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Presentation done at the MIT App Inventor Summit 2013.
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Building Apps for Good with MIT App Inventor
Leo Burd, PhDResearch Scientist, MIT Center for Mobile Learning
App Inventor Summit - July 17, 2013
We should provide local entrepreneurs and grassroots non-profits with tools – and where appropriate and requested, expertise – for them to create their own projects that make a difference...
[...] we shouldn’t develop solutions to problems we don’t understand, we shouldn’t take ownership of a problem that isn’t ours and we certainly shouldn’t build things thousands of miles away and then jump on a plane in search of a home for them.
http://www.kiwanja.net/blog/2012/12/an-inconvenient-truth/
App Inventor has a tremendous potential to democratize app development for and by all, bringing information, facilitating communication, and raising voices even in the most underserved corners of the planet.
The goal of the App Inventor for Good initiative is to turn that potential into reality
App Inventor in Action
Apps for Better Health Care
Developed by three college students, the ComPal App uses the phone’s camera to perform analysis of medical tests in places where regular medical care is not readily available.
Apps for Safety: No Texting While Driving
MyPapp app for women’s health
http://mypapp.info/
http://notes.hfoss.org/index.php/TreeCalc:Main_Page
Science Apps in the Field:
Measuring Tree Height
Science Apps in the Field: Tracking Wild Hogs
Apps for humanitarian and social good
With support from external agents, Haiti relief workers developed an app to facilitate monitor food and water distribution.
How can we help others build apps to improve the quality of life in their own communities?
BroadcastHub
Destroy Mines Safely
A soldier in the U.S. Marine Corps created an app that computes the quantity of explosives needed to
destroy ammunition and mines that are found or seized in the field.
BroadcastHub
BroadcastHub
Guiding questions
• What kinds of initiatives are more likely to foster the
implementation of mobile apps and services for social good?
• In what ways App Inventor might have to be enhanced in order to
facilitate the implementation of those initiatives?
• What other technologies and support structures might have to be
provided?
• How to assess the quality of an “App Inventor for Good” project?
Typical App 4 Good initiatives
• Youth-oriented mobile entrepreneurship programs• CDIs Apps for Good, Samsung Mobile App Academy, Technovation, Verizon’s
Innovative App Challenge, Youth Radio’s Mobile Action Lab
• App design competitions, grants and events• AT&T Hackaton, Global Apps to Empower, Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach,
Sanitation App Challenge, Vodafone’s Mobile for Good, Windows 8 Apps for Social
Good Contest
• University classes, theses and long-term research• Humanitarian FOSS group (Trinity College and others)
• Community-oriented businesses and non-profits• FrontlineSMS, Open Data Kit, Urban Launchpad
• Long-term community-based initiatives• ???
Typical App 4 Good initiatives
Outcomes
• Meaningful context for technology development
• Increased self-esteem
• Community impact
Challenges
• Smart phone and data plan availability
• Appropriate time, space and guidance
• Complexity of the tools used
• Transition concept -> prototype -> product
• Long term sustainability of the initiative and its products
Looking ahead
• Seek funding and partnerships to take AI4G to the next level
• Establish a Mobile Innovation Network (MIN) to foster the creation
of "Mobile Innovation Clubs" with partner organizations in Latin
America and other parts of the world.
MIN will facilitate the exchange of experiences among these clubs,
create support materials, and identify appropriate tools for the job.
In addition, feedback from the clubs will be used to adapt App
Inventor to fit the needs of the Network and its constituents.
Additional references
General information:http://appinventor.mit.edu/
App Inventor for Good group:https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/ai4g
App Inventor for Good use cases:http://bit.ly/13bCfbz
http://mobilelearning.mit.edu/