L I R N E . N E T

LIRNEasia is organising the pre-conference event, Mobile 2.0: Beyond voice? [20-21 May 2009], for the 2009 Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) [21-25 May 2009]. A call for papers is being issued for the pre-conference event.

Mobile phones are becoming increasingly important in bringing people into the Information Society. It is widely accepted that the inhabitants of the future household will carry mobile devices that will be capable of voice and data communication, information retrieval and forms of entertainment consumption. Mobiles are now (and will increasingly become) payment devices that can also send, process and receive voice, text as well as images; in the next few years they will also be capable of information-retrieval and publishing functions normally associated with the Internet. Through such services and applications, industry experts predict that many in emerging markets will experience the Internet, or ‘elements’ of the Internet for the first time through a mobile phone, rather than a PC; mobile payments, mobile social networking, SMS voting are just a few examples of some of these services and applications.
Click on ‘read the rest of this entry‘ for further details on the Call for papers…

Deadline for abstracts: 31 October 2008.

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The Center for Communication, Media and Information Technologies (CMI), of the Copenhagen Institute of Technology (CIT), Aalborg University, Denmark, will host its First International Conference on Converging Mobile Media on 28 November 2008. The conference is organized in cooperation with the Advanced technology network on Mobile Systems, CTiF Copenhagen, and CMI’s CAMMP Project.

William Melody, founder of LIRNE.NET, will deliver the closing comments for the conference (see the full programme in the rest of this entry).

Click here for the conference website.

Click here for conference registration

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The GSMA Development Fund, an initiative of the operator-led trade association representing the global mobile industry, has compiled and published a list of the best research reports on the economic and social impact of mobile communications in developing countries. Selection was based on content, relevance, originality and credibility. GSMA notes that although not an exhaustive and scientifically developed list, “it illustrates the work that we feel is most important at the moment and highlights key conclusions on the impact of mobile technology in developing countries.”

Click here to go to the highlighted list of research work.
Click here for the form to download the full report, GSMA Development Fund Top 20 (in .pdf).

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The recent LIRNEasia publication ICT Infrastructure in Emerging Asia: Policy and Regulatory Roadblocks in its Chapter 3, “I Just Called to Say: Teleuse under a Ceasefire,” explores the value and modes of access to telecom in the Jaffna District of Sri Lanka. Clearly there is a great need for infrastructure in such areas to replace infrastructure targeted by war. This chapter observes that post conflict societies “despite considerable financial constraints, have a higher demand for telecom services than people in areas directly unaffected by conflict.”

Another new paper by Agnieszka Konkel and Richard Heeks, considers the issue of ICT infrastructure development in conflict zones from the perspective of investment. Drawing on the cases of Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia, the paper elaborates some counter-intuitive evidence to conventional wisdom, in that insecurity does not necessarily deter investment. The authors speculate on three possible hypotheses:

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Ken Banks, founder of Founder of kiwanja.net in a recent posting to a mobile for development list on dgroups (Development through Dialogue) comments on the inception of the mobility project. “The challenge was this. How do we empower individuals in developing countries to develop and build their own mobile applications?” (See full post on next page.)

“mobility is a collaborative project which brings together some of the leading academics, technicians, educators and practitioners in the IT and mobile fields with the common goal of developing an exciting and empowering range of tools and resources to unlock the power of mobile applications development for users in the developing world”

Click here to go to the mobility project webpage.

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LIRNEasia has a featured article in the June 2008 issue of the Indian-based international magazine i4d (Information for development). Anu Samarajiva (freelance), Ayesha Zainudeen and Harsha de Silva have contributed an article, LIRNEasia, Sri Lanka: Benefiting the bottom of the pyramid? highlighting LIRNEasia’s research on mobile usage by the poorest sectors of society. Research from LIRNEasia and DIRSI is also referenced in articles of this issue of i4d which is dedicated to the theme of Mobiles for Development. Also of note is an article on A Review of IDRC Projects - Mobiles are leading the way, by Ahmed Tareq Rashid (Researcher for Pan Asia Networking of IDRC) and Kathleen Diga (Researcher for Acacia – ICT4D Africa of International Development Research Centre).

Click here to go to the June 2008 issue of i4d.

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William Melody and Amy Mahan will guest edit a special issue of info - the journal of policy, regulation and strategy for telecommunications, information and media on Network Development: Wireless Applications for the Next Billion New Users. This special issue focused on wireless applications for the next billion users will examine priority issues relating to the extension of ICT infrastructure to the world’s unconnected poor, with particular reference to the design of innovative strategies for network development. The guest editors welcome the submission of draft material or work in progress based on current or recently completed research for possible publication in this special issue.

Deadline for submission: Monday, 4 August 2008.

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