Leveraging Missed Calls

An Indian News bulletin delivers short recordings of news stories through a system which calls back on users' missed calls.

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Written by Meena Kadri

19:45, Jan 26, 2011

Leveraging Missed Calls

CGNet was started by a former BBC journalist-turned-activist in an effort to bridge the accessibility gap for rural tribals to locally relevant news. After realising that literacy was an additional barrier he stumbled in an MIT/Microsoft project called Audio Wiki which inspired and supports his offering.

Users can also submit stories which are moderated and edited by a team of volunteers. In a few months thousands of listeners have been called back with micro-doses of fresh news in Hindi and a local dialect. One submitter reported how contractors were illegally employing children which encouraged local authorities to stop the practice after news spread via CGNet.

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/gLrdr5

In what other ways can free mobile features like missed calls be leveraged? Could audio-wikis assist in maternal health care?

Photo source: http://bit.ly/edwVPn

Written by

Meena Kadri