The UOC - Open University of Catalonia - ICT, a tool for transforming poor societies

Nov. 3, 2009 - PRLog -- Barcelona - Faced with the question whether new technologies change the quality of life in developing countries, the answer given by Professor François Bar from the University of Southern California is that the population of the poor regions are excited by the use of ICT. François Bar’s study into mobile telephony and the internet in developing contexts leads him to state that despite the economic shortfalls of these countries, the amount of resources that are devoted to technology is quite important. The ICT expert opened the Development and Information Technologies Conference held at the UOC’s research institute (IN3) in Castelldefels.

Mobile over the internet
“Telephone booths with internet access have been ousted with the arrival of mobile telephony,” François Bar points out, and the impact of this technology worldwide – 2 mobile lines for every 3 inhabitants – has not passed the developing countries by. “The mobile is the most important means of communication at present,” states Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, in charge of the IN3 Mobile Communications, Economics and Society Research Programme. The introduction of both the mobile and the internet in the poorest regions is very strong. “ICT enters these countries in the same state as in other environments and this is a very powerful tool for the transformation of these regions,” states Adela Ros, in charge of the IN3 Migration and Network Society Research Programme.

Diversity of uses of technologies
When speaking of the uses that are made of ICT, François Bar defends the idea of appropriation, i.e. the way that people make a technology their own, which is something that he says should enable us to “know how to deploy ICT better so that it has greater impact on the world.” An example of this theory is the way the mobile has been adapted by part of the South African population, turning it into a banking system in such a way that it is used for money transfers. Another example of how people might adapt a technology to their needs was offered by Jonathan Donner of Microsoft Research India. He told of the case of farms and small agricultural businesses in Kenya, where the use of mobiles as a tool for commercial exchanges has improved productivity. “Some businesses have created a specific program for these uses,” he explained. The study by Roxana Barrantes of the Institute of Peruvian Studies into small rural producers in Puno, in Peru, shows that better communication with customers and suppliers allows “greater economic benefits” to be obtained.

Obstacles in access to ICT
According to the experts, the poorest societies value the use of the mobile highly, especially for communicating with family and friends. Its cost, however, still limits access to it. For Judith Mariscal of the Economic Research and Teaching Centre in Mexico, the poor see the mobile telephone “as a necessary expense”. To reduce costs, users use strategies such as making a missed call. Besides costs, lack of investment is another obstacle. According to Adela Ros, manager of the IN3 Migration and Network Society Research Programme, when analyzing the different uses, we need to see what the infrastructures in the country are and what efforts the communications companies are willing to make to ensure access. Even though primarily private capital is behind the implementation of ICT, governments also have something to say. Consequently, the provision of services is conditioned by the regulatory framework in the country. It all influences how users can use the new technologies.
Statistics point to whoever has a mobile being better positioned in society, but it will do them little good if the existing infrastructures do not aid its use. For Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, “cost management is very important and this has to enable the mobile to be an instrument whereby people can get out of poverty or not. The digital divide is not so much having a mobile but being able to use it.” A fact that indicates that there are still many barriers to be overcome.

Towards new forms of mobility for people
ICT also has an impact on migratory flows. The possibility of getting online and finding all sorts of information about other countries, especially the first world, “may lead to changes in migratory movements” states Adela Ros. According to her, the new technologies “are helping to create a very different feeling of distance and proximity from what the world is.”
For Ivan Ureta of the Swiss University of Lugano, “ICT may have a different impact on people’s desire to emigrate,” although those who do end up deciding to leave face severe political restrictions that often prevents them from fulfilling their dream and ends up creating a “feeling of frustration”. According to Ureta, this is something that results in “on site migrations”, in other words, living in another environment through the net.
However, ICT does not only improve users’ family, business and interpersonal relationships. For Mirjam de Bruinj, of the Dutch University of Leiden, the mobile “removes frontiers”, as it has brought the inhabitants of separate regions of Africa together and has created new communication networks for people “on the margin”.
A book will be made of the conclusions that are drawn from both this and the other studies presented during the conference.

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