Featured Comments
The following comment is a Featured Comment that has been posted by seeker PRAVEEN KUMAR CHOUDHARY.
“As we see the future of ICT , usage of more hand held devices is inevitable. Given this , this is a huge opportunities for companies that are developing software for mobile phones and other similar PDA devices.
Imagine the fact that in a country like India , where in more and more people are growing to use cell phones at a phenomonal pace, it could be an educational revolution , if we could get simple softwares made for PDA devices for education to people in their local languages. The key idea being that if we could get content designed and managed for PDAs , which are managble in smaller memories and can be managed through services the way we download ringtones today.
Imagine if we can download voice based educational instructional content in small edu-bytes just like ring tones along with some small bytes of MMS or SMS edu-content, this could have mass reach and result in amazing impact across all the sections of society.”
Syamant Sandhir said:
The Idea to use MMS and SMS to deliver instructional content is excellent.
It could also have been used by Health groups in sending informative messages about managing the health pandemic that is worrying everyone including the WHO. I wonder if this was used by anyone. Any Ideas ?
I have been trying to aggregate information on how Mobiles have been used to benefit society at large. One of the examples I came across was Mobile Movement, that seeks to microfinance projects and the way they reach people is via the mobile. It is a very interesting approach in this UN-Habitat project. Would like to know more
http://mobilemovement.tv/
nicolo weiss said:
Let’s pick as exaple what Twitter did when the heat fired up woodlands in Australia and California… It seems that Twitter enabled fireforces to quickly discover where people was still trapped. Isn’t that incredible?
I LOVE the idea of enabling literally milions of people to attend classes, study, ask for help, medicines, stay in touch with parents/sons, do some business (since bargaining is still the customary trading habit in lot of countries in the world).
I definitely agree with the two previous posts…. I cringe at this idea.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:41 am
syamant said:
The Idea that mobile and emerging technologies can play a significant life saving role is powerful. If one were to factor in just mobile, people who have not subscribed to data services should also be able to avail of twitter or similar services via sms. While sending a tweet by SMS is possible. The key is providing an emergency response infrastructure and also coordinate with people who know is inportant. Imagine if one could send health alerts which are specific to an area and this is a two way process.
Lately there have been innovative announcements, regarding the availability of medical records of a person, on the phone. If an affordable smartphone with such medical inputs is made available in areas that need medical assistance , it would go a long way in saving lives.
PRAVEEN KUMAR CHOUDHARY said:
Thanks everyone for building upon this idea. As i think , we are perhaps the last generation of users who are using devices like TV. If mobile can now , provide the connectivity and content and affordability the way TV did in the last century , it has the immense power of dual connectivity , bothways from user side and provider side. So interactivity of mobile can be utilised on multiple ways, education , health care , disaster recovery , micorfinance to name the few that we heard so far. But the key idea being that mobile technology can leap frog traditional infrastructural brick and mortar roadblocks that we have in countries like India.
July 21st, 2009 at 3:00 pm
syamant said:
Mobile is powerful but its potential can be tapped by understanding how people actually use it. The example that comes to mind is of the person who signed up farmers who wanted to know rates for various products in wholesale markets. Depending on the rate, the farmer decided if it was appropriate to sell or buy the product on the day. This was initially a manual service which I believe was semi automated and delivered to anyone who signed up. The mobile thus helped the farmer and the person who created a market out of an opportunity.
July 24th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
syamant said:
This is an interesting project that uses mobile technology to link informal workers to employment .
http://www.socialearth.org/chf-international-receives-1-million-to-empower-slum-dwellers-via-mobile-technology