Title: Harnessing technology for transformation
Author: Matt Bannick
Source: What Matters
Publisher: McKinsey & Company
Date (published): 02/12/2011
Date (accessed): 07/12/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"The social sector should put more effort behind digital technology. The anonymity of mobile communication allows end users to report data—on health status or corruption, for example—without loss of privacy or fear of reprisal. By aggregating those reports, the potential impact is far greater than any individual could hope to achieve. And with networked technology, a simple solution can scale quickly.

With a 9 percent annual growth rate, India is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. But corruption remains a serious problem; in 2010, Transparency International ranked the country 87th out of 178 countries in its annual corruption perception index. Indian citizens are regularly forced to pay bribes for everything from birth certificates to driver’s licenses—with little recourse for changing the situation. Individuals who blow the whistle on rent-seeking officials face the threat of retribution, a risk to both themselves and their families.

Technology has the potential to rapidly change this state of affairs. In August 2010, Indian civic leaders launched a website called IPaidaBribe.com allowing citizens to document incidents in which they were forced to fork over money illegally to government employees. The website has gained traction with impressive speed. In little over a year, citizens from 400 cities have reported incidents of bribery more than 16,000 times, and the site has had over 600,000 visitors. Requests to replicate the site have come in from more than 18 countries, including Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, the Gambia, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, and Sri Lanka, as well as several countries in the Balkans.

When we hear about the role of technology in spurring social change, our minds may immediately turn to well-worn images—such as activists using Twitter and Facebook to organize uprisings this past spring in the Arab world. Hidden from the headlines, however, is an equally inspiring story. Technology is not just being used to organize protests; it is empowering citizens to intervene on a wide variety of difficult, risk-laden social issues. It is also providing a platform to rapidly scale these interventions —so that millions of lives can be touched in a relatively short period of time."

Title: Information and Communication Technology Geographies: Strategies for Bridging the Digital Divide
Authors: Melissa R. Gilbert and Michele Masucci
Pages: 196 pp.
e-ISBN: 978-0-9865387-6-6
Source: Critical Topographies Series
Publisher: Praxis (e)Press, University of British Columbia
Date (published): 13/07/2011
Date (accessed): 15/10/2011
Type of information: scholarly monograph
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"Reframing the Digital Divide from the Perspectives of the “Have Nots”
Our purpose in this book is to reconceptualize the digital divide from the perspective of poor women’s daily lives in inner-city neighborhoods in Philadelphia in order to suggest an alternative policy framework for addressing digital inequalities. Our focus on poor women and their daily lives stems from a deep commitment to examining the underlying power relations that shape women’s experiences in household, family, work and community contexts as a basis for understanding what matters to them as they work to improve the quality of their lives and the lives of those for whom they care. We use the term “poor women” to signify that we work with those who are living at the margins of political, economic, and social empowerment by virtue of a constellation race, class, and gender inequalities that are manifested in such areas as income, education, employment, and health care.

We work with poor women in Philadelphia because their challenges are representative of the experiences of many women in the U.S. who are struggling for survival. Drawing upon 14 years of social action research in North Philadelphia, we argue that an understanding of poor women’s frameworks for the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) necessitates rethinking the policies that seek to address the digital divide. Specifically, we contend that in order to better bridge this divide, policy concerns need to transcend a limited conceptualization based on access to computers and the Internet towards an examination of how ICTs may exacerbate and/or mitigate social, economic, and political disparities in the United States. We further believe that this shift in policy concerns necessitates new institutional arrangements that empower poor people within relevant institutions and decision-making bodies."

Title: Zap It to Me: The Short-Term Impacts of a Mobile Cash Transfer Program
Author Editor: Jenny Aker, Rachid Boumnijel, Amanda McClelland, and Niall Tierney
Pages: 40 pp.
Source: Center for Global Development
Date (published): 20/09/2011
Date (accessed): 21/09/2011
Type of information: research report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"Conditional and unconditional cash transfers have been effective in improving development outcomes in a variety of contexts, yet the costs of these programs to program recipients and implementing agencies are rarely discussed. The introduction of mobile money transfer systems in many developing countries offers new opportunities for a more cost-effective means of implementing cash transfer programs. This paper reports on the first randomized evaluation of a cash transfer program delivered via the mobile phone. In response to a devastating drought in Niger, households in targeted villages received monthly cash transfers as part of a social protection program. One-third of targeted villages received a monthly cash transfer via a mobile money transfer system (called zap), whereas one-third received manual cash transfers and the remaining one-third received manual cash transfers plus a mobile phone. We show that the zap delivery mechanism strongly reduced the variable distribution costs for the implementing agency, as well as program recipients’ costs of obtaining the cash transfer. The zap approach also resulted in additional benefits: households in zap villages used their cash transfer to purchase a more diverse set of goods, had higher diet diversity, depleted fewer assets and grew more types of crops, especially marginal cash crops grown by women. We posit that the potential mechanisms underlying these results are the lower costs and greater privacy of the receiving the cash transfer via the zap mechanism, as well as changes in intra-household decision-making. This suggests that m-transfers could be a cost-effective means of providing cash transfers for remote rural populations, especially those with limited road and financial infrastructure. However, research on the broader welfare effects in the short- and long-term is still needed."

Title: How the UN Foundation Plans to Meet Its Goals With the Help of Social Media
Author: Zachary Sniderman
Source: Mashable
Date (published): 16/09/2011
Date (accessed): 18/09/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"The United Nations (UN) and its philanthropic arm, the United Nations Foundation, have been on a headlong sprint to change the world by 2015. That year marks the deadline of the Millennium Development Goals, a set of far reaching and ambitious humanitarian challenges that include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and providing universal primary education.

They are lofty goals for sure, but ones that the two organizations are committed to achieving. One of their secret weapons has been social media and digital tools, from the UN Foundation’s newly launched mobile app to a history of digital communication and online advocacy.

Mashable caught up with Aaron Sherinian, vice president for communications and PR for the UN Foundation, to talk about the future of social good. "

Title: Danger or opportunity? ICTs and Women's human rights defenders
Source: GenderIT.org
Date (published): 13/09/2011
Date (accessed): 14/09/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"This edition of GenderIT.orgi is dedicated to women's human rightsi defenders. Those working on women's and sexual rightsi often face challenges not only in the public space, but in their personal space, from their family and partners, as well. In this edition, we examine what new dimension brings ICTs into this struggle, how they are used to mobilize around women's and sexual rights, and the risks many defenders face online.
Security emerged as not only one of the main topics in our interviews but also in living practice, forcing us to question and change our communication protocols in order to pull this edition together without jeopardizing the safety of our interviewees. We hope then that you find the readings engaging!

This edition is a part of APC's “Connect your rights: Internet rights are human rights” campaign financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)"

Contents:
* The changing face of women's rights activism: be careful what you say online
* “Defending yourself means defending your community”
* ICT skills gap = online security risks
* Connectedness or alienation?
* Who's gonna track me?
* Secure communications essential to women's rights defenders

Title: Information and Communication Technology Geographies: Strategies for Bridging the Digital Divide
Authors: Melissa R. Gilbert, Michele Masucci
Pages: 187 pp.
ISBN: 978-0-9865387-6-6
Publisher: Praxis (e)Press
Date (published): 13/07/2011
Date (accessed): 11/08/2011
Type of information: research monograph
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"ICT Geographies draws upon 14 years of social action research with poor women in Philadelphia to argue that it is premature to declare the demise of the digital divide. What makes this book unique is that the digital divide is examined from the vantage point of some of the most marginalized people in the U.S. Most of the discussions of the potential for ICTs to catalyze societal benefits is situated within groups of technologically privileged and literate people and focused on the potential for ICTs as a pathway for achieving greater social and economic participation among the poor.

These discussions assume that the framework for ICT and empowerment is the same for mainstream and marginalized groups and therefore the problem of and solution to the digital divide is one of merely increasing access to ICTs and related information.

Drawing on case studies of women organizing for economic justice, seeking to attain employment, and trying to improve their health, the book argues that an understanding of poor women’s frameworks for the use of information and communication technologies necessitates rethinking the policies that seek to address the digital divide. Specifically, we contend that in order to better bridge this divide, policy concerns need to transcend a limited conceptualization based on access to computers and the Internet towards an examination of how ICTs may exacerbate and/or mitigate social, economic, and political disparities in the United States. We further believe that this shift in policy concerns necessitates new institutional arrangements that empower poor people within relevant institutions and decision-making bodies.

Melissa R. Gilbert and Michele Masucci are Associate Professors in the Department of Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University, USA, where they have engaged in an integrated program of social action research, critical pedagogy, and university-community partnerships to effect social change both inside and outside the academy."

via https://twitter.com/#!/eszter

Title: Visions of Community: Community Informatics and the Contested Nature of a Polysemic Term for a Progressive Discipline
Authors: Udo R. Averweg, Marcus A. Leaning
Pages: 14 pp.
ISSN: 1544-7529
Source: Information Technologies & International Development; Volume 7, Number 2, Summer 2011, 17–30
Publisher: USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
Date (published): 09/06/2011
Date (accessed): 14/07/2011
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"Community Informatics (CI) is an academic field of study that seeks to examine how information and communication technologies (ICT) such as Web 2.0 social media and mobile technologies can be deployed for the benefit of communities. Community is, however, a problematic and polysemic term, meaning different things to different people, and it has inherently political overtones. This article aims to bring to the attention of practitioners in the field of CI the contested nature of the term community, and to examine the historical origin of the term and the multiple ways in which it has been and can be used. In exploring this term, we make use of more literary, historical, and sociological approaches. Such approaches can offer new insights on the topic for audiences from more technical academic disciplines. With such discussion to assist practitioners of CI of the problematic ways in which community has been and can be used, we offer the following recommendations: (1) Use of the term community remains largely unproblematized, and we ought to be more mindful of its history; (2) community should be recognized as a locally contingent position; (3) as a term of reference, its use should be carefully considered within specific contexts; (4) a fuller exploration of the term in the CI discipline is needed; and (5) practitioners in the field of CI will require greater reflection on the term community when addressing ICT practice issues. We hope that these recommendations may lead to more reflexive practice in the progressive discipline of CI"

Title: Anthropology: Taking it mobile
Author: kiwanja (Ken Banks)
Source: Build it Kenny, and they will come…
Date (published): 08/05/2010
Date (accessed): 10/05/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Anyone taking more than a passing glance at the kiwanja.net website shouldn’t need long to figure out my four key areas of interest. I’ve always maintained that if your ideal job doesn’t exist then you have to create it, and being able to combine my passions for technology, anthropology, conservation and development is for me – through kiwanja.net – that dream job.

Saying that, it doesn’t go without its challenges. Putting aside the difficulties faced by the global conservation and development communities, most of my thinking today centres around the sometimes uncomfortable tension between appropriate technology and the mobile phone, and the potential role of applied anthropology in helping us understand what on earth is going on out there. We can’t always rely on Indiana Jones, Hollywood’s answer to anthropology, to get us all the answers.

Title: Internet, schoolchildren and rural Pakistan: How to get community buy-in including for girls
Source: Association for Progressive Communications

Date (published): 10/03/2010
Date (accessed): 12/03/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
It was by coincidence that 29 year-old software developer Huda Sarfraz got involved in the Dareecha project. It was the first time the Centre for Research in Urdu Language Processing (CRULP) had directly taken on the social perspective of a project by taking technology to the people and the Lahore resident decided she would stay on and give it a try. Huda as part of Dareecha (meaning “window”) set about training school children and teachers from the rural Punjab to use the internet so that they could eventually create their own content.
And create content they did – with their new skills, students and teachers in rural villages created 57 new, locally-relevant school and community web sites, which they presented in a competition held by Dareecha in June and August 2009. The judging panel, comprised of government officials, academia and ICT experts couldn’t help but notice the strong presence of women and girls among the winners. This was a sign that the Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM), an evaluation methodology the Dareecha team had used to compliment other planning methods for the project, had helped them get through to a segment of the population other more traditional planning methods may not have achieved: women and girls.

Title: Communication Technologies in Latin America and Africa: A multidisciplinary perspective
Editors: Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, Adela Ros Híja
Pages: 396 pp.
ISBN: 978-84-692-8402-5
Publisher: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC)
Date (published): 17/02/2010
Date (accessed): 09/03/2010
Type of information: research volume
Language: English, Catalan
On-line access: yes (individual chapters in pdf)
Abstract:
As a result of the “Conference on Development and Information Technologies. Mobile Phones and Internet in Latin America and Africa: What benefits for the most disadvantaged?” held on 23-24 October 2009 at the IN3-UOC, we are happy to inform you that the book Communication Technologies in Latin America and Africa: A multidisciplinary perspective is now available

Introduction (English, Catalan)

Section 1. Shaping the economic sphere
Chapter 1: Mobile-based livelihood services in Africa: pilots and early deployments (English)
Jonathan Donner
Chapter 2: Mobile phones as a tool in the household production process Evidence from Puno, Peru (English)
Roxana Barrantes
Chapter 3: Mobile opportunities: Poverty and Mobile Telephony in Latin America and the Caribbean. The case of Mexico (English)
Judith Mariscal
Chapter 4: Broadband Internet access in developing countries: Universal service provision and pricing schemes (English)
Carlos Gutiérrez Hita and Juana Aznar Márquez

Section 2. Shaping communicative practices
Chapter 5: Managing the cost of mobile communication in Ghana (English)
Araba Sey
Chapter 6: Africa connects: Mobile communication and social change in the margins of African society. The example of the Bamenda Grassfields, Cameroon (English)
Mirjam de Bruijn
Chapter 7: From “lands at the end of the earth” to “lands of progress”? Communication and mobility in South-Eastern Angola (English)
Inge Brinkman and Silvia Alessi
Chapter 8: Imagined connectivity, poetic text-messaging and appropriation in Sudan (English)
Siri Lamoureaux

Section 3. Shaping migratory cultures
Chapter 9: Connectivity, Migration and Socio-Economic Development with a focus on the Maghreb (English)
Ivan Ureta
Chapter 10: ICTs in Senegal: between migration culture and socio-cultural and politico-economic positioning (English)
Aly Tandian
Chapter 11: Moving and mediating: a mobile view on sub-Saharan African migration towards Europe (English)
Joris Schapendonk
Chapter 12: ICT and codeveloppement between Catalonia and Senegal (French)
Papa Sow and Rosnert Ludovic Alissoutin
Chapter 13: Can the diaspora contribute to the development of their home countries? (English)
Ana M. González Ramos, Jörg Müller and Milagros Sáinz Ibáñez

Summing up (English, Catalan)