Here's our first newsletter of 2013, posted here for your reading pleasure!
FrontlineSMS Photo Credit: White African, Kenya, 2008
How are we doing? Help us get better: the 2013user survey is OUT NOW
The development and growth of FrontlineSMS has been driven by feedback we receive from our active user community. Each year we give our users the opportunity to share their use and vision of FrontlineSMS through our annual user survey. This year is no different! We would like to hear from you through our 2013 User Survey - tell us how you're using the software, how we can make it better, and help us show how FrontlineSMS is making a difference. The survey takes less then 10 minutes!
FrontlineSMS Version 2.2 now available for download from our website
Since version 2 of FrontlineSMS launched in June, we've been busy refining the software, fixing bugs, and adding new features in response to user demand.
Today's release includes a number of new features: three new Activities, which let you set up auto-forward to SMS, Subscription services which add and remove contacts from groups, and web connections including a custom integration with Crowdmap and Ushahidi. We've also improved the way Keywords work, so that you can use multiple words separated by commas for the same action, allowing for spelling mistakes, multiple languages, and other variations.
For users experimenting with running FrontineSMS across networks, or just needing a bit of extra security, we've added basic authentication. You can now require a password to get into FrontlineSMS.
Users upgrading to Version 2.2 from other v2 releases can do so seamlessly without changes to the database or activities. What are you waiting for? Go download it!
Looking back: happy 7th birthday, FrontlineSMS!
In October 2012, we celebrated seven years of FrontlineSMS with a series of blog posts from the team about the users who really stick in their minds. Many users contributed very special photos which you can see on our Flickr page. We always want those photos because we think they're awesome, so if you didn't get yours in follow the link to the blog posts and send them in now!
Looking forward: Introducing Our Services
In December, we formally launched our social entreprise, which has been offering premium support services to our users since 2011. In the coming years, this work and other soon-to-be-announced developments will support the sustainable growth of FrontlineSMS for many years to come. You can read more about our services on our website, and get in touch with our team at services@frontlinesms.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
News from the Community o/
Here at FrontlineSMS we pride ourselves on our active and global user community. There have now been over 38,000 downloads of our software, and our online community forum has over 2,900 members regularly interacting with us and each other about their use of FrontlineSMS. Below you will find the latest news for and about our buzzing user community.
Call for Volunteer Translators
We are adding functionality to FrontlineSMS all the time, so we're always looking for volunteers to help us translate the interface into our priority languages: French, Arabic, Spanish, Russian and Mandarin... and practically any other language out there! For more information on this, and to register your interest in helping out please email info@frontlinesms.com.
Global FrontlineSMS Team Continues to Grow
We're delighted to welcome three new team members in our cozy Kenya office. In November 2012, Joram Tayo joined FrontlineSMS as our Finance Officer and in January 2013 Okal Otieno joined as a developer. Joram joins FrontlineSMS from five years at CHF in Kenya, and we're delighted to welcome him to the team. Okal has been a FrontlineSMS fan for a while now and interned for us last year. Its great to have him as part of the developer team. Finally, Alex Pitkin will be joining us as Business Analyst and Product Manager for six months while taking time out from his glamorous roles at Team Rubber and Delib in London and Bristol, UK. Delighted to have him on board. o/
Meet the rest of the FrontlineSMS team at http://www.frontlinesms.com/about-us/the-team/
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FrontlineSMS is built and distributed for free by a non-profit US Foundation. If you are a fan and would like to support us, please feel free to make a donation to FrontlineSMS. Your donation will be highly appreciated!
Thanks for reading our latest newsletter - we hope you've enjoyed it and we'd love to hear what you think. Let us know your views, your requests for future newsletters and any other comments at info@frontlinesms.com.
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The FrontlineSMS Team