http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:47:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://thefuturewell.com/2010/02/08/using-text-messages-to-report-medication-inventory-in-africa/ http://thefuturewell.com/2010/02/08/using-text-messages-to-report-medication-inventory-in-africa/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:46:07 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=380 Bruce Nussbaum: I keep discovering the most amazing social innovation work using social media being done by Parsons students. Check out this use of simple SMS technology, available in many African villages, to track medicine inventories at the local level. One of the big problems in preventing and managing illness in Africa is the failure of governments to get medicines they have bought or received from outside agencies down to the village level. Sometimes the reason is simple inefficiency. Sometimes it is corruption. Villagers can complain but can't prove they haven't received what is promised. "Stock-outs" of medicines for malaria, TB, HIV and other diseases at local public health clinics is common. In May of 2009, Oxfam and Health Action International (HAI) Africa convened 30 civil society organizations (CSOs) and policy-makers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to examine strategies for reducing stock-outs of medicines in Africa. Using Google Maps and SMS, the students were able to track 10 key medicines in four African countries. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/7828650[/vimeo] ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2010/02/08/using-text-messages-to-report-medication-inventory-in-africa/feed/ 1 http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:47:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:47:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://thefuturewell.com/2010/02/08/using-text-messages-to-report-medication-inventory-in-africa/ http://thefuturewell.com/2010/02/08/using-text-messages-to-report-medication-inventory-in-africa/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:46:07 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=380 Bruce Nussbaum: I keep discovering the most amazing social innovation work using social media being done by Parsons students. Check out this use of simple SMS technology, available in many African villages, to track medicine inventories at the local level. One of the big problems in preventing and managing illness in Africa is the failure of governments to get medicines they have bought or received from outside agencies down to the village level. Sometimes the reason is simple inefficiency. Sometimes it is corruption. Villagers can complain but can't prove they haven't received what is promised. "Stock-outs" of medicines for malaria, TB, HIV and other diseases at local public health clinics is common. In May of 2009, Oxfam and Health Action International (HAI) Africa convened 30 civil society organizations (CSOs) and policy-makers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to examine strategies for reducing stock-outs of medicines in Africa. Using Google Maps and SMS, the students were able to track 10 key medicines in four African countries. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/7828650[/vimeo] ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2010/02/08/using-text-messages-to-report-medication-inventory-in-africa/feed/ 1 http://thefuturewell.com/2010/02/08/using-text-messages-to-report-medication-inventory-in-africa/ http://thefuturewell.com/2010/02/08/using-text-messages-to-report-medication-inventory-in-africa/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:46:07 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=380 Bruce Nussbaum: I keep discovering the most amazing social innovation work using social media being done by Parsons students. Check out this use of simple SMS technology, available in many African villages, to track medicine inventories at the local level. One of the big problems in preventing and managing illness in Africa is the failure of governments to get medicines they have bought or received from outside agencies down to the village level. Sometimes the reason is simple inefficiency. Sometimes it is corruption. Villagers can complain but can't prove they haven't received what is promised. "Stock-outs" of medicines for malaria, TB, HIV and other diseases at local public health clinics is common. In May of 2009, Oxfam and Health Action International (HAI) Africa convened 30 civil society organizations (CSOs) and policy-makers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to examine strategies for reducing stock-outs of medicines in Africa. Using Google Maps and SMS, the students were able to track 10 key medicines in four African countries. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/7828650[/vimeo] ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2010/02/08/using-text-messages-to-report-medication-inventory-in-africa/feed/ 1 http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:47:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://thefuturewell.com/2010/02/08/using-text-messages-to-report-medication-inventory-in-africa/ http://thefuturewell.com/2010/02/08/using-text-messages-to-report-medication-inventory-in-africa/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:46:07 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=380 Bruce Nussbaum: I keep discovering the most amazing social innovation work using social media being done by Parsons students. Check out this use of simple SMS technology, available in many African villages, to track medicine inventories at the local level. One of the big problems in preventing and managing illness in Africa is the failure of governments to get medicines they have bought or received from outside agencies down to the village level. Sometimes the reason is simple inefficiency. Sometimes it is corruption. Villagers can complain but can't prove they haven't received what is promised. "Stock-outs" of medicines for malaria, TB, HIV and other diseases at local public health clinics is common. In May of 2009, Oxfam and Health Action International (HAI) Africa convened 30 civil society organizations (CSOs) and policy-makers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to examine strategies for reducing stock-outs of medicines in Africa. Using Google Maps and SMS, the students were able to track 10 key medicines in four African countries. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/7828650[/vimeo] ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2010/02/08/using-text-messages-to-report-medication-inventory-in-africa/feed/ 1 http://thefuturewell.com/2010/01/29/the-withings-scale/ http://thefuturewell.com/2010/01/29/the-withings-scale/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:10:22 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/site/?p=139

1. Weigh yourself.
2. The scale sends your data over wifi.
3. View your results over time on your iPhone or computer.

Genius. Simple. Beautiful design. Passive data collection lets you just live your life normally. And it gives positive or negative feedback anywhere you are about your weight. We'll see more of these passive systems analyzing how you live your life in the future. But the real question is this: once you have the data, how do you act on it? ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2010/01/29/the-withings-scale/feed/ 0