Building Apps for Good
with MIT App Inventor
Leo Burd, PhD
Research Scientist, MIT Center for Mobile Learning
App Inventor Summit - July 17, 2013

We should provide local entrepreneurs and grassroots non-
profits with tools – and where appropriate and requested,
expertise – for them to create their own projects that make a
difference...
[...] we shouldn’t develop solutions to problems we don’t
understand, we shouldn’t take ownership of a problem that
isn’t ours and we certainly shouldn’t build things thousands of
miles away and then jump on a plane in search of a home for
them.
http://www.kiwanja.net/blog/2012/12/an-inconvenient-truth/

App Inventor has a tremendous potential to democratize app
development for and by all, bringing information, facilitating
communication, and raising voices even in the most
underserved corners of the planet.
The goal of the App Inventor for Good initiative is to turn that
potential into reality

App Inventor in Action

Apps for Better Health Care
Developed by three college students, the ComPal App uses the phone’s
camera to perform analysis of medical tests in places where regular medical
care is not readily available.

Apps for Safety: No Texting While Driving

MyPapp app for women’s health
http://mypapp.info/

http://notes.hfoss.org/index.php/TreeCalc:Main_Page
Science Apps in the Field:
Measuring Tree Height

Science Apps in the Field:
Tracking Wild Hogs

Apps for humanitarian and social good
With support from external agents, Haiti relief workers developed an app
to facilitate monitor food and water distribution.
How can we help others build apps
to improve the quality of life in their
own communities?

BroadcastHub

Destroy Mines Safely
A soldier in the U.S. Marine Corps created an app
that computes the quantity of explosives needed to
destroy ammunition and mines that are found or
seized in the field.

BroadcastHub

BroadcastHub

Guiding questions
• What kinds of initiatives are more likely to foster the implementation of
mobile apps and services for social good?
• In what ways App Inventor might have to be enhanced in order to facilitate
the implementation of those initiatives?
• What other technologies and support structures might have to be provided?
• How to assess the quality of an “App Inventor for Good” project?

Typical App 4 Good initiatives
• Youth-oriented mobile entrepreneurship programs
• CDIs Apps for Good, Samsung Mobile App Academy, Technovation, Verizon’s Innovative App
Challenge, Youth Radio’s Mobile Action Lab
• App design competitions, grants and events
• AT&T Hackaton, Global Apps to Empower, Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach, Sanitation App
Challenge, Vodafone’s Mobile for Good, Windows 8 Apps for Social Good Contest
• University classes, theses and long-term research
• Humanitarian FOSS group (Trinity College and others)
• Community-oriented businesses and non-profits
• FrontlineSMS, Open Data Kit, Urban Launchpad
• Long-term community-based initiatives
• ???

Typical App 4 Good initiatives
Outcomes
• Meaningful context for technology development
• Increased self-esteem
• Community impact
Challenges
• Smart phone and data plan availability
• Appropriate time, space and guidance
• Complexity of the tools used
• Transition concept -> prototype -> product
• Long term sustainability of the initiative and its products

Looking ahead
• Seek funding and partnerships to take AI4G to the next level
• Establish a Mobile Innovation Network (MIN) to foster the creation of "Mobile
Innovation Clubs" with partner organizations in Latin America and other parts
of the world.
MIN will facilitate the exchange of experiences among these clubs, create
support materials, and identify appropriate tools for the job. In
addition, feedback from the clubs will be used to adapt App Inventor to fit the
needs of the Network and its constituents.

Additional references
 General information:
http://appinventor.mit.edu/
 App Inventor for Good group:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/ai4g
 App Inventor for Good use cases:
http://bit.ly/13bCfbz

http://mobilelearning.mit.edu/