1.1 Reti, saperi e sviluppo: ripensare il rapporto Nord/Sud attraverso le ICT

SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMICAL SUSTAINABILITY AS A DRIVING CONSTRAINT FOR THE REALIZATION OF ICT INFRASTRUCTURES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Mazen Hasna - Qatar University (Abel R. de la Concepcion - iXem Labs – Politecnico di Torino; Mohamed A. H. Elsayed- Qatar University, Doha, Qatar; Riccardo Stefanelli e Daniele Trinchero – Politecnico di Torino, iXem Labs)

The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros is an archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar. The country officially consists of the four islands in the volcanic Comoros archipelago. The "Union of the Comoros" is the only state to be a member of all of the following: African Union, Francophonie, Organization of the Islamic Conference, Arab League and Indian Ocean Commission. However, it has had a troubled history since independence in 1975, marked by numerous coups d'état. About half the population lives below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day. At 2,235 km2 (863 sq mi), it is one of the smallest countries in the world. The Comoros also has claim to 320 km2 (120 sq mi) of territorial seas. The interiors of the islands vary from steep mountains to low hills with dirty roads to interconnect the several Islets.

The geographical isolation from other Countries, among the islands and within the same island, the development level of the population and the lack of infrastructures could be efficiently mitigated if an efficient ICT infrastructure could be realized over the all Country, in order to provide social services (distance learning, telemedicine) to the population, together with the possibility to access basic information on the Internet. This kind of service should be available at no cost for the people, since an extremely small percentage of them is able to pay for regular Internet subscriptions. To address all these issues, we are constructing a low cost wireless network that provides interconnectivity among the islets and local Hot Spot facilities at the islet level, free of cost for the end users. The local population is recruited during the design and installation phase, in order to develop sufficient know how that allows them to maintain and even extend the infrastructure after its completion. Accessibility is guaranteed over the whole Country. This paper will give an overview of the technical realization, as well as the sustainability approach that has been followed to carry out the project.

IS CHINA SHAPING THE INTERNET IN AFRICA? COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES FROM KENYA AND ETHIOPIA

Iginio Gagliardone – University of Oxford

Through the lens of China in Africa, this paper explores the transformations in the relationship between the Internet and the state. China’s economic success, impressive growth of Internet users and relative stability have quietly promoted an example of how the Internet can be deployed within the larger political and economic strategies of developing states, moving beyond the democratization paradigm promoted in the West. New evidence suggests that this model is becoming increasingly popular, but it is not clear why and how it is spreading.

Through a case study comparison of an emerging democracy, Kenya, and a semi-authoritarian country, Ethiopia, where China has recently increased its involvement in the communications sector, this paper investigates whether and how the ideas of state stability, development and community that characterize the strategies pursued by the Chinese government are influencing and legitimizing the development of a less open model of the Internet. It draws on a constructivist framework (Keck & Sikkink, 1998) to analyse how new ideas, technologies and norms integrate with existing ones and which factors influence their adoption or rejection. It is based on fieldwork conducted in Ethiopia and in Kenya between 2011 and 2012, where data was collected through mapping Internet related projects involving Chinese companies and authorities, analysing Internet policies and regulations, and interviewing officials in Ministries of Communication, media lawyers, Internet activists, and Chinese employed in the media and telecommunication sector in Kenya and Ethiopia.

ICTS FOR “BANKING THE UNBANKED”: THE CASE OF THE SOMALI DIASPORA IN KENYA

Gianluca Iazzolino – University of Edimburgh

In recent years, a discussion on how to harness information and communication technologies (ICTs) for “banking the unbanked” has emerged within the broader field of study and practice on the ICT for development (ICT4D). Framed as a critical innovation to financially include the poor, mobile telephony is increasingly used to deliver financial services through mobile money platforms, such as Kenya’s M-Pesa, the most successful experience to date. The purpose of this submission is to examine the usage of M-Pesa among Somali refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. Since the collapse of the central Somali state, the Somali diaspora in the Horn of Africa has been relying on communication technologies and remittances to cultivate social networks and livelihoods. Based on an ethnography conducted in the mostly Somali inhabited estate of Eastleigh, this paper endeavours to understand how M-Pesa is integrated within the Somali repertoire of financial institutions. It discusses the implications of mobile money for the hawala, a trust-based remittance system widespread among Somalis, arguing that the interplay of M-Pesa and Somali financial arrangements occurs in accordance with culturally oriented ideas of finance and money. Illustrating the strategies deployed by the actors to cultivate multiplicity and preserve financial alternatives in a volatile environment, it problematizes the assumptions behind the design and the implementation of services, borne out of partnerships between the humanitarian and the business sector, to alleviate poverty through the provision of financial services.

M.U.S.I.C. MEDITERRANNEAN URBAN SOUNDS INTERACTIVE CULTURE

Antonella Contin - Politecnico di Milano, DAStU (Alessandro Frigerio e Paola Bellaviti - Politecnico di Milano)

Citizens are now able to produce cultural localized knowledge; ICT technologies can integrate data-sharing platforms into the spatial dynamics of cities. This can promote a sustainable enhancement of local communities through cooperative activities setting culture as growth-driver. The M.U.S.I.C. (Mediterranean Urban Sounds Interactive Culture) project promoted by the University of Tunis and Politecnico di Milano-DAStU (International Cooperation Lab and Measures and Scales of the Contemporary City Lab) aims at reinforcing the awareness of a shared regional culture in the Southern Mediterranean Region. The project gives structure to the relation among digital media as catalyst tools and urban regeneration as spatial rooting device, setting an innovative exportable cooperative strategy. The action plan applies sounds analysis to geo-localized user-generated content to extract patterns of perception of urban and rural spaces. A visualization platform archives and diffuses these data, working for synergies between formal and informal economies. The project helps to improve the responsiveness of urban systems to the cultural requests of citizens and customers. It reinforces the need of new professional figures and more structured relations among them. The digital platform, as engine of spatial regeneration for built heritage, fosters economies of scale determining a spatial rooting in specific urban or rural spaces suitable to host permanent or temporary, profitable or non-profit activities. The gathering of actors around specific nodes will transform them in Mediterranean antennas transmitting the sound of places for a cultural and economical exchange among people and countries. The economical balance is reached through an equilibrated management of profit and no-profit initiatives setting relations among stakeholders at various scales. A cultural sustainability framework could make the music industry able to sustain local emerging realities and to promote education.

MAPPING MAP KIBERA: WHAT IS BEHIND THE MAP?

Elisabetta Demartis - Università di Torino, Scuola di Scienze Giuridiche, Politiche ed economico – sociali, Dipartimento di Economia e Statististica "Cognetti de Martiis"

The general purpose of this paper is to break down the idea of the map as a visual representation of a given territory. The images we see on the map are nothing more than the result of a spatial and territorial exploratory study created by the people.

What make possible the realization of the map is not the technological tool itself, but the people who have the appropriate software and use it in their own territory. And speaking about people means to speak about relations between people themself and between people and their networks.

The methodologies and approaches used are focus groups and interviews aimed to discuss and identify those elements that led to the creation of the map using an open source technology. In Map Kibera case behind a map there are a variety of relationships between people, places, workplaces and institutions.

The focus groups were divided in three parts aimed to:

• Get the general understanding of the mapping process in a slum
• Know the implication of the mapping process in to the community and discover the background of the mappers
• Draft a map of the slum to underline the networks and relationship between them and the slum spots

A key aspect in this case is that all mappers who have mapped Kibera live, or used to live, in Kibera thus facilitating the mapping process. Mapping a particular territory like a slum, in fact, requires a good understanding of what are the steps, roads, secure and insecure places that allow people to easily perform the job.

The implications are significant in understanding the set of social, spatial and human values that connect people with their own territory, going over the use of an ICT like an open source mapping software.

With this project, there is a desire to find out what are the links between people and territory, territory and binding agents that led to the creation of the map, work that otherwise could be impossible or not leading to the same result.