Mark Beckford of nComputing wrote a great article about Open Mind – Question Box.
Essentially, he explains how Question Box vaults over the slow bandwidth speeds found in most of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Read the original post, or read it after the jump:
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Swine Flu is a concern to Question Box users in both India and Uganda. Today in Loni, India, we got our first swine flu question, asking about its symptoms. There has been a major outbreak of swine flu in Pune/Mumbai, and Pune has been proclaimed an epidemic affected region. Schools/colleges/public gatherings have been closed till 17 August
CKW Paul Nkoola in the field
Recently in Uganda, we saved a young man’s livelihood. Grameen Foundation reports:
Impact from AppLab Question Box
Cost saving realized through improved decision making
CKW: Paul Nkoola
Anecdote: A young man in Paul’s village saved all his earnings to invest in piglets. When people learned about the spread of swine flu, they advised him to kill his pigs. He was extremely concerned and did not want to kill them but did not know what he should do. He knew that Paul was offering a service that allowed farmers to ask any question to an expert hotline and asked Paul for advice. Paul called AppLab Question Box and learned that swine flu is not spread through pigs and that the disease had not been detected in Uganda. The young man was relieved and continued rearing his pigs. By increasing his knowledge, the client averted a mistake that would have severely damaged his future prospects.
Becky Hurwitz, Michael Manoochehri and Charlene Chen of Berkley’s I-School visit the Question Box call center at Appfrica Labs in Kampala, Uganda.
A little bit about our work in Uganda…
Perhaps, the most exciting aspect of Question Box is that it’s the perfect example of cross-cultural solutions to local problems. The Question Box was first piloted in India in a very different form. Actual boxes that were placed on walls. The box has a mobile phone in it that’s pre-programmed to dial a specific number (the local QB call center). Users approach the box and push a button that triggers the call. Once connected, they ask an operator a question in their local language and get their answer back in that same language. In India the operators search the internet, they simply place the operators in a place with a good internet connection. But the software solution developed in Uganda offers the opportunity to improve the service in India as well by searching locally focused verticals and logging queries offline instead of relying upon the masssively unfocused world wide web. Likewise, the mobile-solar question box developed in India is an ideal solution for use in Uganda’s semi-tropical climate. With these two bottom-of-the-pyramid countries sharing knowledge and experience, there’s no limit to the concepts that can be tested and implemented.
via appfrica.net
