Using Mobile Phones for Action
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Posted November 27th, 2007 by New Tactics
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Feature Online Dialogue: Using Mobile Phones for Action

Table of Contents

The following table of contents was developed to make the dialogue easier to navigate. Important themes and different discussions have been highlighted for archival purposes and for new users. The preferred method of viewing the comments is with "Thread list - expanded" option, which is explained here.

A list of resources and videos featured in this dialogue can be found here.

Using Mobiles

SMS (Short Message Service)

Resources

Intro

Mobile technology is being used by citizens all over the world as the most affordable and massively adopted piece of technology. How can we harness this technology for advancing human rights and civil society participation?

Our outstanding resource practitioners for the November-December tactical discussion shared and discussed many ideas for "Using Mobile Phones for Action". You can still contribute your ideas, questions and experiences!

Evans Wafula Ken Banks Ellene Sana

 

 

Natasha Dokovska Noel Large Katrin Verclas
Clockwise from top: Evans Wafula (Kenya) Ken Banks (UK), Ellene Sana (Philippines), Natasha Dokovska (Macedonia), Noel Large (Northern Ireland) and Katrin Verclas (United States).

Philippe Duhamel - in his interTactica blog - Harnessing new technology for new tactics provides some great examples to get our creative ideas flowing.

  • Sending out an SMS -- Supporting human rights work and activism with text messaging, or SMS - Short Messaging Service - functionality
  • Organizing demonstrations -- Such as the Orange Revolution in Ukraine
  • Coup de text -- Like ousting a president, it happened in the Philippines
  • Protest Ringtones -- Highlighting corruption, it's being used in the Philippines

Links from the dicussion:

Related New Tactics Resources
Related Groups: 
Mobile Phones for Advocacy
Related Tactical Notebooks: 
Sending Out an SMS: A rapid-response mobile phone network engages a youth constituency to stop torture fast
Related interTactica posts: 
Harnessing new technology for new tactics
Related interTactica posts: 
Take new tactics everywhere with mobiles
kiwanja's picture

One-to-many

Submitted by kiwanja on Sat, 12/01/2007 - 11:48.

 

There's already been talk about Twitter in this discussion, and in a sense this is an SOS emergency version of that. Rather than - as Twitter generally does - being used to update friends and "followers" about your mood, where you are or what you're eating, the SOS version allows friends and family to, similarly, keep a virtual eye on you and be comfortable knowing they'll get an SMS if you get into any kind of trouble.

There's been talk before about this, including here on New Tactics (see http://www.newtactics.org/en/blog/mholterhaus/social-media-and-activism-...). For organisations interested in the Philippines example, but without the time, expertise or funds to replicate it, Twitter is a useful option.

Ken