Most mobiles…

My colleagues from the Technology for Emerging Markets Group at MSR India and I have an article appearing in the new issue of IEEE Computer.  It both provides an overview of some of our team’s work as well as an argument to expand the conceptualization of an ICTD intervention/project beyond that of the technology itself.

We believe that three elements are critical for progress in ICT4D research: time in the field, honesty about what works, and willingness to accept simple technical solutions.

I’ve written about Ken Banks’ work with kiwanja.net from time to time.  Ken just completed a lengthy interview with the technology program Spark on CBC Radio One.  It’s a very good overview of some of the most interesting implications of the spread of mobiles in Africa. The short form touches on m-banking, microenterprises and livelihoods.  The longer form adds Ken’s comments on shared phones, low-cost handsets, and beeping/flashing/missed calls/’please call me’. 

Time flies!  Apparently I’ve been making occasional dispatches to this blog for a whole year now.  One of my very first posts was on last year’s ICA.

I want to thank Rich Ling, Scott Campbell and Jan Fernback for organizing a very successful pre-conference workshop on globalization and development issues surrounding  mobile telephony. Though a big conference like ICA has its own rewards, it is great to have a full day-and-a-half dedicated to contiguous sessions on mobile society/mobile theory.  After a great keynote by Jim Katz, the conversations built on each other as the sessions progressed.

The agenda is here, including some links to full papers.   Notable papers in the mobiles and development genre included Harsha de Silva from LIRNEasia on perceptions of the impacts of mobile on livelihoods among BOP users, from Hana Cecelie Geirbo of Telenor on missed calls in Bangadesh, from Araba Sey on the decline of the informal mobile payphone in Ghana, and from Patricia Mechael on her work on mobiles and health in Egypt.

I presented a work-in-progress—A typology of mobile uses among small and informal businesses. By re-surveying the existing literature on the issue, I argue that:

Current evidence suggests that within the small and informal business (MSE) sector, benefits of mobile use accrue mostly (but not exclusively) to existing enterprises, in ways which amplify and accelerate material and informational flows, rather than fundamentally transforming them.

This is not to say that I think the mobile is not a huge boon to small enterprise. Rather, I just emphasize that it is (mostly) a boon in the same way that a landline would be, were it more affordable.  The research literature available (so far) suggests that the majority of small and informal businesses use mobiles to serve existing customers, coordinate with existing partners and supplies, and check prices amongst existing alternatives and sources, rather than to replace middlemen, recruit new customers, or start new enterprises.  

Extended abstract  //  slides

Over the years, I’ve been keeping an eye on the research literature about mobile use in the developing world.   I first presented a version of this review at a conference in Hong Kong in 2005.  Now, thanks to Leopoldina Fortunati’s efforts to pull together a special issue of The Information Society, the review has finally been published.  Thanks also to the editors at the Information Society, and to the reviewers who provided such valuable feedback at various stages.

There’s a lot more of the literature to cover than there was when I started this back in 2005.  And, since it is an interdisciplinary review, I’m sure to have missed some citations.  Nevertheless, it has been a great exercise for me to get a sense of what’s out there, and to become familiar with the diverse work of an amazing set of researchers along the way.

I hope some of you find this review a useful input to your own work. 

Thanks everyone! 

Donner, Jonathan. (2008). Research Approaches to Mobile Use in the Developing World: A Review of the Literature.  The Information Society 24(3), 140-159.

Abstract
This paper reviews roughly 200 recent studies of mobile (cellular) phone use in the developing world, and identifies major concentrations of research. It categorizes studies along two dimensions. One dimension distinguishes studies of the determinants of mobile adoption from those that assess the impacts of mobile use, and from those focused on the interrelationships between mobile technologies and users. A secondary dimension identifies a subset of studies with a strong economic development perspective. The discussion considers the implications of the resulting review and typology for future research.