What is mobile activism?

“mobile activism” is a term that embraces humanitarian work as well as protest; there was much talk about how to “go beyond text”. Mobile telephony and text messages have been used as tools of protest and dissent, such as summoning people to demonstrations, a technique first deployed in Philippines in 2001. One recent craze has been the use of political ringtones, with Philippines in the vanguard. Since 2005 that country's best-known tone, especially among youngsters exasperated by corruption, has been “Hello Garci”—a snatch of taped conversation in which President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo seems to be chatting with Virgilio Garcillano, her election organiser, ahead of the 2004 poll that confirmed her in office. In Hispanic countries, meanwhile, the latest fashion is a royal voice saying “Why don't you shut up?”—the recent outburst of Spain's King Juan Carlos to President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela at a summit in Santiago, Chile.

Mobile phones have been used to mobilize hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators in countries across the world with text messages and brilliant political ringtones. They are being used in environmental campaigns in Argentina, and to advocate for an independent judiciary in India, for support of emigrant and migrant communities in the Philippines, and for disease detection and prevention in Rwanda. Mobile phone services provide sexual health information in the UK, Australia, and the United States, and deliver aids drugs and services in South Africa. Mobiles are used to track financial transaction in microfinance groups in India, and are used to document and monitor fair trade practices in Mexico.

Mobiles are also being used in more sophisticated ways, to capture and disseminate witness images that were never supposed to see the light of day. For now at least, expense and technological problems make it hard to organise any international mobile-based protest. The lack of full interoperability between mobile systems means that borders are still difficult to cross. During the recent protests in Myanmar, the authorities temporarily suspended text messaging altogether. That did not stop activists from using expensive satellite phones, which are harder to shut down.

What's more, there are applications in the early stages of production, such as "Volunteer Now!"; the latter offers potential volunteers instant connection options with short-term "mini" volunteer opportunities near their present location. Another organization, called Do Something, has already begun using mobile phones to recruit volunteers. The New York-based nonprofit connects teenagers with volunteer opportunities and works to get more young people to volunteer. In an email to MobileActive, Chief Marketing Officer Aria Finger said teens are four times more likely to volunteer when asked.

===Sources:===
1)http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=894408&story_id=10219930
2)http://mobileactive.org/volunteering-with-your-mobile
3)http://mobileactive.org/background-why-cell-phones-civic-action

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