GSMA report on prospects and obstacles of mLearning: How mobile devices are changing education

There are a few other advantages to mlearning. It’s cheaper to update a cloud-based curriculum than to print and distribute new books. And 3G-capable devices put photos, videos and music into classrooms. Also, people with disabilities are broadly left out of the developing world’s educational systems, but mobile devices are customizable to serve the blind or deaf, and they bring the classroom to the homes of those who are have trouble traveling.

FYI: A CSCW Workshop on Social Media for the Developing World:

Social Media for Development

Recent projects and studies suggest there is interesting and diverse work emerging at the intersection of ICT4D―the application of information and communication technologies to socio-economic development―and social media. One trend both fields share is the rise of mobile: While ICT4D has been devoting increasing attention to mobile technologies due to their global reach, there has also been a surge in mobile social media applications for the developed world. Whether mobile or web-based, work by social media researchers indicates that social software may have significant potential in developing regions through support for citizen reporting, crowdsourcing, grassroots mapping, and education. Through position papers and interactive discussions, workshop participants will explore current work at the intersection of ICT4D and social media (we’ll call it “SM4D”), as well as challenges, emerging themes, and future directions.
Workshop Organizers: Susanne Hupfer, Beth Kolko, Kentaro Toyama

Streetline wins IBM’s SmartCamp search for the top start-ups building a Smarter Planet:

From 660 original applicants the final winner was Streetline, which helps cities track parking violations and drivers to find parking spots. Ultra-low power sensors are installed in parking spots, which can detect if the space is occupied. Sensors can also be installed in the parking meter to verify whether the meter had been fed and therefore detect violations.

According to Streetline, 30 percent of traffic in major cities consists of people driving around looking for parking, making it a major congestion and environmental problem. Parking fines are also a significant source of revenue for cities and currently many violations do not result in fines.

Streetline’s sensor technology is being installed in San Francisco’s SFPark program:

Winner:
Streetline

Other finalists:
Treemetrics
Sproxil
Curam Software

Pilotitis: Mapping mHealth pilots in Uganda

Smartphone usage exploding in Africa

Around 60 per cent of all mobile phones being sold by MTN in its own-branded shops in South Africa are smartphones, according to MTN CEO Karel Pienaar, speaking at Informa Telecoms & Media’s AfricaCom event in Cape Town on Wednesday. MTN is also selling 3,000-5,000 mobile broadband-enabled laptops per month.

IBM launches CityOne, a “serious” Smarter Cities game:

IBM CityOne is the world’s first Smarter Planet interactive simulation designed to help business and civic leaders discover how to make their cities and industries smarter by solving real-world business, environmental, and logistical problems

My high score: 145,060!

IBM researchers outline vision for a more intuitive internet:

“The project illustrated how the Internet will move beyond the present paradigm where people are responsible for the initiating and managing their own manual navigation of the Web, to a ‘personalized Web,’ functioning as a platform of services and resources that are dynamically and automatically configured to suit each person’s individual goals, tasks and concerns, in a way that person wants,” says Joanna Ng, master inventor and head of research at IBM’s Center for Advanced Studies.

Africa Vies for Outsourcing Jobs

http://www.kencall.com/

According to the ITU’s 2010 fact book:

• 90% of the world now has access to mobile networks
• Cost of wired broadband in developing countries decreased by 42% from 2008 to 2009, but is still 6-7 times higher than in developed countries
• Mobile penetration in the developing world will reach 68% by the end of 2010 (41% in Africa)