Designing mobile user interfaces grows ever more interesting. Device and network capabilities are improving, platforms are giving us more features to help the user, privacy and security are becoming more important, and device proliferation is both increasing and decreasing. This wiki aims to be the authoritative resource for all things related to the art and science of mobile user interface design
Main Page – Design For Mobile wiki, resources for designing and building mobile apps and sites
# SMS is the technology that is the most easily accessible to NGOs, grassroots organizations and people seeking to deliver mobile services. However, in many cases, text can be a barrier (being inaccessible to people with low reading skills and being too limited for richer applications) and discovery is an issue.
# Voice applications are now attracting attention as they are providing a more natural way of interacting with people, and therefore lowering the barriers of ICT adoption. However, expertise, tools, and training are still lacking.
# Mobile browsing is now becoming a viable option to deliver richer content and develop more complex applications. Stable and reliable GPRS, when available, offers a relatively more affordable way of providing content to people. Richer applications, using images, and graphics such as icons, are also offering increased added-value services and easier access for underprivileged populations. Nevertheless, the lack of awareness both on how to use web technologies and build mobile web sites, and on the availability of tools is a blocking factor for a wider adoption by NGOs, grassroots organizations, and entrepreneurs. Roaming costs can also be seen as an obstacle in reaching the poorest sectors of the population.
# The lack of collaboration, cooperation, and sharing among people working in the field (NGOs, grassroots organizations…) is a major issue leading to the appearance of many competing systems and platforms to tackle similar issues. One – but not the only – major reason of this situation is the lack of visibility and awareness of what others are doing.
This document presents the output of the W3C Workshop on the Role of Mobile Technologies in Fostering Social and Economic Development,
As I have pointed out before, Kenyans spend more than 50% of their disposable income on mobile communication. Income that might otherwise be spent on building a savings account, their children’s education, investing in a new business, etc.
Mobiles in Africa – We Need The Eggs at Many Possibilities
Great post on the obscene profits made by mobile operators in Africa
Alone in a room in his home in Bonn, Germany, Friedhelm Hillebrand sat at his typewriter, tapping out random sentences and questions on a sheet of paper. As he went along, Hillebrand counted the number of letters, numbers, punctuation marks and spaces on the page. Each blurb ran on for a line or two and nearly always clocked in under 160 characters. That became Hillebrand’s magic number — and set the standard for one of today’s most popular forms of digital communication: text messaging. “This is perfectly sufficient,” he recalled thinking during that epiphany of 1985, when he was 45 years old. “Perfectly sufficient.
Why text messages are limited to 160 characters | Technology | Los Angeles Times
Loving the Germanic ‘This is perfectly sufficient’
What is Cell Alert? Cell Alert is an information tracking and delivery tool designed for non-profits and humanitarian aid orgs. It sends alerts to your cell phone or email when anything you want is located for you online (Grant Alerts, Regional Conflict Alerts, Genocide and Blockade Alerts, World Food Aid Alerts, Economic Aid Alerts and more!).
Here’s a challenge to build a movement to stop sexual violence against women in the DRC. The deadly nexus between that violence and the purchase of electronics products containing conflict minerals from the DRC is direct and undeniable. The electronic devices used by almost everyone in the North provide unique leverage to help end the scourge of violence in the DRC.
AfricaFiles | D R Congo: Cell phones, conflict minerals, and the worst sexual violence in the world
The future is not mobile or laptops. It’s an unpredictable mash-up of phones, computers, and innovative connectivity solutions. The single most important thing that needs to happen is to lower the network charges and get mobile phones and networks running over IP so that the networked innovation that we beginning to see in the developing world can really take off.
DAVID, a Masai herdsman from Kisumu in Kenya, answers a call on his cellphone. After listening to the message, he repeats a short phrase in his Masai dialect. He then listens to another short message, and repeats the new phrase. After 30 minutes, he ends the call, having earned enough for a week’s worth of personal cellphone airtime.
Cellphones tap wisdom of the crowds – 11 February 2009 – New Scientist
LG, Sony Ericsson and Samsung mobile phones have been fingered as some of the most problematic handsets available, according to a poll of users.
The research also delved into the personalities of mobile phone users and concluded that Nokia owners are “handset simpletons”, while Samsung’s clan is full of “snap-happy photo geeks”.
What is GarbageScout? The streets are full of interesting and potentially useful things that have been thrown out. If you see something good, snap a picture of it with your camera or camera phone, post it to flickr with the tag garbagescout. It will go up on the home page and others can go and get it.
This is an ingenious freecycle variation… which would work really well in Brighton.
Becky Faith 