At TechChange, we are always excited to support the work of young social entrepreneurs across the world from Pakistan, Tunisia, to Kosovo. TechChange is proud to welcome three participants representing the winning teams of the latest round of Social Innovation Camp Kosovo to participate in our Social Intrapreneurship online course we’re offering in partnership with Ashoka Changemakers this February 24 – March 21, 2014.

Photo credit: UNICEF Innovations Lab

Photo credit: UNICEF Innovations Lab

UNICEF Innovations Lab Kosovo has localized the UK’s Social Innovation Camp experience for Kosovo for the third time this last December 6-8, 2013. During that 48-hour event held in Prishtina, aspiring young social entrepreneurs with first-hand knowledge of Kosovo’s social challenges connected with leading local and international experts in marketing and software development including Dr. Dan McQuillan (former Global Web Manager for Amnesty International and winner of Global Ideas Bank Social Innovations Award), Fisnik Ismajli (winner of Cannes Gold Lion and Silver Clio), and Chris Fabian, (UNICEF Innovation co-lead and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2013). Together, the young Kosovo participants age 18 – 29 worked in self-organized teams to create prototypes for viable market products that promote positive social change in their local Kosovo communities.

Photo credit: UNICEF Innovations Lab

Photo credit: UNICEF Innovations Lab

 

The winning teams of the 3rd edition of Social Innovation Camp Kosovo were:
1st prize: Lokalizo
Lokalizo is an online platform that promotes civic engagement and activism in Prishtina with digital mapping. Through its partnership with UNICEF-GIS, Lokalizo will provide a smartphone application that is used by young people of Prishtina to generate automated reports that map out key and urgent issues. The members of Team Lokalizo expressed,  “We are very happy about receiving the opportunity to participate in TechChange and Ashoka Changemakers’ Social Intrapreneurship course. We believe that it will be an invaluable experience for us.”

Photo credit: UNICEF Innovations Lab

Photo credit: UNICEF Innovations Lab

 

2nd prize: Shoku me bisht (translates to “friend with tail” in Albanian)
The number of stray animals has reached thousands in Kosovo – posing health and safety concerns not just for the animals themselves, but for children and the elderly who are too frequently the victims of attacks by stray animals. This team aims to manage the stray animal population with programs such as animal adoption services, veterinary services, and forming a pet-owners community.

Photo credit: UNICEF Innovations Lab

Photo credit: UNICEF Innovations Lab

 

3rd prize: Alfa 
The Alfa team will develop an interactive mobile phone app for young children to learn the Albanian alphabet to address illiteracy. The team expects the app will be widely successful among the Albanian diaspora who are always eager to teach young children the Albanian language. We can’t wait to discuss this app when we cover mEducation in our upcoming Mobiles for International Development course!

Photo credit: UNICEF Innovations Lab

Photo credit: UNICEF Innovations Lab

 

Along with receiving TechChange training, these competition winners will receive support to launch their SI Camp Kosovo project in the form of seed funding, pro bono marketing exposure on Kosovo’s most popular online portals, and also access to mentors, office space and equipment at the Innovations Lab.

Bravo to the social entrepreneurs in Kosovo and beyond that are creating innovative solutions to improve their communities! We’re excited to welcome Kosovo youth to our courses!

To get an idea of what Social Innovation Camp Kosovo is all about, check out this video recap of the session in 2012 here:

Since the mobile phone has become a global tool for social good, it can be tough to keep up with the many different mobile products and platforms being used across international development. With 2014 estimated to be the year when global mobile subscriptions will surpass the number of people in the world, more than ever, mobile technologies are tackling challenges in public health, agriculture, education, banking, data collection and management, surveys,  journalism, and beyond.

These are just a few of the tools and organizations that we’ve featured in our M4D course over the years. What other tools are you excited about? Are there any mobile platforms/products that we missed? Let us know!

Want to learn more about these mobile tools? How about where and how this technology is  being applied successfully across the world? Enroll now in our Mobiles for International Development online course which runs February 10 – March 7, 2014. In this course, you’ll see live demos some of these tools by mobile tech experts who have used this tech in the context of data collection, farming, healthcare, education, finance, and more.

Click below to check out our full-size infographic illustrating the Mobiles for International Development landscape.

M4D-landscape-infographic..001

Technology alone won’t change an organization, but people might.

Last week Forbes featured our upcoming course on Social Intrapreneurship in a post on 2014’s Most Valuable Employee: The Social Intrapreneur. While we’ve posted in the past on how businesses are already being redefined to enact change (TechChange is a registered B-Corp), it is increasingly it is individual intrapreneurs that are innovating within organizations to implement start-up practices and catalyze innovation. The timing is fortunate, as the old model of how to fit employees into an established organizational model is undergoing a fundamental redesign.

A recent Economist special report on tech startups stated: “[T]he world of startups today offers a preview of how large swathes of the economy will be organised tomorrow.” Organizations that thrive will not be the ones with passive employees, but rather those with team members able to adapt organizational processes around the possibilities of ever-improving technology. However, as we’ve covered in our World Bank animation (Why Is It So Hard to Try Something New in ICT4D?), these increasingly rapid technological disruptions of “sexy gadgets” still require individuals to manage organizational change.

Fortunately, you won’t have to figure it out alone. Since our last update, we have two additional speakers that can share their experiences. Ken Banks (@kiwanja), founder of FrontlineSMS and author of a new book on The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator, or even FCC CIO David Bray (@fcc_cio), a prodigy of government IT who started his first federal gig at 15.

Class starts Feb. 24. We hope you’ll join us. Apply now!

TechChange and Kurante are excited to kick off the 2014 ICT4Drinks series with a Back-to-School happy hour on Thursday, January 30th from 6-9pm at 14K Lounge(RSVP Now)

It’s now a new year and a different month since we failed together (musically!) at Fail Festival last December. So here’s your chance to start the year right.

Join us for a lively discussion with other ICT4D professionals and share with us your hopes, dreams, interested classes, and tech-related laughs.

 We hope that you’ll find the time to drink up with our community, skill up with our classes, and cheer up in this weather.

First drink is on us. Second drink is probably a good idea. RSVP now!


January ICT4Drinks: Back-to-School Edition
Thursday, January 30th, 2014, 6:00-9pm
14K Restaurant & Lounge 


Learn more about TechChange online courses (Spring 2014):

Read more about the TechChange online learning model in New York Times and Fast Company.

How has the use of ICTs to collect election observation findings evolved over the past decade?

By Michael Baldassaro (@mbaldassaro), Innovation Director, Democracy International (@Democracyintl)

Over the past three decades, election observation conducted by independent international and domestic organizations has become a normative global practice. When conducted effectively, observation provides a check on the electoral process, promotes public confidence in the process to the degree warranted, detects and deters fraud, and offers recommendations to stakeholders to improve future elections. On Election Day, observers are deployed to polling stations to witness the voting process and fill out observation forms that are used by organizational leadership to issue statements about the quality of the process.

 For its election observation mission to the 2014 Egypt Constitutional Referendum, Democracy International (DI) used Formhub, a free, open-source, cloud-based data collection and analysis toolkit. Developed by Columbia University’s Sustainable Engineering Lab, Formhub enables observers to send reports from polling stations via smartphone or tablet app. These findings are then aggregated and visualized in real-time using integrated open-source Mapbox software created by Development Seed.

Watch the CNN report on Democracy International using Formhub to observe in Egypt.

DI deployed 83 observers equipped with Google Nexus 7 tablets. An e-form was downloaded onto an app called ODK Collect and used to capture observer findings and GPS location data.[1] Observers transmitted the forms directly from polling centers to Formhub over the mobile data network with an incredible 100% success rate. By the end of the first day of voting, nearly 1,000 observation forms were submitted from polling stations and mapped on Formhub; by the end of the second day, more than 1,900 forms were collected and mapped (note: voting in Egypt takes place over a two-day period).

 Because Formhub is a cloud-based server, logged in users were able to visit the Formhub website and see the data, graphs, and maps as they are updated in real-time. Users were also able to download all the data collected on to their laptops in human-readable (xls) and machine-readable (csv, kml) formats.

Beyond real-time collection and mapping of data, using Formhub enabled DI to improve the quality of the data as well:

  • Observation forms were designed to improve quality control and error reduction by applying “skip logic” to bypass questions that were illogical based on answers to previous questions and “logic tests” to avoid the capture of illogical data that contradicted earlier responses;
  • Using a smart device made it possible to not only capture GPS information, but to timestamp reports, providing knowledge of where and when violations occurred; and
  • Notes, hits and reminders were incorporated into forms to provide observers with contextual information to reduce possible confusion and provide more accurate responses.

[Read how Formhub worked from an observer’s perspective in the field update by TechChange’s Christopher Neu] As a result of using Formhub to collect observer data, DI was able to analyze data much more quickly and accurately than ever before for the purposes of issuing a election observation statement. Given that the software was entirely free to download and use, the only costs incurred related to hardware procurement (tablets which will be used in future election observation missions in Egypt and beyond), SIM cards, and mobile airtime (for mobile data usage).

DI decided to use Formhub in Egypt because the country has a relatively robust and extensive mobile data network. In many countries, mobile data networks are often quite limited, i.e. confined to major urban areas, or practically non-existent. Where such infrastructure is lacking, the benefits of using a smart reporting system – as opposed to ubiquitous and familiar mobile, or even paper – are essentially negated.

Screenshot of Map

A brief overview of the evolution of ICTs in Election Observation

A reliable internal communications system is critical to the success of any election observation mission. Organizations have historically relied on paper observation forms to gather data from observers in the field. Over the past decade, the increasing prevalence of familiar technology – notably the mobile (feature) phone – has made it possible to collect data quickly and efficiently, allowing organizations to make timely statements about the electoral process.

Using SMS to transmit observation data has become common practice – and almost essential in observation missions where hundreds or thousands of observers are deployed. Most SMS communications systems used in election observation employ a reporting method that uses strings of alphanumeric code (a1b2c1d3…) and converts them into human-readable findings. In recent years, tech start-ups such as Souktel, Telerivet, and TextIt have made the “old-fashioned” feature phone smarter, developing USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) and IVR (Interactive Voice Response) software that replaces messy strings of code with questions sent to feature phones via text- or voice-prompt systems[2].

With the increasing prevalence of smart devices, some organizations have begun using smartphone and tablet applications for collecting observation data. Relatively expensive hardware costs and weak telecommunications infrastructure in many countries precludes this from being a mainstream data collection method for the moment. However, free (or low-cost) open-source toolkits such as Formhub,Kobo Toolbox, and Open Data Kit (ODK) provide off-the-shelf, customizable solutions for organizations interested in piloting “smart” data capture methods. An early adopter of smart data collection, The Carter Center first deployed ODK for its 2012 Egyptian Presidential Election Observation Mission.

While Formhub is an excellent toolkit for organizations looking to collect data in real-time, it may not be the best tool for every observation mission everywhere in the world. At the end of the day, it’s important for an organization undertaking an observation mission to select the most appropriate communications system for the context. Technology is a like any other tool and selecting the most appropriate tool for the job is much more important than selecting the most sophisticated tool. Complexity and high cost are not good indicators of a good communications system. Mechanisms that provide speed, accuracy, quality, reliability, efficiency, and user-friendliness in data collection will always be the most appropriate.


[1]Formhub was built from the code base of another open-source data collection toolkit called Open Data Kit (ODK), developed by the University of Washington. Formhub was designed to work with the ODK data collection app: ODK Collect.

[2]Note: if you have ever responded to a mobile survey, you have encountered a USSD system; if you have ever called a number and got an automated answering service, you have interacted with an IVR system

For the first time, an international observation mission will utilize mobile devices and formhub for collecting real-time data from its observers.

I’m here in Egypt as part of the election observation mission with Democracy International, where 80 international observers are being sent to 23 governorates to witness the conduct of voting for the constitutional referendum. Each team was issued with two  mobile devices: A Nokia 105 cell phone and a Nexus 7 Tablet. While mobile phones have long been a staple of campaigns and observer missions, the mobile app is still fairly new — and not without skepticism. The Romney 2012 campaign in the US bragged about using tablets and Orca for mobile coordination, only to experience a complete meltdown on election day.

Screenshot from Formhug

Screenshot from formhub.org.

The tech is neat, but we’ll also have the hard-copy forms to report our findings in the event of interruptions or hardware failure. While formhub may be faster, more accurate, more informative, and lower risk than paper, when it comes to highly reliable and resilient methods for data collection, it’s still tough to beat paper.

For now, anyway.

 

There’s more to formhub than Egypt and elections! Below is a neat visualization of 1 million formhub submissions from around the world. Want to learn more? Check out our upcoming course on Mobiles for International Development.

This year, Starbucks announced that it would make its internet speed in coffee shops 10 times faster by switching from AT&T to Google. Though it has not revealed which 7,000 locations around the U.S. would receive the new Google internet first, I was lucky enough to experience it my hometown of Wichita, Kansas over the holidays. As I hopped on the Starbucks Wifi, I was greeted by a welcome page covered in Google logos. In a confused, still uncaffeinated stupor, I dared to try a speed test.

And it is awesome.

I mean, not just good enough for email, but good enough to watch Netflix (even ultra HD!), stream music, or, um, actually do work for a change and run one of our global live video events on Google Hangouts on Air.

Those familiar with Google Fiber may not be surprised that Kansas has some of the early adopters of the new WiFi. After all, our state capitol did change its name to Google for a month.

But what is surpising is how much this signals a shift. Back in 2008, Starbucks ditched T-Mobile for AT&T Wi-Fi, which showed a movement away from T-Mobile “hotspots” to the incentivization of AT&T data plans for smartphones. Then, Starbucks turned to free internet to remain current with competitors.

Now, we’re seeing a new shift as Google has made huge dents in both the smartphone and laptop market. Android has captured 81% of smartphone market share, while Google Chromebooks account for 21% of laptop sales in 2013. Not to mention the intimidating foray of Fiber into internet connectivity.

According to Wikipedia, Starbucks has 20,891 stores in 62 countries, and that’s growing daily. The comparison here might not be to AT&T and T-Mobile for mobile Wi-Fi access, but rather to when AT&T and Apple partnered to launch the iPhone. Bandwidth like this in a public place may not just threaten other carriers and internet providers, but even coworking spaces and office environments.

Sorry, playwrights and up-and-coming writers. Collaborating nerds are going to take over the local Starbucks. With speeds like this, Starbucks may even disrupt coworking spaces like 1776, which essentially rent seats to small teams with great bandwidth and good support.

Of course, this experience was in Kansas. As I returned to DC to find that our office Comcast had gone out again, I made my way over to Starbucks. Where I barely get 0.6 Mb/sec download speeds.

I had to remember: We’re not in Kansas anymore.

But perhaps soon in Starbucks, we might as well be.

Tech entrepreneurs of the world unite! Last Friday, TechChange was proud to present on a short panel for The Tunisia Community College Scholarship Program (TCCSP) at the 4-H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase, MD. The Thomas Jefferson Scholarship Program, TCCSP “builds the workforce capacity of a diverse group of Tunisian students in technical fields through US-based training and practical experience in their professional fields through academic study, community engagement activities, and internships.”

TechChange has participated in similar student programs with TechGirls for #JobShadow day and IREX’s Global UGRAD-Pakistan program, but we found this topic particularly urgent given the continuing youth unemployment crisis in Tunisia. However, while the specific panel topic was “Journeys to Global Citizenship and Professional Success,” but the best part of the event was listening to the students pitch their ideas and professional goals during a poster session on “My Professional Self-Portrait.”

Picture of discussion during poster session at IREX

 

While walking around and chatting with the students, three lessons stood out:

1) Combine tech, design, and entrepreneurship

There was one moment while walking around where I saw three “Professional Self-Portraits” next to each other. The first was for graphic design, the second for network engineers, and the third was for starting a small business for IT solutions.

2) Pitch your ideas, but listen more

Turns out the idea of starting a business wasn’t unique! During the panel, I asked the audience to raise their hand if they intended to start a business someday. About half of the hands went up. But more impressive than those starting a business were those who took time in the event to connect.

3) Networking is key

A funny thing happened when I started talking to the three students mentioned earlier — they started to listen and talk to one another. Given that successful startups often require two or three founders with synergistic–not overlapping–skill sets, this gives me hope that the relationships will continue after the students leave DC.

 

If some of these lessons seem familiar, well, they’re pretty much spot-on for what the industry professionals came up during #EdTech for the last Tech@State. Thanks again to IREX for hosting us last week — we’re proud to take part and excited to see where this program goes next!

Photo credit: Images taken and provided by IREX.

The release of the South Sudan Ushahidi map has spurred an online dialogue on the possibilities and challenges of how we understand crowdsourcing, big data, and technology for conflict management and peacebuilding. A series of blog posts from Chris Neu of TechChange, Daniel Solomon, and myself highlighted these issues, which I wanted to combine with brief descriptions because I think they’re an interesting series for those grappling with how we make use of emerging data and technology tools in pursuit of peace and stability. It’s worth giving all four a read, since they represent a nice arc of thinking about big data for conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

  1. Can a Crisis Map End the Crisis in South Sudan? by Chris Neu. This was the first post about the South Sudan Ushahidi map that got the chain of posts started. Greg Maly had advocated getting a map up as the situation in South Sudan began deteriorating, so with the help of Rob Baker, a deployment was launched. After the map was live, comments came back in – a number were constructively critical and thought provoking. The key points were focused on the utility of the data that could realistically be provided.
  2. Two Tweets Reveal Central Problem for South Sudan Crisis Map by Chris Neu. Chris’ following post brought up the important issue of ethics when using data submitted by individuals in such a chaotic environment. “Is it ethical to restrict information to the public? Is it ethical to reveal information about the vulnerable?” Both questions are valid, but the one that gained some traction focused on the data we expect to get from conflict zones.
  3. The Murky Swamp of Mass Atrocity Data by Daniel Solomon. Up to this point this online discussion had focused on the map and software, so Daniel Solomon took the conversation and framed it in the context of conflict itself. He outlined a set of important issues about how conflict affects data, and thus how our efforts to crowdsource and use big data could actually lead to greater confusion instead of clarity.
  4. Finding Big Data’s Place in Conflict Analysis by Charles Martin-Shields. Daniel Solomon’s post inspired me to think through the methodological challenges of using Big Data for conflict analysis. The two posts got some good traction and discussion going, which is always exciting.

I wanted to pull all four posts together in one place since I found them to be useful individually, and interesting as a whole. They also provide an arc of event, critique, and potential solutions that are useful when practitioners are trying to decide how and when to use crowdsourcing or Big Data in their conflict analysis and resolution work.

Interested in this topic? Want to join the conversation and learn more? Enroll today in our Technology for Conflict Management and Peacebuilding online course to learn more about digital mapping, social media, mobile platforms, and other technologies for promoting peace.