Both ShortTask and Amazon's Mechanical Turk enable Internet-connected computer users to earn money performing quick tasks for organizations far and wide. Now, a new project aims to bring similar income opportunities to those in the developing world using the ubiquitous mobile phone.

Targeting the more than 2 billion literate mobile phone subscribers in the developing world, txteagle aims to help alleviate high unemployment levels in many rural areas of countries like Kenya with a crowdsourcing approach that offers new ways to earn extra money. The service connects corporations with small tasks to be completed—currently, the most common ones include software localization and translation into local dialects for companies like Nokia—and native people who can complete them in minutes by cell phone. Tasks are sent to multiple phone users by text message—"translate the phrase, 'address book' into Giriama," for example—and answers are accepted as accurate when the majority of users provide the same response. Compensation is determined by the number of times an individual’s response agrees with the consensus; penalties are imposed for wrong answers, while "don’t know" responses make no contribution. Over time the system learns a particular user's expertise, and can actively select the most appropriate tasks for them. It can also weight answers from long-term and historically accurate users higher than others, making it necessary to involve fewer other individuals when those users respond. Payment is made either to a bank account connected with an individual's phone number—accessible at any post office or local kiosk—or via airtime credit transfers.

The txteagle service is currently deployed in Kenya via Mobile Planet and Safaricom, and will soon be launching in Rwanda through MTN Rwanda and in the Dominican Republic through Viva. Additional partnerships in Africa and South America will be announced later this year, txteagle says. Also in the works is a version of the service that uses the commonly found Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) protocol instead of SMS. One to partner with, try out or otherwise get involved in...?

Website: www.txteagle.com
Contact: info@txteagle.com

Spotted by: Susanna Haynie

A shining example of crowdsourcing at work, Ushahidi is mobilizing citizens to report and map conflicts. The project began as a way for Kenyans to log reports of violence during the post-election fallout of early 2008; a period when mainstream media was banned. A new Ushahidi engine is currently in development that will allows users to SMS, email or an online form to submit reports that are then flagged on a map that anyone can view to gain a speedy understanding of where issues are happening. Reports are broken down into categories that include deaths, looting and peace efforts. Ushahidi works with NGOs to verify reports, helping ensure that content is as accurate and complete as possible. Reporting in this way promotes peace efforts, increases awareness of violence and provides a permanent log of events, referral to which may help in future conflicts and ensure that what happened is not forgotten.

Ushahidi plans to release the tool as a downloadable application that is both open source and plug-in friendly, meaning it can be customized for different needs and locations. As we've seen before, crowds are more than ready to adopt applications like this when the cause is right, fully aware that it increases the transparency of events receiving limited or skewed media coverage. (Related: Front page rivalry--pros versus citizen journalists.)

Website: www.ushahidi.com -- legacy.ushahidi.com

Spotter: Kevin Rombe

Designing headscarves that can be worn for sports and play, Nike and Capsters are offering Muslim girls and women a practical alternative to the traditional hijab.

Created by young Dutch designer Cindy van den Bremen, Capsters are sleek head coverings made from comfortable, stretchy fabrics, and come in a variety of styles to match different activities and sports looks: aerobic, outdoor, skate and tennis. Covering a woman's head and neck as stipulated by Islamic or cultural tradition, they make it possible for women to participate in sports and physical activities without having to worry about their headscarves shifting.

Van den Bremen came up with the idea after learning that many Muslim girls were skipping gym classes because there wasn't a viable alternative to hijabs, which were deemed unsafe for sports activities. Capsters are priced from EUR 20-25, and are sold through the company's website.

A similar initiative in a different environment, Nike teamed up with the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) to develop sports attire for Somalian women in large refugee camps in Kenya. Nike worked with the women to design outfits that would let them play volleyball, while adhering to the cultural norm of covering up. Donating enough fabric for several hundred uniforms, Nike also taught a number of girls to make the outfits from locally produced fabrics. (Related article: P&G helping Kenyan schoolgirls.)

When Capsters' designer first showed her design to major sportswear labels, they expressed interest but told her the concept didn't fit their brands. A missed opportunity, and one that Nike – combining social entrepreneurship with product development – seems to be attempting to correct. As the emancipation of young Muslim women grows, sports and other clothing brands wil be able to tap into entire new markets. Hey, it's a big and diverse world out there!

In Kenya, Procter & Gamble has just launched a two-year programme that will supply over 600,000 underprivileged girls with sanitary towels to ensure they remain in class during menstruation. A large number of girls in rural Kenya skip school during their monthly period, because their families are too poor to buy sanitary towels. It's estimated that this causes an average girl to miss more than a month of school each year.

Working with Nakumatt, a Kenyan supermarket chain, and The Girl Child Network, P&G is matching the number of sanitary towels donated by Nakumatt shoppers to help girls stay in school throughout the month. And yes, of course this is a clever way to introduce consumers to one’s brand, and of course companies like P&G are in it for the profits, but that's what businesses do. Hey, as long as all involved win! What is your brand doing to help out those who need it most?