(It's a busy week for ICTD PhD defences) Please join us on Friday, June 7 at 2pm in CSE2 371 for the final exam talk of Trevor Perrier Title: Connecting End Users to Domain Experts With Universal Mobile Phones Services Where: Fri, 07 Jun 2019 02:00 PM, CSE2 371 (Gates Center) and streamed: Meet URL: https://meet.google.com/bax-bgia-dhe Abstract: The potential for communication services available on any mobile phone to engage users, disseminate information, and facilitate behavior change has been well documented. Designing using universal applications such as SMS and voice services enables programs for individual empowerment and behavior change to reach marginalized segments of the global population. The majority of mobile messaging services for development are either one-way push messaging or use fully automated bi-directional end points. In this thesis, I present the design and evolution of a semi-automated bi-directional SMS platform for global health interventions. This novel system mediates personalized conversations between patients and trained medical professionals. In five Kenyan based projects over 140 thousand SMS messages have been sent and 35 thousand messages received. Analysis of this system data shows longitudinal trends in messaging and engagement which will inform the design of future systems.