http://tinokreutzer.org/mobile/Image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40042565@N06/3680282383/License:
Creative CommonsAttribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0
Generic
13. Literacy and technology paradoxIn school Out of school Poor
literacy Frequent interaction performance with written word and
Book-poor digital technologies Low access to Mobile-rich
computers(Walton, 2010)
14. I often hear this from parents, teachers and
reporters:Teens dont read enoughTeens dont write enoughTeens love
their phones
15. Its great ... for me it really hard topick up a book to
start readin but idon mind readin on my phonedotty1
16. Will our teens read and write novels on their phones like
in Japan?Rin, 21, wrote a mobile phone novel, with 400,000
hardcover sales.Photo: The New York
Timeshttp://www.theage.com.au/news/world/mobile-phone-novels-ring-up-big-sales-but-critics-fear-forjapanese-literature/2008/01/22/1200764265347.html
17. Kontax, a teen m-novel
18. Story development workshop in KhayelitshaImage: Steve
VoslooLicense: Creative CommonsAttribution-Noncommercial-Share
Alike 2.0 Generic
19. Images: www.kontax.mobiLicense: Creative Commons
Attribution Share Alike 2.5 South Africa
20. 22
21. Kontax 1 Project pilot phase Planning Kontax 1Aug Sep Oct
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep 2009 2010
22. >63,000 subscribers >28,000 aged 11-18 >27,000
aged 19-24 This uptake is substantial when compared to other youth
brands on MXit MXit statistics are for period 31 October to 26
NovemberSubscriber numbers for Kontax (at least 63 310 subscribers
in total) are sizable when compared to the miniscule loaudiences
for conventional book publishing (even successful South African
titles sell only around 5 000 copies). Evewhen compared to the 100
000 subscribers who signed up on MXit to receive content from
popular commercial brasuch as X-Box, Kontax gained a substantial
number of MXit subscribers. (Walton, 2010)
23. Page view trend (Kontax 1)% of page views Chapters
24. >17,200 reads >7,200 teens readsMXit statistics are
for period 31 October to 26 November 2009
25. It kwl an nyc nt boring. Andsiyafundisa.Thule
26. Ag!BORING. . .:-zThandi
27. Summary of research findingsl Most digital writing takes
place on mobile phones (but it tends to be short, like SMS)l Most
reading takes place on mobile phones or on paperl The isiXhosa
version was popular, especially when considering the systematic
marginalisation of the language in literacy contextsl Lots of peer
to peer learningl Data suggest a substantial amount of interest [in
m- novels] and given the number of teens with mobile phones, there
is plenty of room for growth (Walton, 2010) (Walton, 2010; Deumert,
2010)
28. Digital lives: Peer learning(Walton, 2010)
29. Mobile phones are aviable distributionplatform for longer
formcontent and for enablingreader participation
30. T z a vry !ntstng stry,really attrtz daa attns f da
reader.k!p t upL!hle
31. Its overated and typical bt great as itshow iz a local
production 5 out of 104 mePule
32. Kontax 2, 3, 4YozaYoung Africa Live (YAL)
33. Kontax 1 Project pilot phase Planning Kontax 1Aug Sep Oct
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep 2009 2010
34. m4Lit timeline Project pilot phase Planning Kontax 1Aug Sep
Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep 2009 2010
35. m4Lit timeline Project pilot phase Kontax 2 Planning Kontax
1Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep 2009
2010
36. m4Lit timeline Project pilot phase Kontax 3 Kontax 2
Planning Kontax 1Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Aug Sep 2009 2010
37. m4Lit timeline Project pilot phase Yoza Kontax 3 Kontax 2
Planning Kontax 1Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Aug Sep 2009 2010
38. m4Lit timeline + Shakespeare Project pilot phase Yoza
Kontax 3 Kontax 2 Planning Kontax 1Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep 2009 2010
39. Yoza i love your stuff your ava is hot(Anon)
40. On Vodafone Live!, zero datacharges (totally free)Content
covers "love, sex andrelationships in the time of AIDS"By Praekelt
Foundation
41. Estimated reads of Yoza series 22 Aug - 22 Sept 2010
(n=12289) 6000 4500 3000 1500 0 Kontax 4 Confessions 1 Sisterz 1
Streetskillz 1
42. Estimated reads of Yoza series Over roughly the same
initial period (1 month) 20000 When compared with initial Kontax
launch, Yoza numbers are low 15000 10000 5000 0 Kontax 4
Confessions 1 Sisterz 1 Streetskillz 1 Kontax 1
43. Estimated reads of Yoza series Over roughly the same
initial period (1 month) 20000 But if YAL is included, then the
Yoza series have done well 15000 10000 5000 0 Kontax 4 Confessions
1 Sisterz 1 Streetskillz 1 Kontax 1 Yoza YAL
44. Competition entries of Yoza series 22 Aug - 22 Sept 2010
(n=1543) 1000 750 500 250 0 Kontax 4 Confessions 1 Sisterz 1
Streetskillz 1
45. Competition entries of Yoza series Over roughly the same
initial period (1 month) 2000 When compared with initial Kontax
launch, Yoza numbers are low 1500 1000 500 0 Kontax 4 Confessions 1
Sisterz 1 Streetskillz 1 Kontax 1
46. Competition entries of Yoza series Over roughly the same
initial period (1 month) 3000 But if YAL is included, then the Yoza
series have done well 2250 1500 750 0 Kontax 4 Confessions 1
Sisterz 1 Streetskillz 1 Kontax 1 Yoza YAL
47. Comments on Yoza series 22 Aug - 22 Sept 2010 (n=8461) 5000
3750 2500 1250 0 Kontax 4 Confessions 1 Sisterz 1 Streetskillz
1
48. Word cloud of comments and competition entries on Yoza, 22
August to 22 September 2010
50. Comparison of Yoza series 6000 Teen issues Romance 4500
3000 1500 0 Reads Comments Competition entries Kontax 4 Confessions
1 Sisterz 1 Streetskillz 1
51. What readers thought of Yoza series
52. First nd for-most id like 2 say is, Ashack is not a place
we all proud ofliving but its what makes us who weare. I come from
a shack. And believeme i have good memories in thatshack. And as 4
u amanda shame on ushame on u. Latoya my sweety pie improud of u, u
dont need a atm u need adad. High ve Latoya high ve.:)Brian
53. If friars plan wrks, then romeo wil bable 2 cum nd take
juliet wit hm 2 livhapily 2geda at mantua bt if it fails,sumbdys
gna b dead. Lol!Elsie
54. I loved the book, wish it didnt have anending. Shakespear
please bringanother one like this one. IT WASMWAAAH!!Blessed 1
55. Summary ofKontax 2, 3, 4YozaYoung Africa Live (YAL)
56. Summaryl For Yoza per se: l Novelty factor is real --
number of reads not as high as for initial Kontax launch l Number
of competition entries also lower l But, high number of comments l
And comments are generally longer l Older crowdl For m-novels on
Yoza and YAL lHigh number of reads, comments and competition
entries
57. 2. Lessons for m4Lit
58. Lesson:Mobile is a content monster
59. Image: TV Bomb. Available at
http://www.tvbomb.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Little-Shop-of-Horrors-Audrey-Plant.jpg.
Copyright unknown.
60. Waiting for the next chapters kills me! Suzi*The translated
version.
61. Lesson:Mobile is instant (and we didntalways moderate in
time)
62. Y0h weneva i ryt a bludi c0ment they dnt add it wat da f***
IZ GNG ON U R FLIPN WOKN ON MA NERVZ ND I TKE DA DECENSY 2 READ AL
DA CHAPTERZ SO0O B0RING:e:((z) CheekyThe translated version.
63. Lesson:Mobile is always on
64. Times of responses400300200100 0 1:00 AM 3:00 AM 5:00 AM
7:00 AM 9:00 AM 11:00 AM 1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:00 PM 9:00 PM
11:00 PM Solution: moderate constantly
65. Lesson:Platform matters
66. Traffic via yoza.mobi: 1%, via MXit: 99%Also:
compareConfessions 1on Yoza andon YAL(has establisheduser
base)Solution: use someone elses platform if you can.
67. Lesson:Marketing matters
68. Uptake directly linked to marketingTradepost message:Heya!
Kontax is a newmystery story aboutSbu, a missing girl &
acellphone VisitTradepost > MXit Mix Tradepost messages>
Education > Kontaxnow to start readingthe exciting chapters,meet
the characters &download awesomewallpapers. Be a partof this
story P-) (Walton, 2010)
69. Summary of m4Lit m-novels usageStatistics are for period 29
September 2009 to 22 September 2010(yoza.mobi,Yoza on MXit,YAL)
Kontax 1+2 Kontax 3 Kontax 4 Confessions 1 Confessions 1
Streetskillz 1 Sisterz 1 Other Yoza TOTALS (Yoza) (YAL) stories
Reads 34000 1164 5204 13479 1312 4609 59768 Comments 6400 3135 935
4321 11194 1033 2172 500 29690 Competition 4000 1856 223 946 2561
25 349 9960 entries
70. Lesson:Its hard to sustain interest
71. 26-Aug-2010: Tradepost message (advert)increased unique
visitors to Yoza by 6.9 times10-Oct-2010: Tradepost message
increasedunique visitors to Yoza by 1.3 timesNovelty factor?
72. Lesson:General audience is fickle,fans are loyal
73. Most prolic commenters on Yoza, 22 August to 22 September
2010
74. Some fans left more than 50 comments on Yoza ina month.Is
the drop in numbers from launch to subsequentepisodes a problem?
Perhaps it is just the curiousonlookers drifting off, while those
really interestedcome closer ... the shift from quantity to
quality?
75. Lesson:When reading becomes snacky,its hard (but not
impossible) tomake it sticky
76. Lesson:Comments can be rich feedbackor absolute
rubbish
77. Lesson:You might end up with somethingyou didnt expect
78. Not all stats are in, and the age categories havechanged
slightly since the start of the project,but ...There is a clear
increase in uptake in the 19-25age group (we aimed for ages
11-18).Solution? Expect the unexpected.
79. Lesson:For us its not come cheap
80. Marketing: one Tradepost message = EUR3,500Content
developmentHostingSoftware development, but that is once off and
platformwill be open-sourced with Praekelt
Foundation(developers)Solutions?1. Find someone with money, e.g.
Nike, and get them topay for it.2. Formalise in the education
system.3. You can do it for free, e.g. Wordpress with mobileplugin
... but dont expect big numbers.
81. Lesson?Are we mainly reaching peoplewho already read?
82. Many user comments are by people who say they dontread
much.Majority of competition winners say they love to read.Based on
the feedback we are reaching both.
83. So ... mlearning in Africa
84. book poormobile phone riche-reader of AfricaHUGE potential
as m4Lit has demonstrated
85. The stories r interesting nd fun 2read, they kip ma englsh
gngHlengiwe gulube
86. Kontax: Coverage and awards
87. Future
88. Not just literacy but social messaging contentKeep
experimenting in this spaceExperiment with more interactive
storytellingformats, e.g. Choose your own adventureAllowing teens
to self-publishMove into formal education?
89. Key sources Two research reports produced for the pilot
phase: Klk cc ... Supporting Indigenous Literacies in the Digital
Space By Ana Deumert, March 2010 Linguistics, University of Cape
Town Mobile literacies & South African teens: Leisure reading,
writing, and MXit chatting for teens in Langa and Guguletu By
Marion Walton, March 2010 Centre for Film and Media Studies,
University of Cape Town Reports available at:
m4lit.wordpress.com/reportsDeumert, A. (2010). Klk cc ...
Supporting Indigenous Literacies in the Digital Space. Available at
http://m4lit.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/m4lit_indigenous_literacies_adeumert_2010.pdf.Walton,
M. (2010). Mobile literacies & South African teens: Leisure
reading, writing, and MXit chatting for teens inLanga and Guguletu.
Available at
http://m4lit.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/m4lit_mobile_literacies_mwalton_2010.p
91. Questions1.Effects of texting on non-English mother-tongue
speakers?2.To what extent will teens allow us to occupy their
space?3.Who is excluded from the mobile internet? (Walton,
2010)4.When reading becomes snacky, what does it do to
concentration abilities?5.There is a distance and conflict between
mobile literacies and school literacies. This needs to be explored
and better understood because mobile literacies are so pervasive in
young peoples lives (Walton, 2010). What do we do with this?
92. But isnt txtspk bad for literacy? l Various schools of
thought on this (Vosloo, 2009) l "The more exposure you have to the
written word [including txtspk] the more literate you become and we
tend to get better at things that we do for fun" (Plester, 2009) l
But, [while skills in mobile networking can be a valuable coping
strategy,] experience in chatting is unlikely to help teens produce
written academic genres, or to qualify them for middle class jobs
and careers (Walton, 2010)Vosloo, S. E. (2009). The effects of
texting on literacy: Modern scourge or opportunity? Available at:
http://vosloo.net/wp-content/uploads/pubs/texting_and_literacy_apr09_sv.pdf.Plester,
B. (2009). Texting improves language skill. Available at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7910075.stm.