The Mobile Web to bridge the Digital Divide

Stéphane Boyera

http://www.w3.org/2006/11/ec_digitaldivide/all.htm

EU-Africa Concertation Meeting

Brussels, Belgium, December 14 2006

W3C: Leading the Web to its Full Potential

Founded by Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee in 1994 ...

• W3C Provides the Vision and the Standards to Lead the Web:

From a Web of Documents ... ... toward One Web: of Data and Services on Everything for Everyone

(Membership / Benefits / New "At a Glance" brochure)

W3C: History

• 1994: Creation of W3C for standardization and interoperability of Web technologies
• 1997: Creation of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI): To make the Web Accessible
• 2005: Creation of the Mobile Web Initiative (MWI): To Access the Web from Mobile Phones

Next Step : the Web for All

• 2006: W3C to help bridging the Digital Divide and help the majority to access the Web ?

(Photo Source : The Economist )

ICT to sustain development

	E-gov. Services Education Health Banking Communities services Business ... 10 more phones per 100 people == +0.6% GDP (gross domestic product) (Source: Africa: the impact of Mobile Phones report)
(Photo Source: Der Spiegel)

Worldwide Initiatives

• One Laptop Per Child
• Microsoft FonePlus
• W3C Mobile Web for All ?

Why the Mobile Web?

• Mobile Network is there
  • 80% of the planet covered by GSM

  

Why the Mobile Web? (2)

• Mobile Phones are there

  	India: Penetration rate of PC: 2% stable - Mobile Phone 11% increasing 47% per year China: Penetration rate of PC: 8% - Mobile Phone 30% Morocco: 4 fixed-line/100 people (4 in 1995) - 24 mobile lines (0 in 1995) >2 billions of people have access to a mobile phone +1 million/day expected 4 billions by the end of 2010
  (Photo Source: Vodafone)	(Sources: World Bank, "Africa: The impact of mobile phones - March 2005", "Market Trends: PC Penetration Data Highlights Market Maturity, Gartner April 2005" and "Universal Access Report by GSM Association, October 2006")

Why the Mobile Web? (3)

• Successful pre-Web Mobile Applications

  	Banking without bank Read the story about banking A full report on mobile-banking by GSMA NGOs-run SMS based system: e-gov, business (market poll), health, ... Read the story Read the case study WAP access : BBC Wap site: " I'm in Uganda and the only access I have 2 the outside world is this pinhole 2 info" Ugandan texter to the BBC Read the story
  (Photo Source: Vodafone)

Challenges and Enabling Factors

From the W3C International Workshop on the Mobile Web in Developing Countries :

• Learning from SMS applications
  • Low and predictable cost
  • Easy to use
• Enabling the Mobile Web
  • Cooperating with international bodies like GSMA, and handset manufacturers
  • Working with operators on costs
  • Enabling people to develop appropriate applications : working on mobile courses
• Creating a joint Initiative
  • With Mobile specialists
  • With people with ground experience, anthropologists, local communities, ...
  • To create expertise and guidelines for successful ICT projects in developing countries

Conclusion

• Potential for the Mobile Web to be the next killer application to bridge the Digital Divide
• How to leverage/facilitate the transition :
  • Working with key players from the Mobile world on blocking factors
  • Working with NGOs, anthropologists, local communities:
    • to catch usage and needs
    • to acquire and share experience on the specificities of
      • Project management
      • Requirement definitions
      • UI Design
      • ...
• Next step : Understanding and Experimenting
  • Checking hypothesis with demonstrators
  • Understanding commonalities and specificities across region (Africa, India, ...)