Digital Bridges in place of Digital Divide

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The WSA-mobile 2010 has awarded the best mobile contents worldwide. Outstanding projects were decorated in 8 categories, including m-Inclusion & Empowerment. Winners in this category hail from China, Germany, Guatemala, Sri Lanka and the USA.

The category awards those who help to create a global information society, by bridging the digital divide between technology-empowered and technology-excluded communities through mobile contents and applications.

Trade for a better living! How to overcome information asymmetry at the bottom of the economic pyramid? Dialog Tradenet is a Sri Lankan multi-model information platform and a virtual marketplace that dynamically matches buyers and sellers in agricultural, manufacturing and service sectors, with reference prices on demand. Once potential buyers and sellers are matched, the system provides contact details to negotiate and close the deal. Sustainable business models for the volatile agricultural sector are created, linking cultivation with storage, transport and sales. Dialog Tradenet services communities and generates new jobs.

An unprecedented success! The Guatemalan Emergency Relay uses mobile phones in disaster management to reach remote communities in seconds at a very low cost. The application connects a community by sharing critical information via SMS. Integrated with a web-enabled system, it assists people seeking information and solutions during the most difficult moments of natural disasters. When volcanoes erupted recently and tropical storms hit, more than 10,000 people benefited from the relay service. The Guatemalan Emergency Relay is an outstanding example of mobile content in management and networking during periods of crisis.

Freedom of movement for seniors! Peace of mind for caregivers! The Mobile Link Service (Hong Kong) is an innovative 24-hour outdoor emergency support and care service to enhance the social inclusion of seniors. It empowers their independence and mobility, whether relatives are nearby or not. Based on a relatively simple idea, the system is fool-proof and easy to use, with a call centre as backup ensuring the person in need will be located and connected with family or friends. The Mobile Link Service allows elderly people to live an independent lifestyle without submitting prematurely to 24-hour care.

Empowering immigrant workers! Mobile Voices (USA) is a platform for immigrant and non-immigrant low-wage workers in Los Angeles to create stories about their lives directly from cell phones. Workers send images, text, audio, and video, to tell about their lives and write their own history. Mobile Voices is simple, low-cost and has a high impact. It helps to counter-balance the discriminatory representation of the struggles of the Latino community by mainstream media. Mobile Voices makes a previously invisible group visible, it does so in real-time, enabling its members in a simple and enduring way.

Aid at hand! Where to find a designated parking lot or a special restroom when you are a person with disabilities? Which museums, libraries and restaurants are wheelchair-accessible or allow guide dogs? My Handicap (Germany) is an innovative iPhone app that answers these questions and gives free information on accessibility and other issues. Available in Germany and Switzerland, the service allows users to draw on extensive numbers of addresses in many areas including leisure & sports, education & health care. Users can add new addresses or their own ratings. My Handicap makes living with a handicap much, much easier.