Ford, M2009-01-262009-01-262008-05Ford, M. 2008. Mobile instant messaging: the “killer application” for e(m)government in Africa?. IST-Africa Conference, Windhoek, Namibia, 7-9 May 2008, pp 7.978-1-905824-07-6http://hdl.handle.net/10204/2903Published in: IST-Africa 2008 Conference Proceedings, Paul Cunningham and Miriam Cunningham (Eds), IIMC International Information Management Corporation, 2008, ISBN: 978-1-905824-07-6As a communications device, cell phones have changed the African landscape and are proliferating rapidly throughout the continent. As the devices become increasingly powerful and sophisticated, they open up new opportunities for services. Whilst most of these are commercial or entertainment-based in nature, there may be unique possibilities for mobile government-to-citizen type services. In South Africa a mobile instant messaging platform, MXit, is starting to overtake SMS-type textual interactions between young people. The Meraka Institute, as part of it's MobilED initiative in South Africa, has developed a mobile tutoring application which uses the MXit service to provide mathematics support to learners. The service links learners to tutors via a text-based call centre-like interface. Although the focus of the project is on mobile learning, the potential is far-reaching across many different domains. This paper examines the possibilities for mobile instant messaging call centres as a mechanism to provide affordable and accessible government information to the youth in Africa.enE GovernmentMobile instant messagingSMSMXitMobilED projectGovernment-to-citizenIST-Africa ConferenceConference PresentationFord, M. (2008). Mobile instant messaging: the “killer application” for e(m)government in Africa?. IST-Africa Conference. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/2903Ford, M. "Mobile instant messaging: the “killer application” for e(m)government in Africa?." (2008): http://hdl.handle.net/10204/2903Ford M, Mobile instant messaging: the “killer application” for e(m)government in Africa?; IST-Africa Conference; 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/2903 .TY - Conference Presentation AU - Ford, M AB - As a communications device, cell phones have changed the African landscape and are proliferating rapidly throughout the continent. As the devices become increasingly powerful and sophisticated, they open up new opportunities for services. Whilst most of these are commercial or entertainment-based in nature, there may be unique possibilities for mobile government-to-citizen type services. In South Africa a mobile instant messaging platform, MXit, is starting to overtake SMS-type textual interactions between young people. The Meraka Institute, as part of it's MobilED initiative in South Africa, has developed a mobile tutoring application which uses the MXit service to provide mathematics support to learners. The service links learners to tutors via a text-based call centre-like interface. Although the focus of the project is on mobile learning, the potential is far-reaching across many different domains. This paper examines the possibilities for mobile instant messaging call centres as a mechanism to provide affordable and accessible government information to the youth in Africa. DA - 2008-05 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - E Government KW - Mobile instant messaging KW - SMS KW - MXit KW - MobilED project KW - Government-to-citizen KW - IST-Africa Conference LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2008 SM - 978-1-905824-07-6 T1 - Mobile instant messaging: the “killer application” for e(m)government in Africa? TI - Mobile instant messaging: the “killer application” for e(m)government in Africa? UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/2903 ER -