Dear All - Thanks for all the links and useful info. I have collated all the info I received via the mailing list/offline into an excel sheet - if its useful: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ 1MHvEGEzAg4KWyHRDPIXHadU5kLvrt1k5c_ctkQWTp8k/edit?usp=sharing
Regards On 20 August 2016 at 00:34, Danny O'Brien <da...@eff.org> wrote: > On Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 11:22:48AM -0700, Jenna Burrell wrote: > > When considering usage, don't forget to think about phone sharing. > There's > > a piece I wrote a while back (pre smartphone) that discusses practices > > around phone sharing in rural Uganda and the related gender dynamics: > > -- http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101. > 2010.01518.x/full > > > > Also, an old piece (also pre smartphone), but one that breaks down the > > difficulties of 'counting' phone use in Africa pretty well: > > https://www.researchgate.net/publication/41029741_Mobile_ > phones_in_Africa_How_much_do_we_really_know > > > > I would second the recommendation of Susan Wyche's article - > > http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2317985 > > > > Carlos, glad to see your survey too! > > > > Also, what I observed a few years back was that the devices being sold as > > 'smartphones' were way way more diverse in Ghana, Uganda. Lots of phone > > brands I'd never heard of, brand knock-offs, etc. Designing apps for the > > 'smartphone' market would be difficult and how well an app would port to > > the great variety of 'smartphones' you may find throughout Africa is > > uncertain. > > Somewhat along the same lines (but perhaps unrelated to the original > question), I like Caribou Digital's analysis of app creators in the > African mobile sector, if only because other commercial research tends > to throw moble users in Africa (as elsewhere) straight into the consumer > bucket, rather than considering phones users as producers and peers, > e.g: > > http://cariboudigital.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ > Caribou-Digital-Winners-and-Losers-in-the-Global-App-Economy-2016.pdf > > (Disclosure: Chris Locke at Caribou is an old friend, though I don't > always agree with him!) > > d. > > > > > Jenna Burrell > > Associate Professor > > School of Information > > UC-Berkeley > > > > > > On Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 12:12 AM, Carlos Rey-Moreno < > > carlos.reymor...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > Hi Arjuna, following on Chris's comments, we've recently published in > ITD > > > an in-depth survey about ICT ownership, usage and expenditure of a > rural > > > community in South Africa. You can download it from here: > > > http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/8zryygrbhhGHtWU8CIqE/full > > > > > > It confirms most of his assumptions, from the importance of electricity > > > (as reflected by the amount they expend on keeping their phones > charged, > > > 12% of the total expenditure), the amount of time that people spend > without > > > airtime (around 40%), and the little usage and expenditure of Internet > > > services (22% of the people, 25MB per month). > > > > > > We are currently analyzing another in-depth study in another village > where > > > charging station where not installed (the study above is in the village > > > where Zenzeleni Networks <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxTPSWMX26M> > is > > > operating), and the percentage of the total expenditure dedicated to > > > electricity is even higher. > > > > > > I hope it helps, > > > > > > regards, > > > > > > carlos > > > > > > On 17 August 2016 at 06:29, Katy Pearce <katyca...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > >> I wrote this piece a few years back, may be of interest... > > >> http://www.rferl.mobi/a/why-technology-penetration-rates/ > 24805097.html > > >> > > >> On Tue, Aug 16, 2016, 9:27 PM Katy Pearce <katyca...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > >> > > >>> Also for what it's worth, surveying in much of Africa is incredibly > > >>> challenging for a variety of reasons. I'd be cautious in trusting it. > > >>> > > >>> On Tue, Aug 16, 2016, 9:23 PM Chris Csikszentmihalyi < > robo...@gmail.com> > > >>> wrote: > > >>> > > >>>> Hi Arjuna, > > >>>> > > >>>> Just a quick note that usage can be quite different across Africa: > it's > > >>>> a big country! [sic]. So by rural; urban; income; gender, phone > ownership > > >>>> is only one aspect of an individual's use strategy. Don't assume > that an > > >>>> owned smart phone is on, charged, or connected to data, indeed it is > > >>>> probably being used very differently than a North American or > European > > >>>> might expect. > > >>>> > > >>>> A lot of Africa ICT infographics use ITU figures, which tend to be > very > > >>>> boosterish, citing for instance sim subscriptions rather than the > much > > >>>> smaller number of active users. This works well for the telcos, who > want to > > >>>> look big, and for the ministers of communication, who want to look > > >>>> "developed." But even if you project active users, these figures > can still > > >>>> be pretty misleading. Many urban professionals will have multiple > sim > > >>>> phones, or simply multiple phones, in order to allow cheaper > in-network > > >>>> calls with friends/colleagues with different providers. How many > North > > >>>> Americans or Europeans use multiple sims every day? I've seen many > > >>>> journalists and scholars conflate subscriptions with people. > > >>>> > > >>>> One way we tried to reconcile the figures with what we saw in the > field > > >>>> was to divide the ITU's reported total of a country's voice minutes > by > > >>>> population. This was back of envelope -- don't cite me and do > correct me if > > >>>> I'm wrong -- but from what we saw in 2012, Kenyans spent an average > of 3.5 > > >>>> minutes per week in a voice call, Ghanaians 3, Nigerians 1. These > are most > > >>>> people's primary phones, and this is average not the median, so > given > > >>>> income distributions it would be safe to imagine that something > like 80% of > > >>>> the population is far lower. In most of the countries I've been to > telco > > >>>> data packages are pretty expensive, and edge/3g/4g networks are > worse than > > >>>> GSM. So in a rural area there may be no data available, but you'll > still > > >>>> see some smart phones. Add to that the problem of charging outside > urban > > >>>> areas, and many users simply carry a powered off phone without > credit. In > > >>>> rural Uganda, where I'm working, when a farmer has to make a call, > s/he > > >>>> travels kilometers to a shop to charge and purchase credits. Why > tie up > > >>>> your money in credits that might devalue? But this strategy means > that one > > >>>> is generally not available for received calls/texts. > > >>>> > > >>>> Why have a smart phone if you aren't really connected to data? For > > >>>> instance, there are big bluetooth/sd card movie/music trading > networks. An > > >>>> Xiao Mina found folks with dubbed martial arts movies that had been > passed > > >>>> by hand for long distances [http://thenewinquiry.com/essa > > >>>> ys/mapping-the-sneakernet/]. Susan Wyche also wrote about some of > the > > >>>> patterns of use in (iirc) Kenya in ""Dead China-make" phones off > the grid: > > >>>> Investigating and designing for mobile phone use in rural Africa." > > >>>> > > >>>> All of which is to say that the Pew figures are probably correct, > but > > >>>> parsing their meaning requires quite a bit of local knowledge. If > anyone > > >>>> can get deeper figures on data usage, background data usage, time > powered > > >>>> on, etc, I'd be excited to see them. > > >>>> > > >>>> C. > > >>>> > > >>>> -- > > >>>> Chris Csikszentmihályi > > >>>> ERA Chair & Scientific Director > > >>>> Professor > > >>>> [image: m-itiLogo] <http://www.m-iti.org/> > > >>>> ------------------------------ > > >>>> www.m-iti.org | c...@m-iti.org | edgyproduct.org > > >>>> <http://edgyproduct.org> > > >>>> > > >>>> * "Art means… to resist the course of a world that unceasingly > holds a > > >>>> gun to mankind's chest." > > >>>> > > >>>> --Theodore Adorno* > > >>>> -- > > >>>> Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. > > >>>> Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: > > >>>> https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. > > >>>> Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing > moderator at > > >>>> compa...@stanford.edu. > > >>> > > >>> > > >> _______________________________________________ > > >> TIER mailing list > > >> Website: http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu > > >> t...@tier.cs.berkeley.edu > > >> https://www.millennium.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tier > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > > > -- > > > Carlos Rey-Moreno, PhD > > > PostDoctoral Fellow University of the Western Cape > > > Zenzeleni Networks: zenzeleni.net > > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxTPSWMX26M > > > Cel: +27 (0) 76 986 3633 > > > Skype: carlos.reymoreno Twitter: Creym > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > TIER mailing list > > > Website: http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu > > > t...@tier.cs.berkeley.edu > > > https://www.millennium.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tier > > > > > > > > > -- > > Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. Violations > of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://mailman.stanford.edu/ > mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change > password by emailing moderator at compa...@stanford.edu. > > > _______________________________________________ > TIER mailing list > Website: http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu > t...@tier.cs.berkeley.edu > https://www.millennium.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tier > > -- Arjuna Sathiaseelan Personal: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~as2330/ N4D Lab: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~as2330/n4d
-- Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at compa...@stanford.edu.
