The context of design and computation for global access

As we read in the NYTimes we are seeing more and more need for solutions that engage subscribers with the simplest devices that can do much more. SMS is a very powerful approach and should be investigated more in detail. At each side of an application, many try to find interesting ways to represent data, forgetting that sometimes simple might be better.  “Simple” Message Service (SMS)  should be the new phrase. The development community is seeking solutions that solve real world problems, not those that create greater complexity.

Graphic: Christine Daniloff

Kenya’s new mobile-money system, called M-PESA, really is changing the way Kenyans manage their money, by letting them borrow, save and pay for services more easily….

Source: MIT News Office

….software that could improve the lives of people in developing nations.Nokia announced that it was launching the Nokia Economic Growth Venture Challenge, an initiative aimed at mobile phone developers to encourage them to create programs specifically useful to those in emerging economies. Under the terms of the project, developers must create an application or tool that helps to perpetuate and sustain a thriving local business, and improve the standard of living and quality of life in an area where people earn less than $5 per day.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

The best way to alleviate poverty is to raise the real income of the poor by creating opportunities for steady employment at reasonable wages. Firms can
do this by creating more employment opportunities in labor-intensive
industries and investing in upgrading the skills and productivity of
poor people, thus increasing their income potential.

- Aneel Karnani, Romanticizing the Poor

How many things can we get the mobile to do?

http://www.forgetmenotafrica.com