There will be two events to mark the launch of the Myanmar translation of Information Lives of the Poor, co-authored by Laurent Elder, Rohan Samarajiva, Alison Gillwald and Hernan Galperin and published by IDRC. The first is at the Sky Palace Hotel , 3, Yarza Thingaha Road, Datkhinathiri Township, Hotel Zone, Southern Nay Pyi Taw, Nay Pyi Taw, http://skypalace.asia/home.html phone number is (95) 67 422122, (95) 9 49 210 703. We plan to start at 1430 on the 24th of July.
Myanmar is in the midst of a dramatic transformation under the Thein Sein administration. ICTs are front and center, with both Ooredoo and Telenor set to launch services within weeks. In an op ed published in Myanmar in May 2012, almost a lifetime ago given the scale of the changes, I said: “Starting late means that most of the mistakes have been made, by others. In the world of policy design, we spend the most effort working around previous mistakes.” To avoid mistakes and capitalize on the first-comer advantage, it is important that the lessons of those who walked the path of telecom reform earlier be available within Myanmar in a form that is accessible to all.
Information and communication have always opened opportunities for the poor to earn income, reduce isolation, and respond resiliently to emergencies. With mobile phone use exploding across the developing world, even marginalized communities are now benefiting from modern communication tools. This book explores the impacts of this unprecedented technological change. Drawing on unique household surveys undertaken by research networks active in 38 developing countries, it helps to fill knowledge gaps about how the poor use information and communication technologies (ICTs). How have they benefited from mobile devices, computers, and the Internet?