The University of the West Indies Kevon Andrews Wayne Sarjusingh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering The University of the West Indies St. Augustine Local Case Studies Sixth Annual Caribbean Internet Forum Port of Spain October 29 – 31, 2008

ECNG UWI Pilots mCommunity Skills Bank President of Claxton Bay Community Council expressed interest in his community becoming more productive and drawing on its own resources Envisioned a paper-based Skills Bank UWI proposed an SMS-based mCommunity Skills Bank to provide wide access for all in the community ECNG SMS The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has developed a Student Messaging Service (SMS) to facilitate access to key scheduling information This service is particularly useful to the many students who do not have Internet access and need, for example, to query exam timetable information from off-campus homes

ECNG Mobile Messaging System GSM Mobile Phone GSM Modem Driver Database (MySQL) Mobile Application (PHP) Incoming SMSOutgoing SMS GSM Mobile Phone Communication Utility (Gnokii) Host Computer USB/Bluetooth/Infrared Connection

ECNG System Flowchart New SMS on phone? START No Write SMS to database inbox Yes New SMS in database outbox? Send SMS through phone Yes No New SMS in database inbox? Write response SMS to database outbox YesNo Process SMS

ECNG ECNG SMS - Operation Student request for timetable information: “lecture ecng3001” or “L3001” Course Day Time Room ECNG3001 Thu 10:10am-12:00pm RM 7 Fri 10:10am-11:00am RM 5.1 System Response:

ECNG mCommunity Skills Bank - Operation User makes request SMS Query SMS Response User gets response

ECNG Internet Interface Information Management Sub-system Mobile Messaging System Internet access Web-based User Interface mCommunity Skills Bank

ECNG Advantages Accessible to all mobile users as SMS capability is standard on all contemporary mobile phones Available 24 hours a day and practically throughout the globe, of course, with the appropriate roaming and interconnection agreements in place Relatively inexpensive to implement Lower service cost than applications implemented through a commercial SMS gateway provider

ECNG Disadvantages Use of a regular mobile phone number which is not as easy to remember as a short code such as 1234 Low sending rate. A GSM mobile phone can typically send 6-10 SMS messages per minute Only appropriate for relatively small amounts of information. The maximum size of an SMS message is 160 characters Mobile user must have knowledge of the appropriate message format to use

ECNG Observations Extended User Community –Database can be accessed via SMS and the Internet –Commercial enterprises access via Internet while community members access via SMS Implementation Issues –Technology Constraints (Session-based: USSD) –Service Costs Developing and deploying a low traffic information retrieval system using mobile SMS can be done relatively quickly and inexpensively As for all SMS-based applications, simple and intuitive message formats are required

ECNG Observations The SMS message format and the amount of information involved will determine how complex your application is in terms of how it processes incoming SMS messages and generates outgoing SMS responses Migrating to full Mobile Internet implementations of these types of applications is straightforward but not as imminent as handset and service costs limit uptake among Caribbean poor A full Mobile Internet implementation has the potential as an m-Government service

ECNG Thank You

Request formats skills find skills page SMS text message to request workers’ names and phone numbers SMS text message to request another part of the response, which is sectioned to fit into 160 characters for an SMS message example skills find plumberskills page 2

Response Formats Response to “skills find plumber mason” Response to “skills page 2” Page 1 of 2 PLUMBER & MASON> Jane Washington John Johnson-Smith Judy-Ann Williams To retrieve page 2, send SKILLS page 2 Page 2 of 2 PLUMBER> Joseph Henry

ECNG ECNG SMS Message Format TimetableExamples lecture lec l lecture ecng1000 lec l 2000 tutorial tut t tutorial ecng1012 tut 2004 t 1012 lab p lab ecng1012 p 2004 exam x exam ecng1000 x 3002

ECNG SMS Message Format Continued Staff contacts and office hours staff s Internship opportunities internship intern i Job opportunities job j Scholarship opprotunities scholarship scholar a

ECNG Example Responses ECNG3001 Thu 10:10am-12:00pm RM 7 Fri 10:10am-11:00am RM 5.1 SMS message for timetable information: “lecture ecng3001” or “L3001” Response: Course Day Time Room

ECNG Example Responses Continued Ravi Deonarine RM RTSG/Nortel Lab EXT 2073/3758 Mon 10am-12noon Wed 8am-4pm SMS message for staff information: “staff ravi” or “s ravi” Response: Name Room Extension Office Hours

mCommunity Skills Bank - Operation User makes request SMS Query SMS Response User gets response

Internet Interface Information Management Sub-system Common Mobile Messaging System Internet access Web- based User Interface