Web2forDev: Web 2.0 for Development Gateway

The contrast could not be greater. Africa has a fast growing community of Facebook users and a mobile social network with millions of members, but the majority of Africans do not use the Internet. As different as African countries are, the rural areas are cut off from the World Wide Web almost everywhere. How feasible therefore is Web 2.0 in such a context and where could it be most helpful?

Web2fordev can do little without an Internet connection, often an unbroken connection is necessary, which is difficult to achieve in rural areas, but also often not affordable as prices are so much higher than in Europe. Access is however only one of many challenges.

Much hope lies in the new undersea cable to provide broadband for East Africa and many landlocked countries such as Rwanda and Uganda. It not only boasts faster, broadband  Internet, but raises hopes that telecommunication prices will tumble in the next few years.

One could argue if there is cheap access available, it boosts use. Mxit in South Africa, with its cheap rates for message exchange below existing SMS prices, has brought together over 5 million users. Subsidised dial-up connection and broadband Internet in Egypt has led to around a million on Facebook alone.  Wayan Vota has a different take and argues that Facebook is Driving ICT Adoption in Africa.

"All the chatter about Facebook accounts was also driving new customers to buy computers and invest in Internet connectivity. 'I need to get Facebook' is becoming a common refrain at retail computer stores."

Not everybody might agree with that observation, but like the mobile phone, Facebook triggers a fascination or motivation to be part of it, and many other attempts have failed to imitate its success.

But there are also critics of technology such as this piece from AJ Venter that the cellphone Internet is bad for Africa.

"I have said it before … I think the proliferation of cellphones as the primary method of connectivity in Africa is not, as many have proposed, a cheap and practical solution to bridging the digital divide, on the contrary, it’s a very good way to make the rift permanent.”

Venter concludes that the mobile phone "will never be able to compete with full size devices in terms of capability." His main criticism is that for because data input is difficult on a mobile phone, it will remain almost entirely a one-way tool for web content, which does not enable users to benefit from the interaction through social media.  

Another concern led to a recent East African Local Content Innovation Summit. Ross van Horn, one of the facilitators at the Summit, argues:

“The danger is that East Africa will now become swamped with international web content and users and enterprises alike will lose focus on the need to develop their own content that serves their own needs and projects their products, profiles and services to the outside world." (Unfortunately there is no further information of the conference available.)

If one looks to rural areas the situation stays in sharp contrast, “…where the edge of your world is as far as you can walk in a day” (Grant Cambridge). In terms of web2fordev very different solutions or approaches are needed. One interesting projects is highlighted in the Daily Star “Info Lady: A rural troubleshooter”, where village phone ladies become potential "infopreneurs", who provide people with the information most needed.

Voices of Africa took another path and transformed a Tuk Tuk to a Solar Power Mobile Information Centre.

How do you think web2fordev can be best approached in Africa? How realistic are web 2.0 enabled projects in such contexts?

Author: Christian Kreutz