Archive for the ‘Africa’ tag
WhiteAfrican on Mobile Development
WhiteAfrican on Mobile Development
- The next generation of Africans are more mobile literate than you (or me), so when you develop something make sure you keep it open enough for them to evolve its use.
- Develop for the common denominator - that is SMS services only. If you have the time, and see a need later, then go for the fancy Java apps.
- Data services, like SMS are a good starting point, but don’t overlook the use and integration of voice. This is especially relevant in areas where local language dialects and literacy are an issue.
- If you can, provide a basic service, and let the local users develop a plan for how to use it in their area.
White African at Picnic
The default device in Africa is the mobile phone.
The White African has post about his presentation at Picnic called “If It Works in Africa, It Will Work Anywhere.” He talks specifically about a variety of mobile innovators and more generally about why this mobile innovation matters on a global scale.
Mesh networks
The White African on mesh networks.
Entrepreneurial Programming and Resarch on Mobiles at MIT
Entrepreneurial Programming and Resarch on Mobiles (EPROM) at MIT works on education, research and entrepreneurship for mobile phone programming in East Africa.
In education, they have developed a variety of courses in mobile phone programming which are being taught in a variety of East African universities. They are training programmers and comuter scientists to generate localy useful mobile phone applications.
In research, students are developing applications that can be run from any GSM SIM card and can be used for medical data collection in the field, amongst others.
In entrepreneurship, the group runs a SMS bootcamp teaching how to launch SMS-based services and supports small mobile phone application-based services such as MoSoko, a SMS based Craigslist, and Airtime Banking, which transfers a certain amount of credit over a desired amount of time.