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Digital Economies at Global Margins
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Mark Graham (ed.)

Cambridge, Mass.; London; Ottawa: MIT Press;International Development Research Centre (IDRC) (2019), x, 378 pp.

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Digital Access in Africa

Chris Locke, Jonathan Donner, Bryan Pon, Savita Bailur, Francis Hook, Ambacontributors Kak

Farnham (UK): Caribou Digital Publishing (2016), 60 pp.

"The mobile industry has, for the past 15 years or so, done a phenomenal job of connecting users in emerging markets to voice, SMS and Internet access services. But as we strive to reach the remaining unconnected users, we may need new models of connectivity to reach them. In the first section of th ... is document we discuss the need for new Internet access models, and ask the question of what we mean by “Internet Access” and why it’s important to understand what the impacts of limited service and capability are. We then move on to look at the barriers to scaling Internet access, and why, despite the availability and affordability of mobile phones, Internet access remains sub-scale. On the supply side, we discuss the issues around the costs of delivery access, and the difficulty of making connectivity affordable. Many attempts to reduce the cost have been tried, with varying levels of success. From Universal Service Funds delivered at a policy level, to zero-rated services from the private sector, it is important to understand the considerations around subsidizing access for poor or hard-to-reach users. The debate around this is nuanced, as the recent decision by the TRAI to ban Facebook Free Basics in India has shown. Supply side barriers are not easily solvable, and some mix of new industry business models and policy efforts to make regulation fit for purpose is required. Providing affordable—or free—Internet access will require negotiating the original principles of the Internet, the desire for an open and fair architecture, with the real costs of delivering this vision. From a user perspective, even when the available infrastructure enables connectivity, it doesn’t always drive adoption. Users require a reason to go online. A certain amount of this can be demand driven by access to essential government services, but a carrot as well as a stick is required. We have previously researched the digital lives of users in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda, and have shown how users come online for non-instrumental reasons (social media, games, etc.) but then often use these platforms for instrumental activities such as self-directed education, searching for employment, or sourcing essential information.3 User research can show us how these needs can be balanced, and we discuss this within this report." (Introduction, page 4-5) more

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Paying for Access or Content? Blurred Understandings of Mobile Internet Data in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda

Savita Bailur, Emrys Schoemaker, Jonathan Donner

In: GlobDev 2016: Proceedings Annual Workshop of the AIS Special Interest Group for ICT in Global Development

Association for Information Systems AIS Electronic Library (AISeL) (2016), 11 pp.

"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 ... more

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Digital Lives in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda

Savita Bailur, Jonathan Donner et al.

Farnham: Caribou Digital Publishing (2015), 186 pp.

"[...] Specifically, we argue that development programs with an eye on instrumental outcomes are well-served by the cultivation of an understanding of broader digital practices—of people’s increasingly digital lives. This work explores not only what devices people use, but also how they get onli ... more

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Mobile Communication

Richard Seyler Ling, Jonathan Donner

Cambridge, UK; Malden, Mass.: Polity Press (2009), xii, 191 pp.

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Research Approaches to Mobile Use in the Developing World: A Review of the Literature

Jonathan Donner

Information Society, volume 24, issue 3 (2008), pp. 140-159

"This paper reviews roughly 200 recent studies of mobile (cellular) phone use in the developing world, and identifies major concentrations of research. It categorizes studies along two dimensions. One dimension distinguishes studies of the determinants of mobile adoption from those that assess the i ... more

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Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies

James E. Katz (ed.)

Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press (2008), ix, 472 pp.

"This book offers a view of the cultural, family, and interpersonal consequences of mobile communication across the globe. Scholars analyze the effect of mobile communication on all parts of life, from the relationship between literacy and the textual features of mobile phones to the use of ringtone ... more

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Die sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Implikationen der Mobiltelefonie in Ruanda: Eine Typologie unter dem Gesichtspunkt Telefonbesitz und Telefonzugang

Jonathan Donner

In: Daumenkultur: das Mobiltelefon in der Gesellschaft

Peter Glotz; Stefan Bertschi; Chris Locke (eds.)

Bielefeld: transcript (2006), pp. 41-59

"Trotz der Herausforderungen bei der telefonischen Erschließung abgelegener Gegenden bietet der Besitz eines Handys für Millionen individueller Nutzer im gesamten Afrika südlich der Sahara auf jeden Fall signifikante wirtschaftliche und soziale Vorteile und Möglichkeiten. Besonders wertvoll ist, ... more

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Thumb Culture: The Meaning of Mobile Phones for Society

Peter Glotz, Stefan Bertschi, Chris Locke (eds.)

Bielefeld: transcript (2005), 296 pp.

"Mobile communication has an increasing impact on people's lives and society. Ubiquitous media influence the way users relate to their surroundings, and data services like text and pictures lead to a culture shaped by thumbs. Representing several years of research into the social and cultural effect ... more

Digital Economies at Global Margins Top Insights

Digital Economies at Global Margins
Top Insights