Starvin’ Marvin with a Starvin’ Marvin with a Cell PhoneCell Phone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fFNsGu3buA

Text Messaging in AfricaText Messaging in Africa

GovernmentMedicalBankingEducationCommerceSocial

Costs & Usage Costs & Usage

◦Cellular phones are portable and require limited infrastructure cost

◦2003: 5.3 subscriptions per 100 ◦2008: 32.5 subscriptions per 100 ◦1999: 5% living within range ◦2006: 60% living within range

GovernmentGovernment

‘ egovernment’ or ‘mgovernment’ promote more efficient and effective government facilitate more accessible government services allow greater public access to information make government more accountable to citizens 

◦vote by cellular phone ◦less corruption

http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/results

Messaging Messaging

◦MIM messages can also be used as a chat room ◦This same type of service is being used to

communicate with the government, essentially with a ‘call center’ being set up via SMS or MIM messages , with a many to many function

MedicalMedical

Anonymous contact with the clinic AIDS family planning (neither of which are openly talked about in

African culture) Sproxil is working to reduce the amount of

fake drugs SMS/MIM messages are used to remind

people needing to take medicines at regular intervals

Mobile4GoodMobile4Good

Current Services Jobs

             •  Kazi560: Kazi560 is a job information service aimed at blue-collar workers and employers, for which job-seekers pay 10 Kenyan Shilling (Ksh) per SMS received. It offers jobs in more than 78 categories from managers to drivers.

  Mobile Gaming

             •  The projects envisages mobile phone games that educate and entertain audiences on topical issues. The games allow the youth to interact with verified HIV messaging that they may not be comfortable asking their parents for.

 Other Services Health

             •  Health Tips: The Health Tips service is designed to provide subscribers with useful tips on various pertinent health issues for a nominal fee of 7 Ksh per SMS received.             •  MyQuestion: MyQuestion is a service, which has been developed to allow customers to anonymously ask HIV/AIDS and Breast Cancer related questions and receive answers for a price of 7 Ksh per question and 7 Ksh per answer.

Lifestyle

             •  Her560: Her560 is a lifestyle channel aimed at professional women, providing information on health, diet, fitness, fashion, family, finance, events, etiquette, motivation, romance and the home. One-off tips and subscriptions are available, all charged at 7 Ksh per SMS.

Community

             •  Community News: The Community News service is distributed free to subscribers in Kibera, Kangemi, Kawangware, Mathare and Mukuru. It provides a channel for sending out information on events in the community.

OKE, 2008 ◦“ The clinic credits the cellular phone project

with reducing the number of patients who have stopped taking their medicine from one in five to one in 50.”

BankingBanking

M-PESA is a branchless banking service, meaning that it is designed to enable users to complete basic banking transactions without the need to visit a bank branch.

The service enables its users to:◦ Deposit and withdraw money, ◦ Transfer money to other users and non-users, ◦ Pay bills, ◦ Purchase airtime

In September 2010, Vodacom and Nedbank announced the launch of the service in South Africa where it is estimated that there are more than 13 million "economically active" people without a bank account.

EducationEducation

lesson plans are posted on a blog site, and teachers use their own cellphones to access the Internet for online curricula to use in their classrooms

students can ask questions and download basic information through MIM messages or the internet 

Literacy Literacy

◦The developing world have had little incentive to achieve literacy since their economies and social lives do not require it. However, the introduction of cellular phone practices known as text messages and “apps” is changing the incentive for literacy. Text messaging is making literacy functional for the first time to many people around the world.”  (Richardson, 2010)

CommerceCommerce

SocialSocial

• A prepaid phone is often purchased by one person in the village and then used by many

Individual business owners purchase minutes and then sell to others (phone boxes on street corners)

Most often use is still to contact family and friends

Millennium Villages Millennium Villages

◦In five years: Doubled their agricultural yield. Child mortality has dropped 30 percent. School attendance has increased and test scores

have improved. Cellphone ownership has more than tripled.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=rFi42xAF8Qc&feature=player_embedded