The most successful programs clearly define their objectives and broadly communicate their existence to civil society. THE EXAMPLE OF SRI LANKA To illustrate what such a program could look like, we look at Sri Lanka’s stated objectives, extracted directly from the Information and Communication Technology Plan for Sri Lanka 2011–2016 I thought I’d read the [...]
Revamped Network Readiness Index for 2012 out
The Network Readiness Index published by the World Economic Forum has always treated Sri Lanka and India well. They have quoted extensively from the Information and Communication Technology Plan for Sri Lanka 2011–2016 (which is, curiously, not available on the Ministry and ICTA websites). But more on that later. It appears that the methodology has [...]
SMS election monitoring in Senegal
I have an unusual interest in Senegal. I’ve been there several times, but more than that, the former Foreign Minister and one of the unsuccessful Presidential candidates, Cheikh Tidiane Gadio is a good friend. So I follow the news more closely than usual. Here is a little piece from the Economist. The novelty is the [...]
First reflections on FAO workshop on mobiles & agriculture
It has been an intense and productive two days. There will be more than one set of reflections. This is the first, written from the airport on the way out of Bangkok. We have been worrying about the quality of information supplied to growers and other actors in the supply chains. What if the price [...]
Mobile as first screen
We don’t write much about entertainment uses of mobiles, but it appears the game is changing there too. From third screen to first screen . . . In a keynote talk Thursday at MediaPost’s Mobile Insider Summit, Bayle explained that instead of determining how to shoehorn its programming from traditional media to mobile platforms, the [...]
Reducing friction: Towards inclusive and efficient agricultural supply chains
LIRNEasia‘s agricultural supply chain work from our current 2010-2012 research cycle was shared with the media at a dissemination event in Bangkok, Thailand. The event was intended to highlight some of the findings from the meta-study of ICT interventions in Thailand conducted for LIRNEasia by Deunden Nikomborirak. Presentations by the speakers are included below. Rohan Samarajiva, PhD., [...]
Voice: The disruptive technology
We’ve been pushing for more-than-voice services over mobile. So why do we think voice is the game changer on the horizon? It’s a different kind of voice. One that allows commands to be given to ICT devices using voice. For the BOP, the evidence is crystal clear. Keyboards are a constraint. If people can interact [...]
Transforming the roaming market?
A roaming customer buys the service from his/her service provider, the one who controls the number. The service provider purchases roaming and billing services from a foreign operator in order to provide the service to the customer. Today, the most that a customer who wants to be reachable (who wants to receive calls while abroad) [...]
Big data gets big funding
US government gets behind big data. We agree, we’re getting into big data too. Difference is that in our countries there are not that many big data streams. Big data refers to the rising flood of digital data from many sources, including the Web, biological and industrial sensors, video, e-mail and social network communications. The [...]
India: Mobile phone ownership and toilets
by Don Rodney Junio In 2001, half of Indian households (50.4%) did not own any of the specified modes of communication- radio/ transistor, television, telephone. 10 years later, this figure is down to just 27.4% of total households. This is just some of the interesting data in the Houselisting and Housing Data 2011 recently released [...]
Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities Technology Fair
The LIRNEasia and Sarvodaya conducted feasibility study to integrate the Freedom Fone Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System with the Sahana Disaster Management System was presented at the Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities (CDAC) technology fair. The congregation took place in London, UK, March 22 & 23. Brenda Burrell (Technical Director Freedom Fone), residing in Harare [...]
Economic Impacts of Mobile phones: A Systematic Review
A systematic review are defined as a summation of the best available research (or primary studies) on a specific question. Systematic reviews has its beginnings in the field of medicine, and has moved on to social sciences over the last few years. The summation or the synthesizing can either be done by a meta-analysis or a meta-synthesis depending on the [...]
A parsimonious indicator of good governance
As a research organization we like data. We worry about the best indicators, for anything. For the longest time, per capita GDP has been the simplest, least-imperfect indicator of prosperity. It has many shortcomings, but the alternatives have more. The newest run at it zooms in on happiness. If people in country A are happier [...]
Interesting nominee for President of World Bank
The World Bank is a classic big bureaucracy. It’s rare for a single person to change the direction of this aircraft carrier (McNamara and Wolfensohn came close). Here’s the new front runner. Interesting choice by Obama: Born in Seoul, Korea in 1959, Jim Yong Kim moved with his family to the United States at the [...]
ICTD as an MBA required course
Yesterday, I gave a guest lecture at a Carleton University using the Rann Vijay Kumar video (constituting its official launch) and the attached slides. The focus was on agriculture. I was surprised the course was required. Guess this constitutes a significant achievement in terms of establishing ICT for development as a field of study.
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