The closer you are to the optimum device and network conditions the more things become possible. Three projects highlighted below take advantage of some of these optimum conditions, but use the technology in slightly different ways and aim at subtly different target audiences. The first, wildlive!, sets out to raise awareness of wildlife conservation among the general public, whoever and wherever they may be. The second, Freedom HIV/AIDS, was more specific, targeting members of the public in developing countries particularly at risk for contracting the disease. The third, Dunia Moja, is a lecture and class-based education tool aimed at a controlled group of students taking a particular university course.
Wildlive!
As 2002 came to a close, a visionary team at Fauna & Flora International, a Cambridge (UK) based conservation organization, began looking at ways emerging mobile technology could be used to promote their international conservation effort. A new breed of handset was coming to market, with colour screens, Internet access, video capability, cameras, and the ability to play games. wildlive! was launched in the UK in 2003, and then across Europe in 2004, and adopted a combined web- and WAP-approach, meaning that it provided conservation content on the Internet and mobile phones. News, diaries, discussions, and other information was added to the website, which was then rendered for mobile devices accessing via the Vodafone network. A community of interest was created, allowing users to contact others with similar ideas and views, and a wide range of conservation-based resources and downloads were made available online. Among this innovative range of content were five mobile games which taught users about gorilla, turtle, and tiger conservation while they roamed around a mixture of environments. Another was a 500-question quiz based on zoology and biology. The project received considerable attention, was nominated for an award, and is still seen as groundbreaking today.
Freedom HIV/AIDS
Originally developed for the Indian market, Freedom HIV/AIDS was launched on World AIDS Day, 2005, and sought to use mobile phones to take HIV/AIDS education to the masses. A number of games were developed including “Penalty Shootout” and “Mission Messenger”. In the shootout game, the player was given points for saving penalties, and received tips on how to avoid HIV/AIDS transmission. At the same time it sought to dispel myths surrounding the disease. In the second game, the player “flies” across the African continent distributing red ribbons and condoms, spreading messages of HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention, transmission, and safety. The games, originally developed for the Indian market, have been translated into a number of African languages.
Dunia Moja
Dunia Moja, or one earth in Swahili, seeks to use “mobile technologies to connect international students and faculty to stimulate learning and debate in environmental sciences”. This innovative project, piloted in 2007, was a collaboration between Stanford University and three African academic institutions—the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, Mweka College of African Wildlife Management in Tanzania, and Makerere University in Uganda. The project used high-end PDAs to allow students to download and watch video lectures from academic staff in each of the partner universities, and contribute to the discussion and debate through mobile blogging to a central website. The course was centred around global environmental issues and their impact on the African continent and the United States, and brought local perspectives and viewpoints to bear on the course topics. Faculty and students from the four participating institutions electronically shared course materials, exchanged information, and contributed their own course content. In m-learning in developing countries, Dunia Moja is a pioneering first.
As these three interventions (and there are many more out there) show, much is possible if you have higher-end devices and a fast, reliable data network at your disposal. In the land of plenty the sky really is the limit. In the land of less, however, we have fewer choices.
“Character cannot be developed in peace and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved”. – Helen Keller
