ODK tables: data organization and information services on a smartphone

Abstract

Many information services require the transfer of only small amounts of information between a client and server. Furthermore, their deployment often requires an ecosystem of cloud services rarely present in developing world contexts. ODK Tables (a component of the Open Data Kit) provides a way of organizing data into database tables hosted directly by a smartphone. Clients can make new entries into the tables (under an extensible access control model) and make queries of existing information. ODK Tables supports SMS-based interactions and allows import/export of tables to other storage whether in the cloud or on another local computing device. The objective of ODK Tables is to lower barriers experienced by entrepreneurs or other information providers in the developing world to field their own information services. This paper describes ODK Tables' capabilities, user interface, performance characteristics, and some example use cases.