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Digital Access, Inequalities & Inclusion

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Sustainable, Universal Access to the Internet: Environmental Implications and Policy Choices

Teddy Woodhouse

Washington, DC: Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI); World Wide Web Foundation (2021), 29 pp.

"This report analyses how governments are building climate and carbon factors into their broadband policies, looks at the consequences of inaction, and suggests policy recommendations towards a greener internet. We compiled publicly available documents for the national broadband plans from the 100 l ... more

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Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas. Study period 2018-2021

Geneva: ITU (2021), xiii, 90 pp.

"There is need for further studies focusing on access to broadband services and how emerging technologies can be used to transform rural and remote areas into digital economies. There is no one-size-fits-all model for financing rural connectivity and engaging all stakeholders, but creating public-pr ... more

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Gender Digital Divide: Desk Review Report

Alexandra Tyers

Washington, DC: USAID (2021), viii, 87 pp.

"This desk review is the first phase of creating gender digital divide tools for USAID Gender Advisors. It provides an overview of the current status of the gender digital divide (with a particular focus on mobile phones and mobile Internet, although these are not the only aspects of the gender digi ... more

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Manual de redes comunitárias
Key Guides

Bruna Zanolli

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) (2021), 90 pp.

"Este manual reúne informações a partir de experiências concretas de redes comunitárias no Brasil e América Latina para responder a perguntas como: o que são redes comunitárias? Que tipos existem? Como planejar, implementar, instalar e gerir uma rede comunitária? Dessa maneira, esta publica ... more

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Practicing Sovereignty: Digital Involvement in Times of Crises

Bianca Herlo, Daniel Irrgang, Gesche Joost, Andreas Unteidig (eds.)

Bielefeld: transcript Verlag (2021), 430 pp.

"This book frames digital sovereignty as a right to be claimed and a process constantly in the making, as a condition of the ability to critically partake in the digital transformation. Emphasizing a political and transformative significance of the term, this interdisciplinary publication gathers sc ... more

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Minimum Data Consumption: How Much is Needed to Support Online Activities, and is it Affordable?
Deep Insights

Rong Chen, Michael Minges

World Bank (2021), 19 pp.

"The primary payment method for mobile internet usage in most developing countries is prepaid, with the amount tied to a specific volume of data usage. Data volume is therefore a useful yardstick to determine how much is needed to carry out important welfare enhancing activities online. For foundati ... more

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Policy Brief and Recommendations for an Enabling Environment for Community Networks in Brazil

Adriana Labardini Inzunza, Bruna Zanolli et al.

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) (2021), 152 pp.

"The policy brief we hereby present to the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) includes recommendations and specific proposals to enable community networks in Brazil, considering extensive research in both the global and Brazilian context, the state of the art of these small, not-f ... more

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Meaningful Connectivity: A New Standard to Raise the Bar for Internet Access

Dhanaraj Thakur, Teddy Woodhouse et al.

Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) (2020), 18 pp.

"The meaningful connectivity standard is a tool to raise the bar for internet access and set more ambitious policy goals for digital development. It sets minimum thresholds across the four dimensions of internet access that matter most to users. These are: regular internet use - minimum threshold: d ... more

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Assessing Internet Development in Kenya: Using UNESCO’s Internet Universality ROAM-X Indicators

Grace Githaiga, Victor Kapiyo et al.

Paris: UNESCO; Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) (2020), 167 pp.

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Exclusión y deriva: Dinámicas fronterizas de la digitalidad

Johanna C. Ángel Reyes, Joseba Buj (eds.)

México, DF: Universidad Iberoamericana; Taurus; Fundación Telefónica (2020), 192 pp.

"[Este libro] presenta ocho capítulos que se muestran críticos frente a las posibilidades y promesas de la cultura digital, denunciando que la red ha reproducido las formas de desigualdad del mundo analógico. Los autores proponen una reflexión crítica frente a ciertos discursos que se presentan ... more

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Connecting with Confidence: Literature Review

Katie Drew, John Wannes, Aaron Martin, Silva Pelucchi

UNHCR (2020), 23 pp.

"Specifically, the review focuses on the means, barriers, and associated cybersecurity and privacy concerns that refugees face around connectivity. This includes but is not limited to mobile connectivity and social media, particularly in displacement contexts. While these subjects may at times inter ... more

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Reaching 50 Million Women with Mobile: A Practical Guide

Dominica Lindsey et al.

London: GSMA; Altai Consulting (2020), 41 pp.

"The persistent gender gap in mobile access and use is already well documented, as are the significant benefits of closing it. Across low- and middle-income countries today, women are eight per cent less likely than men to own a mobile phone, 20 per cent less likely to use mobile internet and 33 per ... more

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From Digital Divide to Social Inclusion: A Tale of Mobile Platform Empowerment in Rural Areas

Lisha Ye, Huiqin Yang

Sustainability, volume 12, issue 6: 2424 (2020), 16 pp.

"The digital divide in rural areas is an important social issue, especially in developing countries. Although Internet and broadband penetration have increased in the world generally, there are many obstacles for rural China to get access to ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and its ser ... more

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Media and Information Literacy Index. Country Report Namibia

Dennis Reineck

Bonn: Deutsche Welle DW Akademie (2020), 25 pp.

"Young Namibians are embracing the digital transformation, according to indicative findings from the present MIL INDEX country study. Interestingly, the youths that took part in eight focus groups conducted at the end of 2018 in Windhoek and Rundu are immersed in digital communication but are aware ... of the ambivalent nature of the news and information sources they find on social media and related Internet services. The importance of a critical mindset when navigating the World Wide Web was stressed by the eight experts interviewed as part of the study. This MIL INDEX study addresses five dimensions of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) according to DW Akademie’s MIL model: access, analysis, reflection, creation, and action. The focus groups conducted for this study reveal that there is a rural/urban divide in terms of access and use of media. The more rural (and older) groups use radio and television on a regular basis, while the more urban (and younger) groups tend to regard traditional media as yesterday’s media. This shift is in line with the rise of social media. Information uptake is coincidental and journalistic content is intermingled with all sorts of trivia when consumed in social networks. Smartphones are regarded by many as a substitute for newspapers, radio, and television. Amongst those who continue using traditional media, radio is turned to more often for information while TV is regarded more as an entertainment medium. Considering analytical skills, there is a certain disenchantment of the Namibian youths with journalistic media, the reporting being considered not close enough to the interests and issues of the youth. But it was interesting to find that the focus group participants’ appraisal of media in terms of trustworthiness is the exact opposite of their consumption patterns. While the discussions documented frequent use of social media these are evaluated as least trustworthy, whereas newspapers are rated highly on the trustworthiness scale but were hardly ever read. There is an awareness of the ambivalent quality of news and information on social media, but the youths cannot always name sources they consider produce high-quality information. The results in the reflection dimension are ambivalent. The youths can recount numerous cases of cyberbullying and disinformation (“fake news”). But the accompanying survey shows that while they reject hate speech and disinformation, there is a certain willingness to accept cyberbullying as given. This is echoed in the focus groups where participants’ advice is often to ignore hateful messages, rather than do something about them. However, the groups do discuss many other strategies in coming to terms with and combatting cyberbullying and disinformation. Rarely do they reflect the motivations that lie behind such behavior. It was also interesting to note that disinformation is mainly discussed with regards to online rather than traditional media." (Executive summary) more

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The Digital Exclusion of Women with Disabilities: A Study of Seven Low- and Middle-Income Countries

London: GSMA (2020), 43 pp.

"1. Women with disabilities have among the lowest rates of mobile and smartphone ownership. In most countries, ownership gaps are widest between men without disabilities and women with disabilities. Even in countries where the mobile gender gap is small or nonexistent, there is still a disability ga ... more

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WorldCat (81)

Digital Inequalities in the Global South

Massimo Ragnedda, Anna Gladkova (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2020), xvii, 372 pp.

"This book discusses how digital inequalities today may lead to other types of inequalities in the Global South. Contributions to this collection move past discussing an access problem - a binary division between 'haves and have-nots' - to analyse complex inequalities in the internet use, benefits, ... more

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Measuring Digital Development: Facts and Figures

Geneva: ITU (2020), 17 pp.

"Facts and Figures 2020 reveals that people in rural areas continue to face greater challenges than people in urban areas in terms of remaining connected during the lockdown, especially in developing economies. Large swathes of the rural landscape are still not covered by mobile broadband networks, ... more

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Media and Information Literacy Index. Country Report Côte D’Ivoire

Luise Krumm, Dennis Reineck

Bonn: Deutsche Welle DW Akademie (2020), 27 pp.

"Young Ivorians are adept at using digital media. They are creative when it comes to using digital media and many have developed strategies to cope with media malpractices such as cyberbullying or hate speech. These are two significant, indicative findings from the present MIL INDEX country study. B ... oth seem very impressive considering the challenges of high illiteracy rates and the strongly politicized national media landscape in Côte d’Ivoire. The results of the study are drawn from eight focus groups conducted in the beginning of 2019 in Abidjan and Bouaké and interviews with eight local experts. They confirm that young people are very good at using and creating content on social media but urgently need better critical, analytical, and reflective skills. This MIL INDEX study is aimed at obtaining a concise picture of media- and information-related skills amongst youths under the age of 35 in Côte d’Ivoire. It addresses five dimensions of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) according to DW Akademie’s MIL model: access, analysis, reflection, creation, and action. In terms of access the focus groups conducted for this study reveal that young urban and semi-urban Ivorians use a variety of different media for purposes such as consuming information, communication, entertainment, education, or business information. Digital media, particularly social media platforms and instant messengers, are the most used and most popular among this age group and are generally preferred over traditional media. Nonetheless, radio and television are still valued for their auditory and visual input which are significant characteristics considering the high illiteracy rates of about 40,4 % present in Côte d’Ivoire (UIS, 2018). A divide between more urban and more rural regions is visible in the case of radio programs, which are more popular in more rural settings. The focus groups suggest this is due to the fact that local radio stations are often the only media which provide news relevant to more remote areas. Most other media show a tendency to focus only on news from the capital. Printed media are widely regarded as too costly and outdated by Ivorian youths. The results of the analysis dimension indicate that most focus group participants possess a good digital and media knowledge while at the same time many lack awareness of their rights to freedom of expression and access to information. Striking was that youths generally consider content provided by traditional media to be more trustworthy, but mainly consume social media content. This and often very loose definitions of what media quality means showed that there is still room for improvement when it comes to the young people’s analytical skills. Overall, urbanites seem to question the trustworthiness of media content slightly more than youths from more rural regions. Results from the reflection dimension confirm that Ivorian youths are constantly exposed to malevolent forms of communication and media malpractices such as cyberbullying, hate speech, sexual harassment, and disinformation. Most young people show strong abilities when it comes to recognizing media problems and using prevention or coping strategies to handle them. Exceptions are politically motivated disinformation and biased reporting which are taken as normal in the Ivorian context. Due to this tendency towards normalization only very few young people reflect critically upon this media malpractice. Reflection on a deeper level such as on the impact of media messages or motivations of news outlets is often missing among young people." (Executive summary) more

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Ghana’s E-Learning Program During Pandemic Presents Access Challenges for Many Students

Mavis Zupork Dome, Daniel Armah-Attoh

Afrobarometer (2020), 9 pp.

"Afrobarometer findings show that radio and television are the most widely accessible platforms for students seeking to participate in MoE/GES e-learning programs, although rural and poor households are at a disadvantage when it comes to owning these devices. The data show relatively low rates of ac ... more

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WorldCat (62)

The Digital Divide

Jan van Dijk

Cambridge: Polity Press (2020), vi, 184 pp.

"Contrary to optimistic visions of a free internet for all, the problem of the 'digital divide' - the disparity between those with access to internet technology and those without - has persisted for close to twenty-five years. In this textbook, Jan van Dijk considers the state of digital inequality ... more

Manual de redes comunitárias Key Guides

Minimum Data Consumption: How Much is Needed to Support Online Activities, and is it Affordable? Deep Insights

Manual de redes comunitárias
Key Guides

Minimum Data Consumption: How Much is Needed to Support Online Activities, and is it Affordable?
Deep Insights