MobileActive.org

This paper reports on a pilot study investigating the perceptions and use of Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) amongst the youth in South Africa. MIMs are enjoying a high adoption rate amongst the youth in South Africa and MXit is by far the most popular MIM. However, the media, parents and educators are overly concerned with the use of the system. The accusations against MXit have included the allegations that it is time-wasting for the youth, it is a hunting ground for paedophiles, and it leads to anti-social behaviours. It is interesting, however, that despite the negative perceptions of the system, the youth are still using it, and presumably with their parents’ blessings.

 

Data for the study was gathered through in-depth interviews with randomly selected youth who use MXit, as well as with parents of children who use the system. The study has found that the youth use the system mainly for social networking and that, to most users, the system is more than just a communication tool - it is also part of their lives. The study has also unearthed the perceptions of the users towards fellow users and towards non-users. In addition, it has been noted that both the users and parents of users are employing self-justification strategies to deal with the cognitive dissonance arising from the negative discourse on MXit and their continued use or support of the system.

 

The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of how the youth use new media. The findings could be useful for those who may want to use new media for educating the youth and for marketing purposes.

This paper reports on a pilot study investigating the perceptions and use of Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) amongst the youth in South Africa. MIMs are enjoying a high adoption rate amongst the youth in South Africa and MXit is by far the most popular MIM. However, the media, parents and educators are overly concerned with the use of the system. The accusations against MXit have included the allegations that it is time-wasting for the youth, it is a hunting ground for paedophiles, and it leads to anti-social behaviours.

It is interesting, however, that despite the negative perceptions of the system, the youth are still using it, and presumably with their parents’ blessings. Data for the study was gathered through in-depth interviews with randomly selected youth who use MXit, as well as with parents of children who use the system.

The study has found that the youth use the system mainly for social networking and that, to most users, the system is more than just a communication tool - it is also part of their lives. The study has also unearthed the perceptions of the users towards fellow users and towards non-users. In addition, it has been noted that both the users and parents of users are employing self-justification strategies to deal with the cognitive dissonance arising from the negative discourse on MXit and their continued use or support of the system. The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of how the youth use new media. The findings could be useful for those who may want to use new media for educating the youth and for marketing purposes

 

Mobile instant messaging has the potential of providing youth not only with a social space where they can interact and bond but also with a learning environment. MXit is the most popular mobile instant messaging application in South Africa. Due to its nascency, little academic research has been done on the application.

The application has drawn considerable local media interest; however, most of the media coverage has been negative. Media discourse of the application is of academic interest, since media discourse is one of the many ways through which reality is constructed. This means there is a relationship between media discourse and public opinion. Distortions in the media may misinform and engender impaired decision making amongst policymakers as well as members of the public. Discourse analysis can reveal distortions in media communication and counter misinformation.

Using critical discourse analysis, we have analysed the media discourse on MXit by employing the Habermasian concept of the ideal speech situatio and its validity claims as a conceptual tool. The analysis shows that (i) the media discourse  is fraught with distortions; (ii) the media have mainly used the voice of adults to legitimise the discourse and marginalise the voices of the youth.

Background: There is a recognised problem with drug taking in South Africa. In socially deprived areas immediate help for drug users and their families is a problem. As part of their work in a community in tension, Impact Direct Ministries (IDM) and Reconstructed Living Lab (RLabs) in Cape Town provide a drug advisory service using mobile phone technology that can support multiple conversations. It is staffed by trained volunteers and is available to drug users and their families.

Methods: This article investigates historical counselling help for drug users. It explains the importance of family involvement in the life-changing process of a drug user and the importance of co-operative counselling. The Drug Advice Support (DAS) service provided by IDM and RLabs is introduced as a case study to explore how mobile phone technology can support the co-operative counselling model in a Living Lab context.

Results: The advantages of the DAS technology and what it offers to community-based organisations are discussed. Data on relatives of drug users using the system are included.

Conclusion: The use of mobile phone technology has advantages for community-based organisations acting as a first point of contact to drug users and their families. Minimal cost to the person in crisis and the organisation serves as an example. The co-operative counselling model it employs is also of benefit. As the community experiencing tension due to the problem of drug abuse becomes aware of this service, help and support for family members will increase in time.

The GMSA reports that the mobile subscriptions worldwide is at 3 billion (2008) with 270 million subscriptions in Africa at the end of 2007. This policy paper considers the challenges faced by public policy makers in understanding the true number of individuals with mobile access.  There are many reasons why customers might have more than one phone, phone number or SIM card, which results in the double-counting of customers. As a result, it is difficult to assume that the number telephone numbers or SIM cards translates into individual customers. The author discusses the issue of ambiguity in the estimates of mobile teledensity as an indicator for the MDGs and the subsequent challenge for public policy makers in interpreting the large numbers and how they reflect the reality of their countries, cities, towns and villages. Case studies in Bulgaria and South Africa are presented.

 

The opportunities in South Africa for using mobile technologies to support initiatives in the HIV/AIDS sector are enormous. A huge number of people have cellphone access, and there are a range of innovative ways in which cellphones can be used to support treatment, disseminate information, provide anonymous counselling, gather data and link patients to services.

Cell-Life is an NGO based in Cape Town, South Africa, that seeks to improve the lives of people infected and affected by HIV through the appropriate use of technology.

This paper describes three pilot interventions that use cellphones for behaviour change communication; i.e. that are experimenting with different cellphone technologies to disseminate information, undertaken as part of Cell-Life’s Cellphones4HIV project: ARV adherence SMSs, USSD content delivery and content delivery via MXit. Challenges around measuring impact in behaviour change communications are briefly discussed, and some of Cell-Life’s upcoming initiatives are outlined.

As Kaplan points out in his 2006 literature review of the subject, “There is almost no literature on using mobile telephones as a healthcare intervention for HIV, TB, malaria, and chronic conditions in developing countries”. Although the initiatives discussed in this paper are very much in their infancy, we hope that by sharing our ideas and approaches with others in the field we will generate discussion around some of the practicalities of mHealth.

The authors study the economic effects of the roll-out of mobile phone network coverage in rural South Africa, addressing identification issues which arise from the fact that network roll-out cannot be viewed as an exogenous process to local economic development.

The authors combine spatially coded data from South Africa's leading network provider with annual labor force surveys, and use terrain properties to construct an instrumental variable that allows us to identify the causal effect of network coverage on economic outcomes under plausible assumptions. 

The study finds substantial effects of cell phone network roll-out on labor market outcomes with remarkable gender-specific differences. Employment increases by 15 percentage points when a locality receives network coverage. A gender-differentiated analysis shows that most of this effect is due to increased employment by women. Household income increases in a pro-poor way when cellular infrastructure is provided.

Historically Africa and it's people have faced many practical problems in their race towards digital inclusion and economic progress, such as a severe lack of infrastructure and resources. However, the advent of the cell phone, is set to become a catalyst for narrowing the digital divide in South Africa and the rest of Africa. In the absence of desktop computers and ubiquitous internet access, the cell phone has the potential to provide an alternative access and participation mechanism for those who have previously been “digitally excluded”. Given their massive adoption and widespread use, as well as the recent technological advances in their computational power, cell phones are ideal substitutes for the personal computer throughout the continent. In 2006 a research collaboration, termed “MobiLED”, was initiated between the Meraka Institute (African Advanced Institute for Information and Communication Technology of the CSIR) and the Helsinki University of Art and Design (Finland). The aim was to develop, expand and integrate cell phone tools, technologies and services into formal and informal learning environments in order to prepare learners for full participation in the knowledge society, towards the acquisition of 21st century skills. Over the past three years it has become evident that many of the initiative's innovations have a wider application than originally envisaged. This paper will discuss the results of the education-related MobiLED pilots and expands on the possibilities of using these as a basis for creating a “MobiLED Toolset” for other sectors.

Cell phones introduce a range of new possibilities for social networking and communication, media use and production, political activism, as well as education. Young people in South Africa have adopted a range of innovative communicative practices, notably those which exploit low-cost mobile applications, as well as a growing host of rich-media and Internet-based applications. Until now, little quantitative data has been available to describe exactly to what extent and how young people access and use cell phones. This paper reports an extensive study, which surveyed 500 students from very low-income areas in Cape Town, South Africa. The students reported intensive use of cell phones, at a level which overshadows their use of less widely accessible technologies such as desktop computers. Notably, the extensive use of mobile Internet applications which students reported shows that many young urban South Africans first access the Internet via their phones, and that their concepts of the Internet and media in general are consequently strongly shaped by a distinct set of mobile applications.

The title of this workshop, ‘beyond voice’, is illustrative of one of the central questions currently surrounding mobile communication in the developing world. Put simply, there is a great deal of enthusiasm around the notion that a large group of users will access the internet for the first time via data enabled mobile handsets. Recent estimates from India, for example (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, 2007), suggest there may be more mobile Internet connections than traditional PC Internet connections operational in the country. Concurrently, high-end smart phones promise browsing experiences which are steadily closing the gaps in speed and ease of use which have hampered earlier incarnations of the mobile internet, such as WAP.
But the raw enthusiasm, the aggregate statistics, and the glossy marketing images from the top-end of handset markets fail to capture the reality of mobile internet use in the developing world. The crux of this paper’s argument is that the research community knows comparatively little about this supposed community of users who access and use the Internet exclusively via mobile phones. We know little about who they are, how they discover and access the mobile internet, and how the mobile internet fits into their lives.
This paper reports on ongoing qualitative/exploratory research in low income communities in urban South Africa. Through convenience and snowball sampling, the researchers have sought out ‘early adopters’ among mobile-only internet users. The analysis of the interviews will delineate and describe distinctive new “paths” to Internet use that largely bypass PCs. We draw on a domestication approach (Haddon, 2003; Hahn & Kibora, 2008; Silverstone & Hirsch, 1992) to move beyond an ‘adoption’ or ‘diffusion’ paradigm and to complement aggregate statistical perspectives.
As exploratory research, this project cannot definitively identify all the new paths to the internet, nor the relative frequency with which individuals choose these paths. However, early findings will illustrate current and emerging practices in mobile-only internet use, as well as opportunities and constraints for policymakers interested in promoting or leveraging internet use among a much broader community of the world’s inhabitants