Call for Your Expertise! Participate in MobileActive08!

SANGONeT and MobileActive.org invite you to contribute your expertise to MobileActive08 that will take place from 13-15 October 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

• Do you have expertise in the field of mobile technologies for social development?
• Are you a researcher with research findings to showcase about mobile technology for social impact?
• Are you a mobile service provider with specific products to exhibit that benefit the social market?

If so, we invite you to submit your ideas to be part of MobileActive08!

MobileActive08 is the largest event to date focused on mobile technology for social development. This global gathering brings together practitioners, researchers, technologists, and donors interested in the use and application of mobile technology for social impact. At MobileActive08 participants will explore how mobile phones are effectively used to advance civil society work, assess the current state of knowledge in the use of mobile technology to advance social development, and investigate trends, needs and investment opportunities.

We invite you to submit proposals for: Workshops and Skill-Share Sessions

Workshop and Skill-Share Sessions are interactive and participatory 90-minute sessions that demonstrate the potential of mobiles for social impact. These could be "how-to" workshops which address the event’s theme either strategically or tactically, or conversations and dialogue among participants. Mobile use in health, citizen media, advocacy, relief, economic empowerment and human rights are encouraged. Possible session might include:

• Expanding access to mobile technology
• Scaling and replicating ideas and projects
• Using mobiles for social change
• Discussions about what we have learned to date from the projects
• Models of economic sustainability
• Technical and implementation-focused sessions
• Hands-on skill shares on specific topics.
• Important: Please see the submission form below, and make sure you read more about the goals and audience for MobileActive08.

2. Rotating Mini-Talks

These are short, 15-minute talks. In a mini-talk you present to a small audience a mobile project, a research paper or case study, followed by a 15-min Question and Answer session. The talks rotate to help ensure a small audience size, so be prepared to present more than once during MobileActive08.

3. SIMplace - Showcase Your Projects or Products

The SIMplace - short for Social Innovation Marketplace - is a bazaar of products and projects. You will staff a small table at specific times throughout the event, and discuss your project or product one-on-one or with small groups. The use of props, materials, or graphics is encouraged.

4. SIMlab - Test-drive Mobile Applications

In the SIMlab, participants will be able to intensively test-drive mobile applications. Unlike in the SIMplace which is designed to briefly showcase your product or project, the SIMlab is a ‘sandbox’ specifically designed for participants to get their hands 'dirty' - to try out your application in 15-30 minute intervals. Users explore the mobile apps in depth with you providing information and guidance.

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We recognize that substantial work at large international events gets done in the hallways, breaks, and during unscheduled sessions. These are sessions in which you, the participants drive your own agenda and talk about what is most important to you.

With that in mind, we invite you to come prepared with ideas and issues that you want to discuss related to the theme of “Unlocking the Potential of Mobile Use for Social Impact”. Know that all ideas and issues will have the time and space to be explored.

For a preliminary agenda and workshop themes and ideas, please see the Agenda page!

I have an idea! How do I submit a proposal?

Please click here for the submission form to contribute to MobileActive08. You are welcome to submit more than one contribution; simply use the same form for all your submissions.

Before you make your submission, please check the event goals and a preliminary list of people who have been invited to submit their expertise to MobileActive08.

The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2008.

Which proposals will be accepted?

We like suggestions that are degined to be:

• interactive and creative
• particularly relevant to the event goals
• hands-on and applied with concrete take-aways for participants
• cross-disciplinary, integrating lessons learned across issue areas, and merging research findings with practitioner experiences

MobileActive08 will include:

• Interaction: Highly interactive small workshops of practitioners, researchers, technologists, and donors.
• Innovation: A Social Innovation Marketplace -- the SIMplace -- and a hands-on lab, the SIMlab, where projects and tools are featured.
• Designed collaborations: There will be deliberate opportunities for exploring collaborations among practitioners from around the world who are using mobile phones in their social change work, as well as an explicit focus on developing communities of practice.
• Concrete deliverables: Documentation of case studies and best practices in mobiles for social change work around the world, produced in real time at the event.

Feel free to email us if you have questions! We will review submissions and make decisions by end of June 2008, and will, of course, let you know! We are looking forward to your ideas and contributions!

Please submit your session here.

The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2008.