The Umpteenth Blog On Using SMS Feedback In Projects…Now with Support!

This blog post has been reposted with kind permission from the World Bank’s Public Sphere blog. Aaron Seyedian was a participant at the recent two-day workshop held in Washington, DC and wrote up this entertaining account of the course. Thanks Aaron!

With shiny apps hogging the mobile spotlight these days, one could be forgiven for forgetting about SMS (“Short Message Service” or text messaging).  But although apps often disguise themselves as universally useful, their data and hardware requirements preclude their widespread use in poor countries.  Amongst the world’s poor, SMS is still king.  Given the World Bank’s mandate to serve the exactly that population, and in response to demand from staff, I recently attended a 2-day Frontline SMS training here in DC.

The training took place on the 2nd floor of the OAS building, otherwise known as the “OpenGovHub.”  The hub hosts many organizations working at the intersection of data, governance and development, including Ushahidi, Accountability Lab and Tech4Dem. [...]