On Blog Action Day I blogged about how the Grameen Foundation is using open source software to assist there needs to rid the world of poverty. I just finished Jeff Howe’s book Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business and he provides further statistics about the Grameen Bank:

• The concept of micro-lending started 1976 with a loan of  $27 to 42 villagers
• The Grameen Bank was started 7 years later
• The Grameen Bank became self-sustainable by 1995
• 67% of savings deposits comes from people who utilize the low interest loans
• 58% of the 7.4 million borrows are no longer suffering from poverty

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One of the most prominent examples of mass collaboration is Wikipedia. According to Alexa, Wikipedia is the 8th most visited website in the world. Playing a role in Wikipedia’s high ranking is the up-to-date information provided by the community of contributors.

The contributors provide the  content and ultimately what why visitors turn to Wikipedia for knowledge. Therefore, the importance of having a community of willing contributors is essential to the livelihood of any mass collaboration project. The question remains, why do people participate in such projects?

As of December 21 2008, statistics provided by Wikipedia shows that the encyclopedia has 8,540,976 registered users of whom 156,430 are regarded as active. A user is deemed active if they have performed an action in the past 30 days. These users have created a staggering 15,679,892 pages. In Charles Leadbeater’s book, We Think,  he finds that a majority of participants contribute in order to gain recognition from their peers which achieves a feeling of achievement. A study of the open source world by Hars & Ou finds that a motivational factor is altruism; doing something that would be of benefit to others. These communities also provide sense of belonging.

People who participate in these mass collaboration communities are essential to the success. It is therefore vital to fulfill the needs of participants. If not then the benefits of such projects like Wikipedia will not be realised.

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One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is non-profit organisation whose current focus is the development and distribution of the X0-1 laptop to children in developing nations.

The laptop makes use of a Linux OS and a criticism from many countries is that it does not use a Windows OS. They felt that the students would be better prepared for jobs in the global workplace if they used Windows. In response OLPC will now be releasing a laptop running Windows XP Pro specifically built for the XO laptop. Peru will be the first country to get the Windows laptop. A dual boot version is reportedly also due.

In an effort to support the OLPC project Amazon have announced that the will be selling the Linux version as from November 17th. The program known as Give One, Get One (G1G1), works whereby a consumer spends $400 for two laptops. One Laptop goes to the consumer and the other laptop is then delivered to a child in a developing country.

For more on the Windows version and a valuation between the Linux and Window XO laptops whereby an 8-year-old was asked to select which one she preferred, have a look at the video below.

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I decided to have a look at the South African Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) website to see where you could register for the upcoming elections. Instead I was presented with the following message:

It seems their website only allows Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer users. So that means no Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Linux or Mac users.

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In June 2008 Nokia bought out its partners in Symbian (mobile operating system) for $410 million and have decided to forfeit the $300 million in licensing revenue by going open source. Nokia have started the non-profit Symbian Foundation with around 40 companies joining and plan to release Symbian for free in the first half of 2009.

According to CEO Nigel Clifford they are hoping that the money that companies would normally spend on licences would now be spent to innovate on Symbian and is key to keeping Symbian competitive.

Symbian has lost market share to Apple and with Google releasing Andriod further loss in the market share seems inevitable. Symbian has seen their market share drop to 57% from 66% in the same period last year.

In order to stay ahead of competitors Nokia will have to continuously innovate. The have realised that they do not have the capabilities within the company to do this as it is impossible to employ the all the smartest people in the world. By opening up to a global audience they are now hoping that anybody with an idea will now develop it on the Symbian platform and help keep Symbian at the forefront.

A growing number of companies have realised the benefits of opening up and for some it is becoming a major factor in business strategy. These communities are drawing a vast array of people from all around the world with the Internet providing the platform for collaboration that is essential for innovation.

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The theme for Blog Action Day is poverty and the Grameen Foundation is an organisation making use of technology to enable the poor to create a world without poverty. The Mifos Initiative program is using open source software to create a service model that increases access to technology for microfinance institutions, allowing them to reach the worlds poor. Microfinance is a program whereby poor people are granted small loans (less than $200) to start and sustain small business like the Villiage Phone Program. This particular model has proven to be an effective strategy to fight poverty.

Microfinance institutions are finding it challenging to reach to reach over 400 million families in need of financial services due to the lack of cost-effective technology which is preventing them from expanding. Many are still using Excel or manual based systems with only half having automated systems. Mifos is a open source solution which allows microfinance institutions to to install the software at no cost. While there could be costs associated for installation, maintenance and training, this open source solution reduces costs which allows more people to be reached and helped create sustainable solutions to combat poverty.

The functionality of the product allows microfinance institutions to standardise common processes and cater for regional differences. The product makes use of a web interface and connected to a MySQL database which can process anywhere between 1000 – 1 million clients. To assist with deploying or developing the application join the community. Mifos is allowing microfinance institutions to serve the people effected by poverty by:

• lowering costs which could be spent elsewhere
• faster and more secure processing
• less paperwork which reduces human error
• reducing fraud

The Grameen Foundation have a number of programs making use of technology to enable people to empower themselves and create sustainable businesses. Instead of solely being dependant on aid, people who are effected by poverty are creating and defining their own futures and fighting their way out. Technology and free open source software (FOSS) in this case can play apart in empowering people to help themselves. With the use of technology opportunities are being presented to reduce poverty. The founder of Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus explains the importance of information technology in the fight against poverty…

“An individual poor person is an isolated island by himself and herself. IT can end that isolation overnight”

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Open Source mobile web browser known under the code name “Fennec” from Mozilla will be available for Windows mobile in a couple of weeks. Mozilla developer Mark Finkle revealed that development for Windows Mobile version is heating up and and that a Linux version is in a alpha testing.

You can install it on a Nokia N8×0 and assist with testing. There are no plans yet for a Blackberry version and there was work happening porting it to Symbian but there has been no indication on the status.

With Google releasing a browser for Android in the future, which is a separate project from Chrome, the mobile browser marker is certainly heating up. The mobile web browser sector war is going to be an interesting one to watch in the near future. Have a look at the concept video for Firefox Mobile.

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Architecture for Humanity is a charitable organisation that aims to produce architectural solutions to aid humanitarian crisis and communities in need. The Open Architecture Network developed by  Architecture for Humanity, is an online community whose goal is to improve the living conditions of people living in informal settlements and assist those with shelter after a disaster. The network allows designers to:

• Share ideas, designs and plan
• Review designs by others
• Collaborate with all role players in the project to address design issues
• Communicate effectively amongst each other
• Project manage projects from the concept to implementation

The network encourages people from different backgrounds to contribute in order to collaborate and share expertise to address the challenges of building a sustainable future. Features of the network include file sharing and online collaborative design tools. The network does not aim to replace the traditional architect but allows designers to work together in a way that allows billions of clients to benefit from their skills.

The network is open to anybody who wants to collaborate on projects and share expertise. This is an example of mass collaboration whereby people all around the world work together in order to create a product or service and in this case a fantastic cause. For more information have a look at Cameron Sinclair’s TED talk.

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