Comment by Niranjan Meegammana on February 22, 2009 at 12:17am

bridging gaps is ICD4D is all about, becase ICTs can penetrate through barriers to bring people hope. Governments fostering of ICT4D initiatives will make government commitment to serve such people. Nenasala Telecenter Network is an evidence of such activity.

Comment by Sameera Wijerathna on April 22, 2009 at 9:41pm

Sorry, I was bit away from the telecentre.org. Hoping to start a new thread of discussion soon.

Comment by Sameera Wijerathna on April 22, 2009 at 9:46pm

Welcome the new members who joined the ICT4D group recently.

..

Comment by Sameera Wijerathna on May 5, 2009 at 9:53pm

see the discussion above

Can Telecenters become Disaster Early Warning Centers?

Sameera.

Comment by Sameera Wijerathna on June 3, 2009 at 10:08pm

.
Welcome !

Mohammad Lutful Kabir and Nkiru Banjoko to the ICT4D group.

hope you too will share your knowledge here.

Sameera.

..

Comment by Sameera Wijerathna on June 8, 2009 at 10:10pm

How Corporate America Really Views Africa
[The Conversation Behind Closed Doors]

It is always good to know the attitude of U.S. investors on Asia and Africa, where most of the poor people live in the world.

Africa is the world’s second largest and second most populous continent after Asia, with a population nearing 1 billion. It accounts for 14% of the world’s population. More than 1000 languages are spoken across its 53 countries. In addition, Africa covers 20% of the world’s total land area and contains about 30% of its mineral reserves.

A qualitative survey was conducted by Baird’s CMC in partnership with U.S. Chamber of commerce with a group of 30 leading U.S. multinational corporations from which majority were among the U.S. Fortune 100 corporations. Following are some of the industries represented in the survey;

Agribusiness, Information and Communication Technology (ICT)Infrastructure, Media

The survey could reveal five main factors that influence the decision of U.S. corporations to invest in Africa;

Rule of law - rule of law does not prevail
Attraction - no sufficiently large middle class
Risk versus rewards - risk adjusted ROI
Supportive business framework - infrastructure ?
A welcoming environment - education and health of workforce

Going forward, how can Africa attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI)? Can they follow Asia?

Sameera.

Comment by Sameera Wijerathna on June 16, 2009 at 10:04pm

.

Mobile Phones or Computers

what would be more effective in ICT4D?


-Sameera.

Comment by Sameera Wijerathna on July 7, 2009 at 10:10pm

.

The costs of the mobile phones are ever decreasing and the affordability is increasing. So many people including the poor in Asia, Africa and Latin America can afford to buy a mobile phone for the fraction of a price of a computer. The mobile penetration is extremely high even in the bottom of the pyramid.

A mobile phone will be in the hand of the poor before they get their own PC. So is not it more prudent to focus on mobile phones than PCs in ICT4D related works?

-Sameera.

Comment by Jan Herder on August 10, 2009 at 1:26am

Hello Sameera, thank you for your prompt. While there are clearly advantages to the use of mobile phones for certain types of ICT capacity transfer, there can't be meaningful content creation or access to detail on the tiny screens and keyboards. One use I have been exploring is to use the cell phone as a modem to access the internet, and plug the phone into a wireless router and a PC. With the explosion of netbooks and other inexpensive laptops it is possible to set up a telecenter at a fraction of the cost even a year ago. As 3G and 4G platforms become more common to phone service providers this opportunity is getting more affordable. Coupled with wifi and mifi a remote telecenter can be set up anywhere there is cell phone service. This combination offers an opportunity to vastly expand the uses of mobile phone for ICT4 Emergent Development, allowing users to create content. And this is where to look for wealth being created-- alongside of the local content.
I know this has been a practice in Africa for some time. I wonder if anyone has experience setting up this type of telecenter?

Jan

Comment by Sameera Wijerathna on August 10, 2009 at 8:09pm

Thanks Jan.

Yes, there are some limitations with mobile phones. But considering the cost effectiveness and reach (dispersion) it is an great channel to reach millions of people than the PC. So we have to be bit innovative while preparing suitable contents for mobile phones.

Other aspect you raised is the ability of using it as a modem. Thanks to 3G we can get mobile broadband. I have not seen many examples. But recently I saw a mobile telecentre here in Sri Lanka which is powered by mobile broadband (3G)

-Sameera.
http://ict4d-in-srilanka.blogspot.com/

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