Cooperation 2.0 Gijon, day 3 – mobile phones for human development
Mobile phones for human development – Stephane Boyera, W3C
Presentation of Stephane Boyera
Stephane Boyera:
- W3C mobile web for Social Development
- Web for Society Program of the Web Foundation
- EU-FP7 project Digital World Forum
Mobile phones:
- In December 2008: 4 bio. subscribers
- change the way people work, communicate, live
- People offer their work with their m.p. number – makes them flexible
- but no evidence that the development challenge is addressed
ICTs have changed the Developed World
- work, meeting, movement
ICT4D promises to bridge historical divides
Issues:
- Connectivity (devices, bandwidth)
- Information Availability (relevant & useful services)
- Information Accessibility (too expensive, language, illiteracy)
- Without addressing these issues, ICT4D is useless
Last 15 years:
- focus on connectivity – telecenters
- no sustainability
- hard to replicate (legal issues, hight cost)
- hard to scale up
- relying on unstable governments – limits the potential of ICTs
What can mobile phones bring?
Minimal connectivity & computing power worldwide
- it’s possible to focus on new, mobile, innovative services (e-agriculture, e-health)
- people start to think big – scalability
Bottom-up approach
- empowering people – now they can contribute and act instead of only consume
Why is that important?
- it’s the only way to make services scalable – few people in development agencies vs. thousands of NGOs
- people can start businesses themselves – entrepreneurship & innovation
- governments are not that important any more – there is put pressure on the government for transparency
Challenges:
- Capacity building – creating expertise on mobile phone technology locally
- Make tools available – free & open source, easy to use software
- Raise awareness about the potential of mobile technology and the easiness to create new content/tools
Current focus: on information availability
For sms, there have to be a lot of prerequisites fulfilles
To make all people benefit:
- Address the needs of illiterate people or low reading skills
- Local languages
- Digital literacy – teach people how to search & use content and services
Technologies:
Mobile phone: “Swiss army knive” – a lot of services
Today: sms
- easy setup, available, free reception
- issues: high cost of running services, only text, interoperability between operators
Next generation:
Mobile web:
- free & easy development, powerful interface, access to knowledge in the internet
- issues: availability on mobiles, cost
Voice:
- Natural way of communication, easy to use, everywhere available, flexible
- Issues: high expertise required, usability, technology
No “one-for-all” device
Next steps
Community building
- development agencies, local people, academics, NGOs, private sector
Explore local needs
- field studies, pilot projects
Lower access barriers
- illiteracy, usability, internationalization
Empowerment
- easier development & deployment
Mobile phones is a way to reach the people & they are available in the field
But:
- Expensive
- Constrained
- Also other devices necessary – low cost laptops, broadband infrastructure
Conclusion
- Mobile technology has the potential to meet the ICT4D hopes & make significant impact
- But next steps: concerted effort of all communities, focus on local needs, bridging the gaps between people, empowerment
Q & A:
Telecenters can also be a complementary service – let’s combine services. What about mobile services for internet access?
- I agree, inclusing approach is substantial
- Internet access: we have to understand what it means that people access the web via mobile phone – different interface, constrained
- Linking your PC to the internet via a mobile phone is possible, if there are PCs available
Comment – internet access & mobile technology are equally important because you need access at the institutional level, not just private level.
How big is the challenge of interoperability? Are there enough standards? Where should they be established?
- Each technology has a different level – moving from one platform to another is hard
- On the mobile: making the mobile browser an open standardized tool is a challenge
- It’s also an issue of power – monopolies
- Voice is already standardized, but is lacking the open source community
- Developing applications on the mobile – there is nothing standardized
- Middle layer: Java stack
One thing that is missing: a lot has to be invested in science and technology – high level innovations, not just applications. There is some kind of technology fetishism.
- It’s correct, work is primarily on application level.
Cooperation 2.0 Gijon, day 3 – mobile phones for human development
was published on 12.02.2009 by Florian Sturm. It files under global
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March 5th, 2009 at 18:22
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