Melissa Ulbricht, MobileActive.org

Two years ago, Bev Clark, the co-founder of Kubatana.net, was awarded a large grant in the Knight News Challenge for Freedom Fone, an open-source software platform for distributing news and information through interactive voice response (IVR) technology. 

Freedom Fone leverages audio as a mobile function using IVR, a technology that allows a system to detect voice and keyboard input. IVR allows a user to call, enter or say specific numbers, and listen to or contribute audio content. (You’ve likely encountered it when you call a customer service number and are prompted with instructions to press numbers for different issues or service departments.) 

Freedom Fone was officially launched in late February of this year and has since been downloaded about 200 times, said Amy Saunderson-Meyer of Freedom Fone. Since the launch, Freedom Fone has received about 100 inquiries from individuals and organizations interested in a broad spectrum of potential uses outside of news and information distribution. 

Freedom Fone in Tanzania and Ghana

Recently, Freedom Fone was adapted by two farm radio stations through the African Radio Research Initiative, a 42-month project, the aim of which was to assess the effectiveness and impact of farm radio in many parts of Africa. 

Freedom Fone was introduced at two radio stations: Radio Maria in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Volta Star radio in the Volta region of Ghana. Before the project, neither station had an existing IVR system in place and the primary feedback loop with listeners was through written letters.  

Bartholomew Sullivan, a regional ICT officer for AFRRI, and Farm Radio International had been in touch with Kubatana, the parent organization of Freedom Fone, in Zimbabwe and thought IVR technology could be used to improve programming at the stations by making the experience and content more interactive. 

“We’re looking for something that can enhance radio,” Sullivan says. “Because at this point for us, radio has been very effective in reaching people, but it’s not always the most effective for getting a feedback loop or making it interactive.” 

Capturing Voices from the Field in Tanzania

At Radio Maria, Sullivan and the group used the IVR very simply, almost as a “glorified voicemail service.” During the selected weekly program -- called Heka Heka Vijijini, which means "busy busy in the village" in Kiswahili -- broadcasters announced an upcoming competition that asked for “the best story of how you’re using the knowledge you’ve gained from this radio program in your life.” Listeners could call in to the radio station and leave a message on the IVR system. 

The station received “wonderful stories from the field,” lasting anywhere from 10 seconds to 3 minutes. They received a total of 2,499 calls to the hotline, with 1,448 unique callers during the month and a half that it was available.They also received a total of 297 SMS messages, which were usually requests for information or greetings. Many of the audio responses were later rebroadcast on the program. 

Making radio more accessible in Ghana

Where Radio Maria collected and re-broadcasted incoming voice content, Volta Star in Ghana focused on improving access to radio segments by posting outgoing content. Each one-hour segment was reduced to about 5 minutes and this audio summary was made available every week on the IVR system.  

When listeners called, they were able to choose their language. Sullivan said that this dual language ability increased the complexity of the Freedom Fone interface quite a bit.  

The listener could then choose a specific summary to listen to. They received a total of 4,503 calls to the “farmers fone” and 2,041 of these calls proceeded past the welcome message (meaning that the user accessed the information or left a voicemail). 

At Volta Star, a lot of people called, but a smaller percentage called on a regular basis, Sullivan said. One question Farm Radio International is currently looking into is what made these repeat users call again and again and really use the IVR. Sullivan suspects that it was because some people didn’t really know how to use the system; whereas an IVR system might be intuitive to some, many Radio Maria and Volta Star listeners are not as accustomed to the technology or the process.

Photo: Bart Sullivan 

What worked well (and why)

One benefit to Freedom Fone integration at an established radio station is the ability to promote the IVR service. At Radio Maria, the broadcasters relied on the large number of existing listeners to promote and explain the service, including the specific local numbers to call. The group created a special jingle and message to promote the competition. (Listen to the jingle here.)  

Another thing that Sullivan said worked well was the ability to set up multiple call-in numbers for each of the main local mobile providers in the region: Vodacom, Zain, and Tigo. This allowed listeners to call from their respective networks, making it cheaper.  The group used similar sounding numbers for each of the networks.

The participatory radio campaign approach was used to enhance existing systems, not add new content or processes to the farm radio stations. So, Sullivan and others were able to incorporate and adapt Freedom Fone to best match the needs and uses of the listeners.  

At the end of the day, it’s an open-source IVR platform that you can adapt to what your needs are, Sullivan said. “It’s very basic. You can nest menus. You can have a voicemail service.” 

A more general success for Freedom Fone is the ability to provide an alternative, mobile-based medium for news and information. Saunderson-Meyer said it “provides a particularly important alternative communication medium for community radio stations in Zimbabwe, as no community radio stations have received licences to operate.”  

Challenges and issues

The projects at Radio Maria and Volta Star (and specifically in regards to Freedom Fone) were not without challenges and issues, including reliable hardware, cost, human error, power, and training. 

One challenge is obtaining high-quality or dedicated hardware. In Tanzania, Sullivan bought a second-hand computer locally to host the Freedom Fone software. But he wouldn’t do this again. At the most crucial moment, Sullivan said, the hard drive didn’t work and the group lost several days of up-time because of the crash.  

Cost can be an issue with some hardware, but often there are alternatives. 

Human error is a challenge inherent with Freedom Fone, which ironically stems from the high adaptability of the platform and the ability to control many of the parameters of the IVR process. When adjusting the settings on the modem at the Radio Maria station, for example, Sullivan said he had turned up the amp to the highest level. This resulted in significant audio distortion because the responses were so loud. Because of this, the IVR system was not recognizing user input.  

Power is an issue, especially in areas with unreliable power because, “when the computer is off, then Freedom Fone is down,” Sullivan said. Similarly, infrastructure is really important, including having backup power supplies for power outages. 

Another issue to incorporating Freedom Fone is training local employees to continue to use the IVR technology after the project concludes, Sullivan said. 

“Working with their staff -- their technical team -- so that they really feel like they own the technology, is a challenge but it is definitely worth doing,” Sullivan said. “Because it means when something comes up they can handle it on their own.” 

Finally, another challenge with Freedom Fone was the ability to deal with user error or confusion. At Radio Maria, the group also used the IVR system to establish an SMS poll, asking listeners what they wanted to hear more about on the program. The radio station would broadcast the poll and the number and explain the process, such as “press 1 for maize,” “press 2 for chickens,” and “push 3 for other garden crops,” and so on.  

But many users had never completed an SMS poll before and were confused on how to submit a vote.  

“It’s a lot for people to remember over the radio if you’ve never done it,” Sullivan said, so some people would spell maize instead of pushing “1” for maize, or spell out the word “one” rather then sending the number 1, or mix up the order of things. These responses would not register in the Freedom Fone system as a vote and instead “would just sit there as an SMS.” 

Despite user and technical challenges, “people really like it,” Sullivan said. The station received well over 100 votes when the polls first opened up, and the responses helped to shape future broadcasts.  

Of Freedom Fone, Sullivan said, “they’ve got a really great idea but I think if it’s going to work with rural people, especially in a radio context, who don’t have a lot of experience with voting or using their SMS that way, it’s going to need some foolproof methods.”  

What’s ahead for Freedom Fone

Farm Radio International is currently analyzing results of the initiative and plans to publish a report this fall on the findings. The Volta Star IVR content is still accessible to listeners and the mobile competition at Radio Maria has since closed, but they are starting another deployment based on what they learned at Radio Maria and Volta Star. The project will be atRite FM, a radio station outside the greater Accra region in Ghana.  

Sullivan said he is interested in exploring different revenue models for Freedom Fone, including a subscription model. Currently, the caller incurs the costs in a typical IVR system, which usually amounts to the same prepaid deduction of making a phone call or sending an SMS.  Early on, Sullivan said, many didn’t think this was a good model, and that somehow people, especially rural farmers, wouldn’t spend money to interact with an IVR system.  

“But, turns out, they do,” Sullivan said. “People are willing to spend money on information that is important to them.” 

A potential future subscription model, for example, could allow a user to purchase prepaid airtime for unlimited monthly access. A subscriber’s number could then be added to a list, which IVR technology would identify as a “to call” list whenever there is pertinent information. Saunderson-Meyer said Freedom Fone version 2.5, which is due out this December, will include this call-back functionality.  

For now, simplicity is the goal for projects like Radio Maria that involve news and information distribution to rural populations. Simplicity is also important for other projects that do not involve long-term, on-site support from Freedom Fone or Farm Radio International. 

“We believe that voice is still the richest medium for getting information to rural people, and that’s why we chose the IVR. But the challenge is to also not cut out those people who are not super savy,” Sullivan said. “You’ve got to try and keep it as simple as possible.” 

MobileActive.org has also reviewed other IVR systems.