Title: Development Connections: Unveiling the Impact of New Information Technologies/Conexiones del desarrollo: Impacto de las nuevas tecnologías de la información
Editor: Alberto Chong
Pages: pp. 352
ISBN: The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Source: The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Date (published): 29/03/2011
Date (accessed): 10/08/2011
Type of information: research monograph
Language: English, Spanish
English version (Amazon)
Spanish version (Fondo de Cultura Economica)
Executive summary (pdf)
Resumen ejecutivo (pdf)
Abstract:
"Can information and communication technology contribute to economic development?

Policymakers and academics agree that computers, the Internet, mobile telephones and other information and communication technologies can be beneficial for economic and social development. But how strong is the impact? What conditions influence their effectiveness on development? The IDB took a bold step to apply strict statistical tools in a systematic way to evaluate how these technologies contributed to the success of several development projects in the region.

The Development in the Americas (DIA) series is the flagship publication of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Each year the IDB presents an in-depth comparative study of an issue of concern to Latin America and the Caribbean. This year’s edition, titled Development Connections: Unveiling the Impact of New Information Technologies, reviews recent advances in the world of Information Communication Technologies (ICT)—cell phones, computers, internet—and uses rigorous methods to evaluate their impact on the welfare of societies. It finds that greater access to ICTs alone cannot bring about economic development in the region. The quality of institutions and regulations, people’s skills, and physical infrastructure are crucial for ICTs to have a positive impact on development. Prior to investing in acquiring and expanding access to ICTs, governments must evaluate and strengthen their countries’ capacity to use them.
This executive summary describes the motivation behind this book, the methodologies used, and both the breadth and limits of the studies. The impact evaluations on which the book is based cover the use of ICT in finance, institutions, education, health, the environment, and labor, as evidenced in the table of contents of the report presented on the next page. Together, this summary and the table of contents provide just a taste of the rich information and innovative approach that distinguish this year’s edition of the DIA.

Table of Contents
About the Contributors
Preface List of Boxes
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
1. A Field of Dreams or a Dream Come True?
2. The Region’s Place in the Digital World: A Tale of Three Divides
3. Banking on Technology for Financial Inclusion
4. Rewiring Institutions
5. TechFever in the Health Sector
6. Computers in Schools: Why Governments Should Do their Homework
7. Help or Hindrance? ICT’s Impact on the Environment
8. Development.com: Using ICTs to Escape Poverty?
References Index"

See also:
Development Connections: Unveiling the Impact of New Information Technologies
presentation by Eduardo Lora, 28 July 2011, Kingston, Jamaica (ppt, 6.5 MB)

Title: Development Connections: ICTs in Latin America
Editor: Rita Funaro
Pages: 16 pp.
Source: IDEA Ideas for Development in the Americas, Volume 24
Publisher: Inter-American Development Bank
Date (published): March 2011
Date (accessed): 10/08/2011
Type of information: newsletter
Language: English, Spanish
On-line access: yes (HTML + pdf)
Abstract:
"Information and communication technologies (ICT)--cell phones, computers, Internet--hold great promise but greater access alone cannot bring about economic development. This is a major finding of the IDB's latest edition of its flagship Development in the Americas series titled Development Connections: Unveiling the Impact of New Information Technologies. This edition of IDEA draws on this book to explore what works and doesn't work in the regional context and to help uncover how to best tap the potential of ICTs for the advancement of Latin America and the Caribbean."

Title: Proceedings of the ACORN-REDECOM Conference 2011
Editors: Liliana Ruiz de Alonso [et al.]
Pages: 397 pp.
ISBN: 2177-3858
e-ISBN: 2177-1634
Publisher: Americas Information and Communication Research Network
Date (published): 18/06/2011
Date (accessed): 10/08/2011
Type of information:
Language: English, Portuguese, Spanish
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
Contents / Contenido / Sumário
ICT POLICY AND REGULATION (Sipan Salon)
Broadband Policies and Deployment (Session 1A – May 19th, 2011)
A deployment strategy for Internet exchange points as part of a national broadband plan (Daniel B. Cavalcanti) 1
El plan colombiano para integrar un ecosistema digital (Fernando Beltrán and Lina Gómez Torres) 7
Oportunidades y desafíos de la banda ancha móvil (Ernesto Flores Roux and Judith Mariscal Avilés) 17

Social Media and Social Participation (Session 2A – May 19th, 2011)
Hacia un índice de medición del desarrollo de los cibermedios (Elias Said-Hung and Carlos Arcila-Calderón) 39
Redes sociales virtuales. Más allá de la mediación tecnológica (Mónica García Gil and Arturo Uscátegui Maldonado) 49
Impacto de las TIC en los procesos de comunicación de las organizaciones sociales de base de Daniel Hernandez (Gabriela Perona Zevallos) 57

Impact of ICT on Rural Communities (Session 3A – May 19th, 2011)
Refarming frequencies in rural areas: A regulatory perspective (Enrico Calandro) 67
Descontinuidades e sombras: acessos, usos e fontes de informação numa comunidade rural e remota na sociedade da informação (Fausta Clarinda de Santana) 81

Impact of Technology and Other Industries: Health, Agriculture, and Tourism (Session 4A – May 19th, 2011)
Información para la agricultura y capital social. Uso de smartphones entre pequeños agricultores en la costa peruana (Roberto Bustamante Vento) 91
Adopción de Internet, empleo y pobreza en Uruguay (Fernando Borraz and Daniel Ferrés) 101

ICTs and Industry (Session 5A – May 20th, 2011)
Impacto de las TIC en el emprendimiento empresarial: Estimaciones econométricas a nivel de un panel de países (Jorge Vélez Ospina) 121
Governança, Commons e Direitos de Propriedade Intelectual: uma análise em termos de Social Choice (Alain Herscovici) 137

E-Governance and Regulation (Session 6A – May 20th, 2011)
Democracia, espacio público e internet (Marina Vieira Villela) 151
E-Governo, Participação e Transparência de Gestão (Othon Jambeiro, Rosane Sobreira and Lorena Macambira) 159
Modelo teórico para el abordaje de la regulación de internet y el ciberespacio (Nelson Díaz
Pardo and Luz Naranjo) 164

ICT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND CITIZENSHIP: ACCESS AND APPLICATIONS (Quechua Salon)
Telecom and Economics (Session 1B – May 19th, 2011)
Empirical Evidence on the Impact of Privatization of Fixed-Line Operators on Telecommunications Performance: Comparing OECD, Latin American, and African Countries (F. Gasmi, L. Recuero Virto, P. Noumba and A. Maingard) 181
Broadband Economic Impact in Brazil: A Simultaneous Equations Analysis (Hildebrando Rodrigues Macedo and Alexandre Ywata de Carvalho) 211
Investment, Dynamic Consistency and the Sectoral Regulator`s Objetive (Duarte Brito, Pedro Pereira and João Vareda) 229

Mobile Policies and Pricing (Session 2B – May 19th, 2011)
Mobile Number Portability in South Asia (Tahani Iqbal) 259 Mobile Termination Rate Debate in Africa (Christoph Stork) 267

The Future of Laws and Regulations (Session 3B – May 19th, 2011)
Telecommunications Law Indicators for Comparative Studies (TLICS) Model: A Hermeneutical Approach (Marcio Iorio Aranha) 283 Convergence and Regulation in Brazilian Telecommunications (Jose Rogerio Vargens) 295
Avaliação de portais de compras brasileiros centrada na perspectiva dos fornecedores (Heryck Leonardo Resende Paranhos and Adriane Maria Arantes de Carvalho) 309

Broadband Policies and Impact (Session 4B – May 19th, 2011)
Broadband tariffs in Latin America: Benchmarking and analysis (Hernán Galperin and Christian Ruzzier) 317
Redes de comunicación electrónicas, políticas públicas y bienestar (Omar Emilio Carrera Félix) 343

Policies for Access (Session 5B – May 20th, 2011)
El acceso universal a las telecomunicaciones y su vínculo con las políticas de banda ancha en América Latina (Roxana Barrantes Cáceres and Aileen Agüero García) 353
Políticas Públicas que Incentivan el Uso de las TICs: el caso de Culiacán, Sinaloa, México (Ana Elizabeth Ramírez Gómez and Ana Luz Ruelas Monjardin) 365

ICT in Education (Session 6B – May 20th, 2011)
¿Cómo debe ser un producto digital educativo? (Luis Alberto Lesmes Sáenz, Luz Dary Naranjo Colorado and Abdénago Yate Arévalo) 377
TIC e desenvolvimento na América Latina: uma análise sob a perspectiva da educação (Lucilene Cury and Luciana de Queiroz Telles Maffra) 385
Redes Multiexpresivas 2.0 en Educación: Estrategias de Análisis y Gestión en Educación Pública (Jose Cabrera Paz and Luisa Fernanda Acuña Beltrán) 391

Title: IT professionals want local content
Source: IT News Africa
Date (published): 07/08/2011
Date (accessed): 09/08/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Global survey reveals Business to Business (B2B) marketers must produce localised IT content to engage IT professionals outside North America.

IDG Connect’s global content survey of 3,217 IT professionals in 114 territories reveals that whilst 72% of respondents find vendor white papers extremely useful, the majority outside of North America still struggle to find the localised content they need.

Results suggest that although this is an issue worldwide, it is a greater problem in developing markets.
“Engagement levels with our audience soar when we supply content which relates to their region. This is especially true in emerging markets where this information is thin on the ground.
These results show high levels of frustration in IT professionals outside North America and prove that even modest amounts of localisation will help technology marketers enhance engagement,” said Matthew Smith VP of IDG Connect International.
· Asia: 74% of IT professionals say they would prefer localized content, but 79% say they “struggle” to find it
· South America: 81% struggle to find local content
· Africa: 75% struggle to find local content
· Middle East: 67% struggle to find local content
· Australia and New Zealand: 69% struggle to find local content
· Europe: 55% struggle to find local content"

Title: One-to-one computing in Latin America & the Caribbean
Author: Michael Trucano
Source: EduTech
Publisher: The World Bank Group
Date (published): 21/06/2011
Date (accessed): 13/07/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"A recent paper from Eugenio Severin and Christine Capota of the Inter-american Development Bank (IDB) surveys an emerging set of initiatives seeking to provide children with their own educational computing devices. While much of the popular consideration of so-called "1-to-1 computing programs" has focused on programs in the United States, Canada, Western Europe and Australia, One-to-One Laptop Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean: Panorama and Perspectives provides a useful primer for English-speaking audiences on what is happening in middle and low income countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela."

Title: Broadband in Latin America: Opportunities to reduce tariffs, improve quality and expand service
Authors:Hernan Galperin, Christian Ruzzier
Publisher:DIRSI - Diálogo Regional sobre la Sociedad de la Información
Date (published):05/11/2010
Date (accessed):05/11/2010
Type of information:policy brief
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
„A new study reveals that prices in Latin America are almost three times as high as those in more developed countries. A 10 percent tariff reduction would result in a nearly 19 percent increase in penetration, equivalent to 4.7 million additional connections in the region.

The level of prices for a service is a key variable that affects households’ ability to purchase and reveals the degree of competition among service providers. This paper analyzes tariffs for access to fixed broadband Internet service in the residential segment in Latin America and the Caribbean and seeks to estimate the accessibility of the service for various households and the effect of potential price variations on adoption of broadband in the region.”

Title: Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas: The Latin American perspective
Authors: Lisa M Cespedes and Franz J Martin
Source: i4d (Information For Development), January - March 2010
Publisher: Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies
Date (accessed): 02/06/2010
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Mobile phones offer individuals in rural populations the ability to access and interact with information services and databases.
Consider the numerous ways in which mobile telephony facilitates every day endeavours in addition to offering phone calls and text messaging. The technologies and applications vary from the developed areas to the developing regions, however, people in the most remote and marginalised places of the world are also benefiting greatly from the opportunities that the technology offers to improve their social and economic conditions.
There are 179 million people using mobile phones in Latin America; 82% of those users browse the Internet, 73% send text messages, and 55% are transferring data in different ways1. As a result of the expansion of mobile infrastructure and relatively affordable prices, the use of mobile telephony increasingly takes part of the everyday life of many rural families. As an example, in countries such as Peru, only 0.01% of rural households have access to the Internet while 36.5% have a mobile phone. In Chile, the penetration of mobile telephony is 94.7%.

Title: Fair Mobile Report from South America
Author: Steve Song
Source: Many Possibilities
Date (published): 08/04/2010
Date (accessed): 09/04/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
The South American research network, DIRSI, have just published a report entitled “Tariffs and affordability gap of mobile telephony services in Latin America and the Caribbean” which profiles mobile affordability in Latin America and the Caribbean. In this post I contrast their approach with my own fledgling work on a Fair Mobile index for Africa.

Title: Mobile telephony in Latin America and the Caribbean: Who can afford it?
Publisher: DIRSI - Regional Dialogue on the Information Society
Date (published): 29/03/2010
Date (accessed): 09/04/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Mobile telephony has experienced a dramatic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean and it has an average penetration level of around 80%. But can mobile users afford the service's cost? What happens if we take income into account and compare Latin America's cost with those of other regions. Is mobile telephony in Latin America cheap or expensive?

Answers to these questions can be found in a study by Hernán Galperín within the framework of DIRSI's research on ICT Indicators and Mobile affordability...The study concludes that the high cost of mobile service in the region are primarily a result of the high level of market concentration and the heavy tax burden imposed on the service in most countries. Making mobile services mobile more affordable, says Galperin, “will require more competition in the sector, for example by implementing number portability and reserving radio spectrum for new operators, and reducing the tax burden imposed on a service that the poorer sectors depend on.

You can read the abstract and download the full report (Spanish only) here. (An English translation of the report will be published)

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)