By Lezette Engelbrecht, ITWeb copy editor and journalist
Johannesburg, 19 Mar 2010
The proliferation of mobile phones is empowering individuals to participate in democratic governance processes, says mKratos developer Mamello Thinyane.
The South African team that took the prize at the Gemalto SIMagine Developer Contest, last year, has again been chosen as a final nominee, this time for its mKratos mobile application.?
The worldwide contest awards innovative SIM-based projects and applications, and mKratos is a finalist in the mobile telecoms application category. Team members Dr Hannah Thinyane, a senior computer science lecturer at Rhodes University, and Dr Mamello Thinyane, computer science lecturer at the University of Fort Hare, and research coordinator at the Telkom Centre of Excellence, were selected from 103 projects in 35 countries.
The team says mKratos is a polling application that allows individuals to use their cellphones to voice their opinion in any number of polls, from government policies to service delivery evaluation.
”From within mKratos, users are able to browse the available polls, select the one they want to participate in, and post their response,” explains Mamello Thinyane. The polls are then aggregated and made available through a Web interface accessible to users based on the polls they have subscribed to.
Thinyane says the inspiration for the application is evident in its name, mKratos, from the Greek word kratos (power), the stem of demokratia (democracy). “The initial motivation came from realising that mobile phones, which almost everyone has access to, can actually contribute to empowering individuals to participate in democratic governance processes, primarily by allowing individuals' views and opinions to be heard.”
He adds this increases the collective bargaining of individuals on matters important to them. “It's about exploring how technology can be used as part of the solution to improve people's quality of life.”
Thinyane says a key aspect of democratic governance is the ability to engage the public in major decisions that affect them. But this is not always possible for various reasons, including the lack of appropriate communication channels to the public. “In SA, the accessibility of cellphones to the majority of people provides an opportunity for a service that leverages this technology for the improvement of governance processes to be developed, hence mKratos,” he explains.
Besides the governance domain, Thinyane says there are other areas where effective communication with the public is necessary, such as determining service delivery levels, interactive media and opinion polls, research questionnaires, market analysis, and collective bargaining.
He notes that cellphones have become a powerful enabler of services, where they may have been unavailable before. “The key thing about mobile devices is that they are ubiquitous, so it's a device that really enables people to be connected to services literally everywhere they go.”
Another major factor, he adds, is that mobile phones have penetrated areas which have traditionally been marginalised, such as deep rural areas. This allows people, who otherwise have little means of contact, access to important services.
“Of course, this means more applications and services need to be developed for and made accessible through mobile phones, and there's already some activity on that front, such as banking services,” states Thinyane.
“The possibilities are endless; it's really a matter of creatively thinking about the relevant solutions and developing an environment where even grassroots innovation can thrive.”
The final awards take place on 20 April, in Rome, with 150 000 euros worth of prizes, support and coaching and business opportunities.
To see some of the other nominees, visit SIMagine
Pic: Dr Hannah Thinyane.