L I R N E . N E T

Building on a long standing commitment of offering low cost mobile handsets, Nokia has announced initiatives to expand “that vision by introducing a number of devices and services that aim to bring the power of the Internet to these markets as well. The mobile device and the Internet are a powerful combination in connecting people with each other, accessing information, news, entertainment and sharing. By introducing products and services that are affordable, relevant and easy-to-use, we believe Nokia can fuel the growth of the Internet in emerging markets through mobility.”

See NOKIA press release.

See Ken Banks‘ (kiwanja.net) PCWorld article, Nokia: From Technical Development to Human Development?

Also see mobile use at the bottom of the pyramid research findings:

From DIRSI:
Mobile Opportunities: Poverty and Telephony Access in Latin America and the Caribbean
Click here for country reports.

From LIRNEasia:
ICT Infrastructure in Emerging Asia: Policy and Regulatory Roadblocks (edited by Rohan Samarajiva and Ayesha Zainudeen) Sage India/IDRC 2008

• Chapter 1: What Do Users at the Bottom of the Pyramid Want? Ayesha Zainudeen
• Chapter 2: Strategies on a Shoestring Ayesha Zainudeen and Tahani Iqbal

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DIRSI network members Hernan Galperin, Roxana Barrantes and Amy Mahan (also LIRNE.NET coordinator), will participate in a panel entitled “Are new communication technologies reducing or increasing inequalities?” in the XXVIII International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association - LASA 2009 [June 11-14, 2009; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil]. “Rethinking inequalities” is the main theme of this edition.

Saturday June 14, 2009 - 9:00 - 10:45 am

Hernan Galperin [Chair]

Presenters:

1. Hernan Galperin, Roxana Barrantes
Can the poor afford mobile telephony? Evidence from Latin America

2. Amy Mahan
Measuring the impact of access to ICT infrastructure in Latin America

3. Antonio Jose Botelho
New communication technologies and MSME’s in Latin America and the Caribbean

4. Sebastian Ureta
Jóvenes y tecnologías móviles en Santiago de Chile

5. Fernando Jose Barrio
The digital paradox in Latin America: The simultaneous pursuit of policies facilitating and restricting access to digital information in the region

Richard Heek’s article, ICT4D 2.0 - The Next Phase of Applying ICT for International Development, in the June 2008 (Vol. 41, No. 6) issue of IEEE’s Computer presents a coherent trajectory of the history and evolution of ICT4D and then casts into the emerging challenges and possibilities for the next development phase.

There is no sharp dividing line that lets us say, “ICT4D 1.0 stopped here; ICT4D 2.0 began here.” On the ground, there is a sense of evolution, not discontinuity. And yet … something messy, fuzzy but new, is emerging. It makes sense to see what happens if we give this a label.

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[24-25 April] Rohan Samarajiva and Tahani Iqbal will participate at an International Workshop on ICTs and Development: Experiences in Asia, held at the Faculy of Arts and Sciences (Communications & New Media Programme Science, Technology and Society (STS) Cluster), National University of Singapore.

Click here to download the programme for the event.

Click here to go to the LIRNEasia website.

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[22-26 May 2008] Rohan Samarajiva, Executive Director of LIRNEasia, will present a paper based on LIRNEasia’s study on the gendered aspects of telecommunications use in emerging Asia, entitled, ‘Who’s Got the Phone? The Gendered Use of Telephones at the Bottom of the Pyramid‘ at the 58th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, “Communicating for Social Impact“, to be held at Le Centre Sheraton Hotel, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Click here to go to the conference website.

Click here to download the paper, Who’s Got the Phone? The Gendered Use of Telephones at the Bottom of the Pyramid.

Click here to download the .ppt presentation slides.

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