There is a digital divide in the world, as there are 5 billion people that have never used the Internet.  Bringing them on board ought to be a priority for agencies involved with human development.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone needs access to a traditional computer. In much of the developed world, even in places where there is no running water, there are cell phones.  Cell phone networks cover 80% of the world’s population. I can attest to this fact in my travels to India. In the middle of the foothills of the Himalaya’s there was limited running water, sporadic electricity, no sewage, but every family has a Nokia with SMS and a web (WAP?) browser.

The idea that services (education, banking, emergency services, and the like) can be delivered via mobile platforms is the cause d’etre of this W3C working group.  From their website:

Mobile Web for Social Development (MW4D)

The MW4D Interest Group explores how to use the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on Mobile phones as a solution to bridge the Digital Divide and provide minimal services (health, education, governance, business,…) to rural communities and under-privileged populations of Developing Countries.

Amazing ideas, definitely worth checking out.  As with any good idea, there are a variety of challenges, from availability of information, software development, and information literacy of the population.

Though it’s a solution that will gain traction in the future.  From a developers perspective, if I have use cases that involve use by emerging internet populations, I better be thinking about mobile browsers and serious localisation. The BBC speaker at the same conference mentioned that 20% of hits to the BBC website from Africa already come from cellular phones.