Mobile Phone Programming Curriculum
Over the last two years we have been teaching mobile phone programming within Computer Science departments across East Africa including: the University of Nairobi (Kenya), Makerere University (Uganda), GSTIT (Ethiopia), Kenyatta University (Kenya), and the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (Rwanda).
'Artificial' A.I. through Mobile Phones
There will always be tasks that humans can do better than computers. Our txteagle system distributes and collates this work via SMS. This empowers the billions of mobile phone subscribers to earn small amounts of money by completing short text-based tasks.
SMS Boot Camp
We have also been offering "SMS Boot Camps" at many universities across East Africa. This is a project-based course enabling teams of students to launch and market their own SMS services to the millions of mobile phone users in their own country.
What is EPROM?
EPROM, part of the Program for Developmental Entrepreneurship within the MIT Design Laboratory, aims to foster mobile phone-related research and entrepreneurship. Key activities include:
- the development of new applications for mobile phone users worldwide
- academic research using mobile phones
- the creation of a widely applicable mobile phone programming curriculum
Today’s mobile phones are designed to meet Western needs. Subscribers in developing countries, however, now represent the majority of mobile phone users worldwide. We believe the adoption of new technologies and services within this vast, emerging market will drive innovation and help shape the future of the mobile phone.
EPROM has now expanded to 10 countries within Sub-Saharan Africa!
See the latest photos from the mobile phone programming courses in Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Uganda.
Download ACM Interactions article, "Mobile Phones and African Entrepreneurship".
Why Africa?
Africa is currently the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world. Over the past five years the continent's mobile phone usage has increased at an annual rate of 65% - twice the rate of Asia.
Acknowledgments
EPROM is supported by our sponsors and collaborators at…
