Mobile Information Platform (MIP): Cloud SMS for the World's Hardest-to-Reach Users

Overview

In 2009, DataDyne drew on the success of its EpiSurveyor mobile data-collection tool to create MIP – a cloud-based, web-administered SMS platform optimized for users with basic education and no technical training in rural, developing-country contexts.

Editors write or curate messages once; subscribers receive them on any mobile phone, including the cheapest prepaid handsets – no smartphone, app, or internet connection required.

How it works

1. 1Subscribers join by sending a text message.
2. 2Administrators create channels of content for groups of subscribers – topics like weather, or message types like emergency alerts – which subscribers can join or leave.
3. 3RSS and Twitter feeds can be forwarded automatically as SMS, making content creation automatic.
4. 4Administrators send individual or group messages from a simple web interface; two-way SMS lets subscribers query the system.

Origin

The platform was created by local Latin American programmers hired, trained, and supervised by DataDyne during the two-year, Knight Foundation-funded DatAgro pilot with the COOPEUMO agricultural cooperative in Chile's O'Higgins region.

Deployments

MIP in action

Demand & replication

Organizations in Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, Kenya, Uganda, and the United States requested MIP for their own programs.