Open Data Kit 2.0: A services-based application framework for disconnected data management

In resource-constrained communities, organizations often use information and communication technologies to amplify their limited resources to improve education, health, and economic opportunity. Over two-thirds of the world's population have mobile phones, yet less than half are connected to the Internet [23]. Organizations helping disadvantaged populations often rely on mobile devices as their primary computing resource because of their availability in resource-constrained contexts. However, to reach under-served populations, mobile applications often operate in areas with no connectivity or challenged network environments. Unfortunately, many mobile application frameworks are generally not well-suited for long periods of disconnected data collection and management. Furthermore, mobile application frameworks are generally aimed at users with significant technical skills and resources. In this paper, we discuss our experiences building, deploying, and refining the Open Data Kit (ODK) 2.0 tool suite. ODK 2.0 is a modular application framework that facilitates organizations with limited technical capacity to build application-specific information services for use in disconnected environments. We discuss ODK 2.0's flexible abstractions that enable users of varying technical skill levels to create customizable mobile data management solutions. We present ODK 2.0 case studies involving multiple organizations and discuss lessons learned from building a service-based mobile application framework for disconnected data management.