ICT4D Collective and Centre recognised as world’s 10th top science and technology think tank

I am deeply humbled that the ICT4D Collective and Research Centre that we tentatively created at Royal Holloway, University of London, back in 2004 has just been recognised as the world’s 10th top Science and Technology Think Tank in the 2012 Global GoTo Think Tank Report launched at the World Bank and the United Nations in New York last week.  This accolade is all the more special because the ranking is based very largely on peer review, and therefore reflects the opinions of many people in the field who I respect enormously.  More than 1950 experts and peer institutions participated in the ranking process for the report which was produced by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Collective was established above all else to bring together colleagues who are committed to undertaking the highest possible quality of research in the interests primarily of poor people and marginalised communities.  Its work is premised on the assumption that ICTs can indeed be used to support poor people, but that we need to work tirelessly to overcome the obstacles that prevent this happening.

In 2007, we were delighted that the Collective and Centre was given the status of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D, and although I am now only an Emeritus Professor at Royal Holloway, I am very privileged that for the time being I retain this title while also serving as Secretary General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation.  It is great to be able to draw on my past research and teaching experience in this new role, to help governments across the Commonwealth use ICTs effectively and appropriately for their development agendas.

Then, in 2009 Royal Holloway, University of London, formalised the position of the ICT4D Collective by creating a new multidisciplinary research centre on ICT4D, that brought together expertise primarily from the schools and departments of Geography, Computer Science, Management and Mathematics (Information Security), with contributions also from colleagues in Earth Sciences, Politics and International Relations, and Information Services.  This provides really excellent opportunities to develop new research at the exciting boundaries between disciplines.

Over the eight years of the existence of the ICT4D Collective, we have focused on a wide range of activities, but have particularly sought to serve the wider interests of all researchers and practitioners working in the field of ICT4D.  We were thus delighted to host the 2010 ICTD conference, which brought more than 500 colleagues to our campus, and we were immensely grateful to the generous sponsorship from global institutions that enabled us to provide scholarships for people to attend from across the world (pictured above).  We have also focused much attention on supporting doctoral researchers, and it is excellent to see them now flourishing in their subsequent careers.

Most recently, under new leadership, the Centre is continuing to thrive, and has launched an exciting ICT4D strand within its established Master’s programme on Practising Sustainable Development.  In 2012, a Branch of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D was also established at Lanzhou University in China, reflecting the growing collaboration between our two institutions, and recognising the huge importance that China is increasingly playing not only in terms of the practical implementation of ICT initiatives, but also into research in this area.

A huge thank you to all who suggested that the ICT4D Collective and Centre should be recognised in this way.  It is a massive spur to us all to keep up the work that we have been doing, and to share it more effectively with all those interested in, and committed to, using ICTs to support poor people and marginalised communities.

The top 20 ranking of Think Tanks in Science and Technology from the 2012 Global GoTo Think Tank Report is given below:

1. MIT Science, Technology, and Society Program (STS) (United States)
2. Max Planck Institute (Germany)
3. RAND Corporation (United States)
4. Center for Development Research (ZEF) (Germany )
5. Information and Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) (United States)
6. Battelle Memorial Institute (United States)
7. Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) (United States)
8. Institute for Future Technology (IFTECH) (Japan)
9. Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO) (United States)
10. Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) (United Kingdom)
11. Science and Technology Policy Research (SPRU) (United Kingdom)
12. Institute for Basic Research (IBR) (United States)
13. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (South Africa)
14. African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) (Kenya)
15. Bertelsmann Foundation (Germany)
16. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) (Austria)
17. Energy and Resources Institute (India)
18. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) (India)
19. Santa Fe Institute (SFI) (United States)
20. African Center for Technology Studies (ACTS) (Kenya)

Broadband in the Pacific

The Pacific Broadband Forum 2012, convened by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Oganisation and the International Telecommunications Union, together with regional partners PITA, PiRRC and SPC, is currently being hosted by the Fijian Ministry of Communications on Denarau Island, Fiji.  This morning’s session provided a wealth of information about the current status of broadband roll-out across the region.  Sadly, my fingers and brain were insufficiently co-ordinated to record everything that was said, but I hope that the following notes may be useful for those interested in ways through which ICTs are being developed in the region:

Cook Islands

• No policy and regulations in place for broadband
• There is a national ICT policy – based on 6 platforms
• New national sustainable development plan – will have to align with this.
• Legislation: 1989 Telecom Act; new draft bill in consultation; SPAM act 2008; electronics transactions bill; evidence act (needs to be updated); cyber crime legislation in development. But most need training in implementation.
• Many challenges – budget, lack of implementation capacity, lack of consultation with stakeholders
• Need to establish a regulator

Federated States of Micronesia

• Connected with fibre optics with the Kwajalein to Guam (USA) since 2005 (spurs to Marshalls and elsewhere)
• President Mori said need to connect all islands, and a regulator
• 2007 ADB issued report on liberalisation, regulation and community service requirement
• Hantru cable became operational in Pohnpei – eight 20 Gbps capacity to Guam; other islands are not yet connected.
• Close links with World Bank who have conducted studies and due diligence
• Optimising on current investments.
• Debt servicing of DSDA loans that enabled what was originally done.
• There will be sector reform to liberalise the market
• Next challenges – to endorse the policy and the FSM Congres will need to endorse World Bank Assistance and the Telecommunications Sector Reform.

Kiribati

• 33 atolls over 3.5 million km²; population of only 112,000
• relies on satellite
• fixed line 4.14%, mobile 1.04%; internet 2.07%
• prices of telephony and internet are very high
• monopolistic market TSKL sole ICT provider
• World Bank funding for ICT review and advice
  • Policy and legal support
  • Regulatory support
  • Outer islands connectivity support
  • Project management support
• 9 telecentres funded by government; PACRICS provided internet connectivity in 10 secondary school

Marshall Islands

• 68,000 pop, 34 islands
• broadband – 2 urban cities have cable installed; gsm sites in four islands. Telecentres. DAMA sites.  Aim to cove all country by end of 2012.
• ICT policy should be in place by end of August and will provide for market liberalisation, regulator, cybercrime
• Only 1% of submarine cable in being used
• Remote area is getting connected for e-health, e-learning and climate change
• Difficulties: connecting the unconnected; teamwork; perfect competition; consumer satisfaction; move small
• Challenges
  • Costs of backbone
  • Geographical challenges for operations
  • Quality and reliability
  • Costs of bandwidth
• 2008 National ICT Policy
  • NICTA regulator
  • Aims to have efficient ICT infrastructure as backbone
  • Open competition
• 2012 National Broadband policy
• LNG Fibre cable project announced – cable is piggy backing on the pipe

Nauru

• Population less than 10,000
• Regulator – enabling environment
• Challenge of ability to provide broadband – only one service provider.  Bandwidth to increase by 30% in next month.  Talking with O3b to increase
• If you cry hard enough you are bound to be heard.
• Need to lay the foundations and have regulations in place
• Major reforms in last decade in telecoms sector.  Telecom Act 2005 established regulator in 2006 which introduced competition
• Competition has worked even in a small island
• PM Chairs national IT committee – it is important to have leadership from the top
• Draft masterplan for broadband supported by ITU
• Universal access policy
• Shared infrastructure
• c. 95% coverage
• Looking at 2^nd submarine cable

Niue

• Just one island – the Rock (260 sq kms); population 1600.
• Telcom Niue – sole provider and regulator; two ISPs
• Fixed line 60%; mobile 30% (only introduced July 2011); broadband 1% (introduced April this year)
• Bills before Parliament (SPAM, Cybercrime, Draft ICT Policy)
• Issues for Niue: very small market means lack of service and difficulties of setting prices; satellite bandwidth, but costs are too high for us; capacity building.
• Free wifi access – arrangement with manager of top level domain nu – to develop access on the island.
• OLPC has not really worked that well – laptops breakdown very easily and no back-up; and not managed properly. Children took them home and did not bring them to school except when they were broken.
• Future plans – looking to develop services.

Palau

• 240 islands; population 20,000
• mobile coverage 98%; internet subscribers 6%; fixed broadband 2%
• 113 mile long underground and submarine SONET cable connecting 3 islands.  Using VSAT to reach remote islands.  Radio also used in isolated areas for emergency.
• PNCC (Palau National Communications Corporation) provides the majority of communications services
• Palau Mobile Corporation commenced operations in 2006 and offers GSM services (3G hopefully will roll out next year).
• Palau Telecoms licensed for Digital TV and internet – yet to start mobile service
• Skyfy yet to offer services, but is licensed
• Mobile services can reach 98% with mobile density being 80%
• 2011-2014 Palau National ICT Policy (thanks to ITU)
• Expanding broadband and international fibre optic cable connectivity

Solomon Islands

• Cable plan 2013
• Setting up 50 GSM sites
• 3G services launched by Telekom and Bemobile
• establishment of universal access fund policy
• costs high

Tuvalu

• No-cable islands dreaming for cable
• Population 11,000; landlines 1182, mobiles 2525, Internet 4000
• Monopoly
• Current activities: e-government, national ICT policy, cyberlegislation, licensing
• Challenges: funding, human capacity, geography (500,000 sq miles), high costs of ICT, poor energy supply
• Plans: strengthening outer island connectivity, disaster risk reduction (very vulnerable – one tsunami would take us all across to Fiji), offsite backup

Vanuatu

• Been challenged in court and politically, but has come through that as an independent regulator
  Minister was ‘in bed with’ one of the telcos and has now been taken off – so ICT responsibility is in the Prime Minister’s office.
• Technical advisors funded by the World Bank and AusAid.
• ICT for all (7 goals)
• Very strong Universal Access policy in draft – has been sitting on Minister’s desk for a year – but will hopefully now go through (only raises funds from operators for specific projects)
• Zero rate importation tax for all ICTs
• 2015 access to broadband connectivity for 85% of population
• Spectrum available 700 MHz LTE and 3G
• Submarine cable being led by Interchange
• Employment is growing in the sector – now 2500
• Telcentres in Rensarie and Melsis high schools; Nebul and South West Bay health centres – need to provide many additional services in the centres.  Quite slow take up; importance of the manager; potential for agriculture.
• All stakeholders must work carefully together
• High schools and health centres are a priority
• Using mapinfo to find the most cost effective way to deliver services

The development impact of ICT4D partnerships: join our discussion online at the WSIS Forum

Cisco is generously sponsoring the opportunity for anyone to participate in the session on the Development Impact of Multi-stakeholder Partnerships in ICT4D ( http://groups.itu.int/wsis-forum2011/Agenda.aspx?event=event_60) that the ICT4D Collective is convening from 16.30-18.00 Geneva time (15.30-17.00 UK time) on Tuesday 17th May at the WSIS Forum ( http://groups.itu.int/default.aspx?tabid=856).  Please share this information as widely as possible, so that colleagues across the world can join in our discussions and deliberations.

To join the online discussion, please use the following information (best to try to log-on about ten minutes in advance to download the applet and check the systems are working) :

Meeting Number: 608 639 429
Meeting Password: 123

——————————————————-
To join this meeting (Now from mobile devices!)
——————————————————-
1. Go to https://ciscosales.webex.com/ciscosales/j.php?J=608639429&PW=NYzY4NDE5MjI3
2. Enter the meeting password: 123
3. Click “Join Now”.
4. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen.

—————————————————————-
ALERT:Toll-Free Dial Restrictions for (408) and (919) Area Codes
—————————————————————-

The affected toll free numbers are: (866) 432-9903 for the San Jose/Milpitas area and (866) 349-3520 for the RTP area.

Please dial the local access number for your area from the list below:
-  San Jose/Milpitas (408) area:  525-6800
-  RTP (919) area:  392-3330

——————————————————-
To join the teleconference only
——————————————————-
1. Dial into Cisco WebEx (view all Global Access Numbers at
http://cisco.com/en/US/about/doing_business/conferencing/index.html
2. Follow the prompts to enter the Meeting Number (listed above) or Access Code followed by the # sign.

San Jose, CA: +1.408.525.6800  RTP: +1.919.392.3330

US/Canada: +1.866.432.9903  United Kingdom: +44.20.8824.0117

India: +91.80.4350.1111  Germany: +49.619.6773.9002

Japan: +81.3.5763.9394  China: +86.10.8515.5666

ICTD2012 Call for Papers

The call for papers for the ICTD2012 conference has just been released – full details given below:

CALL FOR PAPERS
Fifth IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA USA

Conference dates: March 12-16, 2012
Paper submission deadline: July 22, 2011 (11:59pm UTC)
Conference website: http://www.ictd2012.org
Contact us at: program@ictd2012.org
Twitter: @ICTD2012   Facebook: ICTD 2012 Atlanta

ICTD provides an international forum for scholarly researchers exploring the
role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in social,
political, and economic development. The conference program and accepted
papers will reflect and deepen the multidisciplinary nature of ICTD
research, with anticipated representation from anthropology, computer
science, communication, design, economics, electrical engineering,
geography, information science, political science, public health, sociology,
and so on.

Submitted papers are subject to a rigorous and selective double-blind peer
review; accepted papers will appear in electronic conference proceedings and
will be archived in the ACM and/or IEEE systems. A subset of the papers will
also appear in a special issue of Information Technologies & International
Development.

ICTD2012 is the fifth of an ongoing series of conferences occurring every
one-and-a-half years; previous conferences have taken place in: Berkeley, CA
(USA) ICTD 2006; Bangalore (India) ICTD 2007; Doha (Qatar) ICTD 2009; and London (United Kingdom) 2010.

For the purposes of this conference the term “ICT” comprises electronic
technologies for information processing and communication, as well as
platforms that are built on such technologies. “Development” means
international development, including, but not restricted to, poverty
alleviation, education, agriculture, healthcare, general communication,
gender equality, governance, infrastructure, environment and sustainable
livelihoods. Papers considering novel designs, new technologies, project
assessments, policy analyses, impact studies, theoretical contributions,
social issues around ICT and development, and so forth will be considered.
Well-analyzed negative results from which generalizable conclusions can be
drawn are also sought.

Relevant papers reporting high-quality original research are solicited. Full
papers will be reviewed by a multidisciplinary panel, and evaluated
according to their novel research contribution, methodological soundness,
theoretical framing and reference to related work, quality of analysis, and
quality of writing and presentation. Authors are encouraged (but not
required) to address the diversity of approaches in ICTD research by
providing context, implications, and actionable guidance to researchers and
practitioners beyond the authors’ primary domains.

Only original, unpublished, full research papers in English will be
considered. Submissions not meeting a minimum bar of academic research
writing will be rejected without full review. Papers should contain a
maximum of 8000 words. Reviews are double blind, so papers should not
include author names or other information that would identify the authors
(references to previous work by the authors should be in the third person).
Authors should follow IEEE formats and styles
http://www.ieee.org/documents/stylemanual.pdf. Samples of this are also
available in PDF at http://www.ictd2012.org/ICTD2012_sample.pdf and MS Word
http://www.ictd2012.org/ICTD2012_sample.doc formats. Authors will be
required to sign a copyright release for publication in the conference
proceedings.  Additional submission details will be posted on the conference
website at http://www.ictd2012.org, as the information becomes available.

As a new opportunity for 2012, we are offering a peer mentorship program for paper submissions. Submit your paper early (by May 1st, 2011) to this
program and get feedback from peer mentors ahead of the normal submission process and June deadline. See http://www.ictd2012.org/mentorship for details.

Atlanta is a world-class city with a rich and passionate history. Spring
comes early to Atlanta; March is likely to be sunny, crisp, and pleasant.
The conference venue is the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center
(http://www.gatechhotel.com/). Georgia Tech is one of the top research
universities in the United States, distinguished by its commitment to
improving the human condition through advanced science and technology.

The conference website is http://www.ictd2012.org. Follow us on Twitter
@ICTD2012, or visit our Facebook page at “ICTD 2012 Atlanta”.

Contact us at program@ictd2012.org

Important dates:
Peer review mentor program submission deadline: May 1, 2011
Paper submission deadline: July 22, 2011
Acceptance notifications: September 16, 2011
Camera-ready papers due: January 16, 2012
Conference dates: March 12-16, 2012

Program Committee Chairs
Jonathan Donner, Microsoft Research India
Beki Grinter, Georgia Institute of Technology
Gary Marsden, University of Cape Town

General Conference Chairs
Michael Best, Georgia Institute of Technology
Ellen Zegura, Georgia Institute of Technology

IPID Annual Conference at UPC Barcelona

The International Network for Postgraduate Students working in ICT4D (IPID) is currently (9th-10th September 2010) holding its 5th annual conference at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona. A wealth of current postgraduate research in ICT4D is being presented around the following themes:

• gender
• e-agriculture
• rural communities
• online communities
• e-government
• technology
• ICT in education
• e-health
• entrepreneurship
• networks

The conference is being broadcast live at http://www.canalupc.tv/media/simposium-upc-uoc .

Ismael Peña Lopez’s comprehensive blog on the conference.

IPID annual conference: 9th-10th September in Barcelona

The IPID annual conferences have become one of the major global events for young researchers in the field of ICT4D to share their experiences.  This year’s conference is being hosted by the Open University of Catalonia and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia on 9th and 10th September 201o and will be held at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain:

• further details
• past IPID symposia
• IPID 2010 conference blog

Heading to e-Learning Africa, 26th-28th May 2010

This year’s eLearning Africa takes place in Lusaka, Zambia, later this week, and promises to be a great chance to catch up with colleagues working on ICT4D!  I have been lucky enough to participate in all of the four previous eLearning Africa conferences in Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana and Senegal, and they have always provided a useful opportunity to learn about some of the latest developments in the field.  It is particularly good to meet African academics and activists committed to using ICTs to support the aspirations of poor and marginalised people across the continent.

Thanks to all those at ICWE who have been working so hard in recent months to put on the conference – I hope it’s a great success.

ICTs and Development: workshop at IIT Delhi (Day 2)

Welcome back to the second day of the ICTs and development workshop at IIT Delhi.

We got underway with Jonathan Donner’s (Microsoft Research India) invited lead talk on The changing roles of mobile phones in development: some examples from Africa

• Emphasised amazing growth of mobile ‘phones – but rightly noted that this is neither universal not homogenous
• We need to focus on the people rather than the technology – M4D is the tip of an iceberg of uses that people make of mobile ‘phones
• Uses of mobiles for agriculture: use of mobiles for ‘traditional’ extension; creating platform mobile services including new market systems such as Manobi, or lean market places such as Google Trader
• Homegrown services: M-PESA and MXIT – low barriers to adoption, affordable and compelling relative to existing alternatives, woven into everyday life, network effects.  They do well because they are so simple.
• Both of these offer real possibilities for scale – albeit not yet for the poorest of the poor – and do things that traditional voice cannot do
• Importance of unintended consequences
• We need more evidence; we need to distinguish between mobility and connectivity; and we need to take the long view
• We should also resist the use of “M4D” as a research term so as to de-fetishise it – moving the emphasis to the people not the technology; if we keep the term, we need to focus on the “4″

MOBILES AND MICRO-ENTREPRENEURS

Parveen Pannu (University of Delhi, India) Mobiles and socio-economic life of press workers in Delhi

• Focus on urban growth in India and the rapid adoption of mobiles, especially among informal sector workers
• Having clothes ironed is a central part of urban middle class India – the ironing business depends a lot on personal contact and good will (but there is also a press workers union)
• Survey of households who did ironing work: c.65% had a family mobile ‘phone; cost of ‘phones was major factor influencing price (some received them from their customers); users of mobile ‘phones earned more than non-users, but cause/effect not known; usage – 38% social, 29% work related; most calls were received from the lady of the house who arranged collection/delivery of clothes and finding new companies; 50% were not into texting SMS messages (not comfortable because of English language texting)

Ishita Shruti (IIT Delhi) Remittance behaviour and doing business among Indian rural salesmen in Cambodia

• New ICTs have played an important role in remittances (both economic and social) – focus of this ethnographic research is on rural salesmen mostly from UP
• Internet based ‘phone calls are the cheapest means of communicating – so people use internet cafés/’booths’
• ‘Agents’ are used to deliver remittances – informal network enabled through ‘phone calls (social capital plays an important role in delivering remittances)
• Mobile ‘phones have also facilitated business, enabling salesmen to interact with family but also to make decisions about their businesses

ICTs, CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE STATE

Jean-Yves Hamel (UNDP) Public interests, private costs: civil society and the use of ICTs in Timor Leste

• Placed emphasis on the notion of freedoms and the capability approach
• Highlighted role of FDI from Telstra – supported by UN – and subsequent problems associated with its monopoly position. Monopolies are associated with high costs of ICT provision; regulators are unable to challenge these.
• Noted the early use of ICTs from 1994 to enable communication of civil society ‘opposition’ with the rest of world
• Key role of deep women’s networks – links to health organisations, scholarships, women’s rights groups
• ICTs provide an important window on the world

ICTs AND ECONOMY

Nimmi Rangaswamy (Microsoft Research India) The PC aided enterprise and recycling ICT

• Role of ICTs in expanding small and micro-enterprises in Mumbai slums
• ICTs can help promote skill building; business are organic and self-sustaining
• Nice business ecology coming into play – capital, space, skills, hardware
• Not simply assimilating technology for business, but also creating new systems and processes
• “There is no ‘for D’ in it, because they are doing it themselves” – not sure I agree with this, surely this is itself a form of development

Jack Linchuan Qiu (Chinese University, Hong Kong) Working-class information society? Open questions about China and ICTs

• Focused on the “information have-less”
• Some statistics from China: internet users 2 m in 1998, but 298 m in 2008; 49% of internet users are now not college-educated – so Internet is being used much more widely across different sectors of the population
• Private sector now accounts for more than half of urban population employment – so people have to find jobs, and this has been associated with a rapid increase in ICTs: does macro-empowermnet lead to (seemingly) micro-empowerment
• Measuring information needs is complex; fundamental differences between information needs and wants.
• Bottom of pyramid innovations are firstly social and only secondarily technological
• Developing a new class analysis based on horizontal networking among workers
• Chindia as a new path to development – a re-evaluation of labour-centred production

INTERNET AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Otgonjargal Okhidoi (Educational Channel Television, Mongolia) Can technology level the inequality in education delivery? Blended technology based education program in Mongolia

• Mongolian democritisation and economic liberalisation created freedom for flourishing media companies, mostly for profit commercial broadcasting – mostly focus on imported programmes (soaps, sumo…)
• Educational Channel TV began only three years ago for public sector broadcasting (4-6 hours airtime a day on academic subjects; not for profit and one of only 2 nationwide broadcasters).  Then Internet service and cellphone messaging added on to make it more interactive and provide feedback (focus of project on English language and IT)
• 93% of total population of Mongolia names TV as the key source of information
• Inequality of access to education and quality of content – 66% of children live outside Ulaanbatar, and are poorly served by education
• Almost all schools have computer labs set up by donor funding, and all are connected to the Internet – but there is not much good content available.  So, they used 20 minute TV programmes and followed up with work in class on Internet. Reported that impact on knowledge acquisition was positive, and it enhanced self-learning

S. Subash (National Academy of Agricultural Research Management) Knowledge empowerment of farmers through interactive web-module on dairy innovations

• Use of ICTs for technology transfer agricultural extension in the field of dairying focusing particularly on web-module (Haryana and Tamil Nadu case study)
• Training in ICT centres given to farmers; needs of farmers identified and web-based learning module given to them
• Reported that farmers in Haryana has a 16% knowledge gain as a result of the intervention, and 28% gain in Tamil Nadu – although some concerns were expressed in questions about the impact of experimental design
• Benefits also gained by extension workers
• Users requested more interactivity and provision of real-time information; it is important to ensure that content is regularly updated; mobile alerts for farmers should also be introduced

Murali Shanmugavelan (Panos, London) Telecentres and public spaces

• Substantial amount of recent support for telecentres in India – but “what information is reaching what communities?”
• How do telecentres interact with village communities – are they reinforcing or changing social structures? Study of 12 telecentres of different kind.
• ICTs can constrain or expand public spaces (four layers of public: physical, management, human as public, and services) – communication practices can create a chaos in traditional systems
• Key factors: location influences accessibility; telecentres specifically designed for particular underprivileged groups such as dalits are exclusionary rather than ‘public’; management layer is very influential (recruiting women increases inclusivity); type of service delivery influences usage (and real needs of excluded users are not necessarily delivered); social and cultural factors constrain usage (discrimination against women and dalits; low participation of elderly and disabled communities)
• There is a real need to map non-users and understand more about why they do not use ICTs – traditional hierarchies

Indian Visa Application Centre, Hayes

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POST WAS FIRST WRITTEN IN FEBRUARY 2010 AND SOME OF THE INFORMATION IS NOW OUT OF DATE - from 23rd November 2010 a new online application system was introduced – details are available at http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk/.  However, the information contained below may well still be of interest for those seeking to get to the Hayes office – for which the blog was originally intended!

————————————————————————————————————————

After reading some of the horror stories online about applying for a visa to visit India, I embarked on the process, and thought some tips might be helpful for others – especially about actually getting to the Centre in Hayes!

• Yes, the online system is a bit clunky – and it crashed on me once without saving what I had done – which was a pain! But by automatically checking for completeness it did save time filling out the forms, perhaps incorrectly, and therefore having to redo them again.
• Before embarking on completing the forms online, do check you have all the information to hand – down to the level of detail required about the place of both parents’ birth!  Unfortunately, there is not an easy to find guide to completing the visa form available in the drop-down menus!  One solution is to print out a hard-copy form from those available, and then use this as a guide.  The trouble is that not all of the questions asked are unambiguous!
• The automatic fee charging system did indeed seem to overcharge me – as least compared with the advertised fees for visas! Watch out for this!
• Make sure that you submit all of the relevant required documents, or have them with you (together with two photographs) when you go to the Centre.
• For those taking the application form to the Indian Visa Application Centre in Hayes, there are many comments on the Web about how difficult this is to find!  It is actually very simple!  The Centre is accessed on the south side of Uxbridge Road in Hayes, just by the Grand Union Canal.  For those driving from the M4, take the A312 north to its junction with the A4020, and then turn east towards Southall.  Don’t take the first right down Springfield Road, but watch out for the large Currys superstore just before the Fiat car showrooms. That is the best place to park! Walk a short distance (c. 100 yards) towards the canal, and turn right just beyond the Fiat garage. The entrance to the Application Centre is then through some large metal gates  just  after the car park behind the garage. This is just by the A4020 label next to the canal on this map!
• Once inside, you will receive a numbered ticket, and will then have to wait in the large seated waiting hall.  There are around a dozen service desks, and so the queue moves relatively quickly.  At 08.30 in the morning, I only had to wait about 25 minutes to be ‘processed’.  Opening hours for submission of passports are 08.30-14.30 Monday to Friday; passport pickup (usually withing 2-3 working days) hours are 13.00-16.30 Monday to Friday.

@Africa Gathering

A rainy Saturday morning in London – Ed Scotcher has brought us all together to explore the interface between ICTs and African development in the first Africa Gathering.  He kindly asked me to say a few words of introduction – why is this Africa Gathering important?

1. A joined up approach – it brings together people from many different backgrounds and contrasting experiences – and is therefore a marvellous opportunity for us to identify how we can work better together to help African people implement effective and lasting ICT4D solutions.  There has been so much wasted energy (and finance) in trying to implement ICT4D projects across Africa -  so many of which have failed.  Africa cannot afford such failure.  We must stop reinventing the wheel!  Working together in a joined up approach, we can perhaps begin to make a real difference.
2. To learn – there are so many exciting initiatives ongoing in the field of ICT4D in Africa – and it is difficult to keep track of them all.  I am so conscious that my recent book on ICT4D is now horribly out of date – and so it is great to be able to learn from the fantastic group of people that Ed has brought together here today!  This, though, raises some huge questions about how we actually synthesise this knowledge.  There are so many ongoing initiatives and even repositories of information (or should this be knowledge?) already ‘out there’ – and yet we continue to make the same mistakes!    If we think we know all the answers, we have already died intellectually!  We must keep learning and sharing what we have learnt.  We must also seek to be more humble, and to listen to the silent voices of Africa.
3. Cool things happen at the edges – one of the most exciting things about ICT4D for me is that it brings people together from a wide range of backgrounds – we need to have computer scientists, philosophers, social scientists, anthropologists, mathematicians, chemists, physicists…. and yes, even geographers involved! We need to keep this diversity. I fear a little about the way in which some people would seem to be trying to define a standard curriculum for ICT4D – to me, this is frightening.  Once we say that “this is what ICT4D should be about” we put up walls that keep some people in and prevent others from entering. We must keep the multidisciplinarity of ICT4D alive – I so hope that those of us here today will keep the energy of difference alive – and that we will continue to hang on to the edges!
4. African needs and voices – we are largely a white male audience today!  This makes me reflect once more on one of the things I keep on saying – far too many ICT4D projects are top-down and externally led.  Entrepreneurs and innovators in Europe and North America all too often come up with great ideas that are then ‘imposed’ on African people!  Instead, we need to get to know the needs of some of the poorest and most-marginalised people in Africa much better than we do at present.  As many people know, my own personal focus is on how we can use these technologies to help street children and people with disabilities to lead more fulfilled and enjoyable lives – if only more of our work would address the needs of some of these most marginalised peoples.  Others of course have other priorities – but rather than imposing our possibly unwanted solutions for problems that may not exist, let’s simply spend more time listening to what Africa’s poorest people want us to do for them.

Finally, I was going to begin by saying “Welcome Africa Gatherers”!  But that made me think about what gathering is about – bringing together things that already exist.  Perhaps we should instead be “African Hunters” – after all, African peoples have great hunting traditions – along with my friend the cheetah.  My hope for today is that we will indeed become hunters – hunters for ways in which we can use ICTs more effectively to empower the marginalised and poor, hunters for truth and wisdom, hunters for humility…

Thanks Ed for bringing us together!