Freedom Fone offers the possibility to extend the reach of information to citizens and groups presently excluded from the information loop because of lack of access to resources such as computers and the internet.  Freedom Fone makes it easy to build voice menus, run SMS polls, receive SMS messages and manage voice messages.

Freedome Fone is free open source software.

No internet access is required for the users and callers alike.

The leave-a-message functionality opens the door to two-way communication, which means Freedom Fone can be used as a platform for citizen journalism and election monitoring.

Uses

Freedom phone allows for information to be delivered through an audio platform that overcomes barriers associated with literacy and language.  It enables users to move past the 160 character limitation of an SMS.  Both of these features can be particularly useful in tailoring elections monitoring systems to challenging environments.

Useful Links

Freedom Fone website
Freedom Fone demo
Freedom Fone wiki
Papers and research on Freedom Fone
Freedom Fone on twitter

An SMS gateway is a device or service offering SMS transit, transforming messages to mobile network traffic from other media, or vice versa, allowing transmission or receipt of SMS messages with or without the use of a mobile phone. Typical use of a gateway would be to forward simple e-mail to a mobile phone recipient.  Some popular SMS gateways are FrontlineSMS and Clickatell.

Uses

An SMS gateway is an essential part of democratizing election monitoring projects and/or reducing costs by enabling reporting through mobile phones.  The gateway provides the link between the mobile network and computers.  It allows project organizers to import and manage SMS messages for analysis, mapping and other uses.  SMS gateways can be used to broadcast instructions and updates to mobile monitors.

SMS gateways were first used in election monitoring in the 2007 Nigerian elections (FrontlineSMS).  Clickatell has been used in many projects including the 2010 Sudanese elections.

Useful Links

SMS gateways on Wikipedia
Wikipedia’s list of SMS gateways
The Open Directory Project’s list of SMS gateways

FrontlineSMS turns a laptop or desktop computer and a mobile phone or modem into a two-way group messaging hub. Since it works anywhere there’s a mobile signal, it doesn’t need the Internet, a major advantage for many grassroots NGOs. Once you have the software running on your computer, you can send messages to wide groups of people, and collect responses to any questions or surveys you might want to run, all via text message.

Uses

FrontlineSMS can be used in many ways that improve communication between members of organizations or loosely affiliated groups to enable inexpensive two-way communication during elections monitoring projects.

FrontlineSMS has been used independently and in tandum with other platforms for election monitoring.  It was first incorporated into an elections monitoring project in 2007 with the Nigerian elections.  Since then Afghanistan, Mozambique and many other projects have used it and most Ushahidi deployments have been integrated with FrontlineSMS.

Useful Links

FrontlineSMS blog
FrontlineSMS Election Monitoring Group
FrontlineSMS wiki
FrontlineSMS on twitter
FrontlineSMS on facebook
FrontlineSMS community
FrontlineSMS on Wikipedia
FrontlineSMS founder’s blog

SMS Reception Center is a program that reads incoming short messages from a cellular phone and, for each message, executes the actions that you specified. Unlike other popular desktop SMS utilities, its main purpose is to handle incoming messages and send outgoing ones without any human intervention. Usually it’s set up at the computer with a dedicated cellular phone or a GSM modem plugged in. The program can run either as a Windows NT service or as a usual desktop application.

Uses

Useful Links

SMS Reception Center website

SlingshotSMS is a SMS gateway. It is compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux, and can interface with a wide range of GSM modems and cell phones. The software itself needs minimal configuration and is small enough to run on a USB stick.

More information about SlingshotSMS and what it does on the development seed blog.

Previous Uses

Useful Links

SlingshotSMS website
SlingshotSMS code
How to integrate SlingshotSMS into Managing News

RapidSMS is a free and open-source framework for dynamic data collection, logistics coordination and communication, leveraging basic short message service (SMS) mobile phone technology.

Designed as an enterprise level Web solution, yet capable of running in rugged offline environments, RapidSMS manages data collection, complex workflows, and group coordination using basic mobile phones — and can present information on the internet as soon as it is received.

End users never need a specific device or to install any software on their phone. RapidSMS is focused on commonly available, existing infrastructure to allow for replicability and scalability.

Previous Uses

So far RapidSMS has been customized and deployed with diverse functionality: remote health diagnostics, nutrition surveillance, supply chain tracking, registering children in public health.  It has also been paired with Ushahidi in many instances and can be used to run election monitoring projects.
campaigns, and community discussion.

Useful Links

RapidSMS website
RapidSMS blog
RapidSMS community
RapidSMS on Wikipedia
RapidSMS on Twitter