New trends in Digital Politics: Going Mobile
After writing and talking about using mobile devices for advocacy, I am delighted to see the emergence of new technologies to help better leverage mobile devices for advocacy AND more attention being paid to it by the advocacy community. On September 13, 2005, the Institute for Politics Democracy & the Internet at George Washington University hosted the Politics to Go conference, where advocacy professionals were treated to a buffet of new vendors offering exciting new technologies that capitalize on mobile devices. In addition to the conference, IPDI has published a very useful handbook on the topic. An executive summary of the handbook is also available.
The program featured some nifty new technologies from a variety of vendors. I was particularly struck by Loca Moda’s soon to be released wifiti technology. This product is a billboard that passerby’s can post to by sending a text message from their cellphone.
Mobile Accord has developed technology to use text messaging for one-click fundraising. The trick for this is the donation is billed to the donor on their cellpone bill. Mobile Accord arranges for the funds to be transferred to the donee.
Other vendors providing mobile advocacy services include Politxt, Digit Wireless, and Hello.
In addition to vendors, we heard from some campaigns using the technology, including the Mobile Voter Project.
This is a topic you will be hearing more about as non-voice applications for mobile phones become more popular in the US. The impact of mobile advocacy has already been felt abroad. In Spain, a text message spread virally throughout the country, spurred a mass demonstration the day before the 2005 election that threw out the incumbent government. Similar events occurred in the Phillipines and in China. In the US, we have had a few mobile advocacy driven events, but the big ones are still around the corner.