SHUTTLEWORTH FOUNDATION - KONTAX

In September 2009 Kontax – an m-novel created for the Shuttleworth Foundation’s m4Lit project– launched in South Africa, making world history as the first of its kind to be offered in both English and isiXhosa. The m4Lit project, led by Steve Vosloo, 21st Century Learning Fellow for the Shuttleworth Foundation, and developed by Fontera, aimed to not only explore the potential for increased reading and writing for 21st century teens through mobile phones, but also to introduce a more interactive style of story writing and publishing that holds appeal to the participatory culture of youth.

The hope behind the m4Lit project is that by researching the role of cellphones in teen reading and writing, educationalists and publishers can better understand the opportunities and risk for literacy practices presented by the most popular communication device used by any teen today.

The Shuttleworth Foundation and Fontera were awarded a bronze medal for the Kontax m-novel mobisite at the recently held Bookmark awards. Fontera was nominated in a number of categories and won the Mobile Publishing award together with The Shuttleworth Foundation and Clockwork Zoo for the work done on the groundbreaking m-novel. The Bookmarks celebrate digital media in all its guises, and is coordinated by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) as a means to promote digital media in South Africa, and establish it as a standard part of the marketing mix.
www.kontax.mobi