L I R N E . N E T

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

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

Deadline for abstracts: 31 October 2008.
Please send abstract, along with your name and contact information to zainudeen [at] lirne.net. Accepted abstracts will be notified by 21 November 2008. Final papers will be due by 1 April 2009.

[More info next page.]

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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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