I’ve always been a visual learner. As a digital animator, one of my responsibilities is trying to make important information in international development and public health organizations easier to understand and share. With 65 percent of all people as visual learners, it is important in data-intensive fields such as international development and public health to have training content that is easy to digest through graphic organizers and data visualizations. I’ve learned how creating an animation or interactive graphic mimics the learning process: breaking down components of a concept and putting them together. When animating, I see the pieces of an animation as creating joints for a once inanimate object. I am always learning more about that topic as I break down components and put them back together.

When working with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (JHU∙CCP), USAID, and FHI 360 on their new Global Health eLearning (GHeL) Center online course, Health Communication for Managers, I learned about the basics of health communication for global development professionals and academics and tried to make it engaging with an interactive infographic.

Although the creative process in building out this interactive graphic was a constant feedback loop with many iterations, here are the basic steps of how the process of creating an interactive infographic works:

1. Map out the vision and purpose of the infographic, and understand its constraints
When crafting a training program for health communication for managers, the Knowledge for Health Project (K4Health) at the JHU∙CCP contacted TechChange to produce animation videos to create an engaging learning experience with its infographic. They gave us a lot of creative freedom to make one of the training’s main infographics interactive. After a consultation with JHU∙CCP, we all agreed on the vision for the interactive graphic and its purpose for the graphic to be intuitive, visually appealing, simple, and easy to understand. Then JHU∙CCP sent us reference materials that included a general brief of interactivity requirements for the platform and technical specifications.

Last year, GHeL went through a significant site redesign and now hosts its 65+ free courses on an open source, open access Drupal platform. JHU∙CCP was excited to test out the new site features and, in keeping with latest trends in online learning, was interested in adding an interactive layer to its primarily text based courses. However, the majority of GHeL learners access the site from low and middle income countries where access to high speed internet remains a critical barrier. Any interactive elements added to the site needed to load easily and quickly in low bandwidth environments in order to cater to learner needs.

We decided to go with HTML5, the latest standard for HTML, as it is becoming almost a universal standard in terms of web browser support. Where it was previously only possible to do this level of interactivity with graphics either with Flash (a technology that is almost obsolete with more flaws than advantages) or with rather complex javascript, authoring something like this in HTML5 with a product like Adobe Edge Animate is relatively easy and powerful. By using HTML5, we can create a lightweight infographic that can load with minimal bandwidth without losing any graphic quality or interactive elements. The infographic will not only load quickly, but it will also be accessible on a tablet or mobile device without loading any additional resources.

Starting with the initial static images in text, PDF, and .jpg format, JHU∙CCP informed us that they didn’t want just a basic .jpg image with hotspot (an area on an image that has a function attached to it); they wanted a bit of “edge” to it. As a result, we interpreted the graphic similarly to the Google Doodle interactive logos. However, we tried to keep the graphics consistent with static printed version of graphic, yet with an interactive element.

2. Convert and reformat content to be web-friendly & break apart the graphic itself into layers and components.

For the next step, I traced these .jpg files to stay consistent with the original graphics, which appear in other parts of the training. I then created vector files with certain colors using Adobe Illustrator. When working with these files, my thinking process involved questions such as, “What part of the graphic will be clickable? What colors will change?” I then made a basic mock-up in Illustrator and used Adobe Edge Animate (Adobe’s version to HTML5 animation that is similar to Flash) to combine the component. This simple animation tool lets you create animations by combining multiple images within a time frame.

3. Build interactivity and triggers into graphic
JHU∙CCP sent us a brief of each graphic with buttons and Adobe Edge Animate, HTML5 animation web development authoring tool. The software resembled animation tools used including basic Adobe software. I then created a timeline where different states of the graphic appeared, adding breaks between the states. For the concentric circles within the graphic, I had to create each circle as a separate asset (or a button, picture, graphics, icons, illustrations, texts; components of an animation/infographic/illustration).

4. Combine animation with web development
I worked with my colleague Matthew on addressing bugs and optimizing the interactive infographic for different window sizes. He also assisted with responsive design (or designing for multiple devices and services), quality assurance (QA) and worked out the HTML5 coding. As an animator, it was a straightforward process to build graphic assets on a timeline, but I had issues with “what happens when you press on the thing”. Matt coded a conditioning system that made transitions smoother and user-friendly.

5. Get feedback and refine (ongoing)
In total, we created five graphics. Throughout the process, there were small edits in the text. Overall, I approached this interactive infographic project like any other animation project, but with interactive elements.

To access the free online course on “Health Communication for Managers”, please click here.

Interested in animating some of your static training content? Contact the TechChange Creative team at info@techchange.org.

In a recent LinkedIn post, World Bank President Jim Kim discussed the global impact of smartphones in even the most remote areas of the world today. President Kim called cheap smartphones the “poor’s new window to the world of the rich.” Not only are smartphones increasingly providing people in the developing world a medium to view possibilities in other countries, they also provide the means for online access to media, services, and goods offered abroad.

Industry-wide, the prices of smartphones are lowering. Current mobile leaders looking to expand into new markets including emerging markets are offering products at a lower price points to be affordable to new customers. Expanding internet access initiatives by a variety of players will drive down the costs of data plans for smartphones. The entrance of more players in the mobile phone provider space is pressuring mobile phone companies to compete by offering smartphones at low prices, allowing smartphones to be more accessible in the developing world.

Here are the top 5 cheap smartphones for under $50 USD as of July 2014:

1. Mozilla  (as low as $25)
OS: Firefox
Now available in India for $33 (buy it on SnapDeal)
Will be available in: Latin America and Africa (buy it on Firefox) Mozilla $25 smartphone

Photo credit: Cellular News

Popularly known for their desktop browser, the Mozilla Foundation announced at the 2014 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona its collaboration with the Chinese chipmaker, Spreadtrum Communications to release the cheapest smartphone to date. Mozilla hopes to attract customers in Latin America, Africa, and India by using their own operating system, Firefox — rather than iOS or Android. This affordable Mozilla phone recently launched in India on August 25th for $33. It supports Hindi and Tamil, the two most widely spoken languages in India.

2. Used Apple iPhone 3GS as low as $40
OS: iOS
Available in: any country with a GSM carrier with a sim card (buy it on Amazon) Apple iPhone 3G

Photo credit: The Unlockr

While known for making the most coveted and expensive smartphones, Apple’s older iPhone models do come at an affordable price. You can buy Apple’s used unlocked iPhone 3GS on Amazon for as low as $40. Once unlocked, the iPhone may be used with any carrier with a new SIM card, allowing it to be used in other countries. Another alternative is going through mobile donation programs such as Hope Phones. Hope Phones is a program that accepts phone donations to supply to mHealth workers across the world. TechChange donated several used iPhones to Medic Mobile last year.

3. Karbonn Smart A50S $46 (Rs. 2,790)
OS: Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
Available in: India (buy it on Flipkart) Karbonn A50 smartphone

Photo credit: BGR

Already making affordable handsets in India, Karbonn Mobiles is entering the affordable smartphone race by introducing the cheapest Android smartphone in India. While Android enjoys 80% of the smartphone market in India, according to Android’s Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai, less than 10% of the Indian population has access to smartphones. With its relatively low cost, Karbonn will attract first time smartphone buyers in remote places.

4. Spice Smart Flo Edge Mi-349 $47 (Rs. 2,845)
OS: Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread
Available in: India (buy it on Flipkart) Spice Smart Flo Edge Mi 349

Photo credit: GSMArena

Joining Karbonn in providing the Indian consumers with another affordable smartphone is Spice Smart with its Flo Edge Mi-349. Spice Smart provides yet another option to the Indian population on the already popular Android platform.

5. MTN Steppa $48 (499 Rand)
OS: Customized Android 2.3 Gingerbread
Available in: South Africa (at the following stores: MTN stores, PEP, Foschini, Edcon, Truworths, Ackermans, John Craig, Woolworths, Rhino, Dunns)

 MTN Steppa smartphone

Photo credit: TechCentral

Known as the most affordable smartphone in South Africa, MTN Steppa can be purchased in select stores for 499 Rand ($48). MTN Steppa is based on Qualcomm Reference Design Programme that allows any brand to produce their own brand device at a lower cost. MTN Steppa is yet another player in mobile companies’ race to make the most affordable smartphone.

Runner Ups
Beyond the Apple iPhones and Samsung Galaxies that dominate the smartphone market in the U.S., there are other smartphone providers that didn’t make it on this list. Honorable mentions include:

Are there other budget smartphones we missed here? How much quality can consumers expect from these low-cost phones? Are you interested in this topic of cheap smartphones and their applications in the developing world? Enroll now in our Mobiles for International Development online course.

Join us tomorrow, July 29th in Washington, DC for the ICT4Drinks International EdTech Happy Hour!

TechChange, Creative Associates, and Kurante are thrilled that Meg Adams, International Ambassador at Udemy, is headed to DC so we’ve decided to convene the educational technology community (especially those focused on international education) for a happy hour while she’s in town.

All are welcome to attend. Free drinks and appetizers will be provided for those that come early. We’ll also be giving away some TechChange cubebots. TechChange will also host the after party across the street at our office at 13th and U.

International EdTech Happy Hour
Let’s talk edtech in Washington, DC!

5:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Alero Restaurant
1301 U St NW, Washington, DC 20009

RSVP here. Hope to see you there!

What role can mobile phones play in distributing a survey and collecting feedback and data from respondents? In particular, how can we use mobile technology to reach out to and engage individuals in developing countries that tend to be underrepresented in global surveys?

In the recent My World 2015 survey launched in December 2012 in honor of the end of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 and the establishment of a new “post-2015” global development framework, the United Nations Development Program, the UN Millennium Campaign, the Overseas Development Institute, the ONE campaign, and over 700 on-the-ground grassroots organizations as well as international and local information technology companies created and continue to implement a worldwide survey seeking to collect the opinions of individuals everywhere on what matters most to them when it comes the future.

Survey respondents are asked to vote on 6 out of a possible 17 policy priorities, including a fill-in-the-blank priority that the individuals can add themselves. The survey aims to examine the public policy priorities of individuals across the globe. The survey allows respondents to choose 6 out of 16 pre-selected priorities or to submit their own priority in a 17th ‘fill-in-the-blank’ option. Respondents have participated in the survey via pen-and-paper ballot, via a central website, and through mobile technology (SMS, IVR, and a mobile application).

Here are five findings on the ways mobile phones have been leveraged for distributing the My World 2015 survey:

1. About 20% of over 2 million votes have come in via mobile phones.

2. Over 70% of the mobile phone respondents live in developing countries. These participants came from nations that score low on the Human Development Index (versus 31% in the overall survey).

3. More men have responded via mobile than women. (at a rate of 2 male respondent for every one female), and respondents via mobile tend to prioritize better job opportunities at a slightly higher rate than the majority of respondents.

4. Mobile distribution benefited heavily from local and international partnerships and, as with the web, more immediate and centralized collection of the data was possible. In implementation, the mobile phone promotion and distribution of the survey differed slightly from the pen-and-paper and web distribution of the survey.

5. A survey is only as effective as its promotion and distribution. Local and international partnerships helped distribute the survey through targeted high tech, low tech and no tech campaigns. Promotion for all three of the survey distribution methods included integrated campaigns targeting specific national and regional audiences as well as ongoing global efforts to raise awareness and foster interest in the survey.

How do these results so far compare to your own surveys? What kind of mobile data collection methods have you used in your projects and organizations? What challenges have you faced in gathering this feedback and engaging with survey participants in developing countries?

Linda Warnier OECD

Linda Warnier is a Communication Officer at OECD and an alumna of TechChange’s Mobiles for International Development online course. She develops and implements digital strategies and uses paid and free tools to plan and perform online impact assessments for large international organisations including the OECD and, before that, the European Commission.

To read Linda’s full report of My World 2015 and Mobiles, please click here.

===

To discuss this topic and similar issues related to mobile phones and data collection, be sure to join us for our upcoming online courses on Mobiles for International Development course and Technology for Monitoring & Evaluation!

Photo credit: First Access

 

In the fight against poverty, microcredit has been hailed as one of the most successful tools invented to help enterprising men and women build wealth in the developing world. Access to small loans has certainly been a game changer for many low-income individuals. I have seen microcredit make a positive impact on real people through my work at TechnoServe, a non-profit committed to applying business solutions to alleviate poverty. In fact, many development organizations are dedicated to similar business-centric initiatives, helping entrepreneurs build successful businesses by connecting them with capital, networks, and skills training. This work is vital to reducing poverty, but these organizations do not have the capacity to help everyone in need. There are still 2.5 billion men and women around the world without basic financial services.

During a recent course I took with TechChange on Mobiles for International Development, I was very impressed by First Access, an SMS-based loan assessment tool. This technology has the potential to give the 2.5 billion adults without a formal bank account an instant credit history. With a credit history, these individuals would have the ability to take out a loan. First Access uses pre-paid mobile phone data to assess credit risk and deliver a loan recommendation via SMS to potential borrowers in just a few seconds. Instead of sending a financial representative to a potential borrower’s house to assess risk, the loan representative could simply send an SMS.

This technology is impressive because it uses already existing financial and demographic data registered with telecommunications companies to determine loan eligibility. It is a more objective, standardized system, unlike the current loan assessment technique in many developing nations, which can be based on the materials used to construct your house or the opinions of your neighbors. First Access benefits all parties, particularly financial institutions by saving them time and money cutting down on the cumbersome loan assessment process, as well as phone companies through increased data usage and customer loyalty.

By using the already aggregated data for the 6.3 billion active mobile subscriptions around the world, First Access is, in many ways, simply acting as a liaison between different parties. To make the technology successful, strong partnerships with financial institutions and telecommunications companies need to be established. The alignment of interests will be a huge obstacle in many markets. First Access has the most potential for success in Africa, as many African countries are already using mobile money programs, which should make borrowers less reluctant to adopt the technology. However, First Access could be dangerous in countries where political, religious, or ethnic tensions are prevalent, as the assessment process might be forced to deny some applicants and grant loans to others.

Financial institutions bear the biggest risk in using this new technology to assess credit eligibility. First Access is unclear about how the assessment process determines the loan award, simply stating it is based on demographic, geographic, financial, and social information. It seems borrowers could manipulate the process by artificially inflating their social networks or using someone else’s address. The potential for a mobile phone black-market is even more of risk. A strong mobile device fraud-assessment would need to be built into the financial assessment process. This could easily be negotiated with the telecommunications companies to help increase legitimate phone sales, as well as lowering the risk for financial institutions.

First Access could potentially connect over half of the world’s population to microcredit services through its convenient loan assessment process. It’s quick, easy to use, and it doesn’t require excessive outside intervention, or hands on training. For the first time, these billions of unbanked men and women would be given the opportunity to start a business with the click of a button. This technology is empowering people by giving financial institutions objective, standardized data. No longer will people be judged by the material of their roof, but the data stored by their phones.

 

Tessa Ruddy is a first-year graduate student at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. She is studying international development and conflict resolution and recently took TechChange’s Mobiles for International Development course. She is passionate about the impact of development work in pre and post conflict communities, particularly the use of SMS-based technology to connect people with financial services.

A group of girls in Zambia learn about Zambia U-Report (Photo credit: Mark Maseko – UNICEF 2013)

 

Information Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) holds exciting promise, especially on the African continent where we have so many systemic problems that could benefit from different mindsets and new ways of looking for solutions. When I was making my first serious foray into the world of ICT4D in 2012, I first heard about TechChange courses from a friend. When I went to the website, I was very excited to see that they were offering courses that I had been trying to take and hadn’t been able to find anywhere, least of all in Zambia. My plan was to take one course in mHealth: Mobiles for Public Health but the course was so interactive and I learned so much from the course content, online sessions and other learners’ experiences that I ended up taking the following 3 courses in just about as many months!

The result: Zamba U-Report, a SMS-based youth counseling and engagement platform that allows young people to ask trained counselors questions, take part in polls and influence decision making at policy level.

Here are some of the lessons I have learned through my course work at TechChange and applying them to ICT4D in Zambia:

1. Validate the need for your solution
Before diving into an ICT4D solution, focus on the problem you’re addressing first and establish if there is a valid need for the solution. Too often, a tremendous amount of resources are wasted when people jump ahead to create a ICT4D solution first and then try to find a problem to wrap around it.

In building Zambia U-Report, we first identified the problem as high HIV infection rates among young people in Zambia.

2. Involve the end users
Make sure you’re not just building solutions from your desk at an office. The end user of the solution must be involved in the very initial design of the solution, and give feedback throughout the process of prototyping and quality assurance (QA). You would be surprised at how often the community you are trying to help may already know what needs to change to improve their lives.

After identifying Zambian youth affected by HIV, we then involved them in designing the U-Report SMS solution and coming up with the key strategic objectives. These young people regularly give feedback and are involved in any further planning or reviews of the programme. The first year of this program’s pilot in 2 provinces has seen 50,000 young people voluntarily sign up and engage the 24/7 trained counselors by asking them questions on HIV, STIs and other sexual reproductive health issues.

3. Invest in continuous learning to keep up with ICT4D issues
TechChange courses have enabled me to better articulate and sell the idea of using technology for development to my office and I was able to contribute to various projects including one I am very proud of, the Zambia U-Report (an SMS-based youth engagement and HIV counselling platform). I have since changed jobs from ICT Officer to Innovations/Technology for Development (T4D) Officer.

To get the most from these courses, students need to commit the time required to write the blogs, take part in class conversations, read recommended materials, and engage with the instructors and other participants. It is always interesting and there is always something new to be learned from the very diverse group of people you meet in any given TechChange course.

Of course, there are more lessons learned in implementing an ICT4D programme and I would like to engage other industry practitioners. Looking forward to taking the Technology for Monitoring and Evaluation course as it will tie in very well with my work with programs helping adolescents and young people!

Priscilla Chomba-Kinywa, UNICEF Zambia T4D Officer, TechChange alum

Priscilla Chomba Kinywa is the Innovations and T4D Officer at UNICEF Zambia. She holds a BSc Business Computing, CCNA certification, a post-graduate Diploma in Business Administration and various certifications in using technology tools and skills for international development work including TC105: Mobiles for International DevelopmentTC309: mHealth – Mobiles for Public Health, and TC103: Tech Tools and Skills for Emergency Management. Priscilla has more than 13 years’ experience in ICT, working with WFP for six years and UNICEF for seven. She has also supported the creation of different innovative solutions to challenges that face Zambian children, adolescents and women. Among these are Zambia U-report, a SMS-based youth counselling, engagement and participation platform that has over 58,000 young Zambians signed up; and Programme Mwana, an intervention that uses SMS to reduce the time it takes for HIV test results for infants to reach a mother in rural Zambia from the labs in Lusaka and Ndola. Also see Priscilla’s work highlighted earlier this year on UNICEF here.

 

 

TechChange Founder and CEO, Nick Martin, has been selected as a 2014 Ariane de Rothschild Fellow! The AdR Fellowship program connects social entrepreneurs with a well-connected network across sectors aimed at conflict resolution through cross-cultural discourse.

Nick is one of 28 competitively selected, visionary fellows who have demonstrate early achievements of a social good organization with a commitment to facilitating cross-cultural dialogue.

As part of the fellowship, Nick will be participating in an intensive series of Rothschild Fellow trainings at the end of August at the University of Cambridge, UK. There, the AdR program will focus on business training, unconventional social science approaches, and workshops to extend the impact of these selected social leaders.

To learn more about the Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship, please click here.

Please join us in congratulating Nick!

Being a first-time mother is hard, even for those of us lucky enough to have our babies in developed countries. Through the fog of fatigue and the hotbed of hormones, we try to sort through the avalanche of advice and do what is best for our newborns. How much harder it must be for women who are so poor that they struggle just to survive.

This is why I was so impressed by the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA). They take what is universal about being a new parent and transform it to fit each country where they work. Through text or voice messages timed to the woman’s weeks of pregnancy or her baby’s age, they deliver culturally sensitive, medically approved message to the mother’s mobile phone – and to her husband and other household members too, if desired. (That way, she’s not getting one message from her phone and a different one from her mother-in-law.)

The messages tell the mother what’s going on with the baby in her womb and help her understand the symptoms she might be feeling. They also recommend actions to improve her health and that of her baby, such as getting plenty of iron or exclusively breastfeeding. I subscribed to a similar service from Johnson & Johnson’s BabyCenter when I was pregnant, and it was immensely satisfying to read that my baby was the size of an avocado (a different fruit or vegetable every week!) and that women everywhere at the same stage of pregnancy were going through roughly the same things I was.

Even the best-educated moms can use help and reminders. I was a medical journalist, but I didn’t know about one of MAMA’s messages: Talk to your baby. Luckily, my mother-in-law was staying with me, and one day I noticed that the more she chattered to my son, the more he babbled back.

MAMA targets countries where there are high maternal and child mortality rates as well as high mobile penetration rates. It has seen remarkable uptake in Bangladesh (more than 500,000 users) and South Africa (350,000), and now is launching in India. In Bangladesh, phone surveys show that MAMA subscribers have almost twice the rate of prenatal and postnatal doctor visits and giving birth in a facility, as well as increased rates of exclusive breastfeeding – all important factors in reducing the number of women and babies who die in childbirth or infancy.

But perhaps MAMA’s greatest strength is that it brings mothers together across countries and socioeconomic levels. Rather than assuming that women in developing countries need different information, it takes the BabyCenter content and localizes it – and also makes it available to other organizations that want to do similar work.
MAMA’s service recognizes that the poor are not all that different from the rest of us – biologically, they are identical, and as new mothers, they have many of the same questions and doubts. MAMA makes brilliant use of mobile technology to address their needs.

Elizabeth Howton is an online communications officer at the World Bank. Opinions in this blog post are her own and not her employer’s.

===

If you’re interested learning more about MAMA and mHealth, please join us in your upcoming courses on Mobiles for International Development and Mobiles for Public Health.

TechChange Program Coordinator Matthew Heck explains technical aspects of Google Maps Engine to UN Summer Academy Director, Patrick van Weerelt (Photo: S5R3 / Simon Ruf).

In June 2014, TechChange Founder & CEO Nick Martin and Program Coordinator Matthew Heck conducted a training at the 2014 United Nations Summer Academy at the UN headquarters in New York City. 45 participants from across the UN system based in 25 different countries joined Nick, Matt, and TechChange Mobiles for International Development alumnus and guest expert, Arjen Swank of Text to Change in a hands-on workshop on “How to use innovation and technology for development”.

In the session, participants learned about and experimented with online tools for development including CommCare, Google Maps Engine, Magpi, Open Data Kit, and OpenStreetMap, Text to Change, TextIt, and more.

Here are some highlights from the workshop:

Nick Martin at 2014 UN Summer Academy

Nick Martin meets the participants of the 2014 UN Summer Academy and gives a quick introduction about TechChange and ICT4D.

 

Arjen Swank TTC at UN Summer Academy

TechChange TC105 alumnus Arjen Swank leads a workshop on TTC for the participants (Photo: S5R3 / Simon Ruf).

Check out Arjen’s latest blog post on the training and “Why basic mobile technology is still powerful” here and the UN’s summary of the event here.

Arjen Swank TTC at UN Summer Academy2

In smaller break-out groups, Arjen Swank demos how Text to Change can be used via tablet (Photo: S5R3 / Simon Ruf).

OpenStreetMap UN Summer Academy 2014 demo

UN Summer Academy participants experiment with OpenStreetMap (Photo: S5R3 / Simon Ruf).

If your organization is interested in training with TechChange online or in-person on technology for social change, please contact us at info [at] techchange [dot] org.