Mobile phone operators will make a Twitter-like program available only to the mobile phones in the geographical area of the trans/rec cell.
Mobile phone operators will be able to text answer the question: What is happening?
The results will be identified by the movile phone number and available for 15 minutes.
The purpose is to facilitate community communication in slum areas and small rural communities.
I've been involved with community development in urban slums and small rural towns in Brazil for the past fifty years.
There is an assumption by "outsiders" that because of the density of the slums and the circumscribed boundaries of the small rural towns, communication circulates freely and rapidly.
I believe the opposite is true. Residents of these communities tend to stay close to their residences, sources of food, access to transportation and community services such as schools and health clinics. They tend to venture out to social gatherings such as church attendance in groups. They would never think of just walking their dog outside the immediate confins of the street in front of their house or shanty.
There are many reasons for this such as limited or no media coverage of these communities, minimal public safety and vulnerability to physical harm and negative aspersions, verbal insults. Most slum crime is perpetrated by the slum dwellers.
The community communication that is present mostly comes from adults, men at the local bar and women waiting for their children at the school or health clinic. Communication among the young, especially adolescents is limited to school mates and historically half the youth are not in school.
The drug trafficking operation is perhaps the most effective system of communication in the community.
Enter the ubiquitous mobile phone, in even the poorest of communities.
Each broadcast area, or cell of a mobile phone operator will transmit a Twitter-like program only accessible within the geographic area or cell to the mobile phones present in that area.
Any mobile phone within the area will be able to send a message, identified by the phone number of the mobile phone transmitting, replying to the question: What is happening?
The mobile phone operator will make these messages available for a fifteen minute period to all mobile phones in the geographical cell transmission area where the message originated.
The technology is low cost, available and mobile operators would be interested because it will promote the sale of their phones and be a social contribution.
I'm an American residing in Brazil for the past 50 years with a PhD in general systems theory in a social context and have always been involved in community development.
Early on I lived in a slum (favela) in Sao Paulo for some months as part of a social development experience.
I was the Director of the Peace Corps in the State of Pernambuco in the north of Brazil from 1968 t0 1972.
In the late 1970's I was the representative in the south of Brazil for the Inter American Foundation, a United States government funded social development ageny in Latin America which supports grass-roots development in poor communities.
Presently, I operate chemical dependency treatment centers and involved with the development of a center for juvenile delinquent chemical dependents.
Mobile phone techs would have to evaluate the viability and costs of this proposal
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Comments
Growth and rollout
This is a great application of a Twitter-like program to a relevant, community-oriented problem. I do have a question relating to growing the user base:
These "social network" type applications work best when multiple people use them; similar to social networks, the greatest obstacle to their success is convincing users to sign on in order to reach the "tipping point" (after which time growth and usage takes off).
What is your plan for ensuring user buy-in and growing past the tipping point?