Towards the end of 2010 we developed a mobile interface for the Ulwazi Programme’s Community Memory website. All signs were pointing to an increase in internet access via mobile phones in South Africa and we felt that the Ulwazi Programme should accommodate this trend. We are pleased to announce that since then visits to the website from mobile phones has increased from 5% to 20% with the second most popular browser amongst our users being the Opera Mini mobile browser.
At the Indigenous Knowledge and Technology Conference in Windhoek last year, we presented a paper titled ‘The Number in my Pocket: the Power of Mobile Technology for the Exchange for Indigenous Knowledge’ (see more on the conference here) which looked at ways to further interaction between the Ulwazi Programme and its users through mobile technologies, and this is definitely an area we will be exploring in greater depth in 2012.