Mobile Phones to the rescue?

The earthquake in Japan and subsequent power failures once again point to the need for a better system for emergency communication.   The Google person locator and similar online tools are very helpful for finding missing persons but are limited in their scope and reach.  Search systems based on the name of the person (as Google’s is) can be confusing when the name is common – and may cause too many incorrect messages.

Persons with limited communication capabilities need to be able to send a short, quick, message with a limited amount of data which then ties to preregistered information to give a more complete message.  For example if a person trapped in a building could send a short burst data message from a mobile phone which contained a simple SOS, plus their phone number and GPS location, this can be combined at the receiving side to look up the person’s name/address/ health records etc. all from the phone number on record.
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Interaction and Personal Impact Scenarios from the Middle East

Scene 1

I am 20 years old; I live with my parents in the suburbs of Cairo. I left school at 14 and worked carrying bricks for six months, before the site closed down – and found nothing since.

I was in Tariya Square for four nights with my friends; when Mubarrak was thrown out we celebrated for hours, even though we were exhausted.

Two days later I came home; my parents were delighted to see me safe. They were quite excited as well, but wondered what would happen next. My father’s office has been closed for two weeks, so there is no money.

Most of my friends have come back to their homes as well; none of us have jobs. We are used to having lots of ‘free’ time, but somehow it seems worse now. Is it really just a change of old men running the country, in their big offices and big cars? We risked our lives for democracy, but I don’t actually know what to make of it; is this all there is?
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P2G –G2P inextricably linked if solutions are to be found

The recent events in the Middle East and North Africa highlight a number of important points:

• Communication by mobile phone and online systems is virtually immediate (for good or bad).
• With approximately 50% of the global population being under 25, there is a need for governments to understand how to communicate with them effectively.
• The unemployment level – particularly for the young – is high and getting disturbingly higher.
• The economic austerity measures introduced in many countries across the globe mean that governments do not have much scope to spend their way out of social unrest.
• Spiraling food and fuel prices will exacerbate the problem significantly.

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Enabling banks and financial institutions to serve under-served and un-banked population

Nobody suggests that creating efficient databases of all citizens is easy, at least if they are to avoid misuse for fraud and loss of privacy rights for the individual and/ or business. However, there are some basic factors that can be used to create much of what we want – and, indeed, what we absolutely must have to try to resolve the massive unemployment of the young in the developing world.

Two things work in our favor. Firstly, the spread of mobile phones and the internet has given us the extra dimension for communication, particularly with the young. and, with 5 billion phones (rising to 8 billion in the next five year) versus 2 billion bank accounts, we know we have the way to organize a payment structure for the future.

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Power to the people – or a disaster waiting to happen?

In December 2010 I threw together a PowerPoint rant – as I thought at the time – which I did nothing with, as on reflection I felt perhaps it was somewhat exaggerated. Now I am not so sure. (You can see a copy on this blog)

Perhaps it is time to start a blog to give a voice to some of my concerns and hopes in respect of the dramatic changes taking place in some countries – and how they can be a force for good or bad. I hope I will get many reactions, and perhaps even we can influence matters to the former rather than the latter!

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