The Shuttleworth Foundation has rolled out Africa's first isiXhosa and English free mobile novel (m-novel) called Kontax, as part of the m4Lit (mobile phones for literacy) project to determine whether cellphones can be used to develop literacy skills and reading.
The idea behind the project is to research the learning potential of cellphones among South African teenagers aged between 14 to 16 years. The project aims to provide content which interests them in a medium they can engage with.
The story is called Kontax and it's written for mobile by local author Sam Wilson. The story is accessed via a WAP-enabled cellphone and every day a new chapter of the story unfolds, with a total of 21 chapters each 400 words long.
Steve Vosloo, 21st Century Learning Fellow at the Shuttleworth Foundation, is heading up the project. He says the youth of today are very mobile and spend most of their day SMSing their friends or using mobile services such as Mxit. Vosloo adds that the m-novel has already received over 15 000 unique visitors, since its introduction at the end of September.
Local m-novels
According to him, the m-novel had been planned since December last year, and the first chapter was released during the end of last month. “We want to know if m-novels are an alternative complement to printed literature. We know that Japanese m-novels are very popular and for SA, this is the beginning of more to come,” says Vosloo.
In SA, there have been three projects around m-novels. In July last year, the 'Novel Idea' pilot introduced a competition for South African writers to submit short stories and have them published on a mobile phone. Sam Wilson won the R8 000 prize, sponsored by Vodacom.
The second m-novel was rolled out by Mxit in May, which released a series of paid-for fantasy books by Karen Michelle Brooks. The first story was called 'Emily and the battle of the veil'.
“Our story is made for mobiles, says Vosloo. “We are trying to drive this initiative and hope to have sequels.”
Prizes for prose
There is also a daily prize of R100 airtime for the best comment on the English mobisite as well as the isiXhosa mobisite, with the winning comment to be published on the sites.
In addition, readers will be invited to write a sequel for the story in 100 words or less in English or isiXhosa.
The first prize for writing the story sequel is R2 000 airtime for each of the English and isiXhosa mobisites. The second prize is R1 000 airtime and the third prize is R500 airtime.
The Kontax Story Sequel competition ends on 20 November. Winners of the competitions will be selected by judges appointed by the Shuttleworth Foundation.
Readers are invited to read the story, vote, comment, and enter the competitions by registering on www.kontax.mobi or by SMSing Kontax to 33039.