Mobile Web for Development

Use of Low-cost Technologies to Bridge the Digital Divide

Marie-Claire Forgue

W3C Senegal Office Launch, Dakar, 27 May 2009

Foreword

There is One Web:

• It works!
• Web expands in a robust manner
• Web remains free and open for all
• “The social value of the Web is that it enables human communication, commerce, and opportunities to share knowledge [and] to make these benefits available to all people, whatever their hardware, software, network infrastructure, native language, culture, geographical location, or physical or mental ability.”
  Sir Tim Berners-Lee, W3C director and inventor of the Web

W3C Mobile Web Initiative

• MWI was launched in 2005
• The Mobile Web: the platform to leverage services development, deployment and adoption
  • No interoperability problems
  • Standardized technologies and development platform
  • Discoverability through portals and search engine
  • Enhanced interaction through forms/voice/multimodal interaction
  • Cheap/free hosting
• Mobile phones offer a scalable and affordable platform to develop and deploy eServices:
  • > 4 billion of mobile phones in the world
  • > 80% of the world population covered by a GSM network

MW4D: Promise of Mobile to Foster Social and Economic Development

• How to unleash the power of mobile phone as an ICT plateform?
• 2007: W3C MWI explores how the Web on mobile phones could be a potential solution to bridge the digital divide, and leverage Web access in developing countries
• May 2008: creation of the Mobile Web for Development (MW4D) W3C group

ICT4D

• ICT to help social and economic development:
  • by facilitating the development and deployment of services (finance, health, education, government, agriculture,...) at large scale and low cost
  • by leveraging north-south, and international communication and exchanges
• Low-cost technologies and mobile technologies: a new hope for potential solutions to bridge the Digital Divide

MW4D: Promise of Mobile to Foster Social and Economic Development

MW4D goals are to: Create an inter-disciplinary forum between experts in technology (Web, mobile), experts in social development, experts in sustainability and entrepreneurship, people with grassroot experience (NGO sector), etc. Identify the challenges of unleashing the power of mobile phones as an ICT platform and leveraging the use of mobile Web technologies in social development projects Identify the most promising directions to follow and establish a roadmap MW4D mission is: Not: Web access for the sake of Web access But: Web as means to deploy development-oriented services Aimed at low-income, "bottom of the pyramid" communities

Empower The Underpriviledged

• Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day (source)
• Empower those with the greatest need, i.e., focus on critical services such as:

• • Health care/nutrition
  • Government services
  • Education
  • Commerce

Ongoing Work!

• Three workshops were held since 2005:
• • 2006: "W3C Workshop on the Mobile Web in Developing Countries" in Bangalore [Executive Summary]
  • 2008: "Workshop on the Role of Mobile Technologies in Fostering Social Development" in São Paulo [Executive Summary]
  • April 2009: "Africa Perspective on the Role of Mobile Technologies in Fostering Social and Economic Development" in Maputo [Executive Summary]

  Discussed topics: M-health, M-Activism, M-banking, M-government, M-agriculture, Enabling environment, Technology
  Web access on mobile phones is a viable option now.

Digital World Forum Project

• http://www.digitalworldforum.eu
• FP7 funded project (International Relations Unit)
• Project Officer: Thierry Devars
• Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America
• from 1/1/2008 to 30/9/2009
• 7 partners from: France, Spain, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa
• 

Scope and Objectives

• State of the art:
  • Mobile applications
  • Low-cost laptops
  • Low-cost broadband technologies

• Community Building: creating a global forum for all actors: industry, research, local communities, NGOs...
  • particular focus on field expertise, and involvement of final users/customers/local communities
• Identification of challenges and roadmap definition

DWF Project Structure

• 3 technical Work Packages (WPs):
  • WP1: Mobile Web applications (Leading Partner: W3C) => MW4D
  • WP2: Low-Cost Laptops (Leading Partner: CSIR)
  • WP3: Low-cost Broadband Infrastructures (Leading Partner: Orange Labs)

  

WP2: Low-cost Devices

• The goals of this work package are to:
  • get an understanding and updated scenario of the current state-of the-art in the sector of low-cost laptop technologies for developing countries.
  • leverage EU and EU major actors roles in the low-cost laptop sectors
• Next workshop on 29 May 09, Brussels, Belgium

WP3: Low-cost Broadband Access and Infrastructure

• The goals of this work package are to:
  • devise a generic approach to the "last mile" issue in developing countries, by assessing each key technological solution in the light of a typology of local contextual factors.
  • evaluate the major competing technologies: WiFi and WiFi mesh, WiMax, Edge, CDMA, 3G/HSxPA, ...
  • conduct an exhaustive in-lab analysis of each technology
  • enrich this analysis via interactions with key industry/market players and stakeholders
  • identify appropriate initiatives to be undertaken at EU level
• Workshop was held in Kampala, beg. of May 09 -- report to come.

Links of Interest - DWF

• DWF:

• Feedback, participation and contributions are welcome: digitalworld-contact@ercim.org
• Fora dedicated to each theme of the project:
  • Forum on Mobile Web for Social Development: http://forum.digitalworldforum.eu/group/mobilewebforsocialdevelopment
  • Forum on Low-cost Information Access Device: http://forum.digitalworldforum.eu/group/WP2
  • Forum on Low-Cost Broadband access and Infrastructure: http://forum.digitalworldforum.eu/group/lowcostbroadbandaccessandinfrastrucure
• You're invited to attend the DWF final event, in Brussels, on 30 September 2009

• Register now! : http://www.digitalworldforum.eu/component/dwf/

Links of Interest - MWI

• W3C MWI:
• http://www.w3.org/Mobile
• 1 June - 31 July 09 => Online Training Course: An Introduction to W3C's Mobile Web Best Practices
  http://www.w3.org/2009/04/MobiWeb102/

Conclusion

• W3C strives to make the Web accessible, relevant, usable and useful for under-privileged populations and rural communities
• The mobile Web is the most promising platform for low-cost large scale development, deployment and adoption of ICTs
• Platform for innovation, education and new business models.
• Let's work together! Collaboration, cooperation and sharing is critical to make the Web an even better place.