Real mobiles

Abstract

What are rural farmers in sub-Saharan Africa's current attitudes towards their mobile phones? We draw from qualitative studies of smallholder farmers in Kenya and Zambia to answer this question. A review of ongoing efforts to develop mobile phone services for farmers paired with critiques of the "colonial impulse" embedded in future-oriented visions of technology use guided our study. Our findings suggest there is a mismatch between the design of mobile phone applications and our participants' perceptions and usage of their devices. We also discovered several understudied barriers that hinder adoption of mobile services: the influx of counterfeit and substandard mobile phones, distrust of the content being delivered via SMS and reservations about the spiritual and health consequences accompanying phone use. We use these findings to encourage Information and Communication Technology and Development (ICTD) researchers and practitioners to re-examine the mobile phone. Specifically, we suggest developing interventions that teach farmers how to better use phones and present recommendations for improving their design.

eKichabi v2: Designing and Scaling a Dual-Platform Agricultural Technology in Rural Tanzania

“…When creating the smartphone component of any dual-platform technology in SSA, designers must overcome several challenges. Although barriers to accessing smartphones are slowly being circumvented, it is important to consider the prevalent limitations of cheaper, popular smartphones, such as counterfeit phones, old Android versions, and the inability to download new apps from the Play Store, among others [11,23,95]. If app developers and researchers are not designing around these factors, nonuse will be the default among smartphone users.…”

Analyzing the Use of Mobile Phone Technology in Access and Utilization of Library Resources in Mount Kenya University, Kisii Campus

“…Rieger & Gay, (1997) adds that teaching and learning cannot be adequately replicated using advanced multimedia technologies, the computer's prowess and mobile phone capabilities at information organizing and retrieval can be taken to class to support access and utilization of library resources. According to data collected by the International Telecommunications Union, between 2002 and 2008 (the latest date for which the ITU has data), mobile cellular subscriptions in Africa have skyrocketed, greatly outpacing the slight increase in Internet subscriptions, while fixed telephone lines and fixed broadband subscriptions have remained nearly flat (Maranto, Phang, & Hartman, 2010) Widespread mobile phone ownership among this social group means there is an opportunity to provide them with pertinent information that could help them grow academically and support government policy formulation and implementation (Wyche, Densmore, & Geyer, 2015).…”