Citizen journalism: SMS + Twitter + Translation
Twitter’s SMS service is inactive in Africa the plan is to bridge the gap and allow local APPROVED citizen journalist to sms to a local number without paying international rates. Tweets would show up on a aggregate twitter account . Aggregated tweets will be translated to other languages
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Bantu
Last Name
Technology
Website
Organization
Country
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
Organization Website
Organization Phone
Organization Address
Organization Country
Your idea
Name Your Project
Citizen journalism: SMS + Twitter + Translation
What is your idea? What makes it innovative? Why is it important?
Twitter’s SMS service is inactive in Africa the plan is to bridge the gap and allow local APPROVED citizen journalist to sms to a local number without paying international rates. Tweets would show up on a aggregate twitter account . Aggregated tweets will be translated to other languages
Will you launch your idea as a business or non-profit?
Non-profit
Country your work focuses on
Kenya
What will be the impact of your idea?
I am sure that the impact of things like twitter can we seen in the "twitter revolution" other examples come to mind, specifically addressing humanitarian uses; first, there’s the case of it being used in Egypt to help a jailed user, and second was when Juliana used it during the Kenyan post-election violence to update about events in Western Kenya. Simple openning up the sms service in africa is huge because of the lack of internet access and spotty electricity .
Who will help you develop your idea? Why are you the one to make this happen?
We already have a proof of concept using Twitter’s REST API and Google AJAX Language API. This Beta version uses oauth so that we need not ask for the username and password of the user. Beta can be seen at
http://96.57.42.158/smssa/statusug.cfm
How much will it cost to launch your idea? (This can be an estimate)
We would need to have a shortcode in the target countries and have a application server running the codes in the usa. We can also have local simcards with gsm modems connected to laptops with internet connections. paying for the texting service and the hosted app is the majority of the cost. Will most likely cost about $50,000 for kenya and south africa combined.
This Entry is about (Issues)
 | 122 weeks agoa. b said: Please explain why your idea/project, is suited/perfect to using... 'media' ...to bring about A BETTER "WORLD"...the entire planet...? ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 122 weeks agoBantu Tech Group updated this Competition Entry. |
| 122 weeks agoBantu Tech Group submitted this idea. |
