ICT4HD. Christopher Westrup: Contribution of Social Research on ICT4D

Notes from the I International Workshop on Research in ICT for Human Development, at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and held in Fuenlabrada, Spain, on May 13th and 14th, 2010. More notes on this event: ict4hd10.

Christopher Westrup: Contribution of Social Research on ICT4D

Optimism as to the scope of ICT4D:

  • Ending of isolation;
  • social and political mobilization and participation;
  • increased collaboration;
  • focus on the poorest communities;
  • pressure for collective global action;

Some “divisions”: scholars vs. practitioners; development experts vs. ICT tool developers. It nevertheless seems that the “social” part of technologies is increasing, as we have been witnessing since the appearance of the Web 2.0 and, most especially, since the raise of social networking sites and social media in general.

Key issues:

  • Understanding the link between ICTs and Development;
  • Understanding the social influence, crucially important to the trajectory of any technology-based project
  • ICT facilitated collaboration;
  • Local adaptation;
  • Focus on the plight of marginalised groups.

Perspectives of social sciences in ICT4D:

  • What is happening: taking a God’s eye view of the field.
  • What is the framework: framing social contributions, what we find and how we can intervene: transfer and diffusion discourse vs. ICT as the product of socially embedded action (micro approach).
  • How can an impact be made: a transformative discourse: Information Systems innovation as a product of and produces change in the social, political and economic conditions of developing countries (micro approach).

Methods

  • Should take both macro and micro together and focus on how both come together in the process of development.
  • Designing technology is also designing the social, as technologies are designed with contexts in mind.
  • Technologies are appropriated and used sometimes in unexpected ways, implementation can be highly innovative. We need to look very carefully at how projects are implemented. The processes are crucial.
  • Any action is about redistributing resources, about gainers and losers. ICT4D engages in a redistribution of resources and development can be understood as interacting processes of dependence and independence.

Successful case: M-Pesa

M-Pesa ad in Kenya about mobile banking:

If you cannot see the video please visit <a href="http://ictlogy.net/?p=3373">http://ictlogy.net/?p=3373</a>

Department for International Development video about M-Pesa:

If you cannot see the video please visit <a href="http://ictlogy.net/?p=3373">http://ictlogy.net/?p=3373</a>

M-Pesa has been hugely successful and is still growing. What has been its “process” in terms of and ICT4D (research) project?

People on the ground saw that mobile phones were being used to send credit between people, and rethought the whole concept of a mobile phone into a mobile banking service.

In Tanzania, notwithstanding, the system has not been as successful. Why? Market share of Safaricom, the operator: from 80% in Kenya to 45% in Tanzania. In Kenya, many people and well organized, which helped in training them about the new system. Not the same thing in Tanzania. In Kenya it has had very tolerant regulation from the market, as it does not operate under the assumption that it is a bank.

  • Macro and micro approach: to make a change, but looking at what was happening.
  • People where using the technology in their own way.
  • People appropriated the new technology producing a very innovative way of doing things.
  • We cannot tell exactly about the redistribution outcomes and the (new) processes of dependence and independence, but there have certainly been some as now money transactions are controlled/centralized by new actors.

Conclusions

  • Understanding the social implications is crucial to assess the impact of ICTs.
  • The social and the technical are interlinked.
  • Technologies are not neutral.
  • There always is a redistribution of resources.
If you cannot see the slides please visit <a href="http://ictlogy.net/?p=3373">http://ictlogy.net/?p=3373</a>

Discussion

Q: Is there any tool in the social sciences toolbox to assess the “non-neutrality” of a specific technology and its implications before it being applied? A: It would be great to have it, but it most likely does not exist. Methodologies are usually used not to assess but to provide a “scientific background” that what we intended to do is backed by evidence.

Q: Would a private company have invested in a project like M-Pesa without public money behind? How can we justify public money (DFID’s) put into a private company (Safaricom/Vodafone)? A: It was believed that a way to bring change could be by changing the market, by changing commercial relationships and the market status quo. So, the outcome is also benefiting private companies, the lion’s share goes to the community at large.

Ismael Peña-López: Action is about redistributing resources or about creating more wealth by making more resources available? Why should there always be a trade-off (of resources, power, etc.) that implies redistribution? A: Agreed that it should not necessarily be a zero-sum game, and it is right to say that resources are not fix and can be increased, but it is also true that power (that controls these resources) actually is redistributed by our direct action on the resources. Thus, even if resources could be grown, power (and, hence, resources indirectly) will definitely suffer a redistribution [I really loved this answer, which I fully share].

See also

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I International Workshop on Research in ICT for Human Development (2010)

ICT4HD. Ermanno Pietrosémoli: The ICTP-UNESCO Wireless Training Kit

Notes from the I International Workshop on Research in ICT for Human Development, at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and held in Fuenlabrada, Spain, on May 13th and 14th, 2010. More notes on this event: ict4hd10.

Ermanno Pietrosémoli: The ICTP-UNESCO Wireless Training Kit

The ICTP-UNESCO Wireless Training Kit has been approved by the International Telecommunication Union and it is aimed at training people in developing countries so that they can install and manage wireless technologies. It is developed by Rob Flickenger, Carlo Fonda, Marco Zennaro, Ermanno Pietrosémoli and S.M. Radicella.

Advantages of wireless networks:

  • Cost-effective ways to provide connectivity where other usual technologies — e.g. fibre — are difficult to deploy.
  • Operate in a wave spectrum that is free in most countries.
  • Interference issues are less severe in rural areas, where there actually is less supply of telecommunication solutions.

WiFi was designed for short distances,, but with some firmware modifications, it can be used in longer distances, achieving a maximum of 382 km.

One of the main advantages of WiFi-based technologies is that they can be managed and maintained by the local communities themselves.

The training kit includes all the devices and materials needed to run a training workshop on wireless networks. It also includes electronic books, support materials (slides, guides, exercises), WiFi devices, antennas and other equipment to run a full training course.

The cost of the kit was initially 1,000€, but all the “software” (including learning materials) is freely available on the net. And the hardware can be built and/or distributed by many agents, hence the cost can even be reduced.

If you cannot see the slides please visit <a href="http://ictlogy.net/?p=3372">http://ictlogy.net/?p=3372</a>

Related initiatives:

  • Repository with open materials related to training on wireless networks: WirelessU.org.
  • Book: Flickenger, R., Aichele, C. E., Fonda, C., Forster, J., Howard, I., Krag, T. & Zennaro, M. (2006). Wireless Networking in the Developing World. Morrisville: Limehouse Book Sprint Team.

Discussion

Valentín Villarroel: who is the toolkit aimed at? Ermanno Pietrosémoli: especially trainers of trainers. On the other hand, it is also aimed at communities that already have some basic structure and can dedicate a person to these matters.

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I International Workshop on Research in ICT for Human Development (2010)

ICT4HD. Valentín Villarroel: Conclusions of the first day

Notes from the I International Workshop on Research in ICT for Human Development, at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and held in Fuenlabrada, Spain, on May 13th and 14th, 2010. More notes on this event: ict4hd10.

Valentín Villarroel: Conclusions of the first day

  • Human development is (social) innovation. Research is necessary for human development.
  • Multidisciplinary and multiactoral approaches, importance of team- and network.
  • What disciplines converge in ITC4D?
  • Practitioners might not follow a pure scientific methodology, but they are also creating (scientific) knowledge which should be worth taking into account.
  • Lack of strategies in universities and governments.
  • There are (still) few people working in the field of ICT4D but there are indeed some of them.
  • Priorities in development should lead research priorities in ICT4D.
  • There is not an ICT4D priority in Latin America.
  • Research incentives hurt research in ICT4D.
  • We should avoid making up technological solutions and, afterwards, go and quest for problems that fit into those solutions.
  • Avoid solving specific problems with huge deployments.

Some areas of ICT4D research:

  • Telecommunication (hard) and information (soft) systems.
  • Technological change management and implementation models.
  • Innovation and outreach of the ICT sector.
  • Facilitators, legal framework, policies.
If you cannot see the slides please visit <a href="http://ictlogy.net/?p=3371">http://ictlogy.net/?p=3371</a>

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I International Workshop on Research in ICT for Human Development (2010)

ICT4HD. Experiences in Research on ICT4D within the Master Telecommunication Networks for Developing Countries

Notes from the I International Workshop on Research in ICT for Human Development, at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and held in Fuenlabrada, Spain, on May 13th and 14th, 2010. More notes on this event: ict4hd10.

Experiences in Research on ICT4D within the Master Telecommunication Networks for Developing Countries

Voice over IP in Tutupali-UTPL Network (Ecuador)
Katty Rohoden and Patricia Ludeña

Installed wireless network to connect Health care centres, which enables them to be connected to the capital and amongst themselves.

Alternative Rural Telecommunication Network in Ecuador
Danilo Corral de Witt

Project in Equador, where 60% of people live in rural areas, that are usually have no Internet coverage.

The “Red Alternativa de Telecomunicaciones Rurales de Ecuador” [Ecuador Rural Telecommunication Alternative Network] seeks to find a solution to that, with a new wireless infrastructure and adding GIS technologies to optimize its deployment.

Using GIS allows for a clever management and design of the new infrastructures, and to see what the overall coverage will be.

Design of Clinical History and Tele-ECG Services
José García Muñoz y Ferney Beltrán

Wireless services for the comprehensive management of hospitals, including software to for a more efficient management, monitoring and impact assessment.

Problems:

  • Epidemics monitoring.
  • Drugs supply.
  • Emergencies.
  • Pacient monitoring.
  • Lack of equipment in health centres.
  • Limited access to health care services
  • Cerebrovascular diseases not detected.

Goals: improve management and health care, and designing and implementing a network to send and receive signals.

It was key to the project to have an array of indicators of usage of the tool (management software) to test its strengths and weaknesses.

Connectivity was provided by Bluetooth, as it required low power consumption, allowed for high bandwidth and was a spread standard.

Sustainability of Rural Telecommunication Networks
Inés Bebea

The project analyses how ICTs have contributed to the Millennium Development Goals.

Problems:

  • Projects in developing countries have low rates of success, under 20%
  • Public institutions play a very important role.
  • Financial, technological, social and human factors that make sustainability a tricky issue.

How to design and implement a Sustainability Comprehensive Plan?

Three sub-plans:

  • Operative maintenance plan
  • Institutional and financial plan
  • Content and human plan

That provide five kinds of sustainability:

  • Financial sustainability
  • Technological sustainability
  • Social sustainability
  • Content sustainability
  • Human sustainability

Inter-institutional Network in Santa Clotilde (Loreto, Peru)
Rico Hario Abilowo Hardjono and Elsa Feliz

Goal: improve the administrative and coordination processes between the staff at local public administrations. This was done with a WiFi network of inter-institutional interconnexion that, amongst others, could provide voice over IP services.

The project was a success, but some important areas need much improvement: power supply still and issue, and capacity building and training should be strengthened.

WiMAX solutions for rural areas
Nydia Mendiola and Carlos Rey

Context: big zones without coverage, scattered population, low resources.

WiMAX is a standard solution, runs on a free wave spectrum, is designed for long distances, and its parameters are quality-of-service oriented.

It has, though, high costs when users are highly scattered, as it is designed for a unique connectivity leap: how then to maintain the quality of service while reducing costs? Could WiFi and WiMAX be hybridized?

A hybrid and working solution was created. Then a new standard (802.16j) was issued and seems to perfectly fit with into the hybrid solution.

Analysis of National Policies for Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean. Are integral strategies in reducing the digital divide?
Amagoia Salazar

Research on the different digital divides and the different national plans to fight against e-exclusion.

Most countries in Latin America have designed and implemented national plans to foster the Information Society, but it is yet to be found whether their approach was a comprehensive one or just focused in specific parts or conceptions of the digital divide.

  • Comprehensive approach?
  • Where is the focus put?
  • What are the thematic priorities?
  • What are the regional priorities?
  • Is there a commitment with free software?

Maintenance Plan for a Rural Telemedicine Network in Mozambique
Valentín Villarroel, Camilo Garzón

[connection failed during the event]

Discussion

David: what was the non-technical part and what the main barriers in this area? Elsa Feliz: human interaction and logistic coordination was the toughest, and, on the other hand, all the things you can not foresee and that once on the field are much more difficult to solve. Carlos Rey: teamwork is always a challenge.

[worth knowing array of projects, rich in insights, and difficult to summarize in a single post]

If you cannot see the slides please visit <a href="http://ictlogy.net/?p=3369">http://ictlogy.net/?p=3369</a>

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I International Workshop on Research in ICT for Human Development (2010)

ICT4HD. Ismael Peña-López: The role of governments in promoting the Information Society for reducing the Digital Divide

Notes from the I International Workshop on Research in ICT for Human Development, at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and held in Fuenlabrada, Spain, on May 13th and 14th, 2010. More notes on this event: ict4hd10.

Ismael Peña-López: The role of governments in promoting the Information Society for reducing the Digital Divide

If you cannot see the slides please visit <a href="http://ictlogy.net/?p=3368">http://ictlogy.net/?p=3368</a>

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I International Workshop on Research in ICT for Human Development (2010)

ICT4HD. Round Table. What is the role of Latin America on Research on ICT4D?

Notes from the I International Workshop on Research in ICT for Human Development, at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and held in Fuenlabrada, Spain, on May 13th and 14th, 2010. More notes on this event: ict4hd10.

Round Table: What is the role of Latin America on Research on ICT4D?

If you cannot see the slides please visit <a href="http://ictlogy.net/?p=3367">http://ictlogy.net/?p=3367</a>

Andrés Martínez, EHAS Foundation (Spain)

EHAS Foundation does research on what works and what does not work in the field of Health and ICTs in Latin America.

David Chávez Muñoz, Pontificia Universidad Católica (Peru)

Main problems in Latinamerica: poor, polarized, full with injustices, fragmented, multicultural, economically and technologically dependent from North America, Europe and North Asia, emigration, increasing destruction of the environment, etc.

ICTs are not the factor that lead to human development, but a catalyst. Can we nevertheless maximize the effect of ICTs in Latin America so that they contribute in achieving higher levels of development?

The problem is that the resources for R+D+i are not invested in these matters, but in other “strategic” issues.

A case study: the spread of broadband. While in developed countries the deployment of broadband has been successful for 99% of the population, in Latin America it has only succeeded in urban areas, but not in suburbs or in rural areas, where it has been a complete failure. The SDH/ATM + ADSL model is not viable in rural and marginal Latin America. We need R+D+i that produce other viable alternatives such as SDH/ATM + LMDS/MMDS, SDH/ATM + WiMAX, GSM/LTE, etc.

Structural problems to perform such kind of research:

  • Low articulation of actors, problems and scientific integration.
  • Education and training.
  • Methodologies, tools or infrastructures.
  • Funding.
  • Low articulation amongst social actors.

Temporal problems:

  • Duplicity of efforts.
  • Effectism, short-term planning.
  • Paradigmatic paralysis.

We have to build R+D+i networks: To reach a critical mass, to stop brain drain, etc.

Iván Hernández, Universidad del Cauca (Colombia)

Key factors for research in ICT4D in Latin America to be successful:

  • Multidisciplinarity.
  • Aim at economic development.
  • Identify opportunities.
  • Create businesses, build industry around ICTs.
  • Improve the quality of life.

Pablo Belzarena García, Universidad de la República (Uruguay)

Two main needs:

  • Policies to exclusively fund research aimed at human development;
  • Need for governments and other institutions to adopt the outcomes of research in development fields: research + development.

A good example: Plan Ceibal. Besides being a good applied project, the Plan Ceibal has become a good research engine, has it has triggered lots of research projects around it. Now the challenge is how to apply the outcomes of such research.

Fernando Balducci, Fundación Fundatel (Argentina)

ICTs can be a social inclusion tool.

Knowledge has to be transferred and appropriated by the target population of development research. If 90% (as it happens) of the outcomes remain within university walls, research is a failuer.

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I International Workshop on Research in ICT for Human Development (2010)