This article can be found here.
October 1, 2009
Question Box is the African version of Google. It's a calling nonprofit service that provides answers to Ugandan citizens that live in remote areas in need of advice. Using the phone, a farmer who is confused on what to fertilize his crops with might call the hotline, who will then provide them with information. Simple enough. Since cell phones are already popular in Uganda, the service should not be difficult to supply. The California based creator, Rose Shuman, received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gaes Foundation, and first explored the program's success in the rural villages of India. Far from dial-up or wi-fi, the program primarily focuses on using cell phone support methods in providing information rather than the internet. Ultimately, Question Box seeks to increase the economic prosperity of the region by removing the obstacles involving lack of access to a technologically advanced world. In India, where cell phones were less pravalent, Question Box was simplified to a literal 'push-to-talk' metal box. It's all about outsourcing. The program connects local rural citizens to operators in cities that do have access to the internet. Of course, not all information can be found on the internet, and the internet is slow even in the Uganda's larger cities; so Question Box has turned to using Appfrica Labs, a database that documents information and all past questions and answers. Because the database is uniquely local, information would be more region specific and less tedious to use than popular American search engines.
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