This study explores the preliminary lessons in the use of mobile phones to promote access to health care information in Uganda. The project under study is the AppLab Uganda Project which operates a Health Tips application, educating users on sexual and reproductive health. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with project developers, partners, medical practitioners and IT journalists and a survey of 149 people randomly selected from two tertiary educational institutions in Uganda. Findings tend to suggest that the need to access health information via mobile text messages is mediated by cost incentives, misconceptions of brand name 'Google SMS', and content relevance. There are questions concerning the appropriateness of text messaging as compared to using voice calls to access health information. These issues have implications on the objectives of the health care project and the individual strategies of project partners. Preliminary conclusions emphasize the need to integrate a referral system to registered health professionals and facilities and the need for education and/or a marketing strategy with an indigenous branding to address the misconception of the brand name 'Google SMS'. Implications for research, policy, and practice are outlined.
The concept of e-democracy, although relatively new has received enormous attention in research especially with the global proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICT). Understanding such an emerging field of research with poorly defined boundaries, and constantly in the state of definition, redefinition, and evolution, is a crucial endeavor. We therefore seek to conduct a review of 158 articles of e-democracy published research, analyzing the progress in the research subject and reviewing the current trend and directions of the research. A grounded analysis of the selected articles led to the identification of critical knowledge gaps, recurring themes, and a roadmap that indicates the current state of e-democracy for development research. This will guide researchers and practitioners in this emerging field of study.
In this paper the authors examine the diffusion of the Internet in Jamaica through the lens of the Global Diffusion of the Internet (GDI) framework, which characterizes Internet diffusion along six dimensions: Pervasiveness, Geographical Dispersion, Sectoral Absorption, Connectivity Infrastructure, Organizational Infrastructure, and Sophistication of Use. Jamaica, like most developing nations, has faced numerous challenges to expanding its Internet and other information infrastructures over the past decade (; ). However, much of these efforts have yielded positive outcomes. For instance, the liberalization of the telecommunications sector in the late 1990's has led to increased access to the Internet and related applications for Jamaican citizens. The authors use this development as baseline for examining the pivotal role the Internet can play in economic, political, and social development through e-commerce, e-government, tele-education, and tele-medicine and discuss some “unintended” consequences of the Internet in Jamaica such as the use of technology to facilitate sex tourism. The authors conclude by offering implications of our study for research, practice and policy development.
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