NEW - Crowdsourced Device Database: By the community, for the community

We're delighted to announce a major new resource for those using our software: an online database identifying which handsets and modems that are compatible with FrontlineSMS! We think this will be a huge step forward for our users. 

Our new database currently includes information on 10 devices, both modems and handsets that have been tested for their compatibility with FrontlineSMS. Over time, we'll build up data on phone and modem availability and compatibility all over the world, so that it's as easy as it should be to get up and running.

But we need you to help build it! Please share your own experiences - both successes and challenges - with sourcing and using different devices. The more detailed information you give, the more useful the database will be for others. We'll also be adding data from a few new sources, including the anonymised statistics sent back by our users, which since version 1.6.14.1  included information on the device connected to FrontlineSMS; the very useful thread we'd already created on the user support community; and the user survey we've just completed.

To access the data base and to add information on your own experience of using FrontlineSMS with different devices please visit: http://devdb.heroku.com/pub. When you submit an entry we will review it and add it onto the device database within one week.

The database itself is a prototype - but we wanted to get it up and out so that you could use it as soon as possible. Within the database there is an individual report for each device which has been tested. Please bear in mind that this is a list of phones and modems you connect to the computer running FrontlineSMS. (The people you send messages to, and receive messages from, can have ANY phone). In each device report you can see the mobile network operator (mno), the platform, and the version of FrontlineSMS on which the device has been tested. You can also see the functionalities the device has been tested for by hovering your mouse over the envelope symbols. If anyone has suggestions for improvements and would be interested in volunteering time to work on it with us, then do get in touch at info@frontlinesms.com.

Huge thanks are due to Adam White, Alex Anderson, and Morgan Belkadi for building the database and getting it online!

Vote, Pray, Advocate: 2011 SMS Resolutions in Zimababwe

Freedom of information is often said to be heavily restricted in Zimbabwe. Kubatana is an organisation which aims to strengthen use of email and Internet in Zimbabwean NGOs and civil society organisations, in order to support human rights and access to information. They find many innovative ways to get information out, and to allow Zimbabwean citizens to share their views. We are proud to call Kubatana one of the longest standing users of FrontlineSMS, first using our software back in 2005. At the start of 2011 Kubatana’s latest use of FrontlineSMS demonstrates how text messaging can allow people to share their views and hopes for the future in Zimbabwe.

On 5^th January Kubatana used FrontlineSMS to ask their email and SMS subscribers “What’s your resolution about how you’ll get involved in making change happen in 2011?” By the end of the day they had received 70+ responses. The most popular response from initial subscribers was that they would vote. This, of course, assumes there will be elections this year – nothing’s been officially announced, but rumours are suggesting an election for mid-year. Prayer was the next most popular response, with many subscribers saying they would pray for change this year (some of them said they are going to pray and vote). Other messages sent included plans for activities such as advocating for change, sharing information and standing up for human rights.

By the following week Kubatana had received another 150+ responses from subscribers about their resolutions for how they’ll make change in 2011. Vote, pray and advocate continue to be the most popular responses.

Many thanks to Kubatana for sharing this use of FrontlineSMS with us. Read some of the SMS resolutions Kubatana received below, and read more on Kubatana's blog.

——

Will put the best of my ability in all I have to do. Will participate in national issues in which my participation is required.

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Advocate for peace building in preparation for elections thank u same to u

——

2010 was a bit challenging year    if the Gvt can improve our living and salaries we feel better.

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CHANGE MUST COME NOT NOW BUT YESTERDAY.WE MUST NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY STONE THROWERS BEHIND GLASS HOUSE.IF WE DON’T WORK FOR CHANGE ITS OUR GRAVE WE ARE DIGGING

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To educate ALL ELIGIBLE people to register to vote and that it is their vote that wl speak for the FINAL AND DECISIVE time!

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My x is the right change

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A change shall come by  putting words into action

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Pray for good health and we will pull through

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Make everyone to vote to make change

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I will pray for the nation especially the Leadership

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Firstly to continue to pray & i am encouraging young people to get ID’s & register to vote for their future.

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Change is also my 1st resolution among others.

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SAME TO YOU. MY RESOLUTIOM ABOUT BEING INVOLVED IN MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN IN 2011 IS TO PUT MY (X) IN THE RIGHT BOX CAME ELLECTION.

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2011: To aim for success leading to great success (greatness without limits).

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2 in courage as many pple as I can 2 go and vote for total CHANGE and make them 2 be strong 4 there rights!!!.

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I will fill happy this year. I need to work as a one part kuti tikunde. this year i want to drive new minsters thank you happy new year

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If elections do take place my vote will help change. is this wiki-leaks thing true?

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kubatana!  happy  2011  hop wil  b  able 2  make a  beta  zimbabwe  this  yr

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I am going to make my voice heard through voting

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Nothing much waiting 4 the election time.

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2011 my vote will count it will call for change. Count it will towards a new political order. My vote will speak

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I resolved: to preach against violence     to encourage people to be registered voters  and to stand for just at any given opportunity.

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How can i make a change while i am jobless livng in country without a pasport

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Am going to vote for the changing party if there are elections.Prayer is the GREAT CHANGER.

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Start a child rights club in my community.fund raising for sports equipment&run a children’s talkshow

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PUSH TOWARDS DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES THROUGH PUSHING ON VIOLNCE, ELECTION CONDUCIVE, IMPORTANCE OF ELECTIONS

——

Its now 2011, time for the new constitution and violence free election. I resolv 2 campaign for self defence of one’s statutory rights to achieve change.

Jobs@FrontlineSMS: Media Project Manager and New Jobs Page!

New FrontlineSMS jobs page!

Current opportunity: Media Project Manager!

In order to share the exciting opportunities we have to work with us at FrontlineSMS, we now have new jobs page here on our website to keep you all updated on the ways you can become a part of our lively and growing team! This page will show all paid and unpaid roles available at FrontlineSMS, both in the core team and in our sister projects. The location of our vacancies will vary; we currently have staff based in the UK, the US and Kenya.

Media Project Manager position - recruiting now!

FrontlineSMS is currently looking for an enthusiastic self-starter, with an interest in international development and /or media to fill the internship role of Media Project Manager, based in our London offices. The post holder will be responsible for project managing one of our sister organisations, FrontlineSMS: Radio, during its exciting trial stages and beyond. One of the most visible parts of FrontlineSMS  is our growing community of sister organisations: separate projects which fall under the FrontlineSMS umbrella who are developing sector-specific plug-ins to do new and incredibly exciting things. FrontlineSMS:Radio is one of these projects, which will develop a new software module (or plug-in) designed specifically to help community radio stations in the developing world interact more dynamically with their audiences.

The Media Project Manager will also be involved in the work of the FrontlineSMS core team, helping to organise internal and external communications in preparation for the launch of new FrontlineSMS 2.0 software.  We are looking for a candidate who can ensure effective coordination of multiple stakeholder groups and balance software development timelines with the demands of implementing projects on the ground. To find out more about this role visit the jobs page here, where you will find a link to the full job description.

This is what our outgoing intern, Adam, had to say about working with us:

“FrontlineSMS is an exciting and dynamic organization. The diversity of the skills and projects of this small organisation makes working here fascinating, while the uniqueness of the projects makes the work very important”.

And keep a regular eye on our jobs page for more exciting opportunities coming soon!

FrontlineSMS:Medic becomes Medic Mobile

FrontlineSMS:Medic is now Medic Mobile. From the start, FrontlineSMS:Medic implemented and extended FrontlineSMS to bridge gaps in healthcare delivery systems. After a successful pilot, the FrontlineSMS software and community acted as a launchpad for an organization that uses open source software to support health services across the globe. The launch of a new name, Medic Mobile, reflects the growth and trajectory of that organization. Medic Mobile will continue to be one of the most emphatic champions of FrontlineSMS – contributing code, user experiences, and peer-reviewed research back to the community. Here, Isaac Holeman and Josh Nesbit, co-Founders of FrontlineSMS:Medic, walk us through the history of the project, and where they see Medic Mobile heading in the future.

The FrontlineSMS:Medic Story

Inception

FrontlineSMS:Medic was preceded by two independent projects, Mobiles in Malawi and MobilizeMRS. Josh Nesbit initiated Mobiles in Malawi in the summer of 2007, working at a rural Malawian hospital that serves 250,000 patients spread 100 miles in every direction. To reach remote patients, the hospital trained volunteer community health workers (CHWs) like Dickson Mtanga, a subsistence farmer. Dickson had to walk 35 miles to submit hand-written reports on 25 HIV-positive patients in his community. The hospital needed a simple means of communication, and in the summer of 2008 Josh returned to the hospital with mobile phones and a laptop running FrontlineSMS to provide it.

MobilizeMRS was born with a focus on electronic medical records, and the notion that the technology could be extended to engage CHWs in structured data collection. Isaac Holeman discovered Mobiles in Malawi and contacted Josh online, and in late 2008 they decided to join forces. Isaac brought the key characteristics of MobilizeMRS with him – a commitment to extending OpenMRS, the initiative to formalize their projects as a venture, insistence that the venture should have a distinct brand and leadership authority, and commitment to developing innovative software.

In February of 2009, Josh, Isaac, and a group of students from Stanford and Lewis & Clark founded FrontlineSMS:Medic together. The mission was to help health workers communicate, coordinate patient care, and provide diagnostics using low-cost, appropriate technology.

Impact

In six months, the pilot in Malawi using FrontlineSMS saved hospital staff 1200 hours of follow-up time and over $3,000 in motorbike fuel. Over 100 patients started tuberculosis treatment after their symptoms were noticed by CHWs and reported by text message. The SMS network brought the Home-Based Care unit to the homes of 130 patients who would not have otherwise received care, and texting saved 21 antiretroviral therapy (ART) monitors 900 hours of travel time, eliminating the need to hand deliver paper reports. You can read more about this pilot in the Journal of Technology and Health Care publication.

After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Josh reached out to FrontlineSMS users on the ground and connected with mobile operators. Soon after, FrontlineSMS:Medic helped coordinate The 4636 Project, an effort to create an emergency communications channel. Working with the Office of Innovation at the US Department of State, technology providers, Digicel, and Voila, a system was created to process text messages expressing urgent needs from the ground. Using crowd-sourced translation, categorization, and geo-tagging, reports were created for first responders within 5 minutes of receiving an SMS. Over 80,000 messages were received in the first five weeks of operation, focusing relief efforts for thousands of Haitians.

In less than one year, FrontlineSMS:Medic expanded from 75 to 1,500 end users linked to clinics serving approximately 3.5 million patients. Growing from the first pilot at a single hospital in Malawi, they established programs in 40% of Malawi’s district hospitals and implemented projects in nine other countries, including Honduras, Haiti, Uganda, Mali, Kenya, South Africa, Cameroon, India and Bangladesh.

A growing toolkit

In 2010, the FrontlineSMS:Medic team expanded and began creating new mobile tools. Software developers built on the FrontlineSMS platform to create a lightweight patient records system, PatientView, and a text-based information collection module, TextForms.

Developed by volunteers in less than two days, the initial 4636 system combined a number of technology platforms. Most recently, FrontlineSMS:Medic developers worked on a messaging module for OpenMRS, a project that had been in the works since the MobilizeMRS days prior to FrontlineSMS:Medic. It became clear to the team that building upon and implementing various open source tools was the best way to serve users and achieve impact.

Next Steps

FrontlineSMS acts as a catalyst for new projects – incubating ideas, teams, and software for legal systems, education, financial services, radio, and other fields. The model replicates FrontlineSMS:Medic’s sector-specific approach and builds on a community of users innovating every day

Medic Mobile continues FrontlineSMS:Medic’s team, values, and mission – using mobile tools to create connected, coordinated health systems that save more lives.

Announcing the "Mobile Message"

Over the past year or so, it's become increasingly clear to us that we need to take the "mobile message" out of its technology silo and make it more available - and accessible - to a wider audience. This was the thinking behind our regular series on PC World, and is the thinking behind a new series we're launching today in collaboration with National Geographic.

The "Mobile Message" is aimed at a broad audience, but most importantly people who would never likely visit a mobile-specific site. Recent talks at Communicate - aimed at conservationists - and Nat Geo Live! - aimed at the general public - have convinced us even more that we need to stop just talking among ourselves and take the message out to more mainstream, broader audiences.

According to the first "Mobile Message" posted today:

"Over the next few months we will delve into the human stories behind the growth of mobile technology in the developing world. We'll take a closer look at the background and thinking behind FrontlineSMS, and hear from a number of users applying it to very real social and environmental problems in their communities. We will also hear thoughts and insights from other key mobile innovators in the field, from anthropologists to technologists to local innovators."

You can read the rest of the introductory post on the National Geographic website here.

Take part in the first ever FrontlineSMS user survey for a chance to win a new GSM modem*!

We've designed the first ever FrontlineSMS user survey to help us understand what happens after the software is downloaded from our website. Your responses will help us improve the software and make it easier to use, and will let us know how we can better help you incorporate SMS in your work.

Telling our story

The data will also show our donors and investors how FrontlineSMS is making a difference all over the world - enabling us to keep working and innovating and to keep offering the service for free. And even if you are not currently using the software your answers to the questions that still applicable will really help us.

Win a GSM modem*! And write a post for our blog for a chance to be on the National Geographic website!

As a way to show our appreciation, we are offering a couple of rewards for completing the survey:

First, you are invited to write about your project on the FrontlineSMS blog. Then, we're very excited to be able to select one project to profile in a forthcoming series of posts that FrontlineSMS is contributing to the National Geographic blog. The National Geographic website receives over ten million hits per month, with a broad international readership, so this is an opportunity to share your project with readers around the world! If you would like to participate, please be sure to use the space provided in the survey to tell us more about your project.

We are also happy to give away five GSM modems*. One lucky survey taker will be randomly selected to receive a free modem every week for the next five weeks!

Your stories are our bread and butter. Help us keep working.

Complete the user survey now!

We're always looking for suggestions, requests, feedback and contributions from you! Let us know if you have anything you'd like to see, or contribute: email info@frontlinesms.com.

*A GSM modem is a device which plugs directly into your computer, which allows you to easily connect to a mobile network and send text messages. GSM modems are better suited for applications like FrontlineSMS, and are faster and more reliable than attaching a mobile phone.

Jobs@FrontlineSMS: Community Support Coordinator (London)

** Please note - this role is based in London, UK ** Are you a self-starter with an eye for detail and a willingness to pitch in and do what needs doing? Do you have an interest in aid, development, conservation, social change, health, or any of the other sectors in which FrontlineSMS is flourishing? Are you web-savvy, know your way around a spreadsheet, and possessed of the kind of dogged determination that gets you where you want to go no matter what the odds? Then perhaps you could be our new Community Support Coordinator.[pdf]

A critical role for our growing organisation, this position (based in E1, London, UK) will be the heart and soul of the team, helping to keep the trains running on time with a number of administrative tasks, while taking the lead on maintaining our community resources and databases, making sure we keep track of support requests via our vibrant user community, writing blog posts and case studies, and getting to grips with our most important partners - the users implementing with FrontlineSMS on the ground.

Here's what our outgoing intern, Adam, had this to say about working with us:

FrontlineSMS is an exciting and dynamic organization. The diversity of the skills and projects of this small organization makes working here fascinating, while the uniqueness of the projects makes the work very important. The small team has a hefty workload and being able to absorb some of the tasks seems to be truly helpful to the staff. Likewise, as another person in the office, I’ve spent most of my time pushing ahead new projects which have been on the back-burner for months. From helping to develop a new survey (look for it soon), to drafting case studies, tracking device tests, and whatever has come up, I’ve had a great opportunity to work on a lot of different projects and really help give the team time and projects that couldn’t have happened otherwise.

The workload in the office is constantly shifting because such a small organization has so many priorities for each person. No day in the office was ever just like another, and almost every day in the office would end up changing throughout the day. All in all the experience has been wonderful. As a student working on a Masters dissertation relating to mobile technology in the developing world, I had a great opportunity to discuss the field and apply my understanding into practical outlets for the organization. At the same time, learning what it takes to manage and promote a small and vibrant organization are a set of skills that I hope to recycle wherever I end up next. And of course, the team is great fun and this part of London has great lunch offerings!

Who could possibly resist lunch offerings? If you're interested in applying, take a look at the job description and send us your CV with a covering note setting out how you meet the person specification and how your experience and passions are relevant to the role to info@frontlinesms.com by 5pm on Tuesday, 19th October 2010. Interviews will be held in London during the week of the 25th October 2010.

Introducing... FrontlineSMS:Legal!

As we welcome the newest member of the FrontlineSMS family, below is a guest post from its founder, Sean Martin McDonald. You can find out more about them on their website, or by following them on Twitter. Congratulations and welcome to the team! The Case for FrontlineSMS:Legal Mobile technologies are changing the way that governments deliver services. Whether it’s coordinating local medical treatment or crowdsourcing disaster assistance, innovators everywhere are harnessing the power of mobile phones to reach entire populations who live outside the traditional reach of their governments.  As the FrontlineSMS community continually demonstrates, many of the barriers to service delivery are based on communication problems, not the services themselves.  The law is no different.

Millions of people live outside the reach and purview of their national legal systems, forcing them to endure abuse and neglect.  In the absence of law, people turn to either local leaders or settle disputes themselves, resulting in informal, and even violent, resolutions.  At the same time, there are a number of incredible local leaders and civil society actors who step-in to fill this void.  These people and organizations often risk their own safety and credibility in order to resolve simple disputes for their communities without government support or protection.

FrontlineSMS:Legal uses mobile technologies to extend, improve, and coordinate dispute resolution systems, increasing local capacity and access to justice in the areas that need it most.  For more information, check out the newest member of the FrontlineSMS Family here!

Newsletter: Competitions, videos, and the new version of FrontlineSMS

In case you missed it, here's our inaugural user newsletter, reproduced in full for your reading pleasure. Sign up on the right to receive updates from us (no more than once a month). Welcome to our first ever user newsletter. We hope you find it useful - and don't forget you can start your own discussions at our FrontlineSMS Community page!

FrontlineSMS 1.6 released

The new version of FrontlineSMS is out, packed with new features: an HTTP Trigger which allows you to use the software to send SMS to other applications; a plugin framework to make FrontlineSMS easier to adapt; new translations including Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, and Bahasa; and improved code behind the scenes.

Read more about these features and our plans for the future on our blog.

Feature in our new video!

We love the photos you've been sending in of your teams and supporters with their arms in the air, FrontlineSMS-style - o/ ! We love them so much, in fact, that we want to devote a whole video to them. Send in your photos to videopics@frontlinesms.com and we'll set them to music - and the first ten to send their photos get a free FrontlineSMS badge!

Get your stories, pictures and videos featured on the FrontlineSMS website!

FrontlineSMS is 100% funded by donors. Their support helps us continue to improve the software, and support you through our online community. But it's your stories that keep us going, and which shape our story, helping donors see how their money is making a difference out in the world. Telling us how you use the software and what impact it's had on your work, is one way you can help keep FrontlineSMS going - and in return, we can profile your work on our website and our blog. Submit your photos and stories by email to profilemyproject@frontlinesms.com (or just tell us you're interested!) and we will start working with you to showcase your work in the most appropriate way. That might be a glossy, jointly-branded PDF case study aimed at donors; a guest post on our blog; a starring role in a video about FrontlineSMS; or even a visit from a journalist. We can't wait to hear from you!

News update: FrontlineSMS gets new funding, Ken gets an award from National Geographic, and our core team is growing

It's been a busy time at FrontlineSMS. In May we were awarded significant new funding from the Omidyar network, which will allow us to increase our support to our user community; grow our developer community; and help us grow our communications and fundraising capacity so that we can become more sustainable. The following week, our very own Ken Banks was honoured with a National Geographic Emerging Explorers Award. And since March we've expanded the team, welcoming Morgan Belkadi, our new programmer, and Laura Hudson, our Project Manager.

We hope you've enjoyed the newsletter - we'd love to hear what you think. Let us know your views, your requests for future newsletters, and any other comments at info@frontlinesms.com.

o/

FrontlineSMS

FrontlineSMS is looking for a communications intern

Since the beginning of 2010 it's been a wild ride here at FrontlineSMS, with new funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Omidyar Network, new staff, new offices, a new release, and Ken's National Geographic award. We're delighted to have been joined recently by a new intern, Adam, and a few more kind souls are giving us their time to help us with specific projects. We're very grateful, as we're still growing, and there's a lot to do!

However we would love to find someone who could help to get the FrontlineSMS message out and capitalise on our momentum. We'd love to find someone who could help us with this, perhaps as a paid internship as they finish their mid-career Masters, perhaps as a project between other projects. We may be able to pay a small stipend to the right person.

We need someone to come up with a communications calendar, case studies, Q&As and key metrics; and develop and pitch features (together with partners). You can be based anywhere, as long as you're able to connect online or by phone easily so we can keep in touch.

If you have a passion for proactive and reactive communications, send us your CV and tell us why you're the perfect person to join the team at info@frontlinesms.com.

Feel free to share a link to this post with any lists or individuals you think might be interested. We can't wait to hear from you! o/

Announcing a new version of FrontlineSMS: 1.6!

It's been an exciting start to 2010 at FrontlineSMS - new staff, new funding, new office and now a new release - FrontlineSMS 1.6! Here's a quick post from Alex and Morgan, our developer team, introducing some of the major new features that you'll notice in the new version, and also our plans for the future

For a guide to installing the new version of FrontlineSMS if you're already using an older version, click here.

New Features

HTTP Trigger People have been asking for this for a long time, and now it's here. FrontlineSMS can now accept incoming HTTP requests to trigger message sending. This means that FrontlineSMS can easily be used as an SMS sending service for other applications, or even web services.
Plugin framework We've worked closely with the FrontlineSMS:Medic team, and Ushahidi, on a way to make FrontlineSMS more adaptable to specific needs. FrontlineSMS now has a framework for writing your own plugins so that you can implement new workflows and custom data handling more easily.
Statistics FrontlineSMS will now prompt you to send us back some simple information about how you're using the software, including:

• Which version you're running
• Which operating system
• How many contacts there are in the database
• How many messages have been sent and received
• The number of keywords you're using

This will help us understand who is using the software, and how, and also to show our very kind donors some key statistics about our user base. These figures will also lead to a very pretty blog post at some stage in the future. What's more, the statistics can be texted to us, which we thought was rather cool.

New Languages

FrontlineSMS 1.6 comes with new translations including:

• Arabic by Amine Taha
• Azerbaijani (Azeri Turkish) by Oxana Zarukaeva
• Bangla (Bengali) by Arafat Rahman
• Hindi by Girish Babu
• Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian) by Iwan Suryolaksono
• Khmer by Vantharith

Many thanks to all of you for your contributions!

Under the hood

Along with the new features, we've also done a lot of work on the FrontlineSMS codebase to improve code quality, reliability and maintainability. These include modularising the UI, changing from our homegrown JDBC-based database engine to Hibernate, and adding extensive unit tests to the project. We've also restructured the Forms tab as a plugin implemented in the standard way.

The future

Soon we'll be starting work on the next phase of FrontlineSMS development. Along with improvements to the plugin framework, general maintenance and working on support for new phones, we'll also be embarking on a major new feature: MMS! Currently FrontlineSMS allows you to send and receive text messages, but we're aiming to add support for picture messages soon.

Dale Zak has already developed the first contributed plugin for FrontlineSMS - "Reminders". It allows you to schedule SMS and email to be sent by FrontlineSMS at set intervals, e.g. every day or every week. Currently in beta, we look forward to including the Reminders plugin in a future release.

If you've got any queries, you can catch Alex, Morgan and the rest of the team on the community website at http://community.frontlinesms.com

Celebrating the ecosystem approach

It was a cold evening last October when I heard from National Geographic that we’d won an Emerging Explorer Award for our work in mobile. Seven months is a long time to keep a secret, but now news is out it will hopefully be the ideal platform to help us spur further development of FrontlineSMS, and increase interest in wider circles around the potential for simple, appropriate mobile technologies to solve some of the more pressing problems people face in the world today. Although it’s wonderful to get this kind of recognition, it also makes it a good time to clarify a few key points about the work we're doing.

Exploring

First, I believe National Geographic took a bold step picking a mobile project as one of their Awardees. Explorers are usually associated with more physical, tangible acts such as climbing, diving, flying, discovering and so on. Trying to come up with a new approach to applying mobile technology to a problem is a different way of thinking about “exploring”, and I think it raises a number of very interesting questions. Something for a future blog post, no doubt.

Approaching

Second, first and foremost I believe the Award is recognition of our approach. Over the past five years – yes, it’s almost been that long – we’ve developed a clear methodology based on “handing over our technology and stepping back” (as one conference delegate once put it to me). The National Geographic article summed it up perfectly:

The key, Banks believes, is a hands-off approach. While his website provides free support and connects participants worldwide, users themselves decide how to put the software into action. "FrontlineSMS gives them tools to create their own projects and make a difference," Banks notes. "It empowers innovators and organizers in the developing world to reach their full potential through their own ingenuity. That’s why it’s so motivating, exciting, and effective"

If we look at what’s happening today – with very little of it controlled by us – we’re seeing something of an ecosystem developing around FrontlineSMS. Sure, the software isn’t perfect and it’s constantly improving and evolving, but people are being drawn to it because it allows them to do what they do, better. It’s something they can build on top of, something they know of and to a large degree trust, and something which allows them to immediately tap into a wider community of users, donors and supporters.

It can act as a springboard for their own ideas and visions in a way other solutions aren't. And only a few of these people are technical, and that is key. “Focus on the users and all else will follow” is something we seem to come back to again and again, but without it – and without users – all we have left is a bunch of code and a Big Idea.

The FrontlineSMS ecosystem is witnessing the creation of increasing numbers of plug-ins - medical modules, microfinance modules, mapping tools, reminders and analytical tools among them, and we’re hearing more and more from established, well-known entrepreneurial organisations who have chosen to implement and integrate FrontlineSMS as one element of their work. Laura, our new Project Manager, is just beginning to reach out and make sense of this activity, much of which we currently know very little about. Allowing users to take your platform and just run with it is empowering for them, but creates a unique set of challenges for us.

Recognising

Third, and finally, are the recipients of the Award. I may have been fortunate enough to have got the fledgling FrontlineSMS concept off the ground way back in the summer of 2005, but it’s been a truly monumental, global effort getting it to where it is today, recognising – of course – that we still have a long way to go. From bloggers to donors, from developers to journalists, from testing partners to users, people have stuck with us and supported us in ways I would never have imagined.

Sure, the software can do some pretty neat things, and thanks to Alex and Morgan (our two developers) it continues to improve. But what really draws the majority of people to our work is the approach. For five years we’ve remained 100% focussed on the end user, and have not been distracted by newer, sexier emerging technologies. People really seem to get that. We’ve also concentrated on building, and on remaining positive. There is much wrong in the world, but that should never stop anyone making a contribution, however small.

So, a big thank you to National Geographic for putting their faith in our work; to Laura, Alex, Morgan and Josh, our dedicated core team; to the MacArthur Foundation for taking a gamble on a guy living in a van in 2007, and to the Hewlett Foundation, Open Society Institute, HIVOS, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Omidyar Network for helping us continue to develop and grow.

Finally, thanks to everyone who has supported us, spoken about us, written about us, promoted us and helped us, and thanks to the users for taking our software and doing some truly inspirational things with it. We owe all of this to you.

FrontlineSMS secures new funding

Today, the Omidyar Network announced a two year investment of $350,000 for future FrontlineSMS technical and organisational development, the result of several months discussion and planning. Omidyar come on board as our fifth donor, with funding already in place from the Hewlett Foundation, Open Society Institute/HIVOS, and the Rockefeller Foundation. After three years with a mainly software and community focus, the second half of 2010 sees us turn more of our attention to organisational development, and it's already been something of a growth year.

After bringing Josh Nesbit on board in late 2009 (using the OSI/HIVOS funding), in the past few months we have hired two full-time software developers - Alex and Morgan (thanks to Hewlett and Rockefeller) - and brought on board a new FrontlineSMS Project Manager - Laura (also funded by Rockefeller). The diversity of donors and the breadth of support is testament to the work everyone is doing, particularly our increasingly innovative and growing user base. No-one said this was going to be easy when we started out way back in 2005, but we're making good progress.

We're also hugely grateful to the management at Wieden+Kennedy who have made room for us in their central London office, and provided us somewhere to base our growing team, all at no cost. Often corporate in-kind support like this can be overlooked (and the office is very cool, too).  o/

Today's Omidyar investment will support three specific activities.

• Firstly, it will bolster our efforts to increase user adoption, and will support the work Josh and Laura are doing to create sector-specific communities (based on the use of FrontlineSMS in agriculture, human rights, the media, and so on).
• Secondly, it will help further the work started using the Rockefeller funding to formalise and build on the growing FrontlineSMS developer community. Last week, for example, saw the release of a much-requested Reminders Plugin for FrontlineSMS, and other add-ons are in the works.
• Finally, the new funding will help with much-needed organisational development, and allow us to explore other non-grant sources of income.

Further details on today's announcement are available on the Omidyar website.

Many thanks to Omidyar for their faith and support, from everyone at FrontlineSMS! We look forward to working with you over the coming two years.

FrontlineSMS gets reminders

For some time now users have been asking how they can schedule SMS reminders in FrontlineSMS. Well, now they can thanks to some great work by Dale Zak on a ReminderManager plugin. Not only is this great news for the community, but it's great news for us, and is testament to the growing interest external developers are taking in the software "FrontlineSMS is powerful open source software that turns an ordinary laptop and mobile phone into a low cost communications hub. It's used by NGOS around the world to send and receive text messages for such efforts as human rights monitoring, disaster relief, education programs and fundraising campaigns. It's also at the heart of FrontlineSMS:Medic which is revolutionizing global health by empowering rural healthcare workers.

So when my friend Lucky Gunasekara asked if I could develop a much requested reminder plugin, I jumped at the opportunity. For one, it gave me an excuse to dive into the FrontlineSMS source code. And two, it would benefit the entire community.

The FrontlineSMS Reminders Plugin allows you to schedule email and SMS reminders for a specific date range occurring once, hourly, daily, weekly or monthly.

There was a bit of a learning curve to develop the plugin, especially with my somewhat limited Java, Hibernate and Thinlet experience. Thankfully Alex Anderson and Dieterich Lawson were great help answering my questions on the FrontlineSMS Google Group.

The plugin definitely has room for improvement, and I already have a few ideas for additional occurrence types - Every Weekend, Every Weekday, Every Sunday, etc.

You can checkout the source code here: http://github.com/dalezak/FrontlineSMS-Reminders"

You can read the original article here. Thanks to Dale for kindly giving us permission to republish.

Ushering in our Project Manager

The FrontlineSMS team is growing. In this Guest Blog post, Laura Hudson - the new FrontlineSMS Project Manager - tells us why she came on board, what she intends to do in her new role, and outlines some of her early thinking. "It's exciting and a bit nerve-wracking to represent something as revolutionary as FrontlineSMS at the best of times, but two-and-a-half weeks in to a new job as Project Manager for FrontlineSMS, attending the World Bank's Innovation Fair on Moving Beyond Conflict was an eye-opening experience. The Fair was attended by innovators and technical experts from all over the world, and was a great opportunity to swap stories and questions, make connections, and plan future collaborations.

Five years on from the first version, and thanks to Ken's tireless work to raise awareness, FrontlineSMS is a familiar name to many in the mobile and social entrepreneurship field. Still others had heard about it and were keen to try it, and I met at least one implementing partner I hadn't encountered before!

Lots of our discussions had to do with what you do after you've had the great idea - how to get it from concept to reality, to operating 'at scale'. So much of the success of FrontlineSMS has had to do with just two things: a great concept; developed with the support and input of a strong user community. I wanted to reflect a bit on what we're doing to continue to develop along these lines, and we'll hear more in future from our lovely developers, Alex and Morgan, on the next few months in the FrontlineSMS labs.

In some ways FrontlineSMS is already scaling - the software has been downloaded from our website over 6000 times, and we have a  number of organisations working directly with us to build on the FrontlineSMS brand and software to develop plugins and implementations in specific sectors - including FrontlineSMS:Medic and FrontlineSMS:Credit. The field is so fast-moving and collaborative that new possibilities pop up every day - so much so that it could be hard to settle down and focus on our core business - developing the software.

In the coming months, we're going to work on a strategy that will set our direction for the next five years, and support an operational plan for the next two years. We'll be looking at how to consolidate our support to users (more on that in a second) and what we should be looking at next - picture messaging, for example, or examining what sort of interface might be useful with online services like Mxit in South Africa.

Since the beginning, Ken's mantra has been 'support the users, and all else will follow'. Priorities for the next year include improving our support to our users, and providing more online resources and step-by-step help, such as decision-making trees and thematic guides. And as for any organisation, it's important to know what we've achieved.

As a service provider, supporting those who deliver on the ground rather than delivering ourselves, this will take the form of figures and case studies on how many projects using FrontlineSMS, how it's going, and if possible, approximately how many people they are reaching. To find this out we'll be contacting users directly, running competitions, and linking users direct to donors in innovative ways - watch this space.

It's an exciting time for us and for all those out there helping our project and others like it to achieve great things and hopefully, and most importantly, help to make a real difference to people all over the world".

Laura Hudson Project Manager www.frontlinesms.com