Analyzing the Behavior and Financial Status of Soccer Fans from a Mobile Phone Network Perspective: Euro 2016, a Case Study

In this study, Call Detail Records (CDRs) covering Budapest for the month of June in 2016 were analyzed. During this observation period, the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship took place, which significantly affected the habit of the residents despite the fact that not a single match was played in the city. We evaluated the fans’ behavior in Budapest during and after the Hungarian matches and found that the mobile phone network activity reflected the football fans’ behavior, demonstrating the potential of the use of mobile phone network data in a social sensing system. The Call Detail Records were enriched with mobile phone properties and used to analyze the subscribers’ devices. Applying the device information (Type Allocation Code) obtained from the activity records, the Subscriber Identity Modules (SIM), which do not operate in cell phones, were omitted from mobility analyses, allowing us to focus on the behavior of people. Mobile phone price was proposed and evaluated as a socioeconomic indicator and the correlation between the phone price and the mobility customs was found. We also found that, besides the cell phone price, the subscriber age and subscription type also had effects on users’ mobility. On the other hand, these factors did not seem to affect their interest in football.

Mobile Phone Network and Migration: Evidence From Myanmar

This International Migration Review research note explores the effect of the expansion of mobile phone networks on migration decisions in Myanmar. Building on the work of scholars in economics, the empirical strategy uses variation in lightning frequency across space as an instrumental variable for the expansion of mobile phone networks. Our results suggest that villages with longer exposure to mobile phone networks exhibit reductions in out-migration. Specifically, an increase of one standard deviation in the time exposed to mobile phone networks diminishes the probability that household members migrate by 17 percent. We find empirical evidence suggesting that such findings are driven by the positive effects of mobile phone networks on labor market outcomes and the perceived well-being of individuals.

Reconsidering the Resilience of Pastoralism from the Perspective of Reliability: The Case of Conflicts between the Samburu and the Pokot of Kenya, 2004-2009

This article explores an overlooked aspect of the 'resilience of pastoralism' in crises through an ethnographic case study of a series of conflicts between the Samburu and the Pokot in Kenya that erupted in 2004. Emery Roe's concepts of reliability professionals and real-time management of pastoralists are utilised as theoretical frameworks for this study. It was observed that the 'logic of high input variance matched by high process variance to ensure low and stable output variance' occurred through the formation of clustered settlements and an inter-ethnic mobile phone network. This case illustrates how pastoralists endured the conflict as reliability professionals.