Tag: development
Corporate Narratives, ICTs, and Development
Once upon a time, a very long time ago, before even Google or mobile phones and long before Facebook, there was just the Internet. And folk who created the Internet and its early users were filled with wonder at its...
Three reasons why M4D may be bad for Development
Fair warning, this post is a slightly intemperate and possibly ill-advised rant but sometimes you just have to get something off your chest if only to enable someone else to tell you how wrong you are. I have previously raised...
African Women and American Academics
I find myself wondering if I am the only one dismayed by the “mudwrestling” going on among Dambisa Moyo, Jeffrey Sachs and William Easterly… and others. In case you haven’t heard, Dambisa Moyo has written a provocative book on the...
ICT Access and Usage in Africa
In a couple of recent posts, I have mentioned the percentage of disposable income spent by Africans on mobile communication. While I have posted links to the research, I think it is worth singling out the work of Research ICT...
The Rationality of Mobile Spending
Richard Heeks has written an interesting post entitled Mobiles for Impoverishment in which he says that recent m4d research “suggests mobiles are doing more economic harm than good, and sometimes making poor people poorer”. He points to quantitative and qualitative...