UNICEF, the Millenium Villages Project, and others from the Open Mobile Consortium are using RapidSMS, an Open Source framework for building SMS-based applications, to support NGO health care and disaster relief operations in Africa.

1. txts 4 africa

2. or

3. how I learned, metaphorically speaking, to three-point turn an eighteen wheeler inside a two car garage

4. Open Everything NYC 18 April 2009

6. humanitarian aid

7. disaster relief

8. economic development

10. think of the children

11. goods

12. services

13. education

14. economic opportunities

15. information and communication technology

16. ICT

17. UNICEF Innovation Unit

18. unicefinnovation.org

19. = Internet ICT

22. emergency response

23. supply chain management

24. health care coordination

25. election monitoring

26. market price reports

27. community forums

28. educational programs

29. weather reports

30. public surveys

31. data collection of all kinds

32. et cetera

34. so-called dark continent

35. fiber optic cables

37. source: xkcd.com

38. source: xkcd.com

39. < 1% Source: New York Times, 2007

40. 30% Source: African Telecom News, 2007

41. Source: African Telecom News, 2007

42. = Internet ICT

43. smart phones

44. not so smart

45. $$$$$$$$

46. f r a g m e n t e d

49. GPRS

50. GPRS

51. worth a try

52. what's left?

53. SMS

54. $

55. supported

56. ubiquitous

57. 160

60. 160

64. 3 stages

65. 1 scripting

66. 2 content management

67. 3 framework

68. scripting

69. granny's apple pie

70. from scratch

71. every time

72. content management

73. consistent workflow

74. 1 size fits all

75. framework

76. heavy lifting

77. application logic

78. scripting

79. skip ahead

80. content management

81. web interface

83. SMS broadcast

85. structured data collection

86. form design

88. delimited fields

90. sundae choc 23.4 17 N Y 6 brown E

91. tabular data

93. voice recording

94. 2008

95. Columbia School of International and Public Policy

96. Uganda

97. hepatitis outbreak

98. latrine coverage

99. drinking water quality

101. food supply tracking

102. Ethiopia

103. 2 hours of training

104. printed documentation

105. ~1,000 reports in 3 months

106. Malawi

107. malnutrition prevention

108. less paperwork

109. no separate data entry

110. illegible handwriting

111. instantaneous

112. instantaneous

113. winner of the NetSquared/USAID Development 2.0 Mobile Challenge Award

114. lessons?

115. lesson #1: send people with the code

116. (Artist's impression of a vacuum)

117. can't know unless you go

118. lesson #2: plan failure modes

119. adaptive parsing

120. confirmation messages

121. resubmission

122. manual correction via admin interface

123. lesson #3: build frameworks, not systems

124. 3 deployments

125. 3 divergent code bases!

126. 1 size fits all

127. 1 size fits all

128. no single work flow

129. 2009

131. Open Source framework

132. for building mobile apps

133. LGPL

134. Python

135. pluggable apps

136. pluggable messaging backends

137. flexible message routing

138. integrated with Django

139. heavy lifting

140. application logic

141. new deployments

142. Nigeria

144. malaria prevention

145. 63 million bed nets

146. Kenya

148. malnutrition monitoring and prevention

152. RapidAndroid

153. active development community

154. rapidsms.org

157. Dimagi

158. Entropy Free LLC

159. 4 continents (and counting)

160. Open Mobile Consortium

167. votereport.in

169. core refinement

170. more lessons learned

171. built-in apps

172. more reusable components

173. JavaRosa forms integration

174. further community growth

175. sustainable governance

176. further deployments

177. local developers

178. economic opportunities?

179. please get involved

180. rapidsms.org

181. Schuyler Erle [email_address]

182. thanks!