Social Impact on Caktus Group

Modern CTO Podcast Spotlights Caktus CTO Colin Copeland

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 17:33:42 +0000

In the July 16 episode of Modern CTO, Colin Copeland, Caktus Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer goes one-on-one with podcast host Joel Beasley. They discuss the:

Caktus Hosts First Pitch Competition: Winner Receives 300 Hours of Project Time

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 13:57:46 +0000

We recently hosted the first Caktus Pitch Competition: Building Tech for Good, which aimed to draw out innovative ideas and help make them a reality. While any web development ideas were welcome, preference was given to projects serving the public good.

Caktus at PyCaribbean

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 13:00:00 +0000

For the first time, Caktus will be gold sponsors at PyCaribbean February 18-19th in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. We’re pleased to announce two speakers from our team.

Ship It Day Q1 2017

Wed, 18 Jan 2017 16:39:28 +0000

Last Friday, Caktus set aside client projects for our regular quarterly ShipIt Day. From gerrymandered districts to RPython and meetup planning, the team started off 2017 with another great ShipIt.

RapidCon 2016: RapidPro Developer's Recap

Wed, 16 Nov 2016 15:41:07 +0000

Developer Erin Mullaney was just in Amsterdam for RapidCon, a UNICEF-hosted event for developers using RapidPro, an SMS tool built on Django. The teams that have worked on RapidPro and its predecessor RapidSMS have gotten to know each other virtually over the years. This marks the second time they’ve all come from across the globe to share learnings on RapidPro and to discuss its future.

Presidential debate questions influenced by open source platform

Tue, 25 Oct 2016 18:40:02 +0000

During the past two presidential debates, moderators from ABC and Fox asked candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump voter-submitted questions from PresidentialOpenQuestions.com. The site, created by the bipartisan Open Debate Coalition (ODC) with the support of Caktus Group, is built on top of the open source Django web framework.

Digital development principles: a tech firm’s take on understanding ecosystems

Wed, 07 Sep 2016 15:54:02 +0000

When we meet potential clients, we want to learn more about their software development needs. Beyond that, we’re deeply curious about the work they do, those involved, and the kind of impact they desire to make in the world.

Caktus Endorses Principles for Digital Development

Wed, 06 Jul 2016 17:58:41 +0000

Caktus is proud to announce that we endorse the Principles for Digital Development or “Digital Principles”, a set of best practices that support technology creation for international development. We feel strongly that they help technology companies like us improve our contributions to the Information and Communications Tool for Development (ICT4D) community. In offering technical design and software development services, we often work alongside our clients to help shape the tools they need. Because of our influence in this process, having established principles are helpful to use as a guide in our conversations and design of the tools we build.

The Journal of Medical Internet Research Features Epic Allies Phase 1 Study Results

Thu, 16 Jun 2016 12:00:00 +0000

The Journal of Medical Internet Research recently published “Epic Allies: Development of a Gaming App to Improve Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Among Young HIV-Positive Men Who Have Sex With Men”. Epic Allies, initially funded by a federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant, represents a partnership between Caktus, UNC’s Institute of Global Health and Infection Diseases, and Duke Global Health Institute.

Caktus CTO Colin Copeland Invited to the White House Open Police Data Initiative

Thu, 12 May 2016 18:46:57 +0000

We at Caktus were incredibly proud when the White House Police Data Initiative invited CTO Colin Copeland to celebrate their first year accomplishments. While at the White House, Colin also joined private breakout sessions to share ideas with law enforcement officials, city staff, and other civic technologists from across the country. Colin is the co-founder of Code for Durham and served as lead developer for OpenDataPolicingNC.com. OpenDataPolicingNC.com, a site built for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, displays North Carolina police stop data.

Caktus CTO Colin Copeland Helps Launch Open Data Policing Website

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 13:50:11 +0000

Today, at Caktus headquarters, CTO and co-founder of Caktus Colin Copeland will stand at a press conference along with activists, police representatives, and elected officials to announce the launch of OpenDataPolicingNC.com. The first site of its kind, OpenDataPolicingNC.com draws on public records to publish up-to-date stop, search, and use-of-force data—broken down by race and ethnicity—for every police department and officer in the state of North Carolina. The volunteer effort, led by The Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) and technical leadership by Colin, includes approximately 20 million anonymized data points from 15 years of NC traffic stop data.

What human-centered design can do for international development

Fri, 20 Nov 2015 14:55:42 +0000

Cross-posted with Creative Associates International. Written by Gina Assaf (Creative Associates International) and Tania Lee (Caktus Group). Image courtesy of Creative Associates International.

Open Sourcing SmartElect: Libya's SMS Voter Registration System

Wed, 28 Oct 2015 17:01:54 +0000

We are proud to say that, with the Libyan High National Elections Commission (HNEC) and consultative support from the United Nations Support Mission to Libya, we have open sourced their elections management platform today under a permissive Apache 2.0 license. Open sourcing means other governments and organizations can freely adopt and adapt the elections tools which cover nine functional areas. The tools range from SMS voter registration, the first of its kind, to bulk alerts to voters and call center support software. You can learn more at our brand new SmartElect homepage. This is the cumulation of two years of work, so we’re incredibly excited to share SmartElect with the rest of the world.

Identifying Racial Bias in Policing with a Data-driven App

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 21:16:16 +0000

Recently, Caktus co-founder Colin Copeland spoke about the creation of a web app that analyzes North Carolina traffic stop data to identify racial bias during the Code for America 2015 Summit. The website allows both police departments and community members to visualize a dataset of more than 18 million stops statewide. Colin spoke with Ian Mance, the originator of the app idea and staff attorney with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. Together with fellow community members, Andy Shapiro and Dylan Young, they used Django, an open source web framework, to make policing data more accessible.

Epic Allies Featured at mHealth at Duke 2015 Conference

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 12:00:00 +0000

At this year’s mHealth at Duke 2015 Conference, Dr. Lisa Hightow-Weidman discussed her current mHealth projects for HIV prevention. Chief among these projects is her work with Caktus Group on Epic Allies, a mobile gaming app that utilizes social media and mini-games to increase adherence to prescribed medication amongst HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM).

Stanford Social Innovation Review Highlights Caktus' Work in Libya

Fri, 12 Jun 2015 18:43:50 +0000

The Stanford Social Innovation Review recently featured Caktus in “Text the Vote” in Suzie Boss’ “What’s Next: New Approaches to Social Change” column. It describes how our team of developers built the world’s first SMS voter registration system in Libya using RapidSMS.

Creating and Using Open Source: A Guide for ICT4D Managers

Fri, 29 May 2015 18:25:00 +0000

Choosing an open source product or platform upon which to build an ICT4D service is hard. Creating a sustainable, volunteer-driven open source project is even harder. There is a proliferation of open source tools in the world, but the messaging used to describe a given project does not always line up with the underlying technology. For example, the project may make claims about modularity or pluggability that, upon further investigation, prove to be exaggerations at best. Similarly, managers of ICT4D projects may be attracted to Open Source because of the promise of a “free” product, but as we’ve learned through trial and error at Caktus, it’s not always less costly to adapt an existing open source project than it would be to engineer a quality system from the ground up.

Cakti at CRS ICT4D 2015

Wed, 27 May 2015 12:39:51 +0000

This is Caktus’ first year taking part in the Catholic Relief Service’s (CRS) Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) conference. The theme of this year’s conference is increasing the impact of aid and development tools through innovation. We’re especially looking forward to all of the speakers from organizations like the International Rescue Committee, USAID, World Vision, and the American Red Cross. In fact, the offerings are so vast, we thought we would provide a little cheat sheet to help you find Cakti throughout this year’s conference.

Marketplace Radio Highlights How Service Info App Helps 1.5 Million Syrian Refugees

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 18:51:07 +0000

Image Courtesy of UK Department for International Development [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Recently, one of our projects, Service Info, received national attention thanks to a Marketplace interview. American Public Media’s Kai Ryssdal spoke with International Rescue Committee CEO David Miliband about how Service Info is helping 1.5 million refugees of the Syrian conflict in Lebanon. The Syrian conflict is one of the worst ongoing humanitarian crises, accounting for the majority of the world’s refugees.

Caktus Group's Colin Copeland Recognized Among TBJ’s 40 Under 40

Wed, 22 Apr 2015 14:56:43 +0000

Caktus co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Colin Copeland, is among an outstanding group of top business leaders to receive the Triangle Business Journal’s 2015 40 Under 40 Leadership Award. The award recognizes individuals for their remarkable contributions to their organizations and to the community.

Epic Allies Team Members to Speak at Innovate your Cool

Thu, 16 Apr 2015 14:10:43 +0000

The Art of Cool festival is a staple of spring happenings in the Triangle. A three-day festival to present, promote, and preserve jazz and jazz-influenced music, The Art of Cool always promises to be a great time for those interested in music, art, and delicious food from Durham’s many food trucks. But what does music have to do with programming and app development? This year, Caktus Group is helping to sponsor a new portion of the festival called Innovate Your Cool. Innovate Your Cool celebrates the power of cool ideas, advancing innovative thinking by bringing together intelligent people with radically new ideas.

Caktus is Durham Living Wage Certified

Tue, 10 Mar 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Caktus Group recently became a Durham Living Wage Certified Employer! The Durham Living Wage Certification Programis a project of the Durham People’s Alliance. The group asks that local businesses voluntarily certify themselves as living wage employers in order to identify, acknowledge, and celebrate those businesses. A living wage is the amount of income needed for an individual to meet her or his basic needs without public or private assistance. Caktus is proud to be a part of efforts to build a just and sustainable local economy.

PyCon Blog Features Caktus Group

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 21:07:10 +0000

Brian Curtis, the director of the Python Software Foundation, recently interviewed and featured Caktus on the PyCon website. PyCon is the premiere event for those of us within the Python and Django open source communities. Brian writes about our work designing the PyCon 2015 website, our efforts in Libya, and what’s on the horizon in 2015. We’re excited about this recognition!

Making a Difference for Teens and Young Adults Living with HIV

Wed, 21 Jan 2015 14:00:33 +0000

Caktus has always pursued projects that make a difference in the world, particularly around HIV/AIDs. Now we’re hoping to provide a technology solution to a population that’s notoriously difficult to treat: teens and young adults living with HIV. They’re disproportionately impacted by new infections and, in the South in particular, those with HIV/AIDs have the lowest survival rates of any group living with the disease.

The Herald-Sun: Durham Firms MDC and Caktus Group Team Up to Assist in Healthcare Enrollment

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 19:43:50 +0000

We’re proud of our collaboration with Durham-based non-profit MDC to create the health insurance exchange alternative for North Carolina, NCGetCovered.org. The site was recently featured in the Herald-Sun. We’re excited to see our commitment to social good making an impact in our local community. Don’t forget the open enrollment deadline for health coverage is February 15th!

The Triangle Business Journal: Fighting the South's Low Survival Rate for Those with HIV/AIDS

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 18:26:50 +0000

The Triangle Business Journal recognized Caktus’ work in the fight against HIV/AIDS in an important article discussing lower survival rates for those diagnosed with the disease in the southern United States. The article lauds our work on the medication adherence app Epic Allies as innovative in the effort to develop and maintain consistent medication habits for those living with HIV/AIDS.

Caktus Libya Project Makes Top 10 Stories of 2014 for Technology Tank

Tue, 06 Jan 2015 18:07:44 +0000

Technology Tank, a communications and tech think tank, recently ranked their top 10 stories of 2014 and Caktus made the cut. Earlier this year, we shared a story about Libya’s SMS voter registration system. We’re happy to learn that other people were just as excited about our work enfranchising Libyan voters as we are! The list is based on number of visits to the story.

Supporting Increased Healthcare Access with NCGetCovered.org

Thu, 13 Nov 2014 16:53:49 +0000

We’ve launched NCGetCovered.org, a site dedicated to helping North Carolinians gain access to health insurance. As many know, enrolling in health insurance can feel daunting. NCGetcovered.org aims to simplify that process by centralizing enrollment information and great resources like live help. The site is launching ahead of the November 15th open enrollment period for the federal healthcare exchange (healthcare.gov).

Improving Infant and Maternal Health in Rwanda and Zambia with RapidSMS

Fri, 19 Sep 2014 21:19:06 +0000

Image courtesy of UNICEF, the funders of this project.

I have had the good fortune of working internationally on mobile health applications due to Caktus’ focus on public health. Our public health work often uses RapidSMS, a free and open-source Django powered framework for dynamic data collection, logistics coordination and communication, leveraging basic short message service (SMS) mobile phone technology. I was able to work on two separate projects tracking data related to the 1000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and the child’s second birthday. Monitoring mothers and children during this time frame is critical as there are many factors that, when monitored properly, can decrease the mortality rates for both mother and child. Both of these projects presented interesting challenges and resulted in a number of takeaways worth further discussion.

What was being in Libya like?

Tue, 15 Jul 2014 21:11:29 +0000

Election day voting on June 25th. Image courtesy of HNEC.

Since this interview was done, Libya’s capitol began experiencing more violence. As of today, militias are fighting over control of the Tripoli international airport, the primary way in and out of this section of Libya. We’re keeping our friends and colleagues in Libya in our thoughts in these truly difficult times. This post speaks to the energy and talent of the Libyans we’ve worked with during this challenging democratic transition.

Chapelboro.com: Carrboro Firm Develops Web App to Register Voters in Libya

Tue, 01 Jul 2014 15:56:31 +0000

Chapelboro.com recently featured Caktus’ work in implementing the first ever voter registration system via text message.

TechPresident: Libya Uses World's First Mobile Voter Registration System

Thu, 26 Jun 2014 10:00:00 +0000

Caktus team members from our Libya mobile voter registration team recently spoke with TechPresident about the context and challenges of implementation.

Triangle Business Journal: The Triangle technology fueling Libya's election

Thu, 26 Jun 2014 02:30:21 +0000

The Triangle Business Journal recently featured our work in Libya on the first ever SMS voter registration system.

Caktus Supports Libya Elections with World’s First SMS Voter Registration System

Wed, 25 Jun 2014 17:16:19 +0000

Today’s election in Libya, the second general election for a governing body since Gaddafi’s ouster, is being supported in-country by our Caktus team. Caktus developers created Libya's SMS voter registration system, the first of its kind in the world.

FastCompany: 10 Most Innovative Companies in Local

Fri, 14 Feb 2014 21:59:21 +0000

FastCompany named Caktus client, UNICEF, as one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Local. UNICEF received this honor for their launch of RapidSMS, an open source platform for quickly building SMS applications.

Caktus Completes RapidSMS Community Coordinator Development for UNICEF

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 14:12:35 +0000

Colin Copeland, Managing Member at Caktus, has wrapped up work, supported by UNICEF, as the Community Coordinator for the open source RapidSMS project. RapidSMS is a text messaging application development library built on top of the Django web framework. It creates a SMS provider agnostic way of sending and receiving text messages. RapidSMS has been used widely in the mobile health field, in particular in areas where internet access cannot be taken for granted and cell phones are the best communication tool available. This has included projects initiated by UNICEF country offices in Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

UNC, Duke Team up with Carrboro-based Caktus Group on HIV Gaming App

Wed, 16 Oct 2013 20:46:13 +0000

The following is a press release posted in partnership with our team at UNC and Duke.

The web application development company Caktus Group has teamed up with researchers at the UNC Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases and the Duke Global Health Institute to develop a mobile phone app that may help patients better adhere to their medication regimens.

Caktus Teaches mHealth to Fulbright Enrichment Students

Thu, 30 May 2013 15:03:53 +0000

[As part of the Fulbright Enrichment [From Lab to Market]{style=“font-style: italic;”} seminar, Caktus hosted 16 Fulbright students from around the world on Wednesday, May 29th. The participants were engineering and science students with an interest in Public Health and Mobile Health innovation.]{#docs-internal-guid–15dfdd3-f622-293e-da9c-340d4c5b5818}

Time Magazine: 100 Most Influential People of 2013

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:09:57 +0000

UNICEF clients Erica Kochi and Christopher Fabian were listed among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2013 for creating text-message based applications in the developing world. They spearheaded RapidSMS, the open source web framework used for applications like sending infant HIV results via text in Zambia. Caktus worked directly with Kochi and Fabian and were instrumental in the core development of RapidSMS, the creation of RapidSMS.org on behalf of UNICEF, and initial RapidSMS applications in Africa.

Caktus sponsoring and speaking on mobile health at SwitchPoint 2013

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:13:21 +0000

SwitchPoint is a one-of-a-kind conference and a unique opportunity to learn, share ideas, and hear about global and mobile health efforts around the world. We had a great time at SwitchPoint last year. I’m excited to announce that Caktus, for the second year in a row, is sponsoring [SwitchPoint 2013]{style=“color: rgb(17, 85, 204);”}.

Project Mwana featured in the BBC

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:20:13 +0000

Caktus has had the opportunity to work on the infrastructure of RapidSMS, an application framework that allows data collection and logistics coordination using mobile phone text messages for communication. The BBC World News recently posted an article, "RapidSMS: Saving a life in 160 characters" detailing the effects of RapidSMS technology is having on HIV/AIDS treatment in the developing world. The article focuses on work being done to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Malawi where there is one of the highest rates of infection in the world.

Project Mwana in MobileActive

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:52:51 +0000

This past week, Project Mwana was a featured article on the site MobileActive. Project Mwana is a RapidSMS application that connects rural health clinic workers in Zambia and Malawi to HIV testing centers, increasing the collection and turn around time for results to over 50%. Tobias worked with the UNICEF Innovation team on the ground in Zambia and Malawi to assist with the systems architecture and training local developers to maintain the system. The RapidSMS platform allows the application to be easily scalable at a very affordable cost, making it one of the most efficient ways to connect people and send data between people. By the end of 2012, the goal is to have 250 clinics in Malawi using Project Mwana and complete coverage in Zambia by three years.

HIV Results, Birth Reminders, and Clinic Communication in Malawi

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 23:52:00 +0000

I recently returned from a 6 week trip in Malawi, where I was heavily involved in the implementation and deployment of Project Mwana, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) project focused on Maternal and Newborn Child Health (MNCH). The project is currently running as a pilot in both Zambia and Malawi. This post is a fairly technical overview of what the project does and the way in which it was developed.