Title: Amplify the voices of vulnerable and marginalized groups through Community Radio in Bangladesh
Source: Blog of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
Date (published): 28/11/2011
Date (accessed): 15/12/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Rural people of Bangladesh entered into an era of community broadcasting to amplify the voices of vulnerable and marginalized groups through 14 community radio stations around the country. Community Radio provides the local community access to information and through exchange of information, leads them towards empowerment. Empowerment is the process to link them to their rights, good governance and development process.

Community Radio stations are going to full transmission in Bangladesh.14 stations are pioneering to be on-air, aiming to ensure empowerment and right to information for the rural community. Community Radio Padma 89.20, Rajshahi district and Community Radio Nalta 89.20 of Satkhira district has started full transmission.
…
It can be mentioned that these Radio Stations will broadcast programs, mostly in local dialect within the people living around 17 kilometers of a Station. The Programs will cover social, economic, cultural and environmental issues.
...
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) is promoting the advocacy with the government in relations to community radio with other organizations since its emergence in 2000 to open-up the Community Radio in Bangladesh to address critical social issues at community level, such as poverty, social exclusion, empowerment of marginalized rural groups and catalyze democratic process in decision making and ongoing development efforts.

As a result, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh acknowledged the importance of community radio and announced the Community Radio Installation, Broadcast & Operation Policy. Bangladesh is the 2nd country in South Asia in formulating policy for Community Radio."

Title: Towards a cyber security aware rural community
Authors: Marthie Grobler, Zama Dlamini, Sipho Ngobeni, Aubrey Labuschagne
Pages: 7 pp.
Source: Proceedings of the 2011 Information Security for South Africa (ISSA) Conference
Date (published): 10/08/2011
Date (accessed): 13/12/2011
Type of information: research paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"A large portion of the South African rural community only have intermittent access to computers and are not familiar, nor entirely comfortable, with the use of internet communication or electronic devices. The research conducted by the authors of this paper confirms that this lack of awareness, combined with the inherent dangers posed by the internet, expose local communities to cyber threats. Especially rural communities are not always empowered to deal with these threats.

In an effort to prevent innocent internet users from becoming victims of cyber attacks, a cyber security awareness campaign is developed to educate novice internet and technology users with regard to basic cyber security. The motivation for this awareness project is to educate all South Africans on the safe use of the internet, in an attempt to strengthen the cyber security awareness level concerning the South African network. The hypothesis is that if there are local communities that are not properly educated, their technology devices may remain unprotected. This may leave the South African internet infrastructure vulnerable to attacks, posing a severe threat to national security and eventually affecting communities other than those directly involved.

This research paper focuses on promoting cyber security awareness towards the newly released broadband capability and knowledge transfer within rural communities by means of a voluntary community based training program. This program can be adapted in any environment other than rural communities, but the current focus has been in the rural areas. The program takes on an informal work session approach with presentations and discussion sessions. The cyber security awareness program modules are divided into four main themes: physical security, malware and malware countermeasures, safe surfing and social aspects of cyber security.
These themes are developed in such a way to cover a wide range of topics, including practical advice on phishing attack avoidance and more advanced topics such as preventing social engineering attacks. This paper will introduce the development of the cyber security awareness program, and emphasize the importance for including these specific themes at the hand of international cyber security incidents."

Title: Sri Lanka launches national IT literacy initiative
Author: Clarice Africa
Source: FutureGov
Date (published): 12/12/2011
Date (accessed): 13/12/2011
Type of information: news
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"As part of the government’s effort to foster an IT literate society, the government launched its “e-diriya” national IT literacy initiative which aims to provide basic computer knowledge to 50,000 “samurddhi” recipients and school children.
…
Meanwhile, Professor P.W. Epasinghe, Chairman of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, pointed out that the widespread availability of ICT equipment such as computers and mobile phones should be accompanied by equally widespread availability of facilities to use them.

“Through the launch of “e-diriya”, we have taken steps to provide information technology knowledge to a segment of society that had not been covered before. From today we begin providing IT training to especially to 20,000 Samurddhi recipients in the first round. "

Title: Uses, Benefits and Challenges of Public Access Points in the Face of Growth of Mobile Technology
Authors: Wallace Chigona, Ofentse Lekwane, Kim Westcott, Agnes Chigona
Pages: 14 pp.
ISSN: 1681-4835
Source: The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, (2011) 49, 5, 1-14
Publisher: City University of Hong Kong
Date (published): 02/11/2011
Date (accessed): 20/11/2011
Type of information: peer reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"For over two decades, the use of shared Information and Communication Technology (ICT) access has been promoted as a mode for promoting access to technology, especially in developing countries, hence minimising the effects of the digital divide on those on the wrong side of the divide. Recent discourse on the momentous diffusion of mobile telephony in developing countries has questioned the rationale of promoting fixed shared access, since people are bound to prefer mobile phones over shared access points. This paper seeks to empirically explore the use of shared access points in the wake of the increasing diffusion and usage of mobile technology. We explored the actual use of shared computing facilities, the benefits users accrue from using the facilities and the challenges they face in using and in gaining benefits. We used a case study of a shared facility in a disadvantaged community in Cape Town. The study noted that the demand for the shared facilities is still high. We noted that the center is used for both instrumental and hedonic purposes. It was also noted that there are economic, social and psychological benefits from using the facilities. However, it was noted that use of the facilities is beset by a number of challenges which limit use and benefits from the usage. The paper also noted the strategies users employ to overcome the challenges."

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: Research: Mobile Phone Appropriation in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Author: Anne-Ryan Heatwole
Source: MobileActive.org
Date (published): 20/09/2011
Date (accessed): 21/09/2011
Type of information: blog post/research report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"A research study on the role of mobile phones in the slums (favelas) of Rio de Janeiro investigates the power structures of how mobile phones influence social interactions and values among favela residents. Written by Adriana de Souza e Silva, Daniel M. Sutko, Fernando A. Salis, and Claudio de Souze e Silva, "Mobile Phone Appropriation in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil" offers a new perspective on the role of mobile phones in low-income areas. The authors point out that Brazil is in a unique position as it has both high-income and low-income residents living in very close proximity. They say:

Studies of developing countries often exclude Brazil because the country is considered an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank (Donner, 2008), but this classification ignores Brazil’s extremely uneven income distribution (UDNP, 2008), which results in roughly 10 percent of the population earning 46 percent of the overall income, while 50 percent makes only 13.3 percent (IPEA, 2005: 52). Despite this income distribution, there are about 203 million cell phones in Brazil (as of December 2010), making Brazil the fifth largest country worldwide in terms of cell phone absolute numbers, with a 104 percent cell phone penetration rate (Teleco, 2011).

The study's focus on favela residents looks at how mobile phones play a role in both low- and high-income populations. "
"This qualitative case study describes the social appropriation of mobile phones among low-income communities in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) by asking how favela (slum) residents appropriate cell phones. Findings highlight the difficulty these populations encounter in acquiring and using cell phones due to social and economic factors, and the consequent subversive or illegal tactics used to gain access to such technology.

Moreover, these tactics are embedded in and exemplars of the cyclic power relationships between high- and low-income populations that constitute the unique use of mobile technologies in these Brazilian slums. The article concludes by suggesting that future research on technology in low-income communities focus instead on the relationship of people to technology rather than a dichotomization of their access or lack thereof."

Title: New technologies altering healthcare landscape, says UN report
Author: Mićo Tatalović
Source: SciDev.net
Date (published): 20/09/2011
Date (accessed): 21/09/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"New ways of doing business, often triggered by novel technologies, have up-ended public and private sector roles in development — offering a new landscape of healthcare opportunities for women and children in developing countries, according to a UN report.

The fundamental change is that it is now the private sector that is creating infrastructure, and the public sector is arriving afterwards to exploit it for health purposes, according to the co-author of the report, Tore Godal, a medical doctor and special advisor on global health to the Norwegian prime minister.

The report, 'Innovating for Every Woman, Every Child', published last week (12 September) by The Lancet, highlights business models that could harness new infrastructure to improve the health of women, children and infants in low-income countries."

Title: ICT or Development: Why It’s So Difficult to Get Rich and Help the Poor Simultaneously?
Author: Kentaro Toyama
Source: The ICT4D Jester
Date (published): 14/08/2011
Date (accessed): 18/09/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"In 2004, the Jester visited some of the Akshaya rural telecenters in the Malappuram district of Kerala, India. These centers were initiated and subsidized by the state government, who sought “100% computer literacy” for the state, meaning that one person in every household should learn the basics of PC operation, e-mail, and Internet browsing. The state saw it as a development project, but unusually for communist-leaning Kerala, the telecenters were meant to be run as for-profit businesses by local entrepreneurs.

The telecenters the Jester saw on that trip varied in their apparent success. One had a row of shiny new PCs in a swanky air-conditioned office space and bustled with customers furiously working through a computer-literacy curriculum. The owner boasted that he was already making a good profit. Another stacked computer equipment floor to ceiling, so that at most one PC was actually usable. The owner said that he dragged members of low-income families in his village to his center to learn about PCs, even if they kicked and screamed. When asked about breaking even, he demurred, “What I care about is the development impact of this project.”

A year or two later, then-PhD-student Renee Kuriyan went back to the same district to explore in depth, and among other things, she confirmed what the Jester had seen informally – that most Akshaya entrepreneurs fell into one of two categories: Those who made money by marketing to richer clients, and those who had some impact on poorer clients, but made little money. A very small minority made money and served poor clients.

Since then, the Jester has seen or heard of myriad attempts to make a profit by serving the poor, or as C. K. Prahalad put it, “eradicate poverty through profits.” Yet, despite the ongoing excitement around social enterprises and the bottom of the pyramid, in actuality, it is very difficult to make a lot of money by selling goods or services to poor people in a way that has meaningful, positive impact on their lives, particularly with ICT."

Second part: click here

Title: From No Doctor to E-Doctors in Rural India
Author: Emily Singer
Source: Technology Review
Publisher: MIT
Date (published): 15/09/2011
Date (accessed): 18/09/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"A telemedicine company brings $1 virtual checkups to poor countries.

There aren't too many doctors in the village of Hari Ke Kalan, in the Punjab region of northern India. But for $1, residents who bicycle to a new health clinic can get an appointment with a physician appearing on a large-screen television and beamed in over broadband Internet.

The clinic, built by a startup called Healthpoint Services, is one of a network of eight "e-health points" that the for-profit company has built in India as part of a growing effort by entrepreneurs to capitalize on the rapid expansion of cellular and broadband access in the poorest parts of the world. With successes such as text-message-based mobile payments taking off in some countries, many experts see medicine as the next major application of technology in poor nations."

Title: Social Influence in Mobile Phone Adoption: Evidence from the Bottom of the Pyramid in Emerging Asia
Authors:Harsha de Silva, Dimuthu Ratnadiwakara, Ayesha Zainudeen
Pages: 18 pp.
ISBN: 1544-7529
e-ISBN: 1544-7537
Source: Information Technologies & International Development; Vol 7, Issue 3 - Mobile Telephony Special Issue, 1-18 pp.
Publisher: USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
Date (published): 09/09/2011
Date (accessed): 14/09/2011
Type of information: Peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"This article attempts to quantitatively measure the various influences on mobile phone adoption at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Thailand. Based on an existing theoretical framework, adoption is modeled by fitting a logit model to a large six-country dataset. The study finds evidence for the importance of social influence in mobile adoption in two modes: one that exerts pressure on individuals to adopt, and another that helps to generate benefits via social networks that are tied in with economic and business networks. The article elaborates on the resulting social policy implications for using mobile telephone services to fight poverty at the BoP in these and similar countries."