How can cell phones be used to improve the world?

[Pat Coyle]

Fast Company asked this question of a few designers...here's one excerpt:
Robert Fabricant, VP Creative, frog design says,
"I spend a great deal of time working with social impact initiatives in health, agriculture and conservation, and in almost every case the key point of leverage is mobile technologies. And what most designers don't realize or want to realize is the degree to which the most basic platforms like SMS, USSD and voicemail can support rich services that create social value way beyond what we experience in the U.S. market. Services that are far more profound than Urban Spoon. We are blinded by the iPhone and the Blackberry into thinking that these sophisticated gadgets are necessary to build rich applications. Just look at what Unicef is doing with rapidSMS and rapidAndroid to transform healthcare delivery and respond to global emergencies like famine, disease and warfare. "(Read more from Fast Company)

How can cell phones be used to change the world? If you have an opinion, please share your thoughts here

[Brian Morgan]

>>>
No doubt that Professional and Health Care Professionals can improve their access to information and knowledge by Cell Phones - creating networks to others in Health Care & Professional Occupations.

For the average American; Timothy Ferriss ( "The 4 Hour Work Week" ) argues that most all of us are currently in "information overload" and by letting others have constant access to us and our lives, we inherently provide them with the ability to interrupt our lives and the most important goals and tasks that we should accomplish daily.

So in summary, granting access ( cell phone contact ) to "anyone" at "anytime" is detrimental to our highest purpose & goals.

I must agree. Simply read Timothy Ferriss' book ( "The 4 Hour Work Week" ) to understand his points and opinions.

. The 4 Hour Work Week - Click Here...

- Brian

[Kristen Horton]

From The Globe and Mail
Cellphone gaining global reach

Mobiles are connecting the poor and the vulnerable to the rest of the world


By JENNIFER HOLLETT

Globe and Mail Update, Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2009 10:10PM EDT

Can a cell phone change the world?

This might seem like an odd question from a Western perspective, but cell phones are offering the world's poor a lot more than slick design and cool ringtones.

While travelling recently in Asia and Africa, I was amazed by the number of mobile phones. From poor communities in Cambodia to Somali refugee camps, I discovered that cell phones are connecting the most vulnerable — and remote — people to the rest of the world.

Last year while I was volunteering in Kenya, I bought a cell phone in my first week. I found "pay phones" inconvenient, unreliable and frustrating to use and there didn't seem to be many of them. I purchased a basic cell phone from a little shop for 2000 Kenyan shillings, which is about $33. No plan was necessary as it's pay as you go and incoming calls and text messages are free.

In the developing world, a cell phone is a lifeline. "It's the first time for many people that they've been able to communicate," explains Nicholas P. Sullivan, the author of You Can Hear Me Now: How Microloans and Cell Phones are Connecting the World's Poor to the Global Economy. "So they've never had any phones at all. It's not like a choice between a fixed, land line and a cell phone."

Full Article