Are Mobiles a Capitalist Plot to Keep the Poor Poor? - Dadamac response November 7, 2011
I was moved to ask the question in the title after spending the good part of a week going in and out of a conference in Johannesburg on ICT4RD (Rural Development) where much of the discussion and most of the presentations seemed to be assuming some form of smart phone and some rather significant (and expensive in the African context) mobile device and connectivity.
(snip)
So, we answered my question–
No! mobiles aren’t completely a capitalist plot to keep the poor poor at least for simple low cost person to person communications, but the jury is still out on answering the question for all the shiny M4D (Mobile for Development) apps that seem to be so attractive these days to development funders and the development-erati.
Mike - and readers of my open letters at http://dadamac.posterous.com
I agree strongly with your answer to your own question - and also agree that you are right about the cost of use being a serious problem to many users/potential users.
For more evidence of the realities I recommend the research done by Ineke Buskens, ref the GRACE programme. She edited a book about it (I could give details later to anyone interested). John Dada and Kazanka Comfort contributed to the book.
There are also potential case studies regarding use of smart phones connected to refurbished PCs or laptops (in Nigeria and in East Africa) by people who learned how to do that via Minciu Sodas.
Fola Sunday, from Ago-Are was recently telling me that he was getting modems for various people while he was in Ibadan, I would guess these people have all come to a desire to use the Internet at home in rural areas through their use of smart phones (and Fola's teaching of how the Internet can be useful to them). But that is just my guess from the odds and ends he has told me - it would be best to check with him directly if you want more information.
A doctor I know well in Nigeria (both as his patient and as a friend) told me how pleased he was that thanks to his phone patients could check his whereabouts before bringing people to his clinic. Previously if he travelled they would not know he was away and some would make long wasted journeys to the clinic seeking his help.
If anyone is genuinely interested in how phones have made a difference I could help to open up some conversations with various people who were early adopters (see "Why Dadamac? - Dadamac - the Internet-enabled alternative to top-down development" - http://dadamac.posterous.com/dadamac-the-internet-enabled-alternative-to-t)
My email is pamela.mclean@dadamac.net