Re: Fwd: On the roadmap v2

Dear Katrin,

Thanks a lot for your comments.

I wanted fist to check which version you reviewed ? which date is on the 
draft you reviewed ?

> Corrections:
> 
> The MobileActive.org wiki is no longer available - we have migrated all 
> still relevant content to the mDirectory, the most comprehensive 
> database of tools, research, case studies, and how-tos on mobiles in 
> development and mobiles in social change.  Please update all links 
> accordingly as they will be/are dead links.  The link for the mDirectory 
> is http://mobileactive.org/directory.
> 
> Current dead links on the roadmap are:  an analysis of the different 
> tools in that domain 
> <http://mobileactive.org/wiki/Mobile_Applications_for_Data_Collection> and 
> another List of tools for data collections 
> <http://mobileactive.org/wiki/Mobile_Applications_for_Data_Collection>, 
> and http://www.w3.org/2008/MW4D/wiki/Stories/
thanks i will update that

> Other comments: 
> 
> *Relevant to MobileActive.org*
> **
> 6.2.1 "Knowing what others are doing / have done" and "Potential Actions 
> to address this challenge" under Content-Providers Challenges. It is 
> probably worth your while to look at mDirectory and MobileActive, and 
> mention us, since that's exactly what we are doing, both online and offline.

sure i can add a link in this section.

> 9. Conclusion
> "Support Actions"
> Point 1 "Raising awareness on potential of mobile tech in entrepreneur 
> and NGO comm"
> Point 4 "Developing a further comprehensive repo of resources with 
> stories of use-cases ...." That is, actually, the mDirectory we developed. 

for point 1, i believe that raising awareness requires more than a web 
site repository.


> "Recommendations"
> 4.1"Share, cooperate, collaborate...."  that is what MobileActive's about.

at least you have identified the same issue.


> *A few things that that might be misleading:*
> 
> -- On the author-end chart: 
> -> SMS / Tech Requirements. On chart "At least PC + GSM Modem" should be 
> modified to "PC + GSM modem, or Web connection + Subscription to Bulk 
> SMS provider." You mention clickatell, etc, later, but seem to not know 
> about it here.

good point.

> -> USSD / Cost. You should look into ZA. Specifically, its not free in ZA.
humm, could-you elaborate a bit ?
are the user charged for using USSD in general, completely independently 
of the cost of the service ?
To the best of my knowledge, there is no billing mechanism associated 
with USSD based on message or data size. There are billing mechanisms 
attached to each service, but developed at the service level. But i 
understand that i'm not aware of what's happening everywhere. So if i'm 
wrong, and in ZA some/all oeprators have implemented a billing mechanism 
for USSD independently of the service, i would be happy to get 
references to that and add it in the document.

> -- 6.1.3 Under "Increasing the number of languages supported"
> You 
> say SMS should support Unicode. But need to note that this will reduce # of characters even further.

good point.



> -- Voice vs. SMS
> Your general thinking is that Voice is more expensive than SMS. You 
> point out that 10 seconds to 30 seconds of Voice, on average, is what an 
> SMS costs. 10s of voice rivals  (and maybe conveys more info than) one 
> SMS in terms of info delivery.  In other words, the situation is much 
> less extreme than you point out -- especially when you look at India. 
> 
> I think it's also critical to point out that SMS is extremely expensive 
> as a data delivery mechanism, esp with menus that go back and forth 
> between user and content provider (you point out this is difficult, 
> programmatically, but not that its costly).

well teh evaluation of costs is based on the current tariff structure 
existing in most country. I doubt that in a phone call of 10s you can 
transfer as much info as in an sms (due to among other things the 
problem of lasting-information).
That said, you are completely right on the fact that there are now 
places where the voice call are far cheaper, and this is mentionned in 
the latest draft of teh roadmap (like india as you said)

we mentionned the fact that using SMS as a transport protocol is 
extremely expensive for data delivery. We just separated the difficulty 
to manage multi-cycle interactions as a separate issue.

> *General thoughts*
> **
> In general, this is still very much focusing on SMS. You downplay voice 
> and mobile apps in particular, in terms of what they can do, and give 
> them less coverage than SMS. In other words, the roadmap is very SMS- 
> oriented without noting that the field has been changing over the last 
> few years and that there have been some shifts. It's worth noting that 
> mobile apps let you communicate more cheaply, in some instances, with 
> the same offline capabilities as SMS (note MxIt, for example).  While I 
> see your point in regard to volume of SMS sent globally, shifting trends 
> are noteworthy here and should be mentioned. 

i'm relatively surprised by this comment. Particularly, if you look at 
the executive summary and the tables, it is relatively obvious with the 
colors to see that SMS is unable to provide solutions to most of the 
challenges identified.
I'm obviously pushing for voice and mobile web apps since many years now 
(more than 4 !) and i have the impression that a fair evaluation of 
technologies in the document just demonstrate the inability for SMS to 
provide solutions in many cases.
However, it is also fair to say that today, it still one of the alone 
available solution in many cases.

That said, i agree with you that we can observe a shifting trend from 
sms, to voice apps and data services apps, but not yet to voice based 
technologies such as voicexml and mobile web apps. This is a missing 
point indeed, and i'm happy to add a sentence about that in the 
conclusion, if others agree.

thanks
Stephane

> 
> Thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> Katrin Verclas
> Co-Founder and Editor
> MobileActive.org
> katrin@mobileactive.org <mailto:katrin@mobileactive.org>
> + 1 413 687 9877
> skype: katrinskaya
> 
> 
> Check out our new site and mDirectory! 
> Tools, research, case studies, and how-to use resources about mobiles in 
> social change work.
> 
> http://mobileactive.org <http://mobileactive.org/>
> 

-- 
Stephane Boyera		stephane@w3.org
W3C				+33 (0) 5 61 86 13 08
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Received on Friday, 2 October 2009 09:10:32 UTC