Internet e ICT4D

Roberto PolilloDipartimento di Informatica, Sistemistica e Comunicazione

Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca

Corso “Salute globale e sviluppo”Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca

Villa Breme-Forno, Cinisello, 9 febbraio 2011

Internet and ICT4D1

Agenda

1. What is ICT4D2. ICT development and digital divide3. Internet evolution and ICT4D4. Some examples5. Some conclusions

1. What is ICT4D3

Information and Communication Technologies for Development“The application of ICT within the field of socio-economic development, international development and human rights” (Wikipedia)

Interdisciplinariety, different approaches, philosophies, goals, ...

We bring with ourselves our story, …

What does it mean "development"? Development means different things to

different people At its core, it involves concepts of

"progress" and "growth"

It cannot be simply equated to the growth of GNP or personal purchasing power…

Development is a multi-dimensional entity, involving empowerment, participation, ….

HDI: Human Development Index Developed by UNDP (United Nations

Development Programme, www.undp.org ), from 1992

Covering almost 200 countries Three basic dimensions :

HEALTH: Life expectancy at birth EDUCATION: Education Index

(adut literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary schools)

INCOME: Per-capita GDI Index

HDI divide in 2010

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index

Why ICT can contribute to development

Information and Communication

Collecting, storing, processing and making available data and information

Providing media for human communication, interaction, collaboration and socialization

Supporting and managing interaction processes of any kind

Indeed…

There is a strong correlation between the HDI of a Country and its "level of ICT development " (see later on)

But ICT paradigms are changing fast…

Mainframe computing

Client-servercomputing

Cloudcomputing

Mobileaccess

1965 1985 2005+

Evolution of ICT devices11

Three phases of ICT4D

ICT4D 0.0: mid 1950s -late 1990sFocus on computing/data processing for back-office applications in large governement and private sector organizations in developing countries

ICT4D 1.0: late 1990s – late 2000sMillennium Development Goals and development of Internet in rich countries investment in ICT infrastructure and programmes. The diffusion on Telecentres.

ICT4D 2.0: late 2000s onwardsThe impact of mobile phones, Web 2.0, and more emphasis on “bottom up” innovation

World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) (held Geneva, 2003 and Tunis, 2005) to discuss ICT4D issues

The Geneva Action Plan of Action identified 10 targets to be achieved by 2015

In 2010, ITU issued the report "Monitoring the WSIS targets. A mid term review", 2010 (available on the net)

The WSIS 10 targets (2003-5)

1. To connect villages with ICTs and establish community access points

2. To connect universities, colleges, secondary schools and primary schools with ICTs

3. To connect scientific and research centres with ICTs

4. To connect public libraries, cultural centres, museums, post offices and archives with ICTs

5. To connect health centres and hospitals with ICTs

6. To connect all local and central government departments and establish websites

and e-mail addresses

7. To adapt all primary and secondary school curricula to meet the challenges of the

information society, taking into account national circumstances

8. To ensure that all of the world’s population have access to television and radio services

9. To encourage the development of content and put in place technical conditions in

order to facilitate the presence and use of all world languages on the Internet

10. To ensure that more than half the world’s inhabitants have access to ICTs within their reach

Target 5: Connect health centres and hospitals with ICTs

"The health sector stands to benefit greatly from the use of ICTs and ICT applications, for example through the more efficient delivery of healthcare services and the provision of health information to the general public. The use of ICTs in the health sector also improves the collection, storage, retrieval and transmission of individual patient information.

Furthermore, given the soaring use of mobile technologies worldwide, m-health (which refers to medical and public-health practices supported by mobile devices) holds huge promise for improving the delivery of health services to an increasing share of the world’s population. Thus, ICTs have the potential to contribute to more effective delivery of health services and to increase the efficiency of health systems.

By the end of 2009, some progress had been made in establishing basic Internet access in health institutions, including in developing countries, but much more needs to be done if all health institutions are to enjoy Internet access by 2015. It is likely that progress will initially be made in the major cities of developing countries, and less so in the remote and isolated regions, even though ICTs can potentially bring even greater benefits in remote geographical areas.

In addition to growing access to the Internet, health institutions are increasingly using ICTs for their own ends, for example through the connection of health institutions to HINARI (an online initiative to provide access to health research). While most countries have introduced some form of electronic patient records, in low-income countries this facility is not yet used intensively, and most patient records are still kept primarily in paper format.

Over 75 per cent of countries report at least one m-health initiative. This is an area which has great potential for further growth, especially in the developing world. Mhealth or other applications, including telemedicine, can deliver healthcare services at a distance, by providing and exchanging information for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases and injuries. They can also promote research and evaluation, and helping in the education of healthcare providers."

(follows)

"Governments in developing countries should therefore ensure the effective implementation of such initiatives.

Governments need to recognize the importance of ICT access and use in the health sector, and the benefits it will bring for the health of citizens, not to mention the potential for cost savings, including through increased efficiencies. Policy-makers need to put in place and implement enabling framework conditions for e-health, which will be critical for increasing ICT in the health sector. Government support needs to be reflected in the policy environment as well as the funding environment. Today, funding constitutes an important barrier to the spread of e-health. Governments can look to alternative funding sources, such as donor or private funds, as well as public-private partnerships, in order to complement public funding used for providing Internet access to health institutions and supporting the use of ICTs for the delivery of health services.

Interministerial cooperation is also crucial in the area of e-health. Any significant ICT initiatives in the e-health domain will need to be agreed on and governed by several ministries, usually those in charge of health, ICTs and finance. The successful development and implementation of e-health projects requires a common understanding by all parties of some of the key issues, including the strategic approach and goals, costs and financing mechanisms.

Besides establishing basic Internet access, health institutions are starting to increase their use of ICTs, for example by introducing electronic patient records

M-health has great potential for growth, and for delivering innovative health applications

Substantial efforts are required if Target 5 is to be achieved by 2015, including interministerial cooperation and adequate funding."

ITU, "Monitoring the WSIS targets. A mid term review", 2010

ICT4D: two basic approaches

"TOP DOWN"

"BOTTOM UP"

- ICT for productivity- From the experience and models of developed countries - Emphasis on [large] organizations

- ICT for human development- From the needs of local communities and individuals- New models of services, collaboration and interaction based on local needs and experiences

"What happens when you start to connect the world’s poor into the infrastrucure for a digital economy?What happens is some of the basic assumptions about barriers to development might no longer apply"

R.Heeks

Some examples

Crowdsourcing to mobile phone owners simple jobs requiring cellular (e.g. translation in local language,, input of local data,…) (http://txteagle.com , Kenia)

Posting requests of low-skilled jobs to web sites and SMS (http://www.babajob.com , India)

"How we see ICT4D depends fundamentally

on the place from which we are looking"

Tim Unwind"ICT4D", Cambridge Univ. Press,

2. ICT development and digital divide

How can we measure and compare ICT development?

(can be downloaded from the net at no cost)

Two important sources, highly recommended:

Global ICT developments, 1998-2009

Source: ITU, Measuring the Information Society, 2010

4,6 Billions

subscriptions

Mobile cellular subscription by level of development, 1998-2009

1,4 BillionsSubscriptio

ns(China+India alone: 1,2

3,2 Billionssubscriptio

Mobile cellular penetration by 2009*

CIS: Commonwealth of Independent States

"Available data suggest that by the end of 2008 almost three quarters of the world's rural inhabitants were covered by a mobile cellular signal, up from 40% in 2003.

The lowest coverage is in Africa, where just over 50% of the rural population is within reach of a mobile cellular network. This still represents a significant improvement from 2003, when coverage stood at only 20%"

Rural population covered by a mobile signal, 2002-2008

Internet Users by level of development, 1998-2009

1,7 BillionsPeople(1/3 in China)

Internet penetration, by region, 2009*

Broadband divide, 1998-2009

Fixed broadband subscribers Mobile broadband subscribers

«Mobile broasband subscriptons can be expected to increase significantly in the near future, though.»

IDI (ICT Development Index) Developed by ITU to measure the level

and evolution over time of ICT in different countries, and to measure the digital divide

Based on a 3 stage model of ICT development

Computed for 159 countries, 2002, 2007 & 2008

IDI is based on an ICT development model3 stages in the evolution towards the information society

Access sub-index

Use sub-index

Skillssub-index

11indicatorsIDI

IDI components

Source: ITU, Measuring the Information Society, 2010Source: ITU, Measuring the Information Society, 2009

IDI 2008: Examples

IDI and GNI per capita correlation

HDI & DOI correlation for selected countries

0,20 0,30 0,40 0,50 0,60 0,70 0,80 0,90

Digital Opportunity Index (DOI)

DOI-HDI Correlation for Selected Nations

INDONESIA

COLOMBIA

MEXICOMALAYSIA

RUSSIA

UAE ESTONIA

SPAINITALY

FINLANDCANADA

SINGAPORE

SWEDEN

BRASIL

Source: Silvia Masiero, Digital Technologies and Human Development, Think! Paper, Oct 2010

DOI: Digital Opportunity Index is a first version of IDI, 2004-2006

DOI: Digital Opportunity Index (ITU)

Opportunity of Digital Access Percentage of population covered by mobile telephony Mobile cellular tariffs as a % of per-capita income Internet cellular tariffs as a % of per-capita income

Infrastructure Percent of households with a fixed line, with internet access and with a

PC at home Mobile cellular and internet subscribers per 100 inhabitants

Utilization Internet users per 100 inhabitants Ratio of fixed and mobile broadband internet subscribers to total

subscribers

Digital divide

CAGR 2002-2008: 6,8%CAGR 2002-2008: 6,4%

Digital divide

ACCESS USE SKILLS

Digital divide by IDI values

Evolution of digital divide, 2002-2008

ArgentinaChile

NicaraguaCuba

Italia

3. Internet evolution and ICT4D43

A network of computer networks…A network of computer networks…

At the beginning, our view of the internet was like this...

(una rete telefonica con i PC al posto dei telefoni…)

Typical applications

E-mailFile transferNewsgroups….

A gigantic hypertext …A gigantic hypertext …

... then our view changed (circa 1995+)...

Typical applications

Company web sitesWeb portalsSearch enginesE-commerceWeb as an interface….

Then the crisis…

Nasdaq Composite Index10 March 2000:5049

9 Oct 2002:1114

Google IPO19 Aug 2004

IPO Netscape9 Augt 1995:

... Then our view changed again (circa 2005+)

A network of people …A network of people …

Typical applications51

Blogs Social network sites User generated contents Large scale cooperative creation Large scale sharing Reusable contents …

“SOCIAL MEDIA”

Xmas 2006

TIME Man of the Year52

Xmas 2010

Then the cloud (2010+) ...

A gigantic computer …A gigantic computer …

These tools can change completely the approach of ICT4D, and its results…

Three big revolutions… Three big revolutions…

Never, in the story of technology, we had at our disposal a set of powerful tools like those resulting from the evolution of the internet in the last few years…

1. Communications

Cellular telephony SMS Mail Forum Chat Blog Social networks Microblogging IP telephony Web radio Tele-conference

1. Communications

2. Software as a service

Software applications accessible from the net

Large reduction of entry barrier to the implementation of ICT solutions: no hardware & software infrastructure needed

Sustainability of ICT solutions: low operation costs

Entrybarrier

Entry barrier (CAPEX)

- Hw & sw client & server- K-H (systems & apps) - Infrastructure- Organization set-up

Sustainability (OPEX)

- hw & sw maintenance- Recurrent fees- Technical support- Operations

Entrybarrier

- Hw client - Client maintenance- Recurrent fees (applications and connevctivity)

Entry barrier (CAPEX) Sustainability (OPEX)

Developing countryDeveloped country

A new role for NGO?

Evolution62

2. Web 1.0

Provider hosting my site with my data

1. Local infrastructure

My data and applications

3. Web 2.0

My data, and 3d party applications as a service

broadband

Low cost PC

“Ecosystems” of open-source software components, developed and maintained by large communities

Online services easily integrable to provide higher level services (embedding & mashup technologies)

3. I building block per le applicazioni 3. Applications building blocks

Application virtualization

• Piattaforme open source• Servizi di hosting• Servizi online per costruzione e hosting• Servizi di pagamento online• Social network sites• Photo, video, slides and document sharing sites•Telefonia IP• Microblogging• Online application suites• Online intranet

The pace of change…

Drupal

Joomla

Altervi

sta Word

press.

Weebly

Twitter

Google

YouTube

oogle D

Paypal

4. Some examples66

Esempio 1. La rete informatica per l’emergenza pediatrica in Nicaragua

Obiettivo: collegare via Internet i 16 ospedali dipartimentali del Nicaragua all’ospedale pediatrico La Mascota di Managua, per l’emergenza pediatrica

Progetto finanziato dalla Regione Lombardia nell’ambito del gemellaggio Ospedale Policlinico di Milano – Ospedale pediatrico La Mascota di Managua, in collaborazione con l’Associazione per il Bambino Nefropatico Onlus

Durata 2,5 anni, iniziato luglio 2010

Ospedale Pediatrico «La Mascota», Manuagua

The network

Policlinico Milan

La Mascota Managua

Phase 1

Phase 2

www.cure4kids.org: growth

Start: Oct 2002

Oggi: 23.000 utenti in 176 Paesi

5. Some conclusions72

ICT is changing fast…

My grandaddy (born 1883) typewriter: I learned typing on it

People is changing slowly… …but the world is getting younger and

younger …and the new generations have grown

(and will grow) with technology

We must target the new generations as the driving force for change

The “new” ICT (Internet) is different, and can give a lot of value…

…for a low cost

The main enabler will be broadband [mobile] access to the Internet

… because it gives access to lots of things (definitely, not only information!)

All this suggests the following strategy

Invest in broadband [mobile] access, not in software development

The software is there, and is (almost) free Develop skills to identify, mix and

integrate existing software and services Take advantage of utility computing to

avoid building local infrastructures Concentrate on applications requirements,

prototyping and experimentation Distribute results over the net

In three words…

1. Connect, connect, connect

2. Learn and experience the new paradigms

3. Understand local needs

Thank you!roberto.polillo@unimib.it

www.rpolillo.it

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