Question Box RSS Feed

Question Box Featured in Springwise!

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Question Box got a nice mention in Springwise. Read article below:

Operator-assisted web search in India & Uganda

6 October 2009Published on 6 October 2009 in Life Hacks

Proving that the internet�s information doesn�t always have to appear on-screen, Question Box brings the web�s intelligence to offline communities. At the heart of the venture is a solar-powered intercom box that features a large green button. By pressing the button, a user is connected to an operator sitting in front of a computer. The caller asks a question and the operator does a web search to find the answer.

Two Question Boxes are currently operational in the Indian state of Maharastra, where the first box was installed by California-based non-profit Open Mind in September 2007. In March 2009, the Applab Question Box service was launched in Uganda�tweaking the model by enabling callers to contact call centre operators from their own mobile phones. Both services log previously answered questions in local databases, speeding up responses to future enquiries and providing information offline in case of lack of connectivity. Queried topics range from crop prices and cricket scores to exam results.

The free service brings almost limitless information to poor and rural areas, in a format that transcends literacy. As the scheme expands, it will be interesting to see whether the boxes begin to focus on specific niches: health advice or political updates, for instance, or be adopted by corporate sponsors offering a similar service in exchange for airing commercial messages. (Related: Internet-in-a-box for areas without electricity.)

Website: www.questionbox.org
Contact: www.questionbox.org/contact.php

Spotted by: Susannah Haynie

Berkeley MBA visits Question Box Uganda Operations!

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

�Who was the chief justice of Uganda after Independence?"

This is one of several questions we heard today while observing the �Question Box� call center, housed at Appfrica Labs. My first exposure to Question Box was when I heard founder Rose Shuman speak on a panel at the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) Symposium. The basic premise is that issues such as illiteracy, lack of access to computers and/or internet, and language barriers prohibit most of the world from accessing the wealth of knowledge theoretically accessible with the click of a Google search button. ....

Little did I know that there is a Question Box pilot running in Uganda (above photo), except that instead of connecting to operators via a physical callbox, rural dwellers call through Community Knowledge Workers (CKWs) who are equipped with cell phones. Apparently questions, which average 40 calls/day, have ranged from random historical facts to more practical information such as health and agriculture tips. Although an alternative to Question Box is using Google SMS (see last blog post), we have heard that farmers seem to prefer voice communication to SMS texting, which not only requires literacy but is also limited to 160 characters.

This observation of Question Box in action inspired a couple thoughts regarding ICT information services in general: First of all, Question Box provides access to data via pull, as opposed to push....

Check out Charlene's full blog post here!

Open Mind - Question Box CTO Jon Gosier named TED Fellow

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

CTO Jon Gosier is attending the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford on July 21-24. Jon is wearing two hats, presenting his work with Question Box and Appfrica. Watch our new blog for Oxford updates!

Question Box in PC World!

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Today, PC World ran a feature on Question Box!

From the article, by Ken Banks of kiwanja.net:

"Because many users are, to all intents and purposes, off-grid, some of the data Question Box has been collecting is priceless. When you allow rural people in developing countries to ask any question, what do they ask? What's important to them? Does it follow our health information model, or market prices idea, or an anticipated need for paid employment?....There is also a demand for all sorts of other types of data, much of which I'd never have anticipated. Keep an eye on the Question Box Web site for more.

All of this leads us to a wider, more fundamental issue. Often when we plan and build mobile solutions for developing (or emerging) markets, we forget, neglect or are just plain unsure how to ask the users what it is that they want. The irony might be that, here at least, Question Box might end up being the answer we're looking for."

Racialicious Interviews Rose Shuman

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Racialicious writer Latoya Peterson recently interviewed Open Mind - Question Box founder & CEO Rose Shuman. The interview covered Question Box's origins, how it works, and the future of information access in the developing world.

"The internet is not popping in the developed world for various reasons � the low literacy rates in adults and beyond that, language barriers. Question Box was designed for people who are used to phones, placing a heavy emphasis on comfort of users." Read more

Racialicious is a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture. Comments on the interview:

�Wow, that�s pretty awesome. I�ve never heard of the Question Box, but it�s a great, powerful tool. It�s not fair how the Western/Developed world has so much access to world wide web, free information, and technology, while many other parts of the world don�t.�

Read full interview.

SXSW Panel Podcast

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Missed the panel? Wish you could hear it again?

Tune into the SXSW panel podcast Appfrica: How Web Applications Are Helping Emerging Markets Grow, featuring Open Mind - Question Box CEO Rose Shuman and CTO Jon Gosier, as well as our friends from Ushahidi and Project Diaspora.

Students Rush Question Box for Test Scores - Again!

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Students rushed the two Pune Question Box sites today to learn their scores on the 12th Standard entrance exams. Astonishingly, students were also checking scores for their friends in other districts! Already by 11am, Question Box had received 49 calls from inquiring students. Throughout the rest of the day Question Box operators logged 75 calls, the majority from excited students.

Project Coordinator joins Uganda office

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Open Mind - Question Box welcomes Nat Futterman to the Uganda office. Nat is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley. He will be serving as a Project Coordinator, helping to supervise the Operators, improve the backend, and analyze call log data. Welcome Nat!

Intel Donates eGranary - 10,000,000 webpages at our fingertips in Uganda!

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

A big thanks to Intel Corporation for generously donating a new eGranary system for our Uganda office.

The eGranary is a 1 Terrbyte hard drive outfitted with 10 million webpages - an "Internet in a Box." In Uganda, the Internet goes down frequently, meaning our Operators can only search information stored on our local databases. With the eGranary, the information available has expanded enormously.

Thank you Intel!

School Kids Go Wild for Question Box

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Pune local Project Coordinator Rama Sundaram reports:

"The results for the 10th Standard Examination were declared in Maharastra yesteday - 4th June.

We got inundated with calls from 10 AM onwards though the results were available from noon onwards. After 4 pm the results were to be displayed on the school notice board.

We logged about 30 calls from about 10 am to 3 pm."

In our earlier pilots in Delhi, we also had call surges around exam time. It's neat to know that school kids figured out the same in Pune.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe joins as pro bono legal advisor!

Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The prestigious international law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP is now Open Mind - Question Box's pro bono legal advisor! Orrick, with 21 offices worldwide, brings extraordinary breadth and depth of practice along with a deep commitment to pro bono engagement.

Open Mind - Question Box is honored and grateful for the association - Thank you, Orrick!

Kevin Braithwaite joins Advisory Board

Mon, 11 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Kevin Braithwaite, a longtime friend of Open Mind - Question Box, has formally joined our Advisory Board!

Kevin is an entrepreneur with a particular interest in ventures that tackle key global challenges such as poverty, climate change and disease. Currently, Kevin is developing a social venture incubator in Beirut, Lebanon (RootSpace) and associated projects in post-conflict zones around the world. He has advised very early stage academic spin-outs through to multinational technology corporations, telecom operators, investors, banks and non-profits.

Kevin has also founded and built a number of companies, encompassing both service and product based ventures in the software and Internet sectors. In addition to his advisory role with Question Box, Kevin serves on the advisory boards of other technology ventures focused on social and environmental impact. This includes ICT for development (www.Aptivate.org <http://www.Aptivate.org> ), entrepreneurship in the developing world (www.greenmango.co.in <http://www.greenmango.co.in> ) and innovative clean technologies (www.electradrive.net <http://www.electradrive.net> ).

Kevin has been a mentor, judge or advisor for many leading venture competitions, including the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC), Oxford University�s 21st Century Challenge, Women2.0 and the annual California Clean Tech Open.

We are very pleased that Kevin has joined us.

Support Question Box in NetSquared Microsoft Challenge!

Sat, 09 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Question Box has entered the NetSquared Microsoft Mobile Challenge for Development! We want to set up 20 women's Question Boxes throughout Pune, India. These Question Boxes come with a privacy booth, so that women users can cross the digitial divide, on their terms, in safety.

Check out our submission and show your support!

Speaking at the Global Social Venture Competition

Thu, 07 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Open Mind - Question Box founder Rose Shuman spoke on a panel on Social Enterprise in Emerging Markets at this year's Global Social Venture Competition, presented by the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

We had a deeply-experienced and thoughtful panel discussion about the ins and outs of social enterprise. Some key points include:

- Know your market before commiting to a plan or product

- Any assumptions can be wrong, especially if the enterprise is not your home culture

- Much of social enterprise fills in infrastructure gaps normally handled by the government in the developed world

- Local social entrepreneurs have far to fall if they fail. So, they are often more conservative as there are few second chances.

Ninad Gujar, an attendee, provides more coverage in his blog, including links to panelist bios.

Yunus for a visit

Thu, 07 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Open Mind - Question Box founder Rose Shuman with one of her personal heros, Muhammad Yunus of Grameen, at the World Health Congress Poster Session on Extremely Affordable Health Innovations.

Grameen sponsored a parallel poster and judging session at this year's World Health Congress, bringing together pioneers tackling tough problems throughout the developing world.

Joseph Ingemi joins Advisory Board

Wed, 06 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Joseph Ingemi has joined Open Mind's Advisory Board. Joseph is advising us on U.S. applications for Question Box.

Jospeh has over ten years of experience in Analysis and Project Management in the military, life science and software industries. Joseph is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), and he publishes a weekly blog about political and industry trends in Healthcare IT. Joseph currently works as a consultant in New Jersey.

We are pleased that Joseph is advising us.

John Digrado joins as financial advisor

Wed, 06 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

John Digrado, a California-licensed CPA and Universal Pictures executive, has officially joined Open Mind's Advisory Board. John is advising on financial, regulatory and planning issues.

John brings 10 years of experience in business consulting, tax, financial planning and accounting to Open Mind. John is currently a Director of Finance at Universal Pictures Licensing & Partnerships. Prior to Universal Pictures, he held a Manager, Finance & Planning role at Universal Music Group, and spent time in an accounting / financial planning & analysis role at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

We are very pleased that John has joined.

Open Mind - Question Box at World Health Care Congress, Washington, DC

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Open Mind - Question Box was one of 40 organizations invited to attend a special poster session on "Extremely Affordable Health Innovations." This session is organized by Grameen Health. We will be there April 14 - April 16.

Many groups have concluded that Question Box is a very good platform to deliver specialized information to hard-to-reach populations. We look forward to exploring how Open Mind can help health care organizations better serve their populations.

Pop!Tech Covers SXSW Laptop Crowdsourcing

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Pop!Tech covered Open Mind's recent big success in crowdsourcing laptops for Uganda in their blog.

Photo source: ferrante

"....At one point in the session, Shuman asked the crowd, who in now-typical SXSW fashion was busy tweeting, live-blogging, and hashtagging the panel, if they could help her �crowd-source a laptop�. Question Box was opening a new office in Uganda and needed a computer that could return with them in just three days.

The Twitterati love both a good challenge and to be helpful. By the next day, an almost-new 17″ Toshiba was delivered to the front desk of Shuman�s hotel. Another person came forward with an OLPC, which Shuman described as perfect because it�s designed for erratic, rough conditions, and has a great battery life. And out on the West coast in California, one of Question Box�s interns at the University of Berkeley found another laptop and overnighted it to Texas."

Read full post

Right: Open Mind Operators taking calls at Appfrica in Uganda. See more photos

Question Box Service Dry Run In Uganda

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Open Mind conducted a dry run of our new backend software system today. It went well!

Open Mind Blogging Live from Skoll on NextBillion.net!

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Keep an eye out on NextBillion.org next week. Open Mind - Question Box Founder Rose Shuman will be covering sessions at the Skoll Forum live!

Question Box Covered in NextBillion.net

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Adviser and friend Francisco Noguera wrote a great piece on the founding and evolution of the Question Box concept.

To read the full post, click here.

Pushing the "Go Button": Part 1 (excerpt)

.... (Open Mind Founder Rose Shuman) decided to look for help through interns and volunteers, posting her vision and the opening online. The response was extraordinary and she started managing a team of volunteers around the world that helped her figure out different aspects of the project and ways to improve the pilots being implemented in India by that time.

With the help of people like Jon Gosier interesting opportunities started to arise, like a pilot project in Uganda to test the model under cell phones and several improvements to the box model that had been previously implemented in India. A project was suddenly taking unforseen shapes and eventually becoming something with actual enterprising potential. ....

All work in progress...

However, talk to (Rose) and I dare you not to be taken over by her drive and optimism. She's making new and unexpected connections, meeting new people and allowing herself to be wrapped by the project in a way her previous circumstances didn't allow; she's been invited to conferences like next week's Skoll Forum or the GSVC in April, and waking up to, in her own words, "a new adventure every day". The quote in the title is hers: "When you press the 'Go Button', everything mysteriously starts falling into place."

Read the full post

Laptops Crowdsourced at SXSW

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Generous SXSW Panel Attendees Donated These Laptops for Uganda

At the end of our SXSW panel, we put out a call to crowdsource laptops for CTO Jon Gosier to hand carry back to Uganda. We are setting up a new three-person Operator facility in Kampala. There are power outages daily, meaning our desktop-based service would go down without battery power. (The Internet keeps going because we use modems that run on the mobile phone networks.)

Remarkably, within two days of putting out the call we sourced two gorgeous laptops from generous SXSW benefactors! One is a new, shiny 17" Toshiba laptop purchased just three months ago. The other is a robust and cute One Laptop Per Child PC with a 6 hour battery life. Together, they make a great combination.

We also received a third laptop, airmailed in from Berkeley, CA, which arrived just in time to go to Uganda. Special thanks to our intern Nat Futterman for making that happen.

SXSW Panel Recap

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Open Mind - Question Box Founder Rose Shuman and CTO Jon Gosier participated in a strongly attended panel at SXSW Interactive - Appfrica: How Web Applications Are Helping Emerging Markets Grow.

Open Mind emphasized the One Step philosophy in tech design, especially critical in the developing world. Namely, when designing a solution, designers need to start where the user is today. From that comfort zone, an effective solution must ask them to take only one step from the starting point, as with every step, users are lost.

Panelist TMS Ruge posted a good summary of the panel on his blog at Project Diaspora.

Open Mind at Skoll Forum 2009

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Open Mind Founder Rose Shuman is attending the 2009 Skoll Forum at Said Business School, University of Oxford, at the end of March.

Called "The Davos of Social Entrepreneurship," we are excited to bring Question Box to the Forum. We expect to learn quite a lot from our distinguished peers and to build the foundation for future expansion and partnership.

Open Mind will be at SXSW Interactive

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Open Mind CTO Jon Gosier and Founder Rose Shuman will be at SXSW Interactive speaking on a panel -

Appfrica: How Web Applications Are Helping Emerging Markets Grow

If you're there, come by and see us. Also participating:

Erik Hersman Co-founder, Ushahidi

David Kobia Ushahidi

TMS Ruge Founder, Project Diaspora

What: Appfrica: How Web Applications Are Helping Emerging Markets Grow

When: Sunday, March 15

Time: 3:30 - 4:30PM

Place: Room 8

New Question Box in Pune - Hardware Improvements, New Backend, Do We Compete with Telephone Booths?

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Our newest Question Box launched today in 'Siddartha Nagar' slum area, in Pune, India. Siddartha Nagar is Open Mind's first experiment with placing a Question Box in a quasi-developed periurban area, in which there exists some telephone and internet infrastructure.

The Question Box's Newest Users in Siddartha Nagar. Question Box Engineer Rama Sundaram (in orange) looks on.

We will track usage to determine whether familiarity with technology increases Question Box use and awareness, or does Question Box compete with existing resources? It's a big and exciting question for us!

This Question Box sported a slight improvement - a window cut into the Box, through which users can identify whether the call has been made. This is an incremental step towards a third design iteration of the Question Box hardware, with the aim of making it ever more robust, independent of the grid, and easy to use.

During the inauguration, the community was positive and excited to benefit from the service. Open Mind has also upgraded our backend Operator facility in preparation for more service expansion and growth.

Question Box surroundings. Nearby telephone services are indicated.

Will familiarity with technology increase interest in Question Box, or be direct competition?

Interview on Doomsday Labs Blog with Question Box Founder

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Interview on Doomsday Labs Blog by Andrew Skinner. To read the full post, please click here.

I recently started volunteering for a remarkable nonprofit called Question Box, after following (and talking incessantly about) them for nearly a year. Their aim is to bring the web to poor, often illiterate people in remote areas. On the weekend I caught up for a chat with the project�s founder, Rose Shuman.

Andy: To kick things off, could you please tell us a little about your background?

Rose: Certainly. I am founder of Open Mind and the Question Box Project. I am a consultant specializing in the intersection of business and international development. On the side, I consult for a social enterprise, Adlens, in Oxford, UK. Previously, I managed corporate relations for one of the largest nonprofits in the U.S., Direct Relief International. I hold two BAs and a Masters from Brown University, in Rhode Island.

Andy: So, Question Box - what�s it all about?

Rose: Question Box brings the internet to people who will likely never get online in their lives, or at least in the near future. It�s a local language telephone hotline that connects people to Operators. They connect to the Operator through Question Boxes, which were designed especially for the project. Question Boxes are metal boxes with a hacked mobile phone inside that calls only the Operator. The users can ask just about any question imaginable, and the Operators look the answer up for them, usually translating the question into English first. It allows one internet-connected person to service the needs of thousands, without needing to bring expensive infrastructure into unserved places.

Andy: Are the boxes always part of the loop? Can people call the Operators directly?

Rose: That�s the next step in the project. We want to make the service available from several portals - physical Question Boxes, users� cell phones, plus we are building in SMS and web query functions as well. We are about to pilot a variation on the concept in Uganda, in which community workers with cell phones will introduce the service to villagers.

Andy: What inspired the project?

Rose: A very long day at a desk in a Mountain View, California hotel room. I was meeting someone at Google.org the next day for a job interview, and I wanted to say something original. So, drawing up my years of experience in development, I started brainstorming in a notebook, which I still have. Eventually, I came to Question Box, fully formed. I didn�t get the job but the concept still tugged at my sleeve.

Click here to read the rest of the interview and comment

Question Box Feature Article in IndianExpress

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Question Box was recently featured in an in-depth article online at IndianExpress.com.

People in remote areas of Pune can now be updated with the latest happenings, as Question Box comes as the perfect answer to all their questions

They have innumerable queries but few answers to them. However, a humble three-button box is now acting as their exclusive 'information bureau', giving them updates on market prices of fruits and vegetables, telling them about train timings and other day-to-day information. Thanks to this out-of-the-box idea, the residents of Ramdara (Loni) and Chandernagar village are now well equipped with information when it comes to being updated about their surroundings....

"I occasionally go to Loni village to visit my relatives. And I need to know about bus timings from Pune to Solapur. With the Question Box facility coming to the village, it becomes easier for people like me to get instant information," says Swati Mahadev Supekar, a resident of Warki.

Read the full article

Question Box covered by Times of India Pune Edition

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The Box: Distance between ignorance and knowledge

Published December 23, 2008

The sheer presence of a peculiar box being mounted on the wall of a small village shop by strangers was more than enough to stir the curiosity of residents of Ramdara (Loni), a village on the outskirts of Pune.

Members of Open Mind Foundation (OMF), an American NGO, along with students from the Europe Asia Business
School, Pune, visited the village to install and inaugurate the telephone-like device.

The Question Box, as the name suggests, is a device that will help villagers gain easy and free access to quality
information on any topic without having to sit in front of an internet-enabled device. The Box allows villagers to make a call by simply pressing a button which will connect them to an operator at Open Mind. The villager can inquire about anything related to farming, trade, market, society, traveling, current affairs etc. and the operator will provide a suitable answer for the same by searching for relevant information over the internet.

The Indian representatives of OMF Dr Nikhil Agarwal, Ashish Thakur, Nishant Agarwal, Ravi Parasrampuria (Project Delivery Members OMF; students- EABS) and members of local Zilla Parishad were present on the occasion.

The Question Box was inaugurated by making a telephone call over it.

The proceedings of the event were recorded by Mike Peterson, a documentary film director from the UK, for a
documentary film to be aired on BBC and the American Network. More Question Boxes will soon be installed in other villages to bridge the rift between awareness and ignorance.

Question Box Pune Inauguaration Coverage

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

PaGaLGuY, an Indian MBA student website, covered the Question Box inauguration in Loni. In Hindi pagal=mad, i.e. a madcap!

"The Question Box, as the name suggests, is a device that will help villagers gain easy and free access to information on any topic without having to sit in front of an internet-enabled device."

To read the full post, click here.

Question Box is on Twitter!

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Question Box has a Twitter feed - sign up to get the latest updates!

Question Box makes it to Final 15 in USAID NetSquared Challenge!

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

A big thanks to everyone who supported Question Box in the NetSquared USAID Development Challenge! Out of a field of over a hundred projects, we made it to the top 15!

Filmmaker Mike Paterson in Pune with Project

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

British filmmaker Mike Paterson spent a week in Pune filming the two latest Question Box inaugurations. Being an exceptionally good sport, he braved hours on motorbike to film the installation and use of the Loni village and Pune Slum Question Boxes.

Mike with Open Mind India team at the Loni village Question Box inauguration

To see some of Mike's other work concerning the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, please visit his site Colliding Particles.

Mobile-Solar Question Box goes live!

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

In a big week, Open Mind installed a second Question Box in Chandanagar Slum at Kharadi, in Pune, India. This Question Box is based on a mobile phone and runs off of solar power, meaning it is fit for areas lacking telephone and electrical infrastructure. Zensar MBA students from Open Mind India and the Question Box engineering firm both worked very hard to get this new version built and installed very rapidly.

A first user of the Chandanagar Mobile-Solar Question Box

Open Mind India student MBA volunteers, representatives from the Zensar Foundation, and friends at the slum site inauguration.

The solar panel, on a roof

Leena Kadam, CSR section of Zensar Technologies, demonstrating how to use the new mobile-solar Question Box at the inauguration

New Question Box Users!

First Mobile Phone Question Box goes Live!

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The first-ever mobile phone Question Box has gone live in greater Pune, India! The site is in a rural village around 15 kms outside of the city. Mike Paterson, a UK filmmaker, came down for the week and filmed the installation and first calls. The mobile phone Question Box is located alongside a small shop.

Volunteer MBA students from Zensar Center For Business Innovation have coordinated the project, guiding site selection, Operator training, and liaising with the engineering firm building the new Question Boxes.

The Question Box carries the inscription, in Marathi, "For learning and friendship," at the request of the very generous anonymous donor who sponsored the site.

Site of the Loni Question Box

Rose Shuman gives talk at UC Berkeley

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Open Mind Founder Rose Shuman gave a talk today to Professor Jenna Burrell's class on Poverty and Technology. The presentation built the case for why Question Box meets a great need in the developing world, then went through the past, present and future of the program. Several students expressed interest in Open Mind's internship program, which is accepting applicants on a rolling basis.

Francisco Noguera joins as advisor

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Francisco Noguera, long a friend of the Question Box project, has now joined Open Mind's advisory board! He is also Co-managing Editor of NextBillion at World Resources Institute, as well as a Research Analyst in the Institute's Markets and Enterprise Program. NextBillion.net is a widely-read website and blog about how business drives positive social and environmental change in low-income communities.

We are pleased that Francisco is lending us his expertise!

Jon Gosier joins at Chief Technology Officer!

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Jon Gosier of Appfrica.org has joined Open Mind as Chief Technology Officer. Based in Kampala, Uganda, Jon is already making waves in the social enterprise and technology space. He brings great experience in web development, marketing and graphic design. We are very excited to have him on board and look forward to major technological advances in the near future.

Researcher Danah Boyd joins as advisor

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Researcher and thought-leader Danah Boyd has joined Open Mind's Advisory Board. Danah is one of the world's leading experts on social networks and sociological trends online and in mobile spaces. She has recently joined Microsoft Research New England, the company's new research facility in Cambridge, Mass.

Open Mind attends SoCap 2008

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Open Mind Founder Rose Shuman and CTO Jon Gosier attended Social Capital Networks in San Francisco this week.

The conference brought together social entrepreneurs and social investors in a first-of-its-kind-event. The excitement was palpable as people from across the spectrum came together to connect and develop the field of social enterprise.

Open Mind Founder Presents at W3C conference

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Open Mind founder Rose Shuman was sponsored by W3C to present on Question Box. The W3C Workshop on the Role of Mobile technologies in fostering Social Developmentwas held in S�o Paulo, Brazil on June 2 and 3, 2008.

Rose participated in a session on User needs and Bottom-up approach alongside Open Mind/Question Box adviser Ken Banks of kiwanja.net.

Both speakers emphasized the importance of flexible tools, allowing users to create value for themselves. The Internet is a prime example of a tool that users customize to their needs. Similarly, Question Box allows users to ask anything they want, rather than forcing behaviors unnecessarily. Similarly, FrontlineSMS, Ken's tool, allows any nonprofit organization to send and receive masses of text messages.

Click to view the Question Box presentation

Click to view the Question Box position paper

UNDP Newsletter Covers Question Box

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Question Box made UNDP's April 2008 newsletter for South-South Cooperation. That article was then republished in NowPublic.

"What about people who are caught in the technology gap, or who are illiterate? What about those who have a mobile phone, but are too poor to own a computer - or live in a village without electricity? Or those who can�t read or write? In India, there are 42 million Internet users, 3.7 per cent of the population. But the country is also home to the largest number of illiterate people in the world: 304.11 million (Human Development Report).

A unique solution in rural India is developing a way to connect the illiterate to the internet. The Open Mind Programme�s Question Box Project, opened its first Box in the village of Phoolpur in September 2007. The idea is brilliantly simple."

Question Box Featured in DRISTIKONE Blog

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

DRISHTIKONE featured a nice article about Question Box, putting it in context with implementing partner TNI's innovative Hole-in-the-Wall Internet kiosks.

"At first, (Hole-in-the-Wall) kiosks were set up for the villagers which helped as well. But theQuestion Box is much cheaper and has a greater potential. Those kiosks, though, cost $5,000 each, and the project's aim is to install 100,000 of them. Each Question Box, by contrast, costs only a fifth of that."

Sarayu Srinivasan joins as advisor

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Sarayu Srinivasan, a Director at Intel Capital, has joined Question Box as an advisor. Her wealth of experience and strategic skills are a welcome addition to the team as we scale up throughout India and the developing world.

Question Box Project wants you to join our Facebook group

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Question Box project now has a Facebook group. Please join and share with your friends.

UK Sunday Telegraph Features Question Box

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The UK Sunday Telegraph published a long-format article about the Question Box project.

"We hear a great deal about the onward march of wired India these days, but not so many reminders of how far it has to go to reach so many of the country's billion inhabitants. Even the boldest school-building estimates mean millions of rural children won't get a significant education before they reach adulthood.

Question Box is an elegant shortcut to what (Question Box creator) Shuman calls 'wiring people for change: social, economic and political'."

New Mobile Phone Question Box Sponsored

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Question Box Project wishes to thank an anonymous donor who has very generously sponsored our first-ever Question Box built on mobile phone technology.

Additional sponsorship opportunities remain available at $1,000. Sponsorship benefits include:

- New Question Box with Sponsor's name or message printed on side
- Photographs of the Question Box's installation and inauguration ceremony, as well as ongoing user photographs
- A record of every call made from your Question Box

To explore a sponsorship or make a donation, please contact rose@questionbox.org

ABCnews.com covers Question Box

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The ABC News Science and Technology blog has just run a piece on Question Box.

"Internet access is out of the question, especially in villages where electricity, and literacy, are in short supply. Now there's an experiment to try to change that..." Read more

Question Box in Polish press

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Question Box has just been featured in Minds.pl, a Polish science and technology portal.

Question Box in BoingBoing!

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Question Box was featured today in BoingBoing - check it out!

"(Question Box) is a really good example of how the net can extend beyond the physical boundaries of its wires..."

Ken Banks of Kiwanja.net Blogs about Question Box

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Ken Banks, Question Box Project Advisory Board member and founder of kiwanja.net, has blogged about Question Box.

"Often when we plan and build mobile solutions for developing (or emerging) markets, we forget, neglect or are just plain unsure how to ask the users what it is that they want. The irony might be that, here at least, Question Box might end up being the answer we're looking for."

Check out his full post.

Ken Banks of Kiwanja.net Joins Advisory Board!

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Ken Banks, founder of kiwanja.net and world expert on the uses of mobile technologies for development, has joined Question Box Project's Advisory Board!

Since 2003, kiwanja.net has been helping local, national and international non-profit organizations make better use of information and communications technology in their work. Specializing in the application of mobile technology, it provides a wide range of ICT-related services drawing on over 22 years experience of its founder, Ken Banks. Non-profits in over forty countries have so far benefited from a range of kiwanja initiatives, including FrontlineSMS and nGOmobile

Open Mind Attends eGovWorld conference

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Open Mind Founder Rose Shuman attended the eGovWorld conference held at The Grand Vasant Kunj in New Delhi, India. While attending, she was able to push forward Open Mind's agenda to encourage ICT solutions that fit the needs of the user. This includes significant use of accessible technologies such as phone, community radio, and television.

Second Question Box goes live!

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Open Mind and implementing partner TNI/NIIT's second Question Box, after weeks of delays in getting a telephone line to the village, has finally gone live! The new Question Box is located in Ethida village, also outside of Noida, India.

Like the inauguration before, Dr. Ritu Dangwal presided over a ceremony at the local temple, followed by sweets and a demonstration of the new Question Box.

Question Box goes live!

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The very first Question Box went live today in Phoolpur village in Greater Noida, India.

Dr. Ritu Dangwal from implementing partner TNI/NIIT presided over an inauguration ceremony at a local temple. This placement follows nearly two months of field work with the community and local village leader, or Pradhan.