There has been little research into the actual and potential uses of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in poor communities. Discussions of the digital divide, information inequality and poverty need to be based on better understanding of the social, cultural and political dynamics that constrain or facilitate ICT interventions.

A report from the Information Society Research Group – a consortium of University College London, Queensland University of Technology, The London School of Economics and The University of Adelaide – presents findings from research in India, Ghana, South Africa and Jamaica. In each community researchers looked at not only new mobile and digital media, but also radio, television, video, print and visual media and how they are utilised in specific poverty contexts.

Mobile phone uptake is rapid, even in very poor communities. Cell phones are welcomed as a tool to support kinship, social and business networks. In India, Ghana and South Africa lack of network coverage in rural areas – rather than poverty – is the major impediment to adoption. Mobile phones have assisted micro-enterprise growth and job creation. By contrast, internet adoption is notably lacking in both practical uses and enterprise opportunities even in Ghana, the one country where it has been extensively adopted in urban areas.

In South Africa civil society struggles for rights are supported by a sophisticated use of socially mediated electronic communications. Ghana, by contrast, shows low levels of ICT use by community organisations. Indian civil society would be more effective with greater integration of electronic media, improved circulation of information and better coordination.

Deregulation and support to small enterprise services has opened up a whole range of income-earning possibilities and extended the reach of cellular phones to even remote areas. Private and commercially operated cell phones or public call offices have enabled poor and remote communities to be included in regional, national and international economic flows, particularly remittances.

A bias towards male ownership and access to technologies such as mobile phones exists but is not as significant as many fear. Significant use of ICTs by young women has potential to transform women’s opportunities and help change attitudes.

The authors note:

• an absence of linkages between ICTs and formal education
• a marked lack of creative and coherent ICT educational policy appropriate to poor communities
• lack of knowledge as to how ICTs and ICT skills might be connected to employment and livelihood strategies
• the potential of community radio to spread information in rural India is held back by licensing regulations.

It is important for governments, donors and NGOs working to promote ICTs to:

• develop policies that connect with and build upon the fact that people are generally informed by existing forms of communication such as phones and radio
• identify ICT opportunities and constraints in terms of the overall local structure of communications
• investigate how newer media can be connected with older ones and planted in local social networks
• integrate informational objectives into the use of ICTs for social networking
• explore potential for using mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) to spread health information.

Source(s):
‘Final report: Information society: emergent technologies and development communities in the South’, Information Society Research Group, by Daniel Miller, Andrew Skuse, Don Slater, Jo Tacchi, Tripta Chandola, Thomas Cousins, Heather Horst and Janet Kwami, 2005 Full document.
‘Managing Distance: the Social Dynamics of Rural Telecommunications Access and Use in the Eastern Cape, South’ Africa Information Society Research Group Working Paper No. 1, by Andrew Skuse and Thomas Cousins, February 2005 Full document.
‘Finding a Voice: The Potential of Creative ICT Literacy and Voice in Community Multimedia Centres in South Asia’ Information Society Research Group Working Paper No. 3, Jo Tacchi, May 2005 Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 17 March 2006

Further Information:
Andrew Skuse
School of Social Sciences
University of Adelaide
North Terrace
Adelaide, SA5005, Australia

Tel: +61 8 83034285
Fax: +61 8 83033772
Contact the contributor: andrew.skuse@adelaide.edu.au

University of Adelaide, Australia

Don Slater
Sociology Department
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 207 8494653
Fax: +44 (0) 20 79557405
Contact the contributor: d.slater@lse.ac.uk

London School of Economics, UK

Daniel Miller
Anthropology Department
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 76797039
Fax: +44 (0) 20 76797728
Contact the contributor: d.miller@ucl.ac.uk

University College London, UK

Other related links:
Jo Tacchi, Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland

'Understanding Demand: a proposal for the development of ICTs in Jamaica'

'Embeddedness and escape: Internet and mobile use as poverty reduction strategies in Ghana'

Information Society Research Group

'Radio broadcasting for better health'

'Understanding rural telephone use'

'Voices for change: Tuning in to community radio '