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mnopq
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The Digital War on Poverty
September 2, 2008 - 09:17 AM
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Jeffrey Sachs reports that:
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The digital divide is ending not through a burst of civic responsibility, but mainly through market forces. Mobile phone technology is so powerful, and costs so little per unit of data transmission, that it has proved possible to sell mobile phone access to the poor. There are now more than 3.3 billion subscribers in the world, roughly one for every two people on the planet....
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In Africa, which contains the world’s poorest countries, the market is soaring, with more than 280 million subscribers. Mobile phones are now ubiquitous in villages as well as cities. If an individual does not have a cell phone, they almost surely know someone who does. Probably a significant majority of Africans have at least emergency access to a cell phone, either their own, a neighbor’s, or one at a commercial kiosk.
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http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sachs144
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Nikki
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Re: The Digital War on Poverty
September 29, 2008 - 12:52 PM
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I think that this is very interesting, if true. I have heard a lot about the proliferation of cell phones in the developing world - but one thing causes me to remain fairly skeptical - how do they afford airtime?
That being said I thin that cell phones are a great way to go - if you think about i they get to skip a lot of the steps that the western world had to go through saving them time and money in the end. They will not have to get landlines, or internet to thier homes - al of that can be done through their phones. They can surf the net, read their newspapers, all form their mobile buddy. Maybe instead of one computer per child it should be one iPhone per child? I think that when addresing technological gaps between the first and the third world we take into account needs for the future as opposed to needs for the present. I think that by helping African nations to make the technological leap we can finally move forward towards a level playing field.
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Wangchuk Chungyalpa
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Re: The Digital War on Poverty
February 21, 2009 - 08:56 AM
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I am of the opinion that digital divide in a real sense applies to computers and internet access. When we talk of digital disparity and inequalities resulting from it, we are primarily referring to advantages and benefits gained from usage of computers and from access to the internet far more than even TV’s and radios. The computer and particularly the PC has revolutionized all aspects of our life. In all the developed countries, a PC is as much a requirement at the office as electricity. The computer is still an item of luxury in much of the developing world. Computers and various software and information systems have tremendously improved the efficiency and productivity of an average worker. Tasks that normally span months and takes 10-15 people can no be completed by a single individual within a span of 1hr or less. Volumes of data can be evaluated, analyzed and summarized within minutes using spreadsheet applications. Computer Aided Design (CAD) software have enabled engineers, architects and other professionals to easily implement, improve, innovate and create designs and try out pioneering concepts like never before. Thousands of software exists in the market to aid professionals in all fields – marketers, graphic designers, accountants, small business owners and more resulting in a far superior quality and service.
There exists thousands of projects to address the Digital Gap. Of them, the most notable ones are One LapTop Per Child. One Lap Top Per Child is designed to provide USD100 laptops to school children and various other educational institutions in the developing countries.
http://www.laptop.org/en/?gclid=CMrh7J_h7ZgCFQrFGgodk3Hz0g
IBM Classmate is also aimed at providing low cost PCs to developing countries mainly for educational purpose.
However, as Professor Sachs pointed out in his essay, much can be done even with mobile phones. Perhaps the most notable example is the M-PESA mobile banking facility available in Kenya. What was most striking about his article was the impact mobile phones have on the rural poor and even with technological limitations; the impact is nonetheless profound – in agriculture and healthcare. As he points out, it is up to the communications industry and software industry to develop applications and systems to address social issues.
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sahr yillia
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Re: The Digital War on Poverty
April 13, 2009 - 07:52 PM
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The wordings or concept of DIGITAL WAR ON POVERTY may be seen or viewed be others as some thing funny but, it is actually not so.
It is a reality especially in the African Continent, for instance, with the availability of mobile phone, there is now an increase on the numbers of self employments fir young people in most African countries suffering from regular electrical power supplies.
These youths most times try and get small generators and establish various centres for the charging of mobile phones at certain amount. Off course, such businesses are actually helping lots of youths and even those who take their phones for chargings as most communities in Africa lack regular electrical power supplies.
So tell me, is that not poverty reduction as funds from these charging centres are today helping these youth and even their closest relatives.
Additionally, with the mobile phone,today even a Palm Wine Tapper is abled to communicate with his partners right up the Palm Tree whiles tapping the Palm Wine in some remote villages in Africa as compaired to the time and resources been spent previously for this purposes.
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jasper bakyayita
Joined: Jul 21, 2008
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Re: The Digital War on Poverty
May 25, 2009 - 04:21 PM
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I have witnesses the changes that have taken place in Uganda since the first cellular companies opened up for business in late 1990.
cell phone, FM radios,satellite TV,cameras are becoming a neccessity and a means to facilitate production in the country side.The air time is still expensive,but farmers have access to higher prices and the ability to communicate and do market research locally.
Some of the phones have internet capabilities,for browsers, and simple applications.
Phones have to be developed looking at high humidity,local conditions and other environmental variableS.
The users of the digital media have to be educated constantly,because of the rapid changes.
Media reporting has advanced the knowledge on poverty and given a platform of FUNDRAISING
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