The power of Mobiles

Mobile Active have just published two Mobile Strategy guides for "Elections and Voter Registration and  Advocacy Campaigns.  Both guides are comprehensive and are available online.   The guide to elections and voter registration provides some historical examples of mobile phones used in election campaigns and also for organising street demonstrations and protests. 

The guide is both a how-to document and a case study resource. It
explains how to choose what data to track, how to register voters,
messaging options, such as Short Message Service (SMS) text messages,
politically themed ring tones, six-digit "mobile short codes" for
recruiting at concerts and events, fund raising by instant donation via
mobile phone, and "forward-to-a-friend" function.

The document includes the following sections: Mobile Phones in
Elections and Voter Registration Campaigns; Electoral Monitoring and
Participation; Mobile Phones in Election Monitoring; Voter
Registration; Candidate and Political Party Support; and Lessons
Learned. 

In Africa mobile phones were used in Kenya to document the post election violence in January this year and again in Zimbabwe to monitor voting patterns.

In the 2004 Philippines elections, mobile phones were used to harass the President by using a ringtone of conversation discussing the election results.  Cell phone users have now set up a cellphone network  aimed at empowering Filipinos both  as consumers and as citizens" www.txtpower.org.   In the US a project called "Rock the Vote" was created to politicize youth in the political process.  Other websites are Mobile Voter, Voter Latino.

Mobiles for Advocacy guide uses case studies to explain why and how cell phones can be effective tools for campaigns.  For example, speed and the widespread use and availability of mobile phones in the Global South are two reasons to use cellphones in your advocacy and campaigning.