Mobi LED

MXit is a new medium of communication in South Africa.  MXit Lifestyle (Pty) Ltd distributes their MXit software free of charge. It is easily downloadable over WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). There is a minimal online registration form to fill in and teenagers are MXiting each other within minutes of downloading the software. MXit allows participants to send and receive textual messages over their cell phones. These messages are sent over GPRS. In South Africa, GPRS packets are extremely inexpensive compared to SMS (Short Message Service). GPRS messages typically cost under  1 South African cent whereas SMS messages may cost up to 80 South African cents (approximately 11 US cents). This cost factor makes MXit very popular with teenagers.

The MXit software which runs on cell phones can also run on desktop computers using either Sun's Wireless toolkit (WTK) (downloadable free of charge from Sun's website) or using Mpowerplayer . Assuming that the desktop computer is connected to the internet, then these two pieces of software, WTK or Mpowerplayer, allow a tutor to work on a full sized computer and chat to participants who are using MXit on their cell phone. In addition, the tutor also then has the full strength of the internet and Google search behind them and should be able to answer just about any question posed by a participant. Using this configuration will be suitable for a project of, perhaps, 50 participants or less. To accommodate a larger number of participants, we developed a technology platform, written in Java, to assist tutors.   Although MXit does support the facility to transmit files or images this is very dependent on the physical cell phone used by the participant. It is also a service for which participants would have to pay. As such, we did not take advantage of that facility.

Technology platform:

A technology platform was developed which would allow tutors to handle high volumes of participants asking questions. This was a client/server solution. The server would handle the mundane tasks such as:

·         Talking to the MXit server

·         Accepting invitations from the participants

·         Logging all conversations between tutor and participant

·         Dispensing predefined information such as mathematical formulae and definitions

·         Maintaining the queues of participants waiting for answers to questions

·         Sending bulk messages to all participants

·         Automatic replies during times when tutors were not available

·         Maintaining communication with tutors as they log on and log off

·         Assigning participants to tutors in a fair “round robin” fashion

 We used a Tomcat webserver (Tomcat 2008). Tomcat would validate the username and password of the tutors. It would then give the tutors access to a Java Applet which would converse with our server. Special care was taken to ensure that the cell phone numbers of minor children were not distributed over the internet.

Because of potential abuse of our technology platform by unscrupulous adults, we currently will only release the platform in compiled form to bona fida organisations which work with children such as schools, counselling organisations, etc.