Re: The new Open Mobile Consortium announcement of ODK = Open Data Kit

Dear Lauri --

I sent the email to the list to which I a subscribe.  MobileActive.org  
is a network of practitioners from around the world who use mobil  
technology for social development and change.  We are also a  
clearinghouse of information on mobiles for development/social change.

MobileActive.org is a founding member of the Open Mobile Consortium, a  
group of organizations that have come together to advance open source  
mobile solutions for social development.  Members organizations  
include Millennium Villages Project, Cell Life, Dimagi, D-Tree,  
InSTEDD, MobileActive, TextToChange, UNICEF, Ushahidi and now also  
Open Data Kit.

Just to clarify, both entities are NGOs and non-commercial, and below  
was a press release that I posted to the list, not an advertisement.   
I have copied Robert Kirkpatrick, chairman of the Open Mobile  
Consortium, who may have additional comments.

Hope this clarifies matters!

Best,

Katrin


On Jun 16, 2009, at 4:42 PM, <Lauri.K.Hirvonen@nokia.com> <Lauri.K.Hirvonen@nokia.com 
 > wrote:

> Hello W3C MW4D WG members
>
> Today I did receive this e-mail (advertizing) to my e-mail box.
>
> But this could be interesting to our Working Group.
>
> Disclaimer: I don't have any relations to these organizations.
> This was news to me. And I feel, this might be interesting also
> to rest of our WG.
>
> Their web-site: http://mobileactive.org/
> seems to be very active reporting on many African mobile stories.
>
>
> Br. Lauri
>
> = 
> ======================================================================
> All of us at the OMC are very pleased to announce today that Open  
> Data Kit has joined the Open Mobile Consortium.  See the press  
> release below, and also http://www.open-mobile.org/news/open-data-kit-join-open-mobile-consortium
>  for more information on ODK and why it is important!
>
> Thanks, and welcome ODK team, to the Open Mobile Consortium!
>
> ***For Immediate Release***
>
> Media Contact:
> Robert Kirkpatrick, Chairperson
> Phone: +1 650 796 5709
>
> New York, NY, June 15, 2009.  The Open Mobile Consortium is pleased  
> to announce today that Open Data Kit is joining its growing line-up  
> of organizations working towards social good through collaboration  
> on open-source mobile technologies.
>
> Open Data Kit (ODK) is a suite of open-source tools to help  
> organizations collect, aggregate and visualize complex data.  
> Examples of these tools include ODK Collect, a powerful phone-based  
> replacement for paper forms, and ODK Aggregate, a scalable online  
> repository for collected data.
>
> Among ODK's users is AMPATH, the largest HIV treatment program in  
> sub- Saharan Africa and Kenya's most comprehensive initiative to  
> combat the disease. Over the next two years, ODK Collect will be  
> used to conduct a home-based testing and counseling program reaching  
> 2 million people.
>
> ODK's efforts exemplify the interoperability and code reuse that  
> Open Mobile Consortium aims to achieve by bringing together diverse  
> organizations building open source mobile solutions.
>
> For example, although ODK Collect is designed for Android phones, it  
> leverages the OMC's JavaRosa project to ensure that forms designed  
> for JavaRosa work with ODK tools. Moreover, ODK Collect allows GPS  
> location, barcode scans, photos, and video to be added to the forms  
> -- a powerful mix that enables an entirely new class of data  
> collection.
>
> Robert Kirkpatrick, chairman of the Open Mobile Consortium says: "We  
> are excited to welcome ODK as a member of the Open Mobile Consortium.
> We believe that the Open Data Kit will have opportunities for field  
> use far sooner than many expected. The arrival of Android in India,  
> for example, indicates that ODK's strategic decision to adopt these  
> cutting edge software technologies both on mobile devices and in the  
> cloud is prescient. In the meantime, a number of OMC members have  
> already begun exploring possibilities for integration between ODK  
> and their respective tools. ODK is yet another clear indication that  
> the new generation of data collection tools is beginning to hit its  
> stride in terms of power, portability, and ease of use, to the point  
> that we may soon see relief and development practitioners consider  
> abandoning paper en masse."
>
> Yaw Anokwa, one of the developers of Open Data Kit, notes, "We want  
> our users to choose individual technologies that are appropriate for  
> their organizations and be confident that it will all work together.
> Open source and open standards are important, but we are also  
> building an open community that makes the tools easy to try, easy to  
> use, easy to modify and easy to scale. ODK helps organizations rid  
> themselves of the problems of expensive and error-prone paper-based  
> data collection.
>
> ODK's demo videos, source code, and current roadmap can be found at http://code.google.com/p/open-data-kit
> . ODK is possible thanks to generous support from Google.
>
> The Open Mobile Consortium's open source software tools help  
> organizations to better serve the health, humanitarian and  
> development needs of the "bottom billion," the poorest and most  
> disenfranchised citizens of the world. It is an unprecedented  
> collaboration across organizations to better serve communities with  
> open source mobile tools.  Together, they are building a vibrant set  
> of platforms for use, at no cost, with no restrictions. OMC members  
> share a vision that by working together to drive grassroots mobile  
> technology innovation in some of the most challenging, resource-poor  
> environments in the world, they will create a simple, flexible, and  
> reliable set of technology that enable to individual and  
> organizations anywhere in the world to effect social change.
>
> With almost 280 million subscribers in Africa alone, mobile phones  
> are recognized as instruments of change in finance, agriculture,  
> media and development work. Mobile technology can easily provide  
> data on food prices to farmers, patient  information to remote  
> medical clinics, and help track supplies and logistics. It is  
> estimated that by 2010, 1 in
> 3 Africans will own a mobile phone. The Open Mobile Consortium was  
> founded to develop and bring to scale free  and open-source  
> solutions that leverage the power and ubiquity of mobile phones.
>
> OMC has already brought together a number of mobile technology tools  
> for collaboration and sharing.  These include, among others:
>
>    * CommCare, a mobile-phone based application that allows  
> community health workers to provide better, more efficient care and  
> improve coordination of community health programs;
>    * Mobilisr, an open source enterprise class mobile messaging  
> platform for NGOs around the world;
>    * Mesh4X, a platform for seamless cross-organizational  
> information sharing between mobile devices, databases, desktop  
> applications, and websites;
>    * RapidSMS, an open source platform allowing for any mobile phone  
> to use SMS to collect data, used in Malawi, Ethiopia and Nigeria to  
> collect information and provide rapid feedback to field workers;
>    * GeoChat, a flexible open source group communications tool that  
> enables mobile field communications and situational awareness during  
> emergencies;
>    * Ushahidi, a web-based platform that any person or organization  
> can use to set up their own way to collect and visualize information.
>
>
> About the Open Mobile Consortium
>
> The Open Mobile Consortium is a thriving and growing community of  
> mobile technologists and practitioners working to drive open source  
> mobile solutions for more effective and efficient humanitarian  
> relief and global social development. Founding member organizations  
> include Millennium Villages Project, Cell Life, Dimagi, D-Tree,  
> InSTEDD, MobileActive, TextToChange, UNICEF and Ushahidi.  We are at http://www.open-mobile.org 
>  .
>
> *****
>
> Katrin Verclas
> Co-Founder and Editor
> MobileActive.org
> katrin@mobileactive.org
> + 1 413 687 9877
> skype: katrinskaya
>
> Read the latest about mobiles in social change work at http://mobileactive.org
>
>
>

Katrin Verclas
Co-Founder and Editor
MobileActive.org
katrin@mobileactive.org
+ 1 413 687 9877
skype: katrinskaya


Read the latest about mobiles in social change work at http://mobileactive.org

Received on Wednesday, 17 June 2009 06:10:40 UTC