mHealth « Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM)

Posts Tagged ‘mHealth’

Research and Call for Interest-Expressions for Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) in Mobile/Tech

Friday, September 30th, 2011

One of the commonly heard statements when I speak with various ministries and organizations is that there’s a lack of case studies and research towards the use of mobile in ministry practices (#mobmin) or just mobile technology as it relates to various community/culture initiatives (#mhealth, #ict4d, #m4d). Part of that is because many who are doing the projects haven’t published their data yet, and part of that is because there’s interest for more. Here are two items that jumped on the reading list this week which may help both of those parts become whole information.

Movirtu: Life at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) Study

Life at the BoP study is a joint work of the team here at Movirtu and our strategic research partners TNS. We listened in detail to nearly a hundred end users in Senegal, Tanzania and India during the course of this work. We selected ‘leading edge’ users: those likely to be engaged with and influential in technology. We spoke with women entrepreneurs, smallholder farmers, and youth.

There are many stories and characters here: a Senegalese student who lives far from her family, prays every day and is as rapturously devout in her study as she is in her life. There are a group of teens in Coimbatore, a city akin to the UK’s Manchester, where boys can quote you an ad for the latest megapixel phone. Women entrepreneurs in Senegal shake their heads and commiserate about the increased cost of living.

Read the rest of this study

Call for Expressions of Interest for case studies of Mobile use at the Base of the Pyramid

infoDev is looking for organizations with experience in rigorous research directly related to the topic and who are able to design and execute the studies from start to finish. Please note that we will shortlist proposals for Kenya and South Africa first, as these studies will be completed in the first phase of the project, with the remaining proposals (for Armenia, Pakistan and Vietnam) shortlisted later. Organizations may submit proposals for any number of the selected countries.

This request for expressions of interest (EOI) concerns research and production of five case studies (one each in Kenya, South Africa, Armenia, Pakistan and Vietnam) to examine the economic and social potential of mobile devices in the “base of the pyramid” market segment, i.e. among the poor who live on less than $2.50 a day. infoDev is looking for organizations with experience in rigorous research directly related to the topic and who are able to design and execute the studies from start to finish. Please note that we will shortlist proposals for Kenya and South Africa first, as these studies will be completed in the first phase of the project, with the remaining proposals (for Armenia, Pakistan and Vietnam) shortlisted later. Organizations may submit proposals for any number of the selected countries.

Proposals need to be submitted by October 10; read more about this call for interest/proposals at infoDev.

Additional Cases Studies and Research Materials

We also have a listing here of several cases studies, statistics, and other types of research material. Yes, there’s not a lot, but again, that’s because there’s not been a lot written to date. View our resources and if you have something that should be noted here, submit it to us or point to it using the #mobmin, #ict4d, and #m4d Twitter hashtags so that it can be searchable and shared to all.

Tags: BoP, bottom of the pyramid, case studies, ict4d, Life at the Bottom of the Pyramid Study, m4d, mHealth, mobile ministry, Movirtu, research
Posted in Commentary | No Comments »

Creating Alternate Fellowship Spaces

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

I was recently invited on a bicycle ride with another brother in the faith and while we only went 10 miles, it was great to have some fellowship and just chat while putting the feet to the pedals. One of the statements that the brother made is that he wishes that there were more believers around him who liked to bike, as he would love to do this as a fellowship activity. I mentioned to him about some groups of believers that I know who do ride, but there were no in his area. It got me thinking, is there a more effective way to combine an activity like bicycling (or hiking, running, etc.) with fellowship?

When I finished that ride, I went to the Sports Tracker website. Having pulled a mobile from the grave, I was interested in getting that software working – and it didn’t before the ride. And then it hit me. Sports Tracker is a social network, and literally, my mobile (and the public rides) would present a means for other believers to connect with me as I ride. It would just be a matter of advertising both to those who use the service, and to those who don’t.

Essentially, I’d just need to ride, and then make sure that my rides are shared publicly with titles that would indicate that those rides were fellowship based. Then, I could use other social networks (online and offline) to talk about the rides. The mental note for me would be to make sure that I turn on Sports Tracker before the ride, so that its being logged. But then, its just about riding and fellowship.

I’m sure that other applications and services could be used for similar. Its just a matter of being creative around some of their abilities. And if you’ve got something that works with a mobile – even in a simpler fashion like sending a group SMS out to your small/cell group a few hours before an outing that some might also want to join – then you’ve made your mobile a catalyst for connecting with others.

I’ll try this and see what happens. In the meantime, have any of you tried something similar with social networking or mobile in order to create a space for fellowship that’s not the usual breakfast/bible study/(gender) group event?

Sports Tracker is available for Nokia Symbian, Google Android, and Apple iOS devices. Its a free download and a free service. For more information, visit the Sports Tracker website.

Tags: Android, Apple, applications, bicycling, community, exercise, fellowship, iPhone, iPod Touch, mHealth, nokia, social gathering, Sports Tracker, Symbian
Posted in Social Engagement | No Comments »

Health and Wellness by Mobile

Sunday, June 12th, 2011

We’ve piggybacked on the discussions happening around the web in respect to mobile health. And certainly, there’s a lot that’s being discussed in respect to using mobile devices and services at the point of diagnosis and prevention. However, one of the aspects of mobile health that we’ve rarely talked about is the idea of wellness.

Wellness, or your state of physical, mental, and spiritual health is sometimes passed off as an area that only “new age spiritualists” think about, but I think that we’d be missing a bit about “carrying for this temple” if we didn’t highlight it in part.

This hits home a good bit for me because as I love to get out on my bicycle, I find that I’ve not nearly ridden as much in my time in a rural area as I have in urban areas, despite the lack of traffic. To wit, I’ve not felt as good physically and mentally as I know that I can be. To the point, right before sitting to pen this, I logged (on my mobile using Sports Tracker) a ride where I wen’t 13.5 miles in about 1hr 5min. Last fall, I was doing 17 miles in that same amount of time. Physically, that’s a problem, and I know its effected me mentally and spiritually.

There are applications like Nokia’s Wellness Diary that go beyond looking at a workout regime, but will also help you recognize sleeping and eating patterns so that you can make adjustments to your lifestyle to improve not just your quality of life, but also how you are able to respond to change all around you.

So, let’s open the discussion on mobile wellness by looking at what you do to keep yourself on track whether with specific mobile software to guide you or a service that helps you track. Let’s spur one another not just towards preaching the Gospel with words, but having the wholeness of life that lives it as well.

Tags: behavior, Body, health, healthy living, lifestyles, mHealth, Sports Tracking, stewardship, wellness, Wellness Diary education
Posted in Devices and Software | No Comments »

The Solo or Siloed Conversations of Faith and Tech

Monday, February 14th, 2011

Some time ago on Twitter, I opined:

Just got an email asking about Electronic bibles in multi-languages and for offline use; we can’t forget that is a big need still…

The tweet was answered by John Dyer who said:

@mobileminmag That’s what Digital Bible Society is doing: www.dbsbible.org/ (they are about to explode with languages)

It caused these follow-up tweets:

@johndyer – forgot about these folks; thanks for the poke (challenge to keep abreast of all doings; even in the longer running efforts)…I do wonder, how many groups are doing the same things, and can’t or won’t talk to one another (is the Body one of siloed actions only)

The trek for an answer to this (often to myself) asked question took me to Scripture first. Hearing verses before context, I started looking at a few items:

“Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand… he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand (Matthew 12:22-36)
The parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21)
“Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.” (Luke 9:44-50)

And while there are verses in those that soften my heart, they don’t address the matter that sits at the core. Another person in a twitter conversation put it nicely:

I can’t think of a theologian who is engaging in the technology space in a meaningful way, yet folks like Lanier & Sterling are asking about the human spirit as it interacts with technology.

Lanier is the author of a book that I’m reading now (You Are Not A Gadget). So far in my reading, I’m impressed on the same line of questioning: where is the Body speaking and engaging the conversation around computer technologies in a way more meaningful than numbers, revenues, and tools? After reading this quote from Lainer’s book, I had to put it down (iPad running Kindle) and reflect, where are our conversations:

…we should not be irreverently usurping His power of creating souls, any more than we are in the procreation of children: rather we are, in either case, instruments of His will providing mansions for the souls that He creates.”

Where do we speak and live into lives? There’s the education of kids, as well as adults who still have much to pass down. There’s an economic system built on secrets and misunderstood histories. Yes, there’s censorship, and there’s also exploitation of the very resources that build communities (people, fresh water, safety). If Christ is the bread that binds, it doesn’t matter if we are on a social network “doing church” if the greater parts of our community can’t even use a computer (mobile or otherwise) to get a job because our computer labs are closed to non-members, understaffed, and/or fronted by leaders who resist the approaches others have done in their own neighborhoods.

Dr. Philip Jenkins (The Lost History of Christianity, The Next Christendom,etc.) recently came to Charlotte to speak. I was able to make the last half of his second (and final talk). One of the points that was intimately clear was that we have no choice about the changing faces and patterns of the Christian faith on the global stage. USAmerican mainstream deonminations either need to adapt to the changed/changing demographics of their communities, or be marganalized into small and mostly echoing relics of a faith that was once relevant. There’s value in what every faith community offers, but none of that can be communicated through solo or siloed efforts, there’s a larger narrative to the implications of faith in these merged communities, and (as I discussed with him afterward) a similar discussion being played out with mobile/web.

Efforts like Digital Disciples and the Digital Bible Society are great, and these are the kinds of efforts that more of the Body should be taking part in. But, we also should be noticably involved projects such as OLPC’s One Laptop Per Child, discussions such as the implications of WikiLeaks on media and content, and working out the theological answers to the social implications of mobile across generations.

So Body, what are you doing? And does the rest of the Body know anything about what you are doing? Is an injection of Jesus into tech culture just something one group does at a time, or is it isolated to certain conversations only? I’m of the persuasion that IT won’t exist much longer (am not alone in this thought) – what will you do when digital isn’t an appended layer to faith, but is an active and integral part of how communities will engage the validity and experience of their faith? Will the conversation about what we do in tech be meaningful or just noise?

Tags: Digital Bible Society, Digital Disciples, education, implications, innovation, iPad, Kindle, Lainer, Luke, Matthew, mHealth, OLPC, relevance, Sterling, You Are Not A Gadget
Posted in Commentary, Devices and Software, Social Engagement | No Comments »

One Industry, One Country, Two Views

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Some weeks back, we pointed to a story from CNN noting the effect of mhealth and mobile banking services in Tanzania. Later, we posted a book review which pointed to the need to carefully think and educate towards the implications of mobile in the same country and region. One industry (mobile), one country (Tanzania), but two viewpoints towards the effect of mobile – how does one reconcile such divergent analyses?

Defining Mobile Ministry (again!)

Let’s take this back to grade school and fractions. When you were looking at problems with different denominators, you would first need to get your fractions common to one another. For our discussion, are fraction has the common factor of mobile, but the deonminators speak in one case towards social needs and the other towards social implications. We should then look back at our definition of mobile ministry to better frame both of these matters:

Mobile ministry is the skillful use and application of computer technology classified as mobile for the context of fulfilling the Christian (religious?) designation of forwarding the proclamation of the key ideals and history of the faith, following form to and innovating on top of cultural and faith traditions within applied contexts.

Note the skillful use being advanced by both of these stories – people are using mobile as a means to connect to one another, connect to life saving services, and in many cases are doing so in a context where connectivity and communication was traditionally bound to some specific restraint. Also note the implications happening because of mobile – relations between different culture groups are falling apart, the costs for mobile as an access point is greater than sustainable income levels, etc. As we said before, there’s an activity that’s happening, but its very much being defined by the how not just the what.

We see in the mHealth/mobile banking story the aspect of meeting needs (Matthew 25:35-40). We see in the second story a side effect of meeting needs. Ministry has happened, and lives were (saved) enriched, but doing so opened holes in the social structures which meant that the application of the Gospel had to go beyond the initial addressed need, and now needed to account for the side effect (economic and spiritual artifacts/abuses).

Defining Cultural and Faith Traditions

Look back at our extended outlook for both the definition of mobile ministry and 2011. Note this key point about areas where the Body needs to become more aware and knowledgable:

Spiritual implications of connected spaces: theological constraints/precedents; directions for educators/parents/local communities; psychological/cultural effects of mobile vs other personal/connected technology media elements

It isn’t enough to just apply a technology, but as is noted in both stories, there are cultural and faith traditions which must be observed and followed if the technology and its artifacts are going to have a lasting effect.

We can make some assumptions, as both CNN and Goliama do in their respective pieces. We can’t get the entire picture by just looking at one of them. We’ve got to take into account that there is a rich cultural and historical narrative to which mobile (and health, banking, politics, etc.) is being grafted onto that will further color what’s happening here.

Reconciling to a Picture of Tanzanian Mobile Activity

Tanzania is a country – not a neighborhood. Therefore, we can’t assume that activities happening for one group or in one area of the country are happening with the same fervor (if at all) in another areas.

The common denominator here is that the introduction of mobile in Tanzania has caused disruptions in the social fabric of all those who have or interact with those who utilize mobile devices.

The conclusions for the minister (missional, evangelical, doctor, or otherwise) have to start from there. If you addressing the people of Tanzania (or any country), and wish to engage them with the technologies of their day, does your approach start from a generalized view of the people and their technology, or is it grounded in a methodological evaluation of general and specific issues relating to the sub-groups to which you will be interacting with?

In respect to these stories of our Tanzanian family, remember these key points about mobile:

Mobile is the first personal mass media
Mobile is permanently carried
Mobile is always-on
Mobile has a built-in payment mechanism

These are four of the eight characteristics that mobile has and will effect the user and their immediate environment. You can’t get away from the fact that there is an effect. Making sense of it, and then pressing forward to display the Gospel, is what ministers are called to do. What pressing forward will look like, is dependent on what viewpoint of mobile is best served by the environment you are called to be involved in.

Tags: implications of mobile, mHealth, mobile banking, mobility, spiritual implications, Tanzania
Posted in Commentary, Communication, Devices and Software, Social Engagement | No Comments »

SMS and Mobile Banking Saving Lives in Tanzania

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

A great story hit the web some days ago (CNN via Textually) about how doctors in Tanzania have used the speed and flexibility of mobile banking to lower the barriers of giving treatment for various health ills. Here’s a snippet:

Doctors at the Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania clinic (CCBRT) say the average cost of a return bus ticket for a woman traveling from a rural area for treatment is $60, a huge amount in a country where the majority of people live on $2 a day.

“We use the mobile phone to actually transfer those transport grants to the communities, so that those woman can reach our facility — and then the cost of lodging in a hospital, we also bear the costs,” says Erwin Telemans, who runs the clinic.

Using mobile to improve health care has been a common theme around the world, where this specific story gets legs is that its happening via mobile banking initiatives – services which started out very grassroots and have become quite effective and pervasive.

View video at CNN

Its Not Just Physical, Economic Health Also Effected

M-Pesa is one of the first mobile banking initiatives to come out of Africa (starting with Safaricom in Kenya and making its way across much of the continent) and currently handles hundreds of millions of transactions (the CNN article quotes 700 million transactions last year for M-Pesa). One analyst said that M-Pesa is being used by 35% of Kenyans, and is projected to be 20% of Kenya’s GDP for 2010. Essentially, what’s happening with these doctors isn’t just saving lives, but also giving economic health to a country.

A simple SMS is able to save a life, and then foster an economy. That’s the opportunity happening in mobile, how are you looking to do similar kinds of work in 2011?

Tags: Africa, CNN, health, innovation, Kenya, M-Pesa, mHealth, mobile health, SMS, Tanzania, Textually
Posted in Communication, Devices and Software, Social Engagement | 1 Comment »

What Will Happen When…

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

…What will happen when the untapped knowledge of every patient, of every caregiver, of everyone who has something of value to share actually has the opportunity to share it?

That’s the next frontier. It is no longer about access. It’s about uploads. It’s about inputs. It’s about learning from each other.

Patients are not the only ones who can benefit from this new model of participatory medicine. Institutions can too.

E-patient Dave deBronkart is a tech geek who also happens to be a cancer survivor. He used CaringBridge during his illness to stay in touch with his friends and family. He used ACOR to gather expert peer advice about kidney cancer. He used Beth Israel’s PatientSite to keep up to date on his treatments and communicate with his doctors.

Excellent post reflecting on and looking at the implications of the accessibility of information because of the advances made, and the advances that will come, in mobile and social web technologies as it relates to health management at the Pew Internet and American Life Project website. Read the rest of The Power of Mobile here.

It definitely is a matter of when, not if, mobile will take a larger role not just in health, but in education, government, and faith-based pursuits. What are some of these implications, and how do you approach these changes in light of what you want to use, and what’s being marketed to you?

Tags: developed markets, education, emerging markets, Marketing, mHealth, mobile environment, mobile health, Pew Internet, technology adoption
Posted in Devices and Software, Future Trends | No Comments »

mHealth and Wellness

Friday, July 30th, 2010

One of the areas where mobile seems to be making some headway as a catalyst towards ministry engagements is in the media field- and especially in areas where traditional means of data collection, analysis, and even diagnosis is not as able to happen. And while I know that one day we’ll get to the point where there will be sensors in or around our mobile devices that will correlate to health and wellness, it is really neat to see some of the work that is happening around that field right now.

The 3G Doctor is probably the premier website discussion medial and mobile. This site isnt’t just a technology demonstration either, it is actual doctors in the field, experimenting and collaborating to learn and share the lessons about what’s possible given the abilities of mobile in areas where traditional health managment just can’t happen. Check out the 3G Doctor Blog for some additinal analysis and insights in this growing field.

The field is commonly referred to as mHealth (mobile health) and covers everything from applications, to services, to regional and global policy development. mHealth initiatives don’t just seek to wave a flag that mobiles can access emergency health services, but look to embed an entire ecosystem of health and wellness practices which as fostered in some respects by mobile devices or the mobile web. What’s been most interesting in the mHealth arena has been some of the specific regional topics which have been addressed: pregancy topics and prenatal care, nutrition, AIDS prevention and education, domestic violence, and excercise and wellness.

There’s also a great deal of information coming from entities such as the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Foundation, the World Economic Forum, and Mobile Active.

As with other aspects of mobile, there’s going to be a uptick in the information acquired and the education dispersed towards medical, health and wellness needs in the near future.To those communities and organizations who deal with health and wellness, the rise of mobile as another tool on the belt should be a welcome sign, and a empowering one.

Tags: 3G Doctor, biometrics, education, health, mHealth, Mobile Active, sensors, United Nations, wellness, WHO
Posted in Devices and Software, Future Trends, Social Engagement | No Comments »

Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM)

Posts Tagged ‘mHealth’

Research and Call for Interest-Expressions for Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) in Mobile/Tech

Health and Wellness by Mobile

What Will Happen When…

Learn More

Recent Comments

Twitter Updates

Digital Disciples

Post Calendar

Categories

February 2012
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Jan
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29

Posts Tagged ‘mHealth’

Learn More

Recent Comments

Twitter Updates

Digital Disciples

Post Calendar

Categories

Most Common Tags