ICTworks

Activist and Citizen Journalists: We saw it throughout the Arab Spring and most recently in Syria. Then and now, activists and citizen journalists fill a media void and strategically inform the global conversation on the uprising by capturing and sharing their own footage. They are organized, trained, smart, strategic, and promote media – much of it mobile – with a purpose. MobileActive.org favors the term “activist media” over “citizen journalism,” as these brave individuals are putting themselves at risk to tell the story as it unfolds. Read all about it right here.

Rural Women in Latin America: I often neglect Latin America in my ICT4D perusals because I figure (wrongly), “Oh, compared to Africa, Latin America is doing fine.” But there are many places around the continent that have yet to bridge the digital divide. In the words of UN Women, “It may feel like the century of the tablet and the android, and yet nearly 50 percent of the world’s population still has limited or no access to a computer. Since the digital divide that lies between developed and developing countries is closely linked to poverty, illiteracy, and language barriers, this gulf is wider for women—and wider yet for women who live in rural areas.” The UN recognizes the need of rural women to have access to ICTs and this has led to a significant increase in UN-supported ICT projects. This post discusses two such projects in Ecuador and Guatemala.

Senegal Mobile Internet Growth: From oAfrica…Senegal’s Mobile Internet users grew by 680% in 2011. This is great news in principle, but what are the implications? How many people now have access to mobile Internet, and what are they doing with it? I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you!

Africa & Asia: Communication Policy Research Africa (CPRafrica) and LIRNEasia-CPRsouth will be holding their annual conferences jointly for the first time on September 5 – 7, 2012. Held in Mauritius, a perfect mix of the two continents both geographically and culturally-speaking, the conference offers researchers the opportunity to discuss ICT policy with senior academicians and practitioners who are experts in both regions. They’re only accepting 35 papers to be presented, so hurry!

mGovernance in Kenya: “M-governance: Exploratory Survey on Kenyan Service Delivery and Government Interaction,” a newly published research paper by Angela Crandall and Leonida Mutuku for iHub Research in Nairobi explores how Kenyans understand governance and how they currently interact with the government in an effort to understand the viability of mobile technologies to improve service delivery. As of September 2011 there were more than 25 million mobile phone users in Kenya, but as I asked above re: Senegal, how are they being used?

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