FrontlineSMS in CP-Union's Work
The Philippines has been known to be SMS/Texting capital of the world. Aside from utilizing the SMS technology as a means of communication, we also use SMS as a medium for protest. And with the new FrontLineSMS, another method to gather support from other regions on the critical issues happening in the country is now being explored.
CP-Union's effort to maximize technology tools for NGO advocacy has made FrontlineSMS implementations not only to its first intended use. FrontlineSMS is now part of every campaign CP-Union is involved in whenever applicable.
FrontLine SMS installation with a Nokia GSM 30 Modem. We used the new
java version of FrontlineSMS on Ubuntu Gnu/Linux.
FrontlineSMS for Rapid Monitoring of Election Frauds
FrontlineSMS is a free, large scale text messaging tool for NGOs. CP-Union encountered this tool during the 2007 National Elections in the Philippines (See http://www.frontlinesms.com/who/, click the Philippine marker).
During this election, volunteers from more than 80 provinces, covering all 14 regions of the country were coordinated using FrontLineSMS. Reports of frauds are tracked by this tools. Paralegal volunteers are dispatched during reports of frauds.
On the first three days of the elections, the focus of monitoring shifts from province to another province. FrontLineSMS provided the mass texting of updates to all concerned volunteers.
While it was the best tool for mass texting, we first wanted it to be an SMS gateway to collect quick count reports.
One drawback though on the first version was its lack of support for non-proprietary platform . CP-Union has been using Ubuntu GNU/Linux in most its implementations due to limited funding in most of its projects. Licenses of proprietary software usuallyincreases the costs of projects.
FrontlineSMS for “Support the FOSS Bill” Signature Campaign
Student attendees during the FOSS Marathon of CP-Union. “Support the FOSS
Bill Campaign” using FrontLineSMS was launched on this training session for
students
CP-Union has launched a campaign called Software Freedom Month on 6 September 2008 [Inquirer.net].
K-Rights Monitor in Action. The first release of FrontLineSMS was not
integrated to K-Rights Monitor. Rights Monitor.
This integrated tool now gives an enhanced K-Rights Monitor. Rights workers are able to gather reports using SMS which are quickly recorded on FrontLine and are linked to K-Rights Monitor database. Upon receipt of SMS report, a full Fact Sheet is prepared by the reporting Rights worker and the national center is on alert for immediate actions. FrontlineSMS now centralizes these kind of sms reports. In the past, sms reports are sent to almost all members of the national center.
FrontlineSMS is not totally new to Rights Workers CP-Union is helping. It was first introduced on July 2007 on the first national training for K-Rights Monitor. Its usage was limited. Rights workers are not comfortable of having a separate program for SMS reports. But with its integration with K-Rights Monitor, they are eager to try this new feature.
K-Rights Monitor in Documenting Human Rights Violations for Rights Workers
K-Rights Monitor was conceptualized in 2004. Initial planning and consultations were finished by 2005. However, active development started only on 2006 and the first beta release was used on early 2007.
CP-Union Member introduces K-Rights monitor to Rights workers.
FrontLineSMS was first introduce on this training session as a separate
tool for SMS data gathering.
By June 2007, the module used in the nationwide training of Human Rights workers already includes the course on K-Rights Monitor. More than 50 participants attended the session. They came from different regions of the Philippines.
K-Rights Monitor is a system for documenting violations on human rights. It has 4 main components. It has incidents, victims, perpetrators and violation modules.
- Incident has victim/s, perpetrator/s and reporting individual/s
- Victim has violation/s done by perpetrator/s in the incident
- Case updates are recorded on the case update module
The Entity module records all information of the particular victim. A victim can be an individual, group or community. It has provisions for profile, family, and personal details.
The Agents module records all information of the perpetrator/s of the incident. Perpetrator/s can be an individual or a group. While the best practice is to link every perpetrator to the violations they committed to a victim, in practice it is difficult to gather such details.
The Category module records all violations done to a victim. A lexicon is loaded on K-Rights Monitor to standardize categorization. This is the most important module of the system. Lexicon may vary depending on laws of different countries. For example, the lexicon created for Philippine NGOs using K-Rights Monitor is based on the Philippine Constitutions, The Bill of Rights, UN International Laws, and other Laws.
K-Rights Monitor is Free Software
K-Rights Monitor was developed using Free and Open Source tools. It mainly uses PHP scripting laguage and currently being reimplement in CakePHP Framework. The database engine is MySQL and needs any Apache, MySQL, PHP stack during installation. It is available in proprietary platforms and Free and Open Source systems like Ubuntu GNU/Linux.
For interested developers, a prototype version is available at code.google.com. Sources and installation guides are at http://code.google.com/p/karapatan-monitor.
A full reimplementation of K-Rights Monitor is expected to be released on December 10, 2008 in line with the global celebrations of Human Rights Day. K-Rights Monitor was also featured in Linux Journal on their March 2008 issue.