1. Inventory and surveys that provide a big-picture view
2. Focused studies of specific mechanisms through which public access impacts livelihoods
3. An assessment of indirect and aggregated impacts, which takes the community as the unit of analysis and looks at non-users and alternative information sources
4. A look at alternatives and complements to public access, focusing on mobile phones

Get a big-picture view — To do this, we’re combining an inventory of all of the public access venues in Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Lithuania, and the Philippines with representative surveys of venue operators and users. With this we will start to understand magnitude, characteristics, distribution, costs, and impacts — especially on livelihoods. And researchers around the world will finally have access to a reliable database for further investigation of the public-access phenomenon in these five countries (the public database should be available in late 2010).

Dig deeper into specific impact mechanisms — Next, we examine how public access can improve livelihoods. Using a range of methods — ethnographies, focus groups, experiments, etc. — we’re digging deeper into the specific mechanisms leading to impact through in-depth studies of particular venue features: the availability of infomediaries, patterns of shared use, rules prescribing what users can and cannot do (can you play games? chat? update your Facebook profile?). Beyond a better understanding of how change happens, these studies will help us make better policy recommendations: Is it worthwhile to provide staff who can reach out and support users? Which venue design features foster productive sharing? Should gaming be banned or encouraged?

Look at the broader community — What about people who never even walk through the door of a public access venue? How does the venue’s presence effect the community as a whole? To answer these questions we’re conducting in-depth studies on indirect and aggregated impacts. These studies focus on public access use and the community information ecology — taking the community as the unit of analysis and assessing the use of public access venues against other information resources. This way, we can understand how all community members benefit from the presence of a public access venue (whether they use it or not) and learn more about venue reach within communities.

Examine alternatives & complements — There are several alternatives to public access: free or subsidized private computers (like the One Laptop Per Child initiative), infrastructure support (such as free WiFi zones), and computer alternatives (television, radio, mobile phones). Because mobile phones have become so widespread and promising, we’ll examine their use and impact in relation to, and in comparison with, public access venues. In South Africa, we’ll explore whether mobile phones replace or complement public access, or whether the two simply co-exist. In the Philippines, we’ll look at the impact of the provision of government services through mobile phones, comparing their impact to computer-based services offered through public access venues.

Together, these four components cover a range of complementary approaches and methodologies, hypotheses about how impact occurs, national contexts, levels of analysis, and impact areas. In combination, they will provide a multi-faceted understanding of the various ways in which public access to ICTs impacts livelihoods.

Download the full description of the research design updates (excerpt from November 2009 Interim Report).

Amy Mahan (1961–2009)

Amy Mahan served on the Global Impact Study’s Research Working Group since the project’s inception a year and a half ago. She made key contributions to the conception and design of our research effort, helped shape its focus, hypotheses and methodology.

Throughout her work, most notably as a leader of the Learning Initiative on Reforms for Network Economies (LIRNE.net), Amy saw public access to information technology first and foremost as an instrument for social and economic inclusion. She dedicated her life and scholarship to understanding how information and communication technologies could best enable excluded people, women in particular, to improve their lives and strengthen their communities. In her passion for helping others, Amy believed that action had to go hand-in-hand with research and that effective programs could only be built upon solid understanding rooted in rigorous study. As it emerges from its formative first year, the Global Impact Study reflects Amy’s commitment and owes a great debt to her insights.

Amy left us on March 5th, 2009, at age 47. She worked with us until the end and left suddenly, taking many of her friends and colleagues by surprise. Amy had told very few people about her cancer, refusing to let the illness define her and, we suspect, fearful this might have distracted us from focusing on a project she cared very much about. She wanted to be remembered instead by her ideas, her scholarship, her dedication to help others. As we move forward, we will do our best to honor her memory by making sure the Global Impact Study remains true to her beliefs and worthy of her high standards. Plans are also underway, in coordination with other IDRC research programs in which she played key roles, to create a research fellowship in Amy’s name.

Two Bangladeshi women and their mobile phone repair shop in Kathalia, Narsinghi district

A few months ago, these two Bangladeshi women opened a mobile phone repair shop in the small village of Kathalia, Narsinghi district, a two-hour drive north of Dhaka. They are among the 22 women who graduated from a training workshop on cell phone servicing and information technology in January 2008. Another woman has also set up shop in a nearby village, while the remaining 19 repair phones in their homes, advertising their services with a sign on the road.

This was the first time such training was offered. Funding came from the Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM), and the Kathalia Sukher Disha Community Resource Centre organized the three-week course. Participants were selected from nearby villages (one per village). The goal was to provide poor women with skills that would allow them to make a living as technicians. Upon graduation, each received a basic toolkit, worth about Tk. 1,000 ($15), including a set of screwdrivers, small pliers, soldering iron and solder, a cleaning brush, a Chinese-made multitester (Sunwa YX-360TR), and a Bengla/English collection of mobile phones diagrams covering the handsets most commonly found in rural Bangladesh.

The pair decided to become business partners and rented a storefront in Kathalia for Tk. 3,000 ($45) for the whole year. They work in the shop eight hours a day, five days a week. In addition to phone repairs, they also use their mobile to sell phone calls to villagers. Altogether since starting five months ago, they have earned on average Tk. 1,500 ($23) per month, most of it from repairs. They say most phones can be fixed by opening and cleaning them, but they can also test individual components, order and install a replacement when needed.

They hope to expand their business soon by offering additional services. First, they plan to provide flexi load — Grameen’s instant recharge for pre-paid phones. They would also like to sell mobile accessories. They looked into becoming participants in the Grameen Village Phone Program, but found the start-up cost too high and decided against it.