Short Message Service (SMS) text messages, which started as a way for Nokia engineers to test mobile phone network operations, has grown into a killer app - for everyone. At the SMS4Dev Technology Salon in San Francisco, we looked at three ways to apply SMS to pressing development projects.

SMS:Gov

First we discussed the issue of local government communications with their constituencies. The problem being that usually they don't communicate with constituencies outside of infrequent in-person meetings.

By employing software like FrontlineSMS in a SMS:Gov usage model, local governments could offer two compelling services: 311 and MyObama.

• 311: By offering a single, simple text message menu tree using keywords, local governments can categorize constituent needs and wants into categories for prompt response, like the 311 systems in New York, Washington DC, and San Francisco.
• MyObama:Local politicians can use the same process to become knowledgeable on the electorate's concerns, and individualize their message to respond to those concerns, like MyObama did to great success in 2008

Categorizing SMS via Artificial Intelligence

But what if the categories for keywords are not known in advance, or a community doesn't understand the concept of a keyword? Rob Munro faced this challenge in Malawi when implementing FrontlineSMS with rural Community Health Workers (CHWs) who mainly use the Chichewa language.

The doctors at a central clinic spend one hour each day managing incoming CHW text messages, but with a patient population of 250,000 this averages to just 5 seconds per patient per year, and so any automation for triage incoming text messages from CHWs can lead to huge productivity increases.

Rob developed self-learning artificial intelligence algorithms that parsed free form SMS text messages in three different ways:

1. Normalizing spelling variants of keywords by learning linguistically predictable alternations
2. Segmenting words into their component morphemes to identify key substructures (like "patient" as the key form of "patients")
3. Using the normalized/segmented data to classify each message to determine its urgency - patient-related vs. administrative texts

With the algorithm learning from just 600 text messages it was was able to achieve about 95% accuracy, which should hold across any language using an alphabetic writing system and improve as the volume of text messages increases.

Applying SMS to Private Industry

Stepping away from SMS itself, Zach Berke spoke about two ways in which his company, Exygy, is developing text messages to support private industry expansion into the developing world.

• Payment plans: Solar power can be expensive, but how do you have a payment plan for an installed system? Require owners to text in codes they buy from local retailers to unlock another set amount of usage.
• Pharmaceutical validity: Counterfeit pills are a huge issue for consumers, but a simple code printed on a package can be texted to a central verification system to confirm drug authenticy.

Now both of these systems have their challenges. For the solar system, how do you pre-set codes into the hardware, or keep someone from soldering around the payment device. For pharmaceuticals, its printing variable yet secret codes on a specific end-user level package, with each code unique yet short enough to text without error.

Yet it can be done. Unicef used RapidSMS to track the distribution of 63 million mosquito bed nets across Nigeria with test messages on ordinary mobile phones using no-charge SMS shortcodes.

Are you a Technology Salon subscriber on the West Coast that's feeling left out of our two SMS4D Salons in Washington DC? Don't! We're bringing all the great SMS text messaging fun to San Francisco with SMS4Dev-SF on June 17th.

At mission*social, the Inveneo offices on Mission Street in SoMa, we'll have the following three discussants explaining how they're utilizing humble text messaging to change lives in the developing world:

1. Robert Munro will explain how he's developed machine-learning algorithms to categorize free-form SMS to a 95% accuracy - across any language - for SMS:Medic
2. Zach Berke will showcase a SMS verification system that Exygy helped build which protects against pharmaceutical counterfeiting in India and a new SMS micropayment platform for solar power installations
3. Wayan Vota will expand on SMS:Gov, an innovative use of SMS text messaging to create a 311 system for local governments

If you'd like to join us, you'll need to RSVP for this Salon via SMS: text SMS4Dev, your name, your organization to the live SMS:Gov demo at (202) 506-0148. For those that need an example, I would send "SMS4Dev, Wayan Vota, Inveneo" (w/o quotes).

SMS4D-San Francisco
June SF Technology Salon
Thursday, June 17, 8:30-10am
mission*social Conference Room
972 Mission Street, 5th Floor
San Fransisco, CA 94103 (map)

We'll have espresso and donuts for a morning rush, but be sure to RSVP ASAP, as we only have room for 15 people, then there will be a waitlist. In DC, we're filling up the same day as the announcement goes out.

On April 8th, Inveneo was pleased to host approximately 20 experts in technology and development for a Technology Salon held at mission*social, a collaborative workspace for social enterprises.

The event was billed as a conversation about the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the Haiti earthquake response, but the conversation focused on a wide range of opportunities and constraints facing the use of ICTs in responding to disasters, wherever they occur.

(We're now bi-coastal! To join the next San Francisco Salon, get invited here.)

The event featured presentations from three ICT and medical professionals with direct experience leveraging ICTs to support disaster response followed by open and free-ranging discussion.

Mark Summer of Inveneo

To kick us off, Mark Summer (CIO of Inveneo) presented on Inveneo's WiFi networking efforts in post-quake Haiti working primarily with the NetHope alliance. This network provided broadband connectivity to NetHope member organizations - and a few others as well - in the crucial weeks following the quake, when local ISPs were not functioning effectively.

Mark emphasized the value of reliable, low-cost networking technologies, the need for better pre-planning and the importance of building local capacity.

Eric Rasumussen of InSTEDD

Eric Rasumussen, CEO of InSTEDD, then described a wide range of initiatives in which he and his team were involved in Haiti, including work to facilitate and curate the flow of communications from victims and the public (much of it via SMS) and to feed this information back to first responders.

Eric focused on the importance of tight coordination among responding organizations, that these organizations must be self sufficient in the operating area, and the need for regulatory and policy reforms to enable.

Dr. Kumar Menon of Amrita University

Dr Kumar, of Amrita University, joined via Skype from India to describe in brief his organization's efforts to provide web-enabled critical care capacity in the wake of floods and the 2004 Tsunami. Dr. Kumar focused his comments on the need for reliable broadband connectivity in order to support medical aid via telemedicine during disasters.

There was good debate on several issues, but the following points got a lot of nods from participants:

• There is a general need for more collaboration around an integrated framework for the use of multiple channels of information during disasters
• Organizations involved in ICT response must be entirely self sufficient on the ground (bring 1khz Honda generators!!)
• Development and effectiveness of systems will require a hospitable policy environment (e.g., free SMS during declared disasters, liberalize use of radio spectrum, etc.)
• Better ICT pre-planning is needed (caches of networking equipment, sharing of information resources - ie, mapping data - within local setting, localized caching of Internet content, etc.)
• There must be an appropriate balance between reliance on Internet/cloud and localized content/resources
• Public education about use of alternative communications channels during an emergency will make response more effective

What other ICT lessons learned are there from Haiti?

In the immediate aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, several Bay area organizations deployed life-saving ICTs to speed disaster response in Port-au-Prince and the greater humanitarian efforts across Haiti. At the next San Francisco Technology Salon, we'll hear from InSTEDD and Inveneo on how they deployed their respective technical ecosystems, its impact, and their transition possibilities for rebuilding Haiti.

• Eric Rasmussen and Ed Jezierski will describe InSTEDD's establishment of the Emergency Information Service with AlertNet of the Thomson-Reuters Foundation on the Port au Prince airfield, serving as a critical node for more than 90,000 Haitian SMS messages
• Mark Summer will describe Inveneo's role in deploying a long-distance WiFi network across Port-au-Prince for NetHope, bringing high-speed Internet access to 14 major humanitarian relief organizations and their staff.

Note: This is a San Francisco event, at mission*social, the Inveneo offices on Mission Street in SoMa

Disaster Response - Lessons from Haiti
April SF Technology Salon
Thursday, April 8, 8:30-10am
mission*social Conference Room
972 Mission Street, 5th Floor
San Fransisco, CA 94103 (map)

We'll have espresso and donuts for a morning rush, but seating is limited. So the first fifteen (15) to RSVP will be confirmed attendance and then there will be a waitlist.

In what has become an annual tradition, we're honored to have Terry Kramer, now Regional President - Vodafone Americas, return to the Technology Salon and update us on Vodafone's continued efforts to bring mobile technology to the developing world.

Note: This is a San Francisco event, at mission*social, the Inveneo offices on Mission Street in SoMa

Vodafone in the Developing World
March SF Technology Salon
Thursday, March 25, 8:30-10am
mission*social Conference Room
972 Mission Street, 5th Floor
San Franscisco, CA 94103 (map)

We'll have espresso and donuts for a morning rush, but seating is limited. So the first fifteen (15) to RSVP will be confirmed attendance and then there will be a waitlist.

And while Terry organizes his thoughts for this year's discussion, be sure to review his talk last year where he issued a m-Development Challenge from Vodafone.

Epidemics and a shortage of healthcare workers continue to present grave challenges for governments and health providers in the developing world. Yet in these same places, the explosive growth of mobile communications over the past decade offers a new hope for the promotion of quality healthcare - billions now have access to reliable technology that can also support healthcare delivery.

How can this access to mobile technology, radically improve healthcare services - even in some of the most remote and resource-poor environments?

Please join Inveneo's Eric Blantz and Vital Wave Consulting's Dr. Karen Coppock in a discussion around mHealth - how technology can empower better and more efficient healthcare services throughout the developing world, with an emphasis on mobile and cellular technologies.

Of special focus is the recent United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership report, mHealth for Development, authored by Vital Wave Consulting

Opportunities for mHealth in Development
March Technology Salon in San Francisco
March 3rd, 8:30-10am
@ Inveneo
972 Mission Street 5th Floor (map)
San Francisco, CA

Please RSVP as we only have seating for 15 and after that, there will be a waitlist.

One year ago this week, One Laptop Per Child changed its mission, dropping its invitation for lower-cost alternatives to the XO laptop. Was that a reaction just to Intel's Classmate PC, or amazing foresight?

Either way, a year later we are witnessing a dramatic change in the low-cost laptop marketplace. New low-cost laptops, or as I am now calling them, 4P Computing (Power, Performance, Portability, Price) are popping up daily with entrants from the practical Asus Eee PC to the seemingly comical Van Der Led.

In the midst of all this action, I'd be honored if you could join me in an intimate and informal discussion on:

• What will all these low-cost laptops (4PC's?) means to developing world markets?
• Where might all this take us, both as "first-world" producers and consumers?
• How can we influence 4PC growth as leading voices in the technology for the developing world space?

Be ready to share your ideas, opinions, and predictions. At the last meetup in August, I predicted G1G1, which sounded crazy at the time. Also, please bring examples of 4P technology if you have it - I'll have an XO or two of course.

Inveneo has graciously offered to host us in their new offices in San Francisco and Vital Wave Consulting is donating lunch.

4P Computing Meetup
Saturday, April 19
11am - 1pm
at the new Inveneo Offices
972 Mission Street, 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA
map: http://tinyurl.com/5e2owj
Parking is available

Please feel free to invite others who would be interested and interesting, just let me know so I can keep a headcount.