A Village Goes Mobile

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sirpa Tenhunen
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Mobile Telephony ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Mobile Phone Use ◽  
Social Patterns ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Bankura District

This book examines how mobile telephony contributes to social change in rural India (West Bengal, Bankura district) on the basis of long-term ethnographic fieldwork in a village before and after the introduction of mobile phones. The book investigates how mobile telephones emerged as multidimensional objects that not only enable telephone conversations, but also facilitate status aspirations, internet access, and entertainment practices. It explores how this multifaceted use of mobile phones has influenced economic, political, and social relationships, including gender relationships, and how these new social constellations relate to culture and development. The book examines social institutions as culturally constructed spheres tied to translocal processes that, nevertheless, have local meanings. The author delves into social and cultural changes to examine agency and power relationships: Who benefits from mobile telephony and how? Can people use mobile phones to further their aims to change their lives, or does phone use merely amplify existing social patterns and power relationships? Can mobile telephony induce development? Using a holistic ethnographic approach, the book develops a framework to understand how new media mediates social processes within interrelated social spheres and local hierarchies. It delves into mobile phone use as a multidimensional process with diverse impacts by exploring how media-saturated forms of interaction relate to preexisting contexts.

scholarly journals An empirical study on the effects of mobile telephony usage on livelihoods in Brong Ahafo region of Ghana

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bekoe ◽  
Daniel Azerikatoa Ayoung ◽  
Paul Boadu ◽  
Benjamin Folitse
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Mobile Telephony ◽  
Mobile Phone Use ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Brong Ahafo Region ◽  
Brong Ahafo

Meaningful use of mobile telephony can enhance human development and capabilities thereby empowering people to lead lives they value. They are enabling technologies to deliver human-centred development. This article explores the effects of mobile phone use on livelihoods of users in eight districts in Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. A mixed method approach was employed and qualitative research was used as a dominant paradigm. Interview questionnaires, focus group discussions and observation were used.  The study showed that mobile phone ownership was high and their uses were characterised by greater uniformity across socio-economic groups and gender. Mobile phones enhanced traditional structures, facilitated business links, and face-to-face interactions as well as strengthening community ties. Users acknowledged the impact of mobile phones in their ability to deal with family emergencies. Poor network connectivity and power outages were major obstacles to mobile phone usage. The study makes original contributions to the knowledge of practical relevance in the ICT4D field as well as with respect to these under-researched Ghanaian regions and provides evidence for policy formulation to improve quality of services in Ghana and elsewhere. The participatory Field Research also provided space for in-depth engagement with local people to understand the technology in social and development contexts.

scholarly journals Understanding Social Media Logic

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Van Dijck ◽  
Thomas Poell
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Social Activism ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Print News ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Logic

Over the past decade, social media platforms have penetrated deeply into the mech­anics of everyday life, affecting people's informal interactions, as well as institutional structures and professional routines. Far from being neutral platforms for everyone, social media have changed the conditions and rules of social interaction. In this article, we examine the intricate dynamic between social media platforms, mass media, users, and social institutions by calling attention to social media logic—the norms, strategies, mechanisms, and economies—underpin­ning its dynamics. This logic will be considered in light of what has been identified as mass me­dia logic, which has helped spread the media's powerful discourse outside its institutional boundaries. Theorizing social media logic, we identify four grounding principles—programmabil­ity, popularity, connectivity, and datafication—and argue that these principles become increas­ingly entangled with mass media logic. The logic of social media, rooted in these grounding principles and strategies, is gradually invading all areas of public life. Besides print news and broadcasting, it also affects law and order, social activism, politics, and so forth. Therefore, its sustaining logic and widespread dissemination deserve to be scrutinized in detail in order to better understand its impact in various domains. Concentrating on the tactics and strategies at work in social media logic, we reassess the constellation of power relationships in which social practices unfold, raising questions such as: How does social media logic modify or enhance ex­isting mass media logic? And how is this new media logic exported beyond the boundaries of (social or mass) media proper? The underlying principles, tactics, and strategies may be relat­ively simple to identify, but it is much harder to map the complex connections between plat­forms that distribute this logic: users that employ them, technologies that drive them, economic structures that scaffold them, and institutional bodies that incorporate them.

Women, Empowerment, and Mobile Phones in the Developing World

2020 ◽  
pp. 528-544
Author(s):  
Laura Stark
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Mobile Communication ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Mobile Telephony ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
Gender And Development ◽  
And Control

This chapter surveys and analyzes recent literature on mobile communication to examine its relationship to gender and development, more specifically how women in developing countries use and are impacted by mobile phones. Focusing on issues of power, agency, and social status, the chapter reviews how mobile telephony has been found to be implicated in patriarchal bargaining in different societies, how privacy and control are enabled through it, what benefits have been shown to accrue to women using mobile phones, and what barriers, limitations, and disadvantages of mobile use exist for women and why. The conclusion urges more gender-disaggregated analysis of mobile phone impact and use and offers policy and design recommendations based on the overview and discussion.

Effects of mobile phone use on pedestrian crossing behavior and safety at unsignalized intersections

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 381-388
Author(s):  
Hualong Zhang ◽  
Cunbao Zhang ◽  
Feng Chen ◽  
YuanYuan Wei
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Regression Model ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Logistic Regression Model ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Mobile Phone Use ◽  
Unsignalized Intersections ◽  
Behavior Characteristics ◽  
Pedestrian Crossing

Using mobile phones can be a source of distraction for pedestrians when crossing streets, it is especially dangerous at unsignalized intersections. To investigate the effects of mobile phone use on pedestrian crossing behavior and safety at unsignalized intersections, we carried out a field survey at three selected locations in Wuhan, China. Then, the pedestrians’ crossing behavior characteristics were statistically analyzed, and a logistic regression model was established to quantitatively analyze pedestrian safety. The results showed that 15.6% of pedestrians used mobile phones when crossing unsignalized intersections and 64.1% of them were young pedestrians. Pedestrians using mobile phones while crossing unsignalized intersections were at higher risk of accident, crossed more slowly, and were less likely to look at traffic status than those not using a mobile phone. Moreover, the probability of conflicts when watching the screen, talking, and listening to music are 2.704, 1.793, and 1.114 times greater, respectively, than those who do not use a mobile phone.

Understanding women’s mobile phone use in rural Kenya: An affordance-based approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Wyche ◽  
Nightingale Simiyu ◽  
Martha E. Othieno
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Mobile Communication ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Mobile Phone Use ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Rural Kenya ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Definition Of

Increases in mobile phone ownership and Internet access throughout Africa continue to motivate initiatives to use information and communication technologies (ICTs)—in particular, mobile phones—to address long-standing socioeconomic problems in the “developing world.” While it is generally recognized that mobile phones may help to address these problems by providing pertinent information, less widely known is exactly how (and if) a handset’s human–computer interface—that is, its software and hardware design—supports this form of communication. The concept of “affordances” has long been used to answer such questions. In this paper, we use Hartson’s definition of affordances to qualitatively investigate rural Kenyan women’s interactions with their mobile phones. Our detailed analysis provides empirically grounded answers to questions about the cognitive, physical, and sensory affordances of handsets used in our field sites and how they support and/or constrain mobile communication. We then discuss the implications of our findings: in particular, how this affordance-based approach draws attention to mobile phones’ design features and to the context in which they and their users are embedded—a focus which suggests new design and research opportunities in mobile communication.

Healthcare Workers’ Mobile Phones as a Possible Vehicle of Nosocomial Pathogens and the Role of Different Disinfectants in their Decontamination

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
Rana E. Elgabeery ◽  
Radwa A. Eissa ◽  
Sohair M. Soliman ◽  
Naglaa F. Ghoname
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Colony Count ◽  
Drug Resistant ◽  
University Hospitals ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Before And After

Background: As Mobile Phones (MPs) aren’t cleaned routinely and have been touched during patient’s examination, they may become contaminated with hospital pathogens. Objectives: Screen MPs of Health care workers (HCWs) for pathogens and verify the effect of disinfectants in their decontamination. Methods: A questionnaire was submitted by 160 HCWs in Tanta University Hospitals. Samples were taken from their MPs and subjected to pour plate counting before and after disinfection. Standard identification and antibiotic susceptibility of isolates were done. Results: Colony count was greater in MPs used while caring for patients or inside restroom, and was less in regularly cleaned MPs. All tested disinfectants reduced the colony count significantly. Pathogens were isolated from 84.38% of samples and 36.25% of them were Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms (MDROs). Conclusion: Using MPs at critical care areas and restroom may contribute to their contamination with pathogens. Regular disinfection of MPs can reduce this contamination.

Awareness of ICT-Based Projects and the Intensity of Use of Mobile Phones Among Smallholder Farmers in Uganda

2013 ◽  
pp. 89-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Lwasa ◽  
Narathius Asingwire ◽  
Julius Juma Okello ◽  
Joseph Kiwanuka
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Mobile Phone Use ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Input Markets

As the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is embraced in Uganda, determinants of awareness of ICT based projects remain unknown. The intensity of use of mobile phones among smallholder farmers in the areas where such projects operate is unclear. To address this knowledge gap, 346 smallholder farmers in two ICT project sites in Mayuge and Apac districts were subjected to econometric analysis using bi-variate logistic and zero-inflated negative binomial regression models to ascertain determinants of projects’ awareness and intensity of use of mobile phones. The authors find that education, distance to input markets, and membership in a group positively influence awareness. The decision to use a mobile phone for agricultural purposes is affected by distance to electricity and land cultivated and negatively influenced by being a member of any farmer group. Lastly, intensity of mobile phone use is affected by age, farming as the major occupation, and distance to an internet facility, being a member of a project, having participated in an agricultural project before, value of assets, size of land cultivated, possession of a mobile phone, and proximity to agricultural offices. The paper discusses policy implications of these findings.

Mobile Phone Culture: The Impacts of Mobile Phone Use

2015 ◽  
pp. 658-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung-Hyun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Mobile Phone Use ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cultural Implications ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

From being a simple communication technology to a key social tool, the mobile phone has become such an important aspect of people's everyday life. Mobile phones have altered the way people live, communicate, interact, and connect with others. Mobile phones are also transforming how people access and use information and media. Given the rapid pervasiveness of mobile phones in society across the world, it is important to explore how mobile phones have affected the way people communicate and interact with others, access the information, and use media, and their daily lifestyle. This article aims to explore the social and cultural implications that have come with the ubiquity, unprecedented connectivity, and advances of mobile phones. This article also focuses on the discussion about people's dependence on, attachment and addiction to mobile phones, social problems that mobile phones generate, and how people value mobile phone use.

Long-Term Mobile Phone Use Leads to Brain Tumors

2015 ◽  
pp. 630-639
Author(s):  
Lai Lei Lou
Keyword(s):  
Brain Tumors ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Acoustic Neuroma ◽  
Mobile Phone Use ◽  
One Year ◽  
Mobile Phone Radiation

Although mobile phones have proved to be lifesaving in certain circumstances, wide concerns have been raised about brain tumors associated with their use. This article systematically reviews previous and current research in regards to mobile phone use and brain tumors. Recently, research (more than 10 years mobile phone use or cumulative mobile phone use more than 1640 hours) has been found that the amount of exposure to mobile phone radiation plays a key role in determining the significant associations between mobile phone use and gliomas, and acoustic neuroma. In general, those who use mobile phones for more than ten years, or cumulative call time for more than 1640 hours, have higher risks to develop brain tumors, especially glioma and acoustic neuroma, than those who use mobile phones for less than one year.

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