Mobile Web For Social Development (MW4D) Interest Group Charter

Scope

The main objective of the Mobile Web for Social Development Interest Group (MW4D IG) is to understand the barriers that prevent people in developing countries to use mobile phones to interact with Web content, and that prevent potential service providers to develop and deploy content and applications on this platform. The objective of the Interest Group is to identify best practices based on an empirical evidences and analysis of use cases and projects. The MW4D IG has also the objective to develop resources that can fill some of the identified gaps, and lead to availability of more content and services that could have an impact on social development issues and peoples' lives.

During its first charter, the Interest Group published a Mobile Web for Social Development Roadmap, which identifies the different technologies available on mobile phones that enable users to interact with Web content, and the different factors to consider to select the most appropriate options based on the context in which the targeted content or application is deployed. The MW4D IG also developed a repository of information about projects, tools, statistics etc. to help potential developers or service providers.

The aim of this second charter is to continue and extend this work in five major directions:

Investigation of specific application domains such as Health, Agriculture, Education or Government Transparency

The previous charter focused only on technology, without considering any specific domain. It is now critical to understand what are the key tasks, information needs, existing initiatives, specific contexts, etc. in domains such as health, education, agriculture, government transparency, etc.

Analysis of the tools landscape

During the course of its first charter, the MW4D IG developed a wiki with resources, including a section on tools. Increasing the knowledge on existing tools is critical for two reasons:

• It avoids duplicating investment from people, organizations and donors in the development of new projects
• It lowers the barriers for a potential service or content provider to author and deploy new applications through the use of tools that do not require advanced programming capabilities, or that can be used for a task that is critical (e.g. data collection).

The current wiki provides a list of references that might be useful, but it is for now only a collection. To be really useful, it is critical to develop a real landscape analysis, investigating the exact domain of applicability of the different tools, how they relate one to another, what is their target audience, what are their requirements for usage, etc. As part of these investigations, the growing importance of social networks such as twitter or facebook in developing countries and their potential roles in social development will be studied

Identification of business models and how to implement them

Business models are a key element in any ICT4D project, to ensure self-sustainability on the long term. While this topic is often mentioned as a key dimension, the current literature on the topic is very limited. It is essential to identify the business models that have been implemented in mobile applications, their success and challenges, how they relate to the selection of a particular technology, or how they are applicable in different technological contexts, what the criteria are (maximizing revenue, social impact...), etc. It is also important to identify the key external elements that can enable the implementation of a specific model (e.g. application stores).

Investigation of existing impact analysis methodologies and results

Like business models, impact analysis is a critical dimension in all ICT4D projects. How do you measure a specific project impact, what are the factors to consider, and appropriate methodologies to use are key questions. While this topic is wider than just mobile applications, there is no well established methodology to measure the social impact of a specific service. This work will enable content or service providers to define in details and before the implementation of the project what the expected impact is, and how it will be measured.

Identification of adoption factors, and methodologies

As underlined in the MW4D Roadmap, a key dimension to consider is how to integrate a new mobile-based service in a community, and leverage its adoption. It is critical to identify methodologies to use at the early stage of the development that will ensure a greater adoption and trust by targeted communities.

The Interest Group also plans to maintain the Mobile Web for Social Development Roadmap and publish, if appropriate, an updated version.

Approach

The MW4D IG approach for this second charter will consist of a bottom-up approach that will start from domain specific investigations and will consider the different dimensions the group is focusing on. Then, in a second phase, after having studied few domains, the group will identify cross-sector similarities, and potential generalizations that could provide solutions across different domains.

Success Criteria

• Publication of a (set of) IG notes
• Increased usage and contribution to the online wiki