Information Systems Students Showcase Innovation

Visit the Information Systems site to learn more about the projects and becoming an "Idea Sponsor"

MobiMaths worked with GetSmarter to bring matric maths to cell phones in an interactive form to assist learners in a fun way - keeping the bandwidth requirements 'lite' was a real challenge with clever design of on-screen buttons. New 'business models' will need to be created to turn this form of learning on its head and attract student users, who were not so keen to see 'work' encroaching on their typically fun mobile zone.

Social responsiveness was also at the fore. First place in the Third Year projects went to HungerBusters "Food Vault" a system that manages inventory in a warehouse and matches requirements of welfare organisations/agencies with deliveries received from donors in the food industry, e.g. supermarkets. SMS's are sent to the agencies and communities to alert them to the food availability.

Another great initiative is another cell phone based system "eKona" that provides a credible work history and ratings system for casual workers (e.g. tilers, painters, gardeners) who often stand at assembly points on the side of the road. Employers can use the on-line system to contact workers and make collection/work arrangements with them on their cell phones. They then rate the worker on completion of the job. Advertising drives the revenue model with 6 SMSs being sent per job.