Shared, public learning is a fundamental part of our ethos and approach. In that spirit, we are building a home for resources on inclusive technology projects, from SIMLab, our partners and friends, and the community at large.
If you have something you'd like to see up here, or would like to submit a resource yourself, let us know. This section is always under construction, and we're constantly looking for ways to make it better.Disseminating Content on Basic Phones
In 2015 the American Red Cross asked us to help them work out how best to get the content from their global First Aid smartphone app to the huge audiences around the world who had basic phones. To help them work this out, we convened a group of experts in Washington, DC to share experience and case studies, and came up with three strategies; hardware; core functionality; and web-based. This resource explains them and shares examples from practice.
Exercises for a User Specification Workshop
In 2017 Cloud2Street asked us to help them prepare for a workshop with watershed managers in a flood basin in Argentina. We wrote them some step-by-step instructions for the workshop, and they kindly allowed us to repost them here.
SIMLab's framework for monitoring and evaluating inclusive technologies in social change projects
Our framework helps you design a monitoring approach and evaluation that will tease out the contribution technology has made to the social change outcomes in your project. Originally developed with the support of DFID and the Hewlett Foundation, we have been supported by DIAL to finalize the Framework in November 2017. The Framework includes prototype monitoring plans, evaluation criteria based on the OECD-DAC criteria and the Digital Principles, and an explanation of why tech needs a different approach.
SIMLab's framework for context analysis of inclusive technology in social change projects
SIMLab’s Framework for Context Analysis for Technology in Social Change Projects provides a guide for project implementers to help them get a snapshot of the communications, market, infrastructure and political context in a target region as they plan new projects and interventions using technology. It's open for public consultation, comment and suggestions until the end of November 2017.
Good Data Collaborative consultation report
The consultation report from a consultation of practitioners, policymakers, donors and platform providers about Responsible Data Practice.
A good name is hard to clear: a national report of digital expungement applications
It is estimated that 70 million Americans have a criminal record. Having a record creates harms, called collateral consequences, after a person completes their contact with the criminal justice system. These government services. For many, expungement is a possible legal remedy to record. However, the expungement process is hard to understand and not accessible to average citizens attempting to handle their own filing. Further, there are not enough legal service providers to meet demand to help everyone who qualifies. Attempting to bridge these gaps, numerous groups and individuals are leveraging technology. This report assesses the experience organizations had developing expungement technology and provides recommendations to improve the proliferation and impact of these tools.
Defining Culture Change: Reflections from Code for America's Digital Front Door project commissioned by the City of Oakland, California
In 2014, leadership within the City of Oakland asked Code for America to help them redesign its website. This case study explores more personal and opinionated accounts of the insights that surfaced during this project, and illustrates how efforts to make digital upgrades in governments are as much about cultural and management changes, than they are technological ones. To produce this case study, key members from Code for America and the City of Oakland were interviewed for their reflections.
COURSE: Scalable, Low-Cost Technologies for Civil Society Organizations
The course will guide participants through planning a project with SMS and mobile phones, using FrontlineSMS and FrontlineCloud. Topics include: how to design mobile-centered or mobile-enabled projects, risk-mapping, data integrity and ethics considerations.
SIMLab's experience in Kenya: Implementing a mobile money management tool and training approach in the last mile
This case study describes the midterm progress and learning from a two-year project, funded by the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID).