Question Box at UNESCO World Press Freedom Day

Thursday, May 10th, 2012

Question Box was a featured technology presented at UNESCO World Press Freedom Day in Tunis, Tunisa May 3-5, 2012. In developing, emerging, and conflict/post-conflict countries, we demonstrated how Question Boxes can connect the local media to citizens safely and efficiently. Question Boxes are useful both to get tips and reporting from citizens on the ground, and to give citizens a point of access to learn the latest news updates live.

Check out our slide presentation below! If you are a news media outlet, please get in touch if you would like to use Question Box for citizen outreach.

UNESCO World Press Freedom Day Question Box Tunisia May 2012

View more presentations from Open Mind.
Thanks to IREX for sponsoring our participation.

| No Comments »

Presenting next week at UNESCO World Press Freedom Day

Sunday, April 29th, 2012

Question Box will be represented on a panel at UNESCO World Press Freedom Day in Tunis, Tunisia on May 4th. Presenters will share “Innovations in Gathering and Sharing News.”

At Question Box, we’ve always seen a natural fit between media and the Question Box approach, both as way for the media to get information from citizens, and for citizens to get information from the media. We will post our slideshow after the presentation. If you are going to be at the conference, please get in touch!

| No Comments »

US State Department Webinar on Question Box

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012



Today, Question Box Founder Rose Shuman presented an hour-long webinar broadcast to all US State Department Posts. View the complete slide show here, or click below to view the complete video interview.

| No Comments »

Question Box featured by Christian Science Monitor Change Agent blog

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

Question Box helps people Google can’t reach

Millions of people in the developing world lack internet access and the ability to ‘Google’ an answer to their questions. Question Box provides a simple solution.

Originally published by Yadira Gutierrez, Mercy Corps Global Envision / February 14, 2012

For millions in the developing world who can’t just “Google it,” a box is providing the answers.

To begin, users push a green “talk” button on the metal intercom box and ask a question in their local language. An operator in a larger town with more Internet bandwidth will look up their questions online and relay the answers to the caller. The red button ends the call.

The Question Box was created by Open Mind, a nonprofit founded by Rose Shuman in partnership with the Grameen Foundation.

Internet access is not given a second thought in the developed world, but for billions around the globe, the Internet is far out of reach.

“Question Boxes leap over illiteracy, computer illiteracy, lack of networks, and language barriers,” according to Shuman and fellow organizers. “They provide immediate, relevant information to people using their preferred mode of communication: speaking and listening.”

Read full article here

| No Comments »

Fast Company Co.EXIST features Question Box!

Friday, January 6th, 2012

Question Box Answers Questions In Remote Villages That Can’t Just Google It

By Michael J. Coren

January 4, 2012

Without an Internet connection or robust smartphones, many people around the world don’t have access to instantaneous information. Question Box–a mobile phone connected to an operator–can help villagers from settling bar bets to answering serious questions about health and farming.

Ask, and you shall receive. When it comes to information in much of the developing world, this simply isn’t true. Connectivity is like air in industrialized nations: We take it for granted that we can go online with a question in mind and search a good portion of human knowledge to find the answer.

But the next time you’re in a bar settling an argument by checking IMDb on your smartphone, think about how people in other parts of the world have to resolve these questions, or even more important ones. Rural areas without decent roads or schools, never mind an Internet connection, have little to link them to the outside world. For these places, there is now Question Box.

Read Full Article

| No Comments »

New Question Box Interview Video – BBG Innovation Series

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

Question Box Founder Rose Shuman recently visited the Broadcasting Board of Governors in Washington, DC, home to media outlets such as Voice of America. In this video, Rose discusses what Question Box is, and how it is used in communities.

| No Comments »

Question Box at ICT4RD 2011

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Question Box is being featured today at The Market Place: Showcases and Conference Laboratories (Colabs) session of ICT4RD 2011 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Abdul Waheed Patel of ETHICORE is presenting on our behalf. If you are attending the conference, please stop by and say hello.

| No Comments »

Question Box featured on The Lifestyle Show on South Africa FM

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

SAfm host Michelle Constant recently interviewed Question Box founder Rose Shuman live on the radio.  Tune in below and hear the latest!

SAfm Question Box interview

| No Comments »

Question Box featured as innovative new media platform in Africa

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Fesmedia Africa, the media project of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Africa, is working towards a political, legal and regulatory framework for the media in African countries, based on human rights law, relevant protocols of the African Union and SADC declarations or other regional standards. Our office is based in Windhoek, Namibia.   Question Box is featured as a case study in the latest volume of the fesmedia Africa series: Texting, Tweeting, Mobile Internet – New Platforms for Democratic Debate in Africa

Question Box’s writeup is excerpted below. We encourage you to download the informative booklet available on FES’s website.

| No Comments »

This Way Up Radio New Zealand features Question Box

Monday, July 18th, 2011

This Way Up, a program from Radio New Zealand, features an interview with Question Box founder Rose Shuman. This Way Up is a weekly two-hour show that explores the things we use and consume.  18 Jun, 2011 (11′29″) Check it out!

| No Comments »

« Older Entries