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Who is Connected? Social Media and the Digital Divide

Bangkok: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) (2019), 49 pp.

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Good Data

Angela Daly, S. Kate Devitt, Monique Mann (eds.)

Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures (2019), 370 pp.

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Disconnected: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Network Disruptions

Jan Rydzak

Global Network Initiative (2019), 33 pp.

"The statistical study determines that network interferences are more likely to happen at higher rates of expansion of Internet connectivity until a tipping point, suggesting that efforts to extend Internet access in low- and middle-income countries may lead to less overt restrictions. This threshol ... more

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Das neue digitale Landleben: Smart und innovativ statt abgehängt und analog

Anke Knopp

Frankfurt am Main: Wochenschau-Verlag (2019), 182 pp.

"Was hilft gegen die Landflucht? Digitale Strategien können ländliche Räume vitalisieren. Die Autorin begibt sich auf einen Landspaziergang durch zukünftige digitale Welten: Glasfaser, Offene Daten und Sensoren im Internet der Dinge tauchen ebenso auf wie smarte Mobilität, Roboter in der Gesund ... more

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Bottom-up Connectivity Strategies: Community-Led Small-Scale Telecommunication Infrastructure Networks in the Global South

Nicola J. Bidwell, Michael Jensen

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) (2019), 206 pp.

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Taking Stock: Data and Evidence on Gender Equality in Digital Access, Skills and Leadership
Top Insights

Araba Sey, Nancy Hafkin (eds.)

United Nations University (UNU); Equals Global Partnership (2019), 338 pp.

"1. While gender gaps are observable in most aspects of ICT access, skills and leadership, the picture is complex. There are large regional variations: some countries are close to parity or have even reversed the gender gap on some indicators, while others still have persistent gaps. Individual coun ... tries can have both large and small gaps, depending on the indicator being measured. Interpreting the gaps requires careful and contextualised analysis. 2. Barriers to gender digital equality are generally related to one or more of the following: 1) availability of infrastructure; 2) financial constraints; 3) ICT ability and aptitude; 4) interest and perceived relevance of ICTs; 5) safety and security; and 6) socio-cultural and institutional contexts. Most of these barriers cut across issues of access, skills, and leadership, although they may manifest in slightly different ways. While research has documented these barriers, the evidence from different sources is sometimes contradictory, even within the same country contexts. 3. There is no one conclusive strategy for eliminating gender digital inequalities. Recommendations generally call either for targeting specific contributing factors of gender digital inequality (such as affordability or recruiting practices), or for reshaping deeply ingrained social norms and practices (such as gender stereotypes) that are at the root of gender inequalities. As with the evidence on barriers, research results are sometimes contradictory or nuanced. 4. The dominant approaches to gender equality in ICT access, skills, and leadership mostly frame issues in binary (male/female) terms, thereby masking the relevance of other pertinent identities. Insufficient research has been done on the implications of ICTs for intersectional identities. Data collection should move from binary sexdisaggregation towards finer degrees of status disaggregation in order to recognise multiple and interacting identities (such as sexuality, poverty, class, education, age, disability, and occupation). 5. To ensure privacy and safety as well as full participation in the digital economy, women should have equal opportunities to develop adequate basic and advanced digital skills. Cyberstalking, online harassment, image manipulation, privacy violations, geotracking, and surveillance can compromise women’s and girls’ safety both online and offline. In addition, some evidence suggests the digital transformation of labour may be widening gender wage gaps. These outcomes can be averted with the right types of training combined with social and institutional change. 6. Developments in digital technologies open new pathways to gender diversity and inclusion; however, lack of attention to gender dynamics and differences hampers the potential for true progress. For example, evidence suggests that most women’s work in the digital economy, particularly in the Global South, reinforces existing social divisions. Moreover, artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, designed largely by men, tend to ignore the negative gender implications of their designs. Research, government policy and design principles should include gender awareness and analysis, for example by building in data and privacy protections and avoiding gender stereotypes." (Key findings, page 19-20) more

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The State of ICT in In Kenya

Margaret Ndung'u Nyambura, Charley Lewis, Onkokame Mothobi

Cape Town: Research ICT Africa (2019), v, 41 pp.

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Acceso a internet y ruralidad: El caso de Macharetí en Bolivia

Karen Mercado Andia, Oscar Bazoberry Chali

La Paz: Instituto para el Desarrollo Rural de Sudamérica (IPDRS) (2019), 81 pp.

"Que se haya establecido en primer lugar el uso de la aplicación WhatsApp nos muestra la importancia de las redes en la comunicación personal, afectiva, familiar, en el trabajo, la economía y la organización de las personas. El Facebook denota la importancia e las redes abiertas, sin embargo, ta ... more

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Evaluando el desarrollo de Internet en Argentina: Utilizando los indicadores ROAM-X de Universalidad de Internet de la UNESCO

Carolina Caeiro, Delfina Ferracutti, Maria Fernanda Martínez, Ivan Kirschbaum, Juan Ortiz

Paris; Montevideo: UNESCO (2019), 275 pp.

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Connecting People. Transforming Nations

USAID (2019), 7 pp.

"Nearly 250 million people live in Indonesia. More than 80 percent of them have no access to the Internet. Access to broadband has the potential to transform individual lives, local communities, and entire nations. The last decade has seen exponential growth in Internet connectivity. Information and ... more

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Digital Inclusion: An International Comparative Analysis

Massimo Ragnedda, Bruce Mutsvairo, Gerard Goggin (eds.)

Lanham: Lexington Books (2018), xx, 223 pp.

"The volume examines the risks and opportunities of a digital society characterized by the increasing importance of knowledge and by the incessant rise and pervasiveness of information and communication technologies (ICTs). At a global level, the pivotal role of ICTs has made it necessary to rethink ... more

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Kenyan Women’s Rural Realities, Mobile Internet Access, and “Africa Rising”

Susan Wyche, Jennifer Olson

Information Technologies & International Development, volume 14, issue Special edition (2018), pp. 33-47

"The term “Africa Rising” is used in popular and academic discourse to describe economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa. Increased mobile phone ownership and access to the Internet figure prominently in this optimistic narrative. However, aspects of this story are being questioned, in particular w ... more

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Connected Women: The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2018
Top Insights

Oliver Rowntree

London: GSMA (2018), 28 pp.

"In low- and middle-income countries women are 10% less likely than men to own a mobile phone. Over 1.2 billion women do not use mobile internet. There is a significant gender gap in mobile usage - particularly for more transformational services. Women in South Asia are 26% less likely to own a mobi ... more

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Social Media Use Continues to Rise in Developing Countries but Plateaus Across Developed Ones. Digital Divides Remain, Both Within and Across Countries

Jacob Poushter, Caldwell Bishop, Hanyu Chwe

Pew Research Center (2018), 45 pp.

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Universal Service and Access Funds: An Untapped Resource to Close the Gender Digital Divide

Dhanaraj Thakur, Lauran Potter

Washington, DC: World Wide Web Foundation (2018), 19 pp.

"Over 68% of countries in Africa have a Universal Service and Access Fund (USAF) in place; 62% of these funds are active. Just 3 of the 37 countries with USAFs have universal access policies that explicitly aim to connect women and girls through the fund. Just 23 African countries openly publish det ... more

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"Free Internet" and the Costs to Media Pluralism: The Hazards of Zero-Rating the News

Daniel O'Maley, Amba Kak

Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) (2018), 20 pp.

"In many countries, mobile operators have teamed up with social media platforms to offer free access to specific websites or internet services—including news websites. The most well-known of these offerings, Facebook’s Free Basics, has been explicitly pitched as a way to give citizens in develop ... more

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Bridging the Digital Gender Divide: Include, Upskill, Innovate

Paris: OECD (2018), 150 pp.

"The road ahead is uphill: today worldwide some 327 million fewer women than men have a smartphone and can access the mobile Internet. Women are under-represented in ICT jobs, top management and academic careers and, as shown in this report, men are four times more likely than women to be ICT specia ... lists. At 15 years of age, on average, only 0.5% of girls wish to become ICT professionals, compared to 5% of boys. Women-owned start-ups receive 23% less funding and are 30% less likely to have a positive exit compared to male-owned businesses. This report explores a range of factors that underpin the digital gender divide, bolsters the evidence base for policy making and provides policy directions for consideration by all G20 governments. It has been prepared by the OECD at the request of the Australian Government to support advancement of the 2017 G20 Roadmap for Digitalisation: Policies for a Digital Future, in particular its aim to support the equitable participation of women in the digital economy. It complements the initiative of the 2018 Argentinian G20 Presidency to share policies, actions and national practices that have had a significant and measurable impact in bridging the digital gender divide, while supporting Argentina’s mainstreaming of gender across the G20 agenda. The report finds that hurdles to access, affordability, lack of education as well as inherent biases and sociocultural norms curtail women and girls’ ability to benefit from the opportunities offered by the digital transformation. In addition, girls’ relatively lower educational enrolment in disciplines that would allow them to perform well in a digital world – such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as information and communication technologies – coupled with women’s and girls’ more limited use of digital tools could lead to widening gaps and greater inequality. Acting now to reverse these trends can pay off: the reports finds that greater inclusion of women in the digital economy and increased diversity bring value, both social and economic. For instance, inventions arising out of mixed teams are more economically valuable and have higher impact than those in which only men are involved. Co-ordinated policy action can help narrow the digital gender gap. This requires raising a wareness and tackling gender stereotypes; enabling enhanced, safer and more affordable access to digital tools; and stronger cooperation across stakeholders to remove barriers to girls and women’s full participation in the digital world." (Foreword, page 5) more

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Theorizing Digital Divides

Massimo Ragnedda, Glenn W. Muschert (eds.)

London: Routledge (2018), vi, 211 pp.

"Although discussion of the digital divide is a relatively new phenomenon, social inequality is a deeply entrenched part of our current social world and is now reproduced in the digital sphere. Such inequalities have been described in multiple traditions of social thought and theoretical approaches. ... more

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Better Connectivity, Better Programs: How to Implement a Broadband Demand Aggregation Program

USAID (2018), 43 pp.

"In 2012, some of the most expensive internet access service in the world was the only way humanitarian organizations could serve the world’s largest refugee community, Dadaab in Kenya. Even though it was founded twenty years earlier, internet access in Dadaab was still inadequate -- slow, ineffic ... more

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Global Information Society Watch 2018: Community Networks

Association for Progressive Communications (APC); International Development Research Centre (IDRC) (2018), 259 pp.

"The 43 country reports included in this year’s Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) capture the different experiences and approaches in setting up community networks across the globe. They show that key ideas, such as participatory governance systems, community ownership and skills transfe ... more

Taking Stock: Data and Evidence on Gender Equality in Digital Access, Skills and Leadership Top Insights

Connected Women: The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2018 Top Insights

Taking Stock: Data and Evidence on Gender Equality in Digital Access, Skills and Leadership
Top Insights

Connected Women: The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2018
Top Insights