Leveraging Web access for rural communities and under-privileged populations

Stéphane Boyera

http://www.w3.org/2008/01/sb_laevent/all.htm

Outline

• Mobile Web Initiative
  • Origins
  • Challenges
  • Ongoing work
• Mobile Web for Development

Origins of MWI: How to leverage Mobile Web usage

Barcelona Workshop in 2004: Convergence between:

• W3C Goal:
  • Extend the Web, its accessibility and its universality
  • Fight against walled gardens and Prevent fragmentation of the Web between mobile and desktop
  • Ensure that mobile users are first class Web citizen
• Mobile Players: Create a joint initiative to:
  • Increase the ARPU
  • Open and enable a new market

Challenges of leveraging Mobile Web Access

• Issue: Bad user experience when accessing Web on mobile phones
• Issue: Developer: High Costs when developing mobile Web content
• Potential solutions:
  • For content authors: Mobile Web Best Practices for Web Developers
  • For developers: Access and use of phones characteristics
  • For browser makers: Test suites to improve browser interoperability
  • For users: MobileOK for Web sites following Best Practices

The Mobile Web Initiative

• Launched in May 2005
• 3 Technical Working Groups
  • Best Practices Working Group
    • Mobile Web Best Practices (read the flipcards)
    • MobileOK trustmark
  • Device Description Working Group
    • Improve access to device description information
    • Standard API to Device Description Repositories
  • Test Suites Working Group (future: MobileOK for Software?)
• Driven by the MWI Steering Council
  

Next Step: Mobile Web for Development

• 2007: W3C MWI to explore how the Web on mobile phones could be a potential solution to bridge the Digital Divide and leverage Web access in Developing Countries

(Photo Source : The Economist )

ICT to sustain development

	Primary Goal: offer a scalable and affordable platform to develop and deploy eServices: Government Services Education Health Banking Communities services Business ...
(Photo Source: Der Spiegel)

How to provide access to ICT?

• With cheap laptops and mesh networking: One Laptop Per Child?
• With specific/special phones: Microsoft FonePlus?
• With the Mobile Web:
  • Taking advantage of the existing 2.7+billion of mobile phones
  • Taking advantage of the GSM cover (>80% of the world population)

Proof of concept: SMS Applications

	Successful Mobile Applications Banking NGOs-run SMS based system: e-gov, business (market poll), health, ...
	(Photo Source: Vodafone)

Challenges: scalability

But few problems:

• Interoperability problems
• Discoverability of services
• limited interaction
• costly/inappropriate infrastructure
• no standardized development kit

Tomorrow?

• The Mobile Web: the platform to leverage services development, deployment and adoption:
  • No interoperability problems
  • Discoverability through portals and search engine
  • Enhanced interaction through forms/voice/multimodal interaction
  • Cheap/free hosting
  • Standardized technologies and development platform

Current Status

• Workshop in Bangalore, December 2006:
  • Missing Data on the device market
  • Needs involvement of local experts, and Digital Divide specialists
  • Challenge: useful and usable content
  • Challenge: ICT to leverage development
  • Needs of development of local capacities
• Preliminary work on community building:
  • The Mobile Web in Developing Countries Home Page: http://www.w3.org/2006/12/digital_divide/public.html
  • A public-mailing list: public-mwi-ec@w3.org archived at http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-mwi-ec/
  • A public Wiki: http://www.w3.org/2006/12/digital_divide/wiki/

Next Steps

• Launch of the IG in the first semester of 2008
• Workshops in Africa and Latin America in 2008
• a new Office in Brazil
• a potential new Office in Latin America - spanish speaking country

Joining the work now

• The Mobile Web in Developing Countries Home Page: http://www.w3.org/2006/12/digital_divide/public.html
• A public-mailing list: public-mwi-ec@w3.org archived at http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-mwi-ec/
• A public Wiki: http://www.w3.org/2006/12/digital_divide/wiki/
• Stéphane Boyera : boyera@w3.org

Conclusion

• W3C Goal: to make the Web accessible, relevant, usable and useful for under-privileged populations and rural communities
• The Mobile Web is the most promising platform for low-cost large scale development, deployment and adoption of ICTs
• Join the process of gathering the critical mass of experts to start the work

References

• MWI Home Page: http://www.w3.org/Mobile
• Public Mailing-lists attached to Test, Best Practices and Device Description working Group :
  • public-mwts@w3.org (archived at http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-mwts/ )
  • public-bpwg@w3.org (archived at http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-bpwg/ )
  • public-ddwg@w3.org (archived at http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-ddwg/ )
• W3C Membership
  
  • W3C Membership Information and Benefits : http://www.w3.org/Consortium/membership.html
• MWI Sponsorship
  
  • http://www.w3.org/Mobile/Sponsoring