ICTs for Development blog
Catch up on the most recent posts from our Centre for Development Informatics blog.
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Measuring the Broadband Speed Divide using Crowdsourced Data
Alfonso Rivera-Illingworth
21 March 2019
Digital applications and services increasingly require high-speed Internet connectivity. Yet a strong “broadband divide” exists between nations [1,2]. We try to understand how big data can be used to measure this divide. In particular, what new measurement opportunities can crowdsourced data offer? The broadband divide has been widely measured using subscription rates. However, the broadband […]
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Data, Platforms and Power
Richard Heeks
19 February 2019
We know that digital platforms can be very powerful, but how does their use of data relate to power? In three ways[1] that derive from the datafication and digitisation affordances of platforms: Addressing Information Failure. Platforms succeed in part by finding ways to overcome information failures in existing markets. These failures may be sources of […]
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Digitally Removing the Middleman for Development: Trouble Brewing in East African Tea?
Chris Foster
11 February 2019
How do new digital technologies enable firms to develop? One process often highlighted is disintermediation, where digital technologies allow firms to “cut out the middleman”. Exploring the Kenyan tea auction we suggest that these ideas need to be rethought. Digital technologies bring change, but may lead to more challenging conditions for smaller firms. […]
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How Many Platform Workers Are There in the Global South?
Richard Heeks
29 January 2019
In developing countries, there has been a rapid increase in the gig economy and in the presence of digital labour platforms: defined as “a set of digital resources – including services and content – that enable value-creating interactions between consumers and individual service-providing workers”[1]. But how many workers actually work for such platforms? I am […]
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How Technology and Creativity is being used for Developing Ecotourism: Peace and Unity as a Shared Value to Overcome Environmental Problems in the West Senegal Islands of Niomoume.
anitagreenhill
21 January 2019
On the 28th-30th December 2018 the first edition of the Festival of the Islands of Casamance successfully took place on the Niomoume Islands of the Casamance region in Senegal (Ceesay, 2019) (Figure 1). The Festival was a three-day event bring together the arts, the Islands traditions, a conference and an Island tour all in the […]
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How Whatsapp Strengthens Livelihoods of Women Farmers in Rural Zimbabwe
Pfavai Natasha Nyajeka
11 December 2018
Whatsapp [1] (icon shown in Figure 1) is improving women farmer’s social capital – facilitating effective social networks in rural Zimbabwe. We know that mobile technology use leads to information sharing – with the possibility of building social capital and leading to asset creation. Some even argue that ultimately this can lead to better and sustainable […]
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Crowdfarming: Platform-Enabled Investment in Nigerian Agriculture
ezeomahbookie
20 November 2018
Crowdfarming is fast becoming the easiest means of investing in agriculture in Nigeria. On one hand, we have smallholder farmers who have agricultural skills and farmland but lack sufficient finance. On the other hand, there are individuals who have money to invest but lack agricultural skills and access to farmland. Intermediated by digital platforms (Figure […]
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The Puzzle of Digital Financial Inclusion: A Generation Game?
Gindo Tampubolon
8 November 2018
If we thought that financial inclusion and its digital variant are tightly correlated, we may be in for a surprise, judging from the Global Findex 2017 microdata released by the World Bank last month. Owning a bank account (financial inclusion) and owning a mobile money account (its digital variant) throw a puzzling pattern. I plot […]
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Using Big Data to Learn from Positive Outliers
Basma Albanna
29 October 2018
Why do a few individuals, communities or organisations achieve significantly better results than their peers? The positive deviance approach tries to answer this question. The story began in 1990, the Vietnamese government invited Save the Children (SCF) to help overcome the problem of child malnutrition. Jerry Sternin, the SCF Programme Director, was asked to demonstrate […]
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Organisational Use of Social Media: A Perspective on International Development NGOs
anandsheombar
28 September 2018
Social media have become a ubiquitous phenomenon; no-one would argue nowadays. From sharing personal experiences to connecting with other people the implications of these technologies are beyond the eye can reach. Social media have entered the international development area too. The ICT-for-development field is exploring and trying to understand the potential of social media and […]
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