Mobile instant messaging: the “killer application” for e(m)government in Africa?

Abstract

As a communications device, cell phones have changed the African landscape and are proliferating rapidly throughout the continent. As the devices become increasingly powerful and sophisticated, they open up new opportunities for services. Whilst most of these are commercial or entertainment-based in nature, there may be unique possibilities for mobile government-to-citizen type services. In South Africa a mobile instant messaging platform, MXit, is starting to overtake SMS-type textual interactions between young people. The Meraka Institute, as part of it's MobilED initiative in South Africa, has developed a mobile tutoring application which uses the MXit service to provide mathematics support to learners. The service links learners to tutors via a text-based call centre-like interface. Although the focus of the project is on mobile learning, the potential is far-reaching across many different domains. This paper examines the possibilities for mobile instant messaging call centres as a mechanism to provide affordable and accessible government information to the youth in Africa.