European Commission visit RLabs

Last week RLabs had the honour of hosting European Commision, Dr. Jacques Babot who is the European Union Director for IST Information society and technology Research. His visit was very significant as he was visiting the Living Lab as an example of a Community Driven Living Lab that focus on Community Empowerment as its key focus. Sharing our experiences was helpful to Dr. Babot as one of the goals would be to see how RLabs can collaborate with other Living Labs in Europe. This could lead to a knowledge exchange and might possibly be explored during 2010.

Vlogging with the Reconstructed

This morning I had the privilege to facilitate the Reconstructed session at the Reconstructed Living Lab (RLabs) space. Video blogging or "Vlogging" was the area we focused on and it was amazing to see how the team managed to video blog with ease. A short background about what video blogging was and how others have been using it (like the "From the Couch" site) was explained.

The team had to go out and shoot a short 30 second video which they had to upload to YouTube and post to their blog. Within a few minutes we had the video shoot, some even posted to YouTube and embedded into their blog. You can view some of the videos on the Reconstructed blog. Many of the team will be using video as a medium to explore the rich and colorful stories of their communities sharing that message of hope.

Youth Marketing for Non profits

With the increased number of organisations especially non-profits looking at how they can engage with young people the video below, by Graham Brown of Mobile Youth, gives an insightful overview of what these organisations can do to reach their youth target market. The Reconstructed Project also featured in this video as we continue spreading the message of hope amongst our young people in South Africa.

Mobile language preferences by users on MXit

One of the projects that we are collaborating with is the Red MXit information service offering HIV info to users in different languages. This project is currently be managed by Cell-Life and the idea is to give access to information on the MXit platform. The user have to add the service on the MXit profile as a buddy and can view information in 4 of the official South African languages (SA have 11 official languages - See table on the right for language distribution during 2001 census) and in the text (mobile) language. It was interesting to see (High level observations) which of these languages are the most popular amongst our users using this service. Red gave the user the following language options:

- English
- MXit Chat
- Afrikaans
- Sesotho
- Zulu

The number of subscribers to this service is 22,003 of which 62% is male subscribers. The age groups for this service support the MXit demographics with 76% of the subscribers being between the ages of 15-25. The same content was available in all the language options for the user and the following was the language preferences (estimates based on overview of available users count) ranked:

1) English was the most popular choice with approximately 60% of users accessing content
2) Chat Language (MXi Chat) had approximately 25% of users
3) Afrikaans had approximately 10% of the users accessing content
4) Zulu content was accessed by approximately 3% of users
5 Sesotho content was accessed by approximately 2% of users

Although Zulu has the highest number of home language speakers in South Africa in only managed 4th on the list of available languages with the English language proving to be the most popular with the current group of subscribers. Interesting observation in the above list is the MXit chat or chat language that was more popular than Afrikaans, Zulu, Sesotho combined (These languages presenting more than 45% of the South African population).

Perhaps more should be done to see how the chat language can be integrated as part of mobile service delivery with the increase of mobile users being comfortable communicating using it as its language of choice.

To add this contact on MXit:
- Go to Tradepost
- Select MXit Mix
- Select My Culture option
- Select Red
- Add Contact

This service is available 24 hours a day. Your feedback would be welcomed.

Social Media for NGOs - Blogging

Social Media for NGO'S

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Interview with the BBC

Tomorrow Drug Advice Support will be featured on the BBC World Service - News Hour Radio programme at 12h06 GMT / 14h06 (South African time). This is a wonderful opportunity to share our experiences of how mobiles phones can be used as tools to support the needs of people in need. You can listen live and get more information here

Digital Voices to Reconstruct Communities

We are a few weeks away of the largest journalism conference in Africa and with an exciting line up of speakers and presenters it is surely going to be one not to be missed. Highway Africa is an annual conference that takes place in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape South Africa. More about Highway Africa on the website:


"Highway Africa is a partnership between Rhodes University (School of Journalism and Media Studies) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), with the support of several partners, development agencies and sponsors.

For eleven years the Highway Africa conference has been at the centre of Africa’s debates on journalism and new media. The conference has over the years become the largest annual gathering of African journalists in the world (701 in 2007). In the last four years Highway Africa has evolved into a multi-pronged programme with the following components:

Research: mapping the terrain of the challenges of the interface of technology, journalism and the media

Education and Training: responding to the gaps identified in the research this project makes a practical intervention by re-skilling, upskilling, educating and training journalists.

News Agency: a niche news agency with a network of correspondents across the continent it offers weekly news digest on ICT developments in Africa

Conference: the flagship of the programme, it is the forum for critical reflection on journalism, media and technology and a celebration of Africa"

Last year I had an opportunity to present at the Digital Citizen Indaba conference introducing the Reconstructed Programme with co-presenter Brent Williams and it was really an amazing experience meeting such great individuals passionate about journalism and media.

This year I will be presenting a workshop on Digital Voices to Reconstruct Communities as part of the fourth Digital Citizens Indaba. The programme for the DCI 4.0 is exciting and I am honoured to be part of such a wonderful panel of speakers and presenters.

Featured in New Scientist Magazine - More facts...

It was a privilege to be featured in this month's New Scientist Magazine, however there were some key information that was excluded from the article and I would like to make mention of it here:

- The service Drug Advice Support (DAS) service helps people across South Africa and have a counsellor base of 19 volunteers
- Wesley Nitsckie is the lead developer on the project working closely with the community as co-developers.
- The leading Community organisation who run the service is Impact Direct Ministries who are based in Bridgetown and partner is Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT)
- The HIV service has been launched in collaboration with the National AIDS Helpline, Lifeline in association with Cell Life.


Many thanks to all who contribute to the success of this project and the community of Bridgetown.

Social and Community Informatics and Social Theories of Networks

Athlone is situated on the Cape Flats of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa, which is plagued with violence, drugs and gansterism. The society is described by Parker (2008) as a community in tension. The Athlone Living Lab project includes a community based non-governmental organisation Impact Direct Ministries (IDM). IDM opted to use technology to offer additional support and advice to people affected by substance abuse; HIV, and general social problems. Its services are available to all members of the community.

The Community in Tension Project fits into the emerging Community Informatics field for the following reasons:
• It is using wireless and community based technology from a local centre; This decreases installation and running costs
• It is there for a socially excluded group, who have no resources of their own
• The Mxit language used is cheaper to use than other texting formats
• The group manage the project – questions come in and are answered by the peers.
The Athlone Lab projects strengths and weaknesses are as demonstrated by the Schuurman analysis .The partnership model for the Athlone lab is the community, academia, industry and government. (See Figure 5). The difference of the Athlone project to other living labs is that the community; Athlone; leads the project and are not reliant on funds from other partners: (although funds have to be raised in other ways). The choice of technology was by the community, as was the choice of partners. The future social transformation of a community in tension is led by the community.

You can read more about the Athlone Living Lab and Social and Community Informatics in a technical report here.

A year of Drugs, Sex & Mobile Phones

One year has passed and so many things has happened since we "officially" launched Drug Advice Support (previously known as idmtalk). Drug Advice Support (DAS) is one of our large projects, part of our Living Lab activity, and it emerged out of a need in a community that were experiencing the scourge of drug addiction and violence. Using men and women from the community we started a journey that will change our lives and thousands others forever. This service uses mobile phones as a medium to connect with people all across South Africa offering advice and support to those in need (Mobile Active description of DAS).

Since then we've been in more than 50 articles (that we are aware of!!), 3 television appearances, more than 20 radio interviews and we still believe that we have so much to offer of how technology can be used to make a difference in the lives of many. We've had our server crash, got a team from UWC (Wesley and Paul) using the Chisimba platform as a basis for DAS to co-develop with the community a system that could support the large number of requests. With 19 registered advisors (4 Full time)who all come from the local community of Bridgetown, Cape Town, South Africa the following are some indication of what was achieved during 250 hours online (31 July 2009):

- Number of Subscribers: 9,193
- Number of Messages: 746,440
- Number of Conversations : 30,685
- Number of Conversations related to drugs: 18,963
- Average number of conversations per session: 30,685 / 250 hours = 122.5 per hour or 245 per session
- Maximum number of conversations 473 and the Minimum 21
- Average number of Messages = 1422 per session (Max 3678, Min 234)
- Average number of conversations per Advisor in a session = 24 (Min 4, Maximum 56)

Other interesting statistics were:

- TiK (Crystal Meth) was the most popular drug with 6637 related conversations followed by Heroin with 3223.
- 13% [1211] of subscribers were using this service to get support for a family member.
- 4% [403] of Subscribers are getting offline help/support or counselling after using the service (This is known cases through feedback conversations).




This clearly shows us an example of where mobile phones can be used for social good and make the difference in the lives of literally thousands in a nation. Bare in mind that all this was done with very little resources bu a group of extraordinary individuals passionate about reconstructing their communities.
So through all of this we cried and laughed together, celebrated when DAS subscribers were victorious and saddened when they were struggling, but we've made it and we are still standing. So what makes this year so special that others want to read or hear about it? Simple it is about people caring about other people and giving the little that they have to see lives being Reconstructed. A special thanks to the team of DAS who makes this more than a project of Drugs, Sex and Mobile Phones, but one of where we united can make a difference in our communities and nation.

Reconstructing Communities Using Mobile Phones

Today I had the privilege to present at the UCT Graduate School of Business Mobile Marketing Course. This course is managed by no one other than Dave Duarte, one of the greatest minds in South Africa. The talk was titled "Reconstructing Communities Using Mobile Phones" with a focus on how mobile phones are integrated into daily lives to bring about a change in local communities. The presentation can be viewed below:

Reconstructing Communities using Mobile Devices

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Reconstructing Community Spaces: Athlone Living Lab

Reconstructing Community Spaces "Athlone Living Lab"

View more OpenOffice presentations from Marlon Parker.

The above presentation was presented at the SAFIPA conference earlier this month at a Living Labs session.

Drug Advice Support Featured in Business Times

With the Drug Advice Support (DAS) service growing and so much more people to reach we once again featured in a prominent South African News Paper The Business Times yesterday. The article titled "MXit put to some good use" written by Toby ShapShak can be read below:

MXIT, the cellphone instant messaging service best known for chatting teenagers, is now being used to help drug users on the Cape Flats kick their habit.
In the service, based in Bridgetown in Athlone, former drug users who counsel tik addicts use the messaging service as a primary method of support.
The project, which has been running for about a year, is the brainchild of a remarkable young man, Marlon Parker.
Parker, now an information technology lecturer at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology where he’s doing his PhD, grew up on the Cape Flats and directly experienced the consequences of drug abuse when his brother was jailed for dealing tik, a highly-addictive methamphetamine drug.
Drug users can “chat” with the services’ counsellors when they feel the urge to use, says Parker. It is the first step in a rehabilitation programme run with nongovernmental organisation Impact Direct. Read more

A True Hero

This evening as I was reflecting an exciting day presenting at the SAFIPA conference and being part of this year's Mail & Guardian Young South Africans to take to lunch I realised who are our true heroes. Its those who are in our communities who silently are making a difference daily in the lives of other people.



With so many extraordinary individuals around us, I would like to commend and honour one of our Reconstructed Team members for putting others before himself. Craig "King" Ross lost his father yesterday and the sudden loss of a father, husband and friend is a very traumatic experience. Craig selflessly came to offer support today via our Drug Advice Support (DAS) service helping many people (1293 messages today alone) across the nation even though he lost his father. The manner which he serves his community and others in South Africa is incredible. Yet very few people would give credit to the work he is doing and the lives he is touching and this without expecting anything in return. Therefore this post is to honour Craig for showing us what true Reconstruction is all about that he would put others before himself in the midst of a time of mourning for the Ross family.

He is a true example of a son for his father the late Mr. Ross and we know that he will carry on a legacy through the work he is doing reconstructing communities. Craig "King" Ross you are a true hero to many and your father is proud of you. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family during this time.

You 2.0: Three Steps to being a Socialite

This morning I was privileged to join the Reconstructed Session presenting a talk titled You 2.0: Three steps to being a Socialite. The key team steps shared with the guys was that they have to Create, Share and Engage as part of being a socialite.

Seeing the New Reconstructed group enaging with social media (See picture above) and starting this journey is really excited under the leadership of Craig Ross and Brent Williams.

You 2.0: Three Steps to being a Socialite

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Athlone Living Lab: Community Meeting

Last night a team of the Athlone Living Lab (ALL) had an opportunity to share the vision and heart of the ALL project at an open Community Meeting with the Athlone Government Counselor present as well(See picture)


The room was filled with an air of excitement as it filled up with members from the local Bridgetown community. We had Brent Williams (part of the reconstructed team and community developer), Reagen Allen (local entrepreneur) and myself sharing more about the Athlone Living Lab. We presented the vision of ALL as well as some of the projects available to the community members for engagement. It was encouraging to hear the interest in ALL by the community and we know that we are about to take this initiative to the next level.

Drug Advice Support: Service stats

Today we've achieved 201 subscribers through the Drug Advice Support (DAS) system and served 2314 messages.

Below is an extract of a paper we are writing about the DAS system which will give you an idea of the number of subscribers we currently servicing:

"The results extracted from DAS solution shows that such a system can be useful for relieving tension. Advisors have the capacity to help more people (n=27) in a 2 hour session than that of help-lines (n=4) (Impact Direct Ministries, 2009). Since its inception and at the end of April 2009 DAS served approximately 87,624 messages amongst its 6,377 subscribers. A total of 16,609 conversations between persons in need and advisors took place over a period of 186 hours of being online and available.

During a DAS session, 2 hours duration, the average number of conversations is 178 which equates to an average of 943 messages. This is normally managed on average by 5 advisors using the DAS system. The maximum number of conversations achieved was 471 and this was the week after the appearance on national television. The least number of conversations was 21 and this was due to running the service on a public holiday. The most messages exchanged in a DAS session were 3678 with a minimum of 234 messages.

Majority of the conversations (62.3%) was related to substance abuse issues. (See Figure 1) shows the distribution related to substance types with the most popular drug query being “Tik” or “Crystal Meth”. General drug queries were where subscribers just needed generic information about the services and general substance abuse queries."

The above stats is a clear indication of how technology can be used to support communities in tension.

Reconstructing Community Spaces: Athlone Living Lab

The presentation below is what I will present tomorrow at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Informatics and Design Research Day. It is a brief introduction to the Athlone Living Lab.

Athlone Living Lab

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Athlone Living Lab: Project Definition Workshop

Today we've had our first meeting with stakeholders of the Athlone Living Lab (ALL) Working to establish the best strategy for sustaining the current projects embedded in ALL. It was clear that key to the project plan definition would be to come up with suitable business models for sustainability. Having all the stakeholders together was so refreshing knowing that the journey of the Athlone Living Lab has only begun.

Reconstructed PodCasts for Empowerment

Here are the podcasts by the Reconstructed Team:

Episode 1: In the beginning (Brent, Monique, Craig, Reagen and Bradley)

Episode 2:Prof. Alexander address at Reconstructed Graduation 2008

Episode 3:The story of Craig Ross

Episode 4:The story of Brent Williams

Episode 5:The story of Monique Theron

Episode 6:The story of Bradley Naidoo

Episode 7:The story of Reagan Allen

You can follow the reconstructed on Twitter (@reconstructed)