Freedom
Fone ~ Mobile Information Service
Listen
to Freedom Fone content prepared for the AWID Forum, November 2008
Read
Dialling for information and news, the BBC's Digital Planet interview
with Freedom Fone - December 2008
Freedom Fone
(Mobile Information Service) addresses communities’ requirements
for a simple, affordable technology to communicate with one another.
Freedom Fone leverages the fastest growing tool for personal access
to information 24/7 – the mobile phone – & marries
it with citizen radio programming.
Audio files are stored by Freedom Fone in a Content Management System
(CMS) which is updated through a simple to use browser interface.
These audio clips populate an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu
through which callers can navigate for information. Deployment in
any language is possible as key global files for menu prompts can
be uploaded through the browser interface to the CMS.
Individuals can contribute questions, content and feedback by leaving
voice messages via the IVR interface. Freedom Fone can be operated
as a collective, with different groups managing different channels
(IVR menu options) of information from the same installation.
Freedom Fone is network agnostic and can work easily and happily
with mobiles and landlines. Scalability can be factored in through
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in countries where VoIP is available.
This technology can be used in a ‘cost free to caller’
context – where users could dial a toll-free number to access
the service – or tickle a number that records the user’s
phone number and calls them back, connecting the user to the IVR
menu content. In a ‘low cost to caller’ context users
can SMS in for a call back.
There are no geographical or community size limitations to the
implementation of Freedom Fone. The interface facilitates frequently
updated short segment audio programming. It removes the technical
challenge of hosting and setting up the back-end, allowing users
to concentrate on content.
Elements used by Freedom Fone aren’t new, but their intuitive
convergence makes it innovative and globally relevant. Global Voices'
Ethan Zuckerman said recently "I'm surprised there hasn’t
been more work done making interactive voice response systems usable
for development purposes."
Freedom Fone provides exactly that.
For
more information about Freedom Fone please email:
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