Voice-based Access to Linked Market Data in the Sahel

In this paper, we present our ongoing efforts to bring the Web of Data to rural communities in the Sahel region. These efforts center around RadioMarche, a market information system (MIS) which can be accessed using firstgeneration mobile phones. We argue that linking the locally produced and consumed data to (external) Linked Data sources will increase its value. We describe how RadioMarche data is available as Linked Open Data and present a prototype demonstrator with voice-based access to this linked market data. Through this interface, the Linked Data can be accessed using first generation mobile phones. As such, these are first steps towards opening the Web of Data to local users that do not have appropriate hardware to produce and consume Linked Data. We present a number of use cases as well as the current deployment state. We also discuss our current efforts to leverage the creation of Linked Data in development regions and build applications on this Linked Data.