April 29, 2021
An Assessment of venues providing public Access to ICT: A tale of 25 countries
This paper is based on a comparative study of venues that provide public access to information and communication technologies in 25 countries. We study how diverse people can and do access and use ICT and what factors influence availability at these venues. Our aim, through such an analysis is first to map what is available…
From access to information to access to each other: Why libraries should develop innovation spaces
We will argue that libraries, in optimizing how they deploy computer and internet technology for people to meet their information needs, have unknowingly overlooked and even inhibited the use of computers for the purposes of creativity and innovation. Specifically, we suggest that there is a vast and unmet demand for physical environments, built around the…
The impact of public access to ICTs: Findings from a five-year, eight-country study
This article summarizes the findings of a five-year study investigating the impacts of public access to information and communication technologies (ICTs). The research was conducted in eight low and medium income countries employing a range of survey, ethnographic, and experimental research approaches. The analysis revealed substantial first-order effects in terms of technology access, information access…
Mobile Information Literacy: Building Digital and Information Literacy Skills for Mobile-first and Mobile-centric Populations through Public Libraries
For billions of people coming online around the world – many in Africa – mobile phones (and increasingly smartphones) is their point of entry to the internet. This is true in both developed and developing countries. However, the user experience on a smartphone is very different from that on a PC or a feature phone….
