SMS Help

SMShelp

Project Task List: SMSToDoList

Overview

What: a platform which allows a set of services to be provided through the use of SMS *only*.
Why: help give aid/services/help to a ~billion people that have phones but no internet
How: via simple SMS questions and answers (with machines or humans at the back end)
Initial Focus: (1) risk assessment (e.g. house stability to earthquakes); (2) medical diagnosis

Overview Statement

Hundreds of millions of people in the poorest regions of the world have access to simple mobile phones. Even where no land lines have been installed, there are no hospitals or decent schools, often people still have access to a mobile phone.

The question is, can we tap into the fact that this SMS capability exists to assist millions of people? SMSHLP aims to do this.

The idea is to develop a Framework/platform that can support myriad of services e.g.
1. SMSMed: medical diagnosis and treatment support
2. SMSRisk: collects data on houses and infrastructure in order to assess impact/risk of Earthquakes/other natural disasters
3. SMSSkills: collects data on people who can support the above service
4. SMSDisaster: help/services during an actual disaster e.g. "I'm OK" and "I'm not OK" app
5. SMSWeather: informs people of the weather prediction given their location

The first three are under development, the latter two are just ideas.

Problem Statements

1. Hundreds of millions of people have no access to basic medicine
We can further drill this down to specific UN Millennium Development Goals that these tools may address e.g. Goal 4, target 1 "Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate"

2. Hundreds of millions of people are in regions where there are little data on the risks of buildings and infrastructure to different natural disasters. The World Bank has a risk model that could assess greatest impact areas if certain data can be collected. These models could then inform government investment in improvements.

Initial Brainstorming Discussion Picture:

http://twitpic.com/1u78pt

Solution Statement

Technical

SMS_Help_Project_Dependencies

Database Schema: SMS_Help_Schema

Simple SMS statements sent from person needing help to a specific number (e.g. "411") Automated set of questions and answers handled by a computer

Example 1: a log of messages on SMSMed may look like this: SMSMed

Financial Model

• SMSes from people needing help are Free
• SMS service makes arrangement with cell phone companies that they allow SMSes to the number to be free and that the ones from the service back to the users are paid for by the service
• The service may get sponsorship from aid organisations who need that data -- e.g. for SMSMed the data might be paid for by the World Health Organisation (WHO) who might like to get early warning of e.g. malaria outbreaks.
• Depending on the service one may give free SMS or free talk minutes to users who submit reliable data.

Incentives to Participate
Depends on application. For SMSMed or SMSWeather there is a clear and immediate user benefit. For SMSRisk, one could think of small incentives such as free SMS messages or free talk minutes for people who submit reliable data.

Developers Contributing
Joshua McKenty, Kendrick Taylor, Sean Smitz, Todd Khozein, Will Marshall, Robbie Schingler, Jay Koby