Date: May 2009 to August 2009
Client: Open Mind, Grameen Foundation
Link 1: http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/05/10/what-is-question-box/
Link 2: http://questionbox.org
About: Question Box is an all questions answered service that attempts to democratize the world’s information for all the world’s people. Unlike many services that target only mobile or web users, Question Box takes into account the fact that some people are illiterate, some people are too poor to afford even a mobile phone and some people (often times women) are shut out from communicating with certain people or information sources. The service was started by Rose Shuman a few years ago when she got the idea to offer the internet and information found in things like Wikipedia to people who couldn’t read or who were otherwise disenfranchised. Since then the service has been piloted in India and Uganda.
Our Role: Our role was to work with Open Mind to rethink the Question Box project for the African continent. This meant using mobile phones and publicizing a phone number in rural areas instead of deploying costly question boxes. We also operated a three-person call center outfitted with custom software for answering caller questions.
The custom software we developed is called Open Question, an open source software project that allows for the quick offline search and storage of content.
Awards: Presented at TEDGlobal 2009
Pilot With Open Mind and Grameen
Date: May 2009 to August 2009
Client: Open Mind, Grameen Foundation
Link 1: http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/05/10/what-is-question-box/
Link 2: http://questionbox.org
About: Question Box is an all questions answered service that attempts to democratize the world’s information for all the world’s people. Unlike many services that target only mobile or web users, Question Box takes into account the fact that some people are illiterate, some people are too poor to afford even a mobile phone and some people (often times women) are shut out from communicating with certain people or information sources. The service was started by Rose Shuman a few years ago when she got the idea to offer the internet and information found in things like Wikipedia to people who couldn’t read or who were otherwise disenfranchised. Since then the service has been piloted in India and Uganda.
Our Role: Our role was to work with Open Mind to rethink the Question Box project for the African continent. This meant using mobile phones and publicizing a phone number in rural areas instead of deploying costly question boxes. We also operated a three-person call center outfitted with custom software for answering caller questions.
The custom software we developed is called Open Question, an open source software project that allows for the quick offline search and storage of content.
Awards: Presented at TEDGlobal 2009