Stories from the field: mobile phone usage and its impact on people's lives in East Africa

Authors:
Martin Tomitsch;Florian Sturm;Martin Konzett;Anders Bolin;Isabella Wagner;Thomas Grechenig
Affiliations:
The University of Sydney, Australia;The Austrian Network for Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Vienna, Austria;The Austrian Network for Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Vienna, Austria;The Austrian Network for Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Vienna, Austria;The Austrian Network for Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Vienna, Austria;Vienna University of Technology, Austria
Venue:
Proceedings of the 4th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development
Year:
2010

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Abstract

In this paper we present results from contextual interviews and observations, which we conducted in Tanzania over a period of six weeks. In our interviews we focused on use cases and benefits that the mobile phone introduced in these areas. Specifically we were interested in the impact of mobile ICTs on social networks in general and communication with friends and family in particular. The goal of the study was to identify potential areas where ICTs could improve people's lives. Based on an analysis of the results from this study we created personas, which describe archetype mobile phone users and their respective needs and goals. The paper concludes with a number of directions for further research in this area.