SMS!

SMS Helped Check Bird Flu in Orissa

In order to check the spread of avian flu in Orissa, India, state government officials have instituted the use of the short message service (SMS) tool of communication, a capability of hand-held digital devices - in this circumstance, cellphones - to help increase transmission speed of alerts and execute the necessary precautionary measures...

A Survey of Rural Communities’ Attitudes on the Use of the SMS and Pod-casting Technology to Promote Human Rights

This is a survey on using mobile phones for reporting human rights violations in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. The survey was done as part of the UmNyango Project that uses SMS and pod-casting technology to promote and protect human rights of rural communities in KwaZulu Natal...

Telecentre Sustainability:

African Community Telecentres: In Search of Sustainability

The author of this paper examines the definition of sustainability, how to achieve it, and methods for measuring it in the context of multi-purpose community telecentres in African countries. The paper demonstrates that "sustainability is a process and not an end in itself and that it is much more complex than how it has been understood or measured by evaluators..."

Rethinking Telecentre Sustainability: How To Implement A Social Enterprise Approach

This article examines telecentre sustainability using experiences from India and Africa to review 3 telecentre sustainability models. The author's premise is that combining financial and social sustainability of telecentres remains a key challenge. She analyses the strengths and weaknesses of each of 2 current approaches and then makes an argument for a new approach - one that will ensure financial sustainability and high social capital leading to expanding community usage...