Please Vote for MobiChange at the NetSquared USAID Development 2.0 Challenge

Please vote for MobiChange at the NetSquared USAID Development 2.0 Challenge. Voting ends on December 12, and the fifteen most popular projects go on to the final round.

Here is the full text of MobiChange's NetSquared USAID Development 2.0 Challenge application --

SHORT PROJECT DESCRIPTION

MobiChange will be an open-source, multi-lingual mobile social networking platform, accessible by voice and SMS, designed to support local communities and enable social change.

DETAILED PROJECT OVERVIEW

MobiChange will be an open-source, multi-lingual mobile social networking platform, accessible by voice and SMS, designed to support local communities and enable social change.

The MobiChange project will have three parts --

1. An open source code base for a multilingual mobile social network designed on the basis of extensive ethnographic research, to be accessed almost exclusively by voice and SMS (MobiChange).

2. A Drupal-based community website to discuss how such a platform may help non-profits engage local communities and mobilize social change (www.mobichange.org).

3. A hosted ad-supported consumer version of the mobile social network, built on the MobiChange platform, designed for mass market adoption (www.mobitalk.org).

www.mobitalk.org will be our main source of revenue.

MobiChange will work closely with grassroots non-profits working with disadvantaged local communities to build a code base and user interface that is flexible enough to be customized for development-oriented applications in the areas of education, activism, advocacy and micro-enterprise.

It will be the first social networking experience for millions of mobile phone users who have limited ease with English and use a $50 mobile phone as their only computing device. It will allow them to do some of the things we take for granted on social networks — meeting new people with common interests, benefiting from new opportunities for learning and earning, even sharing their own knowledge and skills with others.

A desired outcome will be the effective use of the MobiChange platform at a grassroots level to self-organize, coordinate and mobilize activities relevant to the community.

MobiChange will subsequently release its open source code base and train non-profits in emerging Asia and Africa to use it as a powerful development tool.

WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU DONE IN THIS AREA?

The MobiChange founding team combines a rare set of skill and experiences: (1) expertise in the emerging markets in Asia and Africa, (2) understanding of the emerging mobile social networking space, and (3) experience in using mobile and social media applications to engage non-profits and grassroots communities.

Ken Banks runs kiwanja.net, an organisation that helps grassroots non-profits around the world figure out how to use mobile technology in their social change work. Ken's FrontlineSMS project has previously received grants from William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and the Open Society Institute. For more, see www.kiwanja.net.

Dina Mehta is a partner at Mosoci (research for web 2.0 strategy) and Explore Research & Consultancy (qualitative market research). Dina has contributed to building several communities on the internet, such as Worldchanging, Tsunami Help, KatrinaHelp, Asia Quake Help, SkypeJournal and Global Voices Online. For more, see www.dinamehta.com.

Gaurav Mishra is the 2008-09 Yahoo! Fellow in International Values and Communications Technology at Georgetown University where he will be teaching a graduate course on the use of social media in business, government and development in Spring 2009. Gaurav has extensive previous experience in the Indian consumer market. For more, see www.gauravonomics.com.

All three have been widely acknowledged as thought leaders in the social media and mobile for development (Mobile4D) space, coregularly on their blogs about these topics, and are frequently quoted in the media.

SUSTAINABILITY (FINANCIAL) MODEL:

Once the MobiChange code base and user interface have matured, we plan to launch MobiTalk (www.mobitalk.org), a hosted ad-supported consumer version of the mobile social network, built on the MobiChange platform, designed for mass market adoption. The advertising revenue from MobiTalk will be our main source of revenue, apart from donations and grants.

POTENTIAL OBSTACLES:

We see three sets of risks for MobiChange --

(1) At the core of MobiChange is the premise that mobile phone usage in emerging Asia and Africa will continue to be driven by SMS and voice. There is a small possibility that during the development of the platform, mobile web will become ubiquitous in these countries and MobiChange won't be relevant anymore.

(2) While the technology to build a SMS based social networking platform already exists, it is not a trivial design problem by any means. In spite of extensive ethnographic and usability research, we may not be able to develop a user interface that is intuitive enough for first time social networking users. Also, we aren't yet aware of any voice based mobile social network and developing one may be a serious design and technology challenge.

(3) Finally, given given the limitations of SMS, users and non-profits may not find MobiChange/ MobiTalk compelling enough to use it actively.

PROJECT MILESTONES:

Phase I: Pre-development Research/ Prototyping (Fall 2008 to Fall 2009)

Do secondary research on social mobile applications in emerging Asia and Africa and build a working prototype for the MobiChange mobile social networking platform.

Phase II: Ethnographic/ Usability Research (Fall 2009 to Fall 2010)

Do on-ground ethnographic/ usability research amongst non-profits and mobile users who aren't (regular) computer users, and customize the code base for at least 5 non-profits.

Phase III: Open Sourcing/ Public Launch (Fall 2010 to Fall 2011)

Open source the MobiChange codebase and launch www.mobitalk.org, the hosted, ad-supported, consumer version of the mobile social network, built on the MobiChange platform, designed for mass market adoption.

The voting process is somewhat complex, so here is what you need to do --

1. Register at NetSquared and then login using the password they have e-mailed to you.

2. Go to the USAID Development 2.0 Challenge project page and select three projects, including MobiChange. The other two projects I voted on were QuestionBox and Ushahidi.

3. Add the three projects to your ballot, then cast your ballot (twice!), then submit your ballot. You know you are done when you are given a ballot number.

Once again, voting ends on December 12, and the fifteen most popular projects go on to the final round, so, please do vote.