The discussions that transpired during the recent MobileActive event were so electrically charged that it was difficult to know which ideas to focus upon. People were sharing their stories and experiences while coming up with new ideas all at the same time. Topics ranged from philosophical musings about the methodologies of viral communication to hypothetical ways one might be able to turn one's roll-over minutes into donate-able cash and/or minutes for an NGO.

Of course there was also a lot of geek-talk, most of which revolved around an open source telephony PBX called Asterisk. Tad Hirsch, the developer of the SMS messaging service Txt-Mob, is using the Asterisk technology for a project called “Speakeasy,” an integrated Internet and telephone service that connects new immigrants to the United States to a network of volunteers for “just-in-time civic engagement.”

The volunteers provide everything from simple advice to language interpretation and can even directly patch a caller through to a relevant public office or group while staying on line for continuous support. The serice had an extremely successful run in 2004 in the Boston China Town area and will be relaunched in 2005. And it’s cheap. Asterisk is free to download and requires a minimum budget for the extra technology required to connect it to your telephony system of choice (usually around $115 to connect four lines).

But there are also still some basic limitations to consider. Asterix is still somewhat of a specialized technology that does not yet seem to translate well for the non-geek user. And while it can handle up to a usual 110 calls from any type of phone, its VOIP convergence requires a fast connection. But beyond these limitations the possibilities for any organization, let alone a political one, seem almost endless. A number of such ideas were stimulated as a direct result of the event.