Although this project is aimed at people in South Africa, the site and it’s content is accessible worldwide. There is nothing to download.
The Shuttleworth Foundation has launched a new library of cellphone stories, also known as mobile novels (m-novels).
This initiative is part of the foundation’s m4Lit (mobiles for literacy) project.
Yoza is the name of the m-novel library, which uses cellphones to support teen reading and writing. The m-novels are interactive and free.
[Our emphasis] Steve Vosloo, founder of Yoza said: “For the foreseeable future the cellphone, not the Kindle or iPad, is the e-reader of Africa. Yoza aims to capitalise on that to get Africa’s teens reading and writing.”
The project was started in 2009 to explore how South African teens would read stories on their cellphones.
The foundation published a 20-pages in length story last year, Kontax, and invited reader participation through longer content. They could leave comments on chapters, vote in opinion polls related to the story and enter a writing competion.
By the end of May 2010, another Kontax story had been published.
Since the launch, two stories have been read over 34,000 times on cellphones. More than 4,000 entries have been received in writing competitions.
Access Yoza Cellphone Stories, Read Stories
One More Point: Reading is open to everyone and does not require registration. However, you can choose to complete the free registration and join the community. Note the “Not from South Africa” in the region drop-down box. Yoza is also looking for writers.
Source: The Times (South Africa)
See Also: Access the Official Announcement and Stay Current with the Initiative (via m4Lit)
See Also: Yoza Cellphone Stories Facebook Page
See Also: Mobile Phone Novel
A web site dedicated to the topic by Oliver Bendel in Germany.
See Also: Textnovel and Textnovel Blog
See Also: Cellphone Novels Entry (via Wikipedia)
Note the numerous links to articles on the topic in the external links section.
