"In A Village Goes Mobile, Sirpa Tenhunen examines how the mobile telephone has contributed to social change in rural India. Tenhunen's long-term ethnographic fieldwork in West Bengal began before the village had a phone system in place and continued through the introduction and proliferation of the
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smartphone. She here analyzes how mobile telephones emerged as multidimensional objects which, in addition to enabling telephone conversations, facilitated status aspirations, internet access, and entertainment practices. She explores how this multifaceted use of mobile phones has affected agency and power dynamics in economic, political, and social relationships, and how these new social constellations relate to culture and development. In eight chapters, Tenhunen asks such questions as: Who benefits from mobile telephony and how? Can people use mobile phones to change their lives, or does phone use merely amplify existing social patterns and power relationships? Can mobile telephony induce development? Going beyond the case of West Bengal, Tenhunen develops a framework to understand how new media mediates social processes within interrelated social spheres and local hierarchies by relating, media-saturated forms of interaction to pre-existing contexts." (Publisher description)
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"In this chapter we have offered an interpretation of the first twenty years of mobile telephony in marginal zones in Africa. With case-studies from central Mali, anglophone Cameroon and south-east Angola, we focused on the changes in both communication and mobility patterns, specifically in connect
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ion with marginality and social hierarchies. We started the chapter with a discussion of the concepts of marginality and mobility. The two next sections offered both positive evaluations of mobile telephony and more balanced or even negative views. Our subsequent discussion of social hierarchies made it clear that the mobile phone has indeed offered possibilities for marginalised people in Africa. Yet at the same time, social hierarchies have been reinforced through the new means of communication, and in some cases even deepened. We then showed that the changes in the realm of mobility have not overcome the patterns of inequality. Social hierarchies may even be exported into new contexts, and the possibilities therefore have not increased." (Conclusion, page 237)
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"Perhaps the most exciting headline in this year’s reports is that global internet users have now passed the 4 billion mark. Well over half of the world’s population now uses the internet, and a quarter of a billion new users came online for the first time during the past 12 months. People are s
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pending more time online too: the average user now spends around 6 hours each day using the internet. If we add this together for all 4 billion of the world’s internet users, people will spend a massive 1 billion years online in 2018. Much of this growth in internet users has been driven by more affordable smartphones and mobile data plans. More than 200 million people got their first mobile device in 2017, and two-thirds of the world’s 7.6 billion inhabitants now have a mobile phone." (Page 3)
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"In many countries, mobile operators have teamed up with social media platforms to offer free access to specific websites or internet services—including news websites. The most well-known of these offerings, Facebook’s Free Basics, has been explicitly pitched as a way to give citizens in develop
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ing countries greater access to news, but Facebook is not the only company touting these so-called “zero-rated” arrangements as a bridge across the digital divide. This report examines whether these arrangements are broadening access to diverse sources of news, as promised, and whether they might have broader consequences for the news market. Little evidence exists that zero-rating alone has been a successful strategy to grow audience reach. Technical hurdles jeopardize news media inclusion, especially for smaller outlets. Zero-rated news is a concern for fair markets and pluralism as it might strengthen the dominance of large internet platforms." (Key findings)
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"The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media seeks to be the definitive publication for scholars and students interested in comprehending all the various aspects of mobile media. This collection, which gathers together original articles by a global roster of contributors from a variety of disciplines, s
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ets out to contextualize the increasingly convergent areas surrounding social, geosocial, and mobile media discourses. Features include: comprehensive and interdisciplinary models and approaches for analyzing mobile media; wide-ranging case studies that draw from this truly global field, including China, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, as well as Europe, the UK, and the US; a consideration of mobile media as part of broader media ecologies and histories; chapters setting out the economic and policy underpinnings of mobile media; explorations of the artistic and creative dimensions of mobile media; studies of emerging issues such as ecological sustainability; up-to-date overviews on social and locative media by pioneers in the field." (Back cover)
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"This research assesses the access and usage of ICT (mobile and smart phones, personal computer, tablets and ipads) and internet by residents of Lagos in Nigeria, with emphasis on the availability and use of ICT for socioeconomic and political growth. ICT access and usage is indispensable in today's
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e-global society. Bridging the digital divide in Nigeria through ICT development is an important task that both government and private sector must continue to place as a priority in the 21st century. The study highlights the lack of means and appropriate infrastructure for access to ICT and internet, the lack of training on how to use them for individual and national development and the way forward to make Lagosians (residents of Lagos) fit in much more into the global digital world." (Abstract)
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"This ESOMAR/GRBN Guideline on Mobile Research is intended to support researchers, especially those in small and medium-sized research organisations, in addressing legal, ethical and practical considerations when conducting research using mobile devices. It explains how to apply the fundamental prin
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ciples of market, opinion and social research in the context of the current legal frameworks and regulatory environments around the world. It supplants previous separate guidelines released by ESOMAR and GRBN in 2012 and 2014 respectively. It is a statement of global principles rather than a catalogue of existing regulations."
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"18 countries participated in the research, 200 representative smartphone owners from each country [...] The majority (63%) of smartphone owners worldwide use their mobile device at least every 30 minutes. This usage includes any and all different ways a mobile device can be used, from making calls,
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to checking the time, to accessing the internet [...] Nearly half (49%) of smartphone users worldwide spend at least 3 hours each day on their mobile device, 22% spend 6 hours or more. South America has the most heavy mobile users (29%) who spend 6 hours or more on mobile each day [...] The average number of mobile websites and mobile apps used is about 6 each day. China shows the strongest levels of daily consumption of both mobile websites and mobile apps." (Takeaways)
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"In this Ericsson Mobility Report, we continue to describe the evolution towards the Networked Society. Between 2015 and 2021, the Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to increase at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23 percent, making up close to 16 billion of the total forecast 28 billion
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connected devices in 2021." (Page 3) "The number of mobile subscriptions exceeds the population in many countries. This is largely due to inactive subscriptions, multiple device ownership or optimization of subscriptions for different types of calls. This means the number of subscribers is lower than the number of subscriptions. Today there are around 5 billion subscribers compared to 7.4 billion subscriptions." (Page 5)
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"ICTs in Developing Countries is a collection of conceptual and empirical works on the adoption and impacts of ICT use in developing societies. Bringing together a wide range of disciplines and contributors, it offers a rich examination of digital divide and ICT for development both in terms of cont
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extual information and disciplinary perspectives." (Publisher description)
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"Smartphones and digital connectivity are essential for refugees seeking protection and safety in Europe, but they also carry risks for them. This research identified a huge gap in the provision of relevant, reliable and timely digital news and information for refugees on their journeys and upon arr
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ival in Europe. There is a growing number of digital resources designed for refugees. Most are inadequately resourced and unsustainable. They can do more harm than good if they disseminate misinformation. Quick ‘tech fixes’ do not work. Governments and newsrooms in Europe are failing to provide what refugees need, because they fear that they may be seen to be facilitating attempts to seek asylum in Europe. This is forcing refugees to rely on alternative, often unverified and unreliable sources of news and information circulated on social media, particularly by smugglers and handlers. This is endangering them and exacerbating an already dire situation." (Summary of findings, page 5)
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"A qualitative study was conducted in Indonesia and Sri Lanka to understand the varied perceptions on the use and ownership of mobile phones [...] The study was conducted amongst four groups of people (urban men, urban women, rural men, and rural women) in each of two countries. The study found that
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: Gender does have some effect on how the phone is used. Women use it more for coordination. Men on the other hand seem to use it more for livelihood activities and for making and maintaining social connections. Men in general have greater decision-making power in a phone purchase even for their spouses. The most significant difference in the utility derived from mobile phones between urban and rural dwellers is the fact that, for the latter, the ability of the phone to help connect to needed infrastructure and services was more important. This was less of a concern for urbanites since essential infrastructure and services were generally close by, unlike for those rural dwellers." (Executive summary)
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"The paper addresses the blurred understandings of what developing country mobile internet users feel they are paying for. The move towards increasing online news and music consumption around the world has resulted in low growth in paid content consumption and a digital advertising market that is no
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t highly favourable for news or entertainment providers. From a major study conducted on mobile phone based internet behaviours in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda in 2015, we find consumption in these countries reflects the trends observed in more mature markets where the decline in news purchase revenues and advertising rates raises fundamental questions about the business models of independent media. While users enjoy the personalized content benefits of the mobile web, they feel that paying for data (i.e. Mobile connection and data bytes) is sufficient and conflate it with paying for content (i.e. Content in an online newspaper or online music). We argue that deconstructing misunderstandings of paying for mobile internet access and paying for content (including ascertaining whether they are genuine misunderstandings) is important for understanding how to achieve a free and fair internet, where content is accessible but generates enough profit to be sustainable." (Abstract)
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"In the religious sector, for centuries, pilgrimages have been a clear example of mass events of a spiritual nature. Due to globalization and increased mobility, recent times have seen the multiplication of international events without a fixed location: Taizé encounters, Kumbh Mela (India), and Wor
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ld Youth Day are all good examples of this. These events imply at least a threefold spiritual, organizational and touristic challenge, and success in each one of these areas contributes to the favourable result of the others. Due to the particular nature of these events, which can mobilize millions of people in just a few days, communication is fundamental. In this sense, the development of mobile technology allows for direct communication with the individual and an unprecedented capacity for diffusion, especially by means of apps and instant messaging, which are two of the most-used channels available on these devices. This paper offers a reflection on the prospects and management of information via smartphones during these large religious events. As a practical case, we will study the beatification of the Catholic bishop Álvaro del Portillo held in Madrid in September 2014, in a ceremony that drew more than 250,000 people from over 70 countries." (Abstract)
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"While a decade ago much of the discussion of new media in Asia was couched in Occidental notions of Asia as a "default setting" for technology in the future, today we are seeing a much more complex picture of contesting new media practices and production. As "new media" becomes increasingly an ever
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yday reality for young and old across Asia through smartphones and associated devices, boundaries between art, new media, and the everyday are transformed. This Handbook addresses the historical, social, cultural, political, philosophical, artistic and economic dimensions of the region's new media. Through an interdisciplinary revision of both "new media" and "Asia" the contributors provide new insights into the complex and contesting terrains of both notions." (Publisher description)
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"The survey indicates that radio remains the most widely accessed broadcast platform in Sierra Leone. In all, eight out of 10 (81%) Sierra Leoneans have access to radio, and 47% listen to it daily. Radio listenership is fractured, however, with no single station able to reach a national audience. Ar
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ound 50 radio stations are currently broadcasting, with many of these having limited, local broadcast reach. This is reflected in patterns of listenership, with different stations popular in different parts of the country. Overall in the country, no station reaches more than one-third of adult Sierra Leoneans. Reaching a national audience through radio, therefore, requires working with a large number of broadcast partners. In contrast to radio access, just under half of Sierra Leoneans (45%) can access TV or DVD content and 13% can access newspapers. Access to mobile phones is high, now achieving a similar reach to radio: 83% of people report having access to a mobile phone. There is significant potential for leveraging this reach and the opportunity offered by 2G and 3G mobile phone platforms as a means of distributing media content to audiences. More than half of mobile phone owners (52%) have a basic feature phone."
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