Code, Camera, Action
Helping nonprofits do web 2.0+
The National Geographic Society, in addition to making a magazine, TV shows and website, also funds research and exploration. Once a year, they bring their grantees together for an Explorers’ Symposium in Washington, DC. I had a chance to attend some of the sessions.
For the most part, the explorers are scientists from different fields — anthropologists, archaeologists, conservationists, photographers, educators, oceanographers, epidemiologists, paleontologists, geneticists, geographers, linguists, urban planners, and more. One of the goals is connection forming, both between scientists and between editors of the magazine and TV show and these experts. Ideally, editors get ideas for stories, and researchers make connections that can help them take their work in new, cross-disciplinary directions.
Nowhere was this more clear than the with Thomas Culhane and Katey Walter, two of this year’s Emerging Explorers. You can watch their symposium presentations in the video embedded below. Their chance meeting at the symposium may have laid the groundwork for future collaboration.
Thomas Culhane is an urban planner who specializes on how do-it-yourself solar projects and can transform cities. You can read more about his escapades on Solar Cities, his blog. Right now, he is working with the Zabaleen garbage recyclers of...
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In addition to the winning project, FrontlineSMS: Medic, the NetSquared Mobile Challenge had several projects that use FrontlineSMS software: FrontlineSMS Alerts and IJ Central were two other finalists.
Several more were centered around SMS messaging, though it was not clear if FrontlineSMS was the software they intended to use.
So what is this FrontlineSMS stuff, exactly? FrontlineSMS software is a SMS switchboard made for the needs of NGOs.
By leveraging basic tools already available to most NGOs — computers and mobile phones — FrontlineSMS enables instantaneous two-way communication on a large scale. It’s easy to implement, simple to operate, and best of all, the software is free.
Being able to send lots of SMS messages without telecom carrier involvement sounds like a...
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I spent much of the week at the NetSquared N2Y4 conference in Silicon Valley. NetSquared brings together social entrepreneurs, whose tech projects compete for funds. Last year the projects were mashups. This year’s theme was mobile.
To see the sort of work the competition inspired, take a look at the 14 featured projects that made it to the finals, or see my notes about the projects that presented on Wednesday.
Want some cooperation with that competition?
But what best illustrates the spirit of cooperation that underlies the N2Y4 competition involves two projects that, as it happened, did not win big prizes at NetSquared.
- PublicStuff wants to be the craigslist of local government interaction. This is a big job. In part, the project team envisions itself as a replacement for 311 systems (where citizens report litter or building code violations), at least for smaller cities.
- SeeClickFix takes on one part of this: it allows people to report problems in neighborhoods (graffiti or litter, say). It lets folks watch a particular neighborhood, and can provide email notifications when problems are reported...
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Here’s a quick summary of the projects presented at NetSquared N2Y4 this morning. The complete list of Featured Projects is on NetSquared’s site.
Cell Alert: SMS information to developing countries.
- Pilot projects in Pakistan and El Salvador. Preparing to expand in Sudan, Gabon and Sri Lanka.
- Uses Frontline SMS as an SMS gateway.
- Information could be used for everything from security/crisis alerting to telework job opportunities.
- N2Y4 project description
Community reporting of 311 information. Anyone can report a problem, a pothole, graffiti, etc. The problems appear on a map, for corroboration and response.
- Quite successful in initial cities.
- Partnerships with media, incorporated into NYTimes and other community reporting initiatives.
- Provide a widget, so can be incorporated elsewhere. API forthcoming (works now, working to document and stabilize).
- N2Y4 project description
VozMob: Community journalism by cell phone.
An example: citizen journalist reporting by day laborers in the Los Angeles area.
Mobile Voices is an academic-community partnership to research and design a digital networking...
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What’s a multi-modal application? One that does phone, web, and perhaps Twitter, etc. One example is TwitterVoteReport, a Rails application that collected reports of waiting time at the polls for the 2008 US election. Produced in 3 weeks by Dave Troy. Input came from telephone, Twitter, SMS.
Here’s how Dave did it:
Open-source Software to do Voice
- Adhearsion Ruby library for easing call handling. Provides a domain language for doing voice in Ruby
- Asterisk actually talks to the phone system
Other Options
- Rhomobile Allows Ruby/HTML application to be deployed natively to iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Android. For front end.
- Mozes commercial alternative to phone/SMS/web applications
- Tropo.com hosts Adhearson and Asterisk in the cloud, so less work for you. Also supports languages beyond Ruby.
Jason Goecke @jsgoecke is a partner at Adhearsion.
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