Mobile Phones in ICT4D

Gijon, Spain, February 12 2009

Introduction

Co-chair of W3C Mobile Web for Social Development
- Mission: Exploring and Understanding the barriers of using Mobile Technologies in ICT4D
- Home: http://www.w3.org/2008/MW4D/
Head of Web for Society Program of the Web Foundation
- Mission: Working toward having all people benefiting the Web
- Home: http://www.webfoundation.org
Manager of the EU-FP7 project Digital World Forum
- Mission: Using ICT and low-cost technologies to leverage economic development in Africa and Latin America
- Home: http://www.digitalworldforum.eu

a booth celling airtime in africa

a booth celling charging time in africa

a worker mobile phone number on a sign in brazil
(source: Ken Banks Kiwanja.net)

itu graphic: evolution of mobile phone subscribers 2000-2008
(source: ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators (WTI) database.)

Mobile Phones are changing people's lives in the Developing World:

But no evidence that mobile phones had significantly impacted development challenges.

ICT has changed the Developed World:
- in the way people work
- in the way they meet
- in the way they move
- ...
Promises of ICTD: changing the Developing World, and having an impact on development challenges by bridging historical divides:
- Access to health services
- Access to Education
- Access to finance
- Access to Government services
- Access to Agriculture services
- ...

Connectivity issue
- Needs bandwidth
- Needs devices
Information Availability issue
- Needs of relevant and useful services
Information Accessibility issue
- Needs of affordable, accessible and usable services

Less than satisfactory results !

a child with a fake mobile phone
(Photo Source : The Economist )
An Indian Monk with a mobile phone
(Photo Source: Der Spiegel

Principle: Empowering people: moving from recipients only to actors and contributors
Objectives:
- Opening ICTD to millions of people/ngo/grassroots
Rationale
- Only scalable way to make an impact at the global Society level
- Opening ICTD to entrepreneurship and creating a new sector of activity
  - Capturing/using local innovation
- Putting Governments out of the critical path
- Putting pressure for more transparent accountable Governance
  - Iqbal Qadir: The power of the mobile phone to end poverty
- ...

Availability of expertise
- Present: Capacity building in mobile ICT for ngos, entrepreneurs, IT sector,...
- Future: Curriculum and degree at universities
Availability of software and tools
- free and open source
- easy to use
Awareness

Current focus on Information Availability
- SMS success stories
Lots of issues on the current approaches to benefit all people:
- Accessibility of services and content by people with low reading skills
- Availability of services and content in local languages
- Information Illiteracy: searching, finding, using content and services

Today: SMS
- relative easy setup, availability of tools, free reception, available on all phones
- issues: discoverability, cost of running a service, text-only approach, interoperability between operators
Next Generation:
- Mobile Web
  - free service development and deployment, more powerful interface potentially able to bridge existing barriers, discoverability, low required expertise, access to enormous knowledge,...
  - issues: availability on phones, costs of data access, still some technological gaps
- Voice
  - natural way of communication, easy to use for people with low reading skills, available on all phones
  - issues: requires high expertise, expensive infrastructure, usability issue, technological gaps (i18n)

Building, Coordinating and driving a diverse community
- Development agencies and international organization
- NGOs, grassroots, people with field experience
- Academics (ICTD, Sociology,...)
- Mobile industry
Understanding needs, issues, challenges in the field
- exploratory field researches
- pilots using new technologies
Identifying and bridging challenges to lower access barriers
- understanding and solving illiteracy, usability, internationalization issues
- identifying other issues
Working towards solving the empowerment challenges: lowering development and deployment barriers
- identifying tools gap and developing them
- develop mobile ict capacities for present and future, and build on existing success (e.g. EPROM)
- raise awareness on existing technologies, the way to use them, their domain of applications,...

But

Mobile phones: a very constrained device
Mobile networks: very expensive
Other approaches are meaningful
- Low-cost laptops will be key elements for a greater exploitation of ICT potential
- Low-cost wireless broadband infrastructure will be critical for first class information society citizen

Mobile technologies have the potential to meet the ICTD hopes
Mobile Technologies have the potential to make significant impact on Development challenges and MDGs
This potential has been largely demonstrated with deployed services

But for this potential to be realized

A concerted effort of all communities is required
A focused effort on
- bridging the gaps to meet the needs and profile of targeted people
- empowering people

Contact: Stephane Boyera (boyera@w3.org)
W3C Mobile Web for Social Development
- Home Page: http://www.w3.org/2008/MW4D/
- wiki and online resources: http://www.w3.org/2008/MW4D/wiki/
- draft roadmap: http://www.w3.org/2008/MW4D/wiki/roadmap
- Next Event: W3C Workshop on the Role of Mobile Technologies in fostering Social and Economic Development
  - April 1-2 2009, Maputo Mozambique
  - http://www.w3.org/2008/10/MW4D_WS/
  - Thanks to our sponsors:
    - UNDP
    - Nokia
    - Web Foundation
    - Microsoft Research India
    - MIT Legatum Center
Web Foundation: http://www.webfoundation.org
Digital World Forum: http://www.digitalworldforum.eu
- Next Event: Workshop on Low-Cost Broadband and Infrastructure
  - May 4-5 2009, Kampala, Uganda
  - http://www.digitalworldforum.eu/workshops/20-future/66-workshop-on-broadband-access-a-infrastructure-call-for-paper