Hi all, Great discussion. The issue reminds me of the discussions from several years back about the "digital divide" in relation to internet acces. Researcher Jan van Dijk studied this in the Dutch context (Dutch report "De Digitale Kloof wordt Dieper" 2003). He argues it should be approached like 4-step 'staircase' that feeds back into itself with each new innovation: 1) Motivation - To what extend do people want to use new technologies? This includes issues like fear or lack of interest; 2) Possession - Do people own hardware/software? It has been argued that possession in different social and cultural contexts may not be that important as there are various practises of sharing, or public access. So this may be reformulated to 'Access'; 3) Skills - To what extend are people able to operate these devices on a technical level?; 4) Usage - To what extend do people use technologies for concrete aims, e.g. finding work, increasing social capital, etc.?. I think you are making an important point here to counter the overly optimistic (marketing) hurrah about the potential of mobile internet and all sorts of high-end applications. However, what seems to be missing is the widely varying cultural contexts of mobile internet usage. In many western countries an increasing portion of our lives takes place in combined online/offline or networked situations. In many developing countries this integration of e-culture as part of everyday life is not so widely spread. So it would seem that internet use is not only a matter of access and costs, or even skills, but also of a social and cultural 'need' to be visible and participate in online contexts. Moreover, in different countries there are different practises of accessing the internet. In Jakarta, Indonesia for instance, cheap public internet cafés (warnet) are ubiquitous, thus diminishing the need to go online via your mobile phone as it never takes more than a short walk to find a nearby warnet. Many people like the social aspect of gathering in warnets, being physically together while going online. Also, Indonesians have historically been accustomed to go out of their homes for their communication needs because the landline telephone at home has never been widespread. Could this be called 'mobile internet' too? More recently, private and quite affordable CDMA based internet access has been growing in popularity among students and workers who frequently change residence. People use dongles for their laptops and share these connections with others. I'm not totally sure but it seems this is done in addition to rather then as a replacement of visiting warnet. I wonder how such practises can be reflected in statistics about mobile internet use.
best: michiel Michiel de Lange __________________ Erasmus University Rotterdam PhD candidate 'Playful Identities' Room H5-13 PO Box 1738 3000 DR Rotterdam +31 10 4088983 +31 6 53201800 [email protected] ** Have a look at my research project weblog: http://blog.bijt.org On Apr 5, 2009, at 7:28 PM, <[email protected]> <[email protected] > wrote: > Hello all, > > I am publishing a short paper on the Ning site where I develop the > idea of mobile divides. > > I am interested in the differences between the power users in > advanced countries that use a lot of IP stuff, the user in the third > world and the sort of soccer mom/dad user that is somewhere in the > middle. > > A lot of attention goes to the first group but the real base of use > is often among the other two. I am interested in any comments. > > The link to the posting is: > http://mobilesociety.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-rise-of-mobile-divides > > There is a further link to the paper there. > > Rich L. > > > > > > --------------------------------Disclaimer-------------------------------- De informatie verzonden in dit e-mail bericht inclusief de bijlage(n) is vertrouwelijk en is uitsluitend bestemd voor de geadresseerde van dit bericht. Lees verder: http://www.eur.nl/email-disclaimer The information in this e-mail message is confidential and may be legally privileged. Read more: http://www.eur.nl/english/email-disclaimer -------------------------------------------------------------------------- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "mobile-society" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mobile-society?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
