Re: [DDN] Estimating the number of internet users in a country - a moving target

2006-09-12 Thread Mark Warschauer 
I don't have a response to your question, but a good place to discuss 
these kinds of methodological issues is the Association of Internet 
Researchers List.  Subscriptions at:
http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

Mark Warschauer
UC Irvine

>In the mail on Tele-medicine, what struck me was the figure of 50 M Internet
>users in India. I feel the same way when I read statistics of other
>countries as well.
>
>
>
>I have always wondered how the number of Internet users in a country is
>estimated. Over the last 10 years I have been struggling to get to an
>educated estimate but the range is anything between 5 to 20 Million in
>Pakistan. I am doing a comprehensive report for setting up Telecenters in
>the rural areas and despite my long experience in Telecommunications and
>Internet, I cannot  find a sensible and standard acceptable method of
>finding out how many users does a country or region have.
>
>
>
>The reason for this complexity for estimating this is because:
>
>
>
>1.Each user does not have a registered unique identity like a telephone
>number hence we cannot make (nearly) neat guesstimates like GSM users. Even
>GSM users are off by over 20 - 30% since prepaid SIMs do not ensure that
>every SIM has one user liked to it as people have multiple SIMs.
>
>2.The same issue is exacerbated when trying to determine 'active' and
>'inactive' users for this purpose.
>
>3.Most users are pre-paid accounts using scratch cards. But scratch
>cards are no measure of the number of users.
>
>4.One cannot count e-mail address of local ISPs any longer, since a vast
>majority uses gmail, hotmail, yahoo or other mail servers
>
>5.The number of users of cyber cafes, Telecenters and other iterant
>users cannot be counted
>
>6.With HFC, DSL and Broadband in offices and building complexes with
>local distribution via LANs but having hundreds of users behind a single IP
>address
>
>
>
>Hence I fear that the numbers of users given in each country is mostly
>fiction. Can some one give a proper and standardized method of estimating
>the number of Internet users in a country, region and world? Or is it just
>someone conjuring up a number and getting as many people to use this for it
>becoming THE respectable datum?!
>
>
>
>The same is the issue with finding the e-readiness of a country by basing it
>on the number of IP addresses and 'Hosts' alone.
>
>
>
>What measure is used in different countries - especially in developed and
>developing economies? I feel that that a standardized and accurate method
>should be adopted since the status of countries, their own internal
>development programs and for a variety of other purposes, is now being
>reckoned based on faulty and uneven statistics of telecommunications usage,
>specially the Internet.
>
>
>
>Regards
>
>
>
>Salman Ansari 
>
>
>
>
>
>-Original Message-
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jay Bhatt
>Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2006 3:39 AM
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: [DDN] Doc's prescription for tele-medicine
>
>
>
>Hi all
>
>An articlce about Internet and tele-medicine in India-
>
>
>
>How is Internet helping tele-medicine to grow in villages of India? An
>
>article recently published in Moneycontrol website points out the benefits
>
>of Internet in shaping tele-medicine in India.
>
>
>
>Excerpt:"But now, Telemedicine has got a new lease of life, thanks to the
>
>spread of the Internet. With the number of Internet users growing by leaps
>
>and bounds (numbering over 50 million as of December 2005, according to
>
>Internetworldstats.com and broadband set to explode into Indian homes, the
>
>World Wide Web might just be the medicine that the doctor had prescribed for
>
>an ailing tele-medicine."
>
>
>
>Read the full article at:
>
>  Doc's prescription for tele-medicine
>
>telemedicine/docsprescriptionfortelemedicine/market/stocks/article/238775>
>
>
>
>Jay
>
>
>
>Jay Bhatt
>
>Information Services Consultant (Engineering)
>
>Hagerty Library, Drexel University
>
>TEL 215-895-1873
>
>AOL IM jaybhatt59  YAHOO IM jay_bhatt_98
>
>FAX 215-895-2070
>
>EMAIL [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>
>Engineering Resources Blog:
>
>http://www.library.drexel.edu/blogs/englibrary/
>
>
>
>Jay's Information Initiatives in India community on the Digital Divide
>
>Network
>
>http://www.digitaldivide.net/community/InformationIndia
>
>
>
>Jay's blog on the Digital Divide Network
>
>http://www.digitaldivide.net/blog/jaybhatt
>
>
>
>Jay's Journal on LISNews
>
>http://www.lisnews.org/~Jay/journal
>
>
>
>Jay's submissions on LISNews
>
>http://www.lisnews.org/~Jay
>
>___
>
>DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
>
>DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org
>
>http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
>
>To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
>the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
>
>
>
>_

[DDN] Estimating the number of internet users in a country - a moving target

2006-09-12 Thread Salman Ansari 
In the mail on Tele-medicine, what struck me was the figure of 50 M Internet
users in India. I feel the same way when I read statistics of other
countries as well.

 

I have always wondered how the number of Internet users in a country is
estimated. Over the last 10 years I have been struggling to get to an
educated estimate but the range is anything between 5 to 20 Million in
Pakistan. I am doing a comprehensive report for setting up Telecenters in
the rural areas and despite my long experience in Telecommunications and
Internet, I cannot  find a sensible and standard acceptable method of
finding out how many users does a country or region have.

 

The reason for this complexity for estimating this is because:

 

1.Each user does not have a registered unique identity like a telephone
number hence we cannot make (nearly) neat guesstimates like GSM users. Even
GSM users are off by over 20 - 30% since prepaid SIMs do not ensure that
every SIM has one user liked to it as people have multiple SIMs.

2.The same issue is exacerbated when trying to determine 'active' and
'inactive' users for this purpose.

3.Most users are pre-paid accounts using scratch cards. But scratch
cards are no measure of the number of users.

4.One cannot count e-mail address of local ISPs any longer, since a vast
majority uses gmail, hotmail, yahoo or other mail servers

5.The number of users of cyber cafes, Telecenters and other iterant
users cannot be counted

6.With HFC, DSL and Broadband in offices and building complexes with
local distribution via LANs but having hundreds of users behind a single IP
address

 

Hence I fear that the numbers of users given in each country is mostly
fiction. Can some one give a proper and standardized method of estimating
the number of Internet users in a country, region and world? Or is it just
someone conjuring up a number and getting as many people to use this for it
becoming THE respectable datum?!

 

The same is the issue with finding the e-readiness of a country by basing it
on the number of IP addresses and 'Hosts' alone.

 

What measure is used in different countries - especially in developed and
developing economies? I feel that that a standardized and accurate method
should be adopted since the status of countries, their own internal
development programs and for a variety of other purposes, is now being
reckoned based on faulty and uneven statistics of telecommunications usage,
specially the Internet.

 

Regards

 

Salman Ansari  

 

 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jay Bhatt
Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2006 3:39 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [DDN] Doc's prescription for tele-medicine

 

Hi all

An articlce about Internet and tele-medicine in India-

 

How is Internet helping tele-medicine to grow in villages of India? An

article recently published in Moneycontrol website points out the benefits

of Internet in shaping tele-medicine in India.

 

Excerpt:"But now, Telemedicine has got a new lease of life, thanks to the

spread of the Internet. With the number of Internet users growing by leaps

and bounds (numbering over 50 million as of December 2005, according to

Internetworldstats.com and broadband set to explode into Indian homes, the

World Wide Web might just be the medicine that the doctor had prescribed for

an ailing tele-medicine."

 

Read the full article at:

 Doc's prescription for tele-medicine



 

Jay

 

Jay Bhatt

Information Services Consultant (Engineering)

Hagerty Library, Drexel University

TEL 215-895-1873

AOL IM jaybhatt59  YAHOO IM jay_bhatt_98

FAX 215-895-2070

EMAIL [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 

Engineering Resources Blog:

http://www.library.drexel.edu/blogs/englibrary/

 

Jay's Information Initiatives in India community on the Digital Divide

Network

http://www.digitaldivide.net/community/InformationIndia

 

Jay's blog on the Digital Divide Network

http://www.digitaldivide.net/blog/jaybhatt

 

Jay's Journal on LISNews

http://www.lisnews.org/~Jay/journal

 

Jay's submissions on LISNews

http://www.lisnews.org/~Jay

___

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