[cr-india] Community media and SMS text messages

[George Lessard]

Community media and SMS text messages


http://comunica.org/radio2.0/archives/87

[excerpt]



As mobile phones become increasingly common, SMS messages are being used
by community media in a variety of ways.

At its simplest, announcers and journalists announce their phone mumbers
over the air and invite listeners to send messages with comments on the
news, questions, greetings, song requests
 Some of these are then used
on-air. In some cases, stations have devised ways of generating feedback
via mobiles without the listeners having to pay even the cost of an SMS
message. For example, Xtreme FM, a community-oriented pirate station in
the UK, has a mobile permanently in the studio:

    “It vibrates every few seconds like a faulty alarm clock, as listeners
call and text. Scrolling through its inbox, I notice scores of “missed
calls”. Big N explains that this is how pirates gauge a record’s
popularity. If listeners like a tune, they call in and then ring off,
so the studio mobile registers a “missed call”. This costs callers
nothing. If Xtreme receives over 20 missed calls from different
numbers before a track ends, the DJs play it again. This is why
teenagers listen to pirate radio: it’s interactive in ways legal
stations can’t match.”(2)

Another example is Interactive Radio for Justice, a radio programme in
Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that answers listeners’
questions about justice issues sent by SMS. Ethan Zuckerman points out
that sending questions via SMS allows for anonymity, an important point
when your question is: “Are soldiers allowed to stay at my house and eat
my food without paying for it?”

Desktop software and web-based services allow stations to do more.
International broadcasters such as the BBC make extensive use of these
tools as do some commercial stations. However, there are few examples of
local and community radio using them, even though they offer a low-cost
and relatively simple way of stimulating participation and interaction.

There are various software and service packages available. Among them is
FrontlineSMS(3), a programme that runs on a computer connected by a cable
to an ordinary mobile phone. Unlike most other programs and services,
FrontlineSMS does not require a connection to the internet – messages are
composed, stored and processed on the computer and sent and received on
the mobile. There are a variety of tools available with different
capabilities and pricing.(4) Basic services useful for community media
include:

    * - Broadcast messages to dozens or even thousands of mobiles advising
them of a special programme or an important community activity

    * - Keyword response – when a listener sends the word “ocio” the
station replies with a text message listing activities while
“noticias” is answered with current headlines and “Colectivo a Lima”
is answered with the departure times of the next six buses to the
capital

Experiencies combining SMS services and broadcast radio can be found in
moments of political crisis and natural disasters. For example, SMS and
radio were used to help monitor the 2000 presidential elections in Ghana:

    [V]oters who were prevented from voting used mobile phones to report
their experience to call-in shows on local radio stations. The
stations broadcast the reports, prompting police to respond to the
accusations of voter intimidation. Had voters called the police
directly, it’s possible that authorities might not have responded — by
making reports public through the radio, voters eliminated the
possibility of police announcing that there had been no reports of
voter intimidation. Similar techniques have been used in Sierra Leone,
Senegal, and even in the United States — American voters used mobile
phone cameras and Websites to record reports of voting irregularities
during the 2006 congressional elections.(5)