Browsing All Posts filed under »Social Media«

Are Mobiles a Capitalist Plot to Keep the Poor Poor?

November 7, 2011

15

...in one study in rural Africa it was being found that the costs of mobile communications were absorbing up to 54% of the total net income of certain farmers

Louder Voices and Learning Networks

June 25, 2011

5

But in looking at this array of attractive intellectual baubles I’m left with one nagging concern. Amidst all this media and networking and mobility what exactly will be the content of this “Twenty-first Century University as global learning network”? Where will the content come from, that will constitute the “learning” component of this learning network? How exactly will the promise implicit in this statement—“digital learning is increasingly recognized as an important part of development worldwide” be realized in fact, and by whom, and ultimately in whose interests?

Egypt: From the Iron Rule of Tyranny to the Iron Law of Oligarchy: Can ICT Change the Rules?

February 23, 2011

2

In this, I think that the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia have access to skills and resources which were unavailable to earlier movements that is—the Internet, social networking, mobile telephony and perhaps most important, the experience and knowledge of how to use these in support of collective social ends.

Immiserating the Poor: We Have An App For That (Social Media vs. the iPhone in Egypt and a Kenyan slum)

February 11, 2011

22

The app culture is one of individuals and individualized approaches. Apps enable and empower the individual as a consumer, as a communicator, as an information handler. However, many of the major issues in a developing world (and other) environment are not ones that lend themselves readily to individualized responses or individual solution. Issues involving citizenship and particularly the rights and responsibilities of citizens including political behaviours and governance, human rights, land rights, water rights and so on are often highly political and highly contentious with huge financial interests involved and where individuals no matter how empowered they may be matter for little against entrenched political power and financial strength.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,652 other followers