It is no longer news that the 21st century is the information and knowledge age. What is news are the ways most societies are adapting and engaging the new economy built on knowledge, especially knowledge of information and communications technology and how these can be applied as building blocks for development in the 21sts century.

All over the world, most societies, especially developed societies have engaged their children very early to prepare them for the challenges of solving the problems of the 21st century. This is what we mean by societies with vision.

I remember meeting Ben Rigby at the first Mobile Active convergence in Toronto quite a few years ago now, and being struck by his innovative and bold ideas. He was then in the process of developing mobilevoter.org, a clever new initiative to use mobile phones to encourage people to register to vote. This is a big issue in America, where so many young people tend to be apathetic about politics and don't even register to vote, let alone go to the polls to cast a ballot.

Now he has teamed up with Jacob Colker to create The Extraordinaries, offering what they call "On-Demand Volunteerism by Mobile Phone". This initiative, powered by an iPhone application, will be only available in the US, but I could imagine this type of innovating having terrific potential in Africa where logistical conditions make volunteering of any kind very challenging indeed. When I wrote to ask about it, the response from Jacob was "I think it's going to be about a year before people can download the application internationally, but we DO want to go worldwide with this asap! Please watch our email newsletters for updates. Glad to know we have people that may be interested in Africa." What kind of mobile phone volunteering could you imagine happening in Africa within the next few years?

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Following the initial rush of Information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) projects in rural Africa, many did not yield the anticipated outcomes, and interest has been dying down. People then began talking about “sustainable ICT” projects, in which it was understood that projects would become self-sufficient after their initial donor-led investment and set-up period. But with the use of mobile phones gaining in popularity, popular rhetoric has begun to question the need of ICTs beyond the mobile phone. While mobile phones certainly have had a great impact in rural areas, a new study by Ian Howard commissioned by APC, through the analysis of two case studies, he argues that the need for telecentres and affordable internet connections exists, as such centres cater to rural and niche markets the way larger companies cannot.