Bridging the GAP using mobile phone

Enriched information and effective communication have always played a crucial role in development and have created avenues for innovation at large. Be it enabling effective governance or creating opinions for social causes, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have managed to put their foot print wide and larger.

Take recent examples of the Arab Spring or the London riots or the summer of anti-corruption unrest in India, ICTs have managed to amplify local causes of public interest beyond national borders, making the issues truly global.

Internet penetration in India and counterpart developing countries started in the late nineties, and today has found mainstream place in most urban areas, adding qualitative betterment to peoples’ lives at large. There are ample instances where we use internet in our daily life, like in booking train/ flight tickets, accessing matrimony services, and referring to Google while teaching our children.

There was another paradigm shift in this regard when mobile phones were introduced to the masses in India by creating conducive government policies and opening up the domestic market. During this time there were quite a few optimistic ideas of empowering the poorest and the most neglected by using ICTs and building bridges in service delivery.

The fascination of integrating mobile with internet has spurred a many discussions and debates amongst the intellectual masses. But the potential to reach the unexplored market at Base of Pyramid (BoP) is yet to be demonstrated in scale.
If we see the root cause, it seems there is a lack of capacity to develop & customize web-mobile applications at various levels, along with an inadequate framework to support the same. Simply speaking, a Civil Society Organisation based in a remote place cannot think of developing a mobile application for mass awareness on a social cause, or to provide contextual adaptation knowledge on climate change.
The good news however is that this is becoming possible, and for ICTs there is a ray of light in the near future so far as bridging of heterogeneous tools and techniques are concerned.

Android, an operating system and development framework for mobile devices is emerging in potential to break this barrier. Unlike other mobile Operating Systems, it is not difficult to learn. It is an open-source framework with a convincing degree of quality control mechanisms in place. And the most interesting fact is that it may be deployed in mobiles costing less than INR 5000 (Around 100 USD).

Using Android Framework, applications are working on GPS enabled android mobile phones to monitor sanitation behaviour of rural people in India. The data collected comprise of behavioural information on sanitation, with photographs, and latitude and longitude details, which get transferred to a central server using GPRS connection without any delay.

In case the GPRS network is not available, it resides in the mobile until the connectivity is established. A copy of the same remains in the sqllite (A light-weight database) mounted on the phone for future reference and editing.

In traditional research or field survey, the data collected from the field takes months to be represented in an actionable format to the policy maker. And many a times the research finding becomes irrelevant due to this delay. OneWorld’s mobile innovation for data collection looks promising in this regard to bridge such critical time gaps, while enabling greater accuracy.

I always believe, technology if engineered properly, proves to be quite instrumental in facilitating development. This simple innovation reinforces the same.

This story is also published in Eldis and may be seen at http://community.eldis.org/.5a305d9c .
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Kedar Dash
Katwarai Sarai, New Delhi
Author may be contacted at kedar dot dash at gmail dot com

The 18th Day

It was the 18th Day of Mahabharat War. Tired Duryodhana(दुर्योधन) was resting inside Padma Sarobar (The Lotus pond). The Pandavas(पाण्डव) were eagerly looking forward to close the devastating war by get rid of the last man, the root cause.

They went to the padma sarovar and Bhim shouted at him for hiding and not adhering to trend of the worrier culture. After listening all harsh words, Duryodhana came out and invited the pandava to fight; In response Yudhisthira,s the eldest pandava offered him to fight with any one of the pandavas and promised that if he can manage to defeat him, he will accept his defeat and give the kingdom of Hastina to him.

Duryodhana looked at Yudhisthira. His face was full of frustration and but quite confident. He smiled carelessly and said, “Who will see me be the king. I have lost my ninety-nine brothers ; Dushasan - my obedient brother is not there; Karan - My dearest friend is no more; My Uncle (Mama) Sakuni - who used to be the source of my inspiration has left for ever. What will I do with the kingdom, the wealth ... They are quite meaningless. So even if I win, there is nothing left in for me to enjoy.

The fact is very true in our life. The success and failure only make sense if we have the people to share with us. In their absence it is absolutely meaningless.

There is a friend of mine, who hardly calls me. I do not remember when he last called. But, I find it always prompting from core of my heart to call him to share what I am doing.

One day I thought why am I so eager to call him. What is so special about him? I have no expectation of any kind from him, I am not impressed with his personality or any of his quality – But I call him and Trupti, My wife makes fun of me.

After thinking for couple of days, I realized that he is the person who was my college room made; we have shared a three year of our life together in college hostel, dreaming about the brightest future that we would have imagined at that point of time.

Life is all about companion. Cheers...