Influence of Mobile Technology on Literacy in Emerging Markets Pam Kahl University of Washington MCDM Winter 2013

Context 4.5 billion mobile subscriptions in developing nations Only 1 in 6 use smartphones SMS traffic expected to hit 9.4 trillion by 2016 SMS cheaper than voice One billion people illiterate – concentrated in Africa and South Asia The Top 10 countries with 100m + subscribers – only three are developed countries. - US, Japan and Germany Others – BRIC, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria Mobile penetration expected to hit 100% by end of 2013 Growth was driven by developing countries, which accounted for more than 80% of the 660 million new mobile‐cellular subscriptions added in 2011 By end 2011, there were 105 countries with more mobile‐cellular subscriptions than inhabitants, including African countries such as Botswana, Gabon, Namibia, Seychelles and South Africa.

SMS Usage Scenarios Personal communication Democratic participation Advocacy Health education and management Disaster relief Economic empowerment Key benefits of SMS are: Low cost Allows for message broadcasting Reliability Limitations Limited # of characters Ease of use w/ feature phones Lack of native language support Requires a base level of literacy

Illiteracy - Contributing Factors Lack of education opportunities Cost Availability Low quality education opportunities Native language origin Limited native-language content No agreement on a definition of literacy and how to measure it. Low-literates are most likely to be from Africa, living in rural communities and female.

Nine studies to-date – each looks at the issue through a different lense Education Health Youth Micro-enterprise One is a study tied to the Talking Book initiative.

Literature Review University of Botswana HIV/AIDS education and information 127 participants, 16 – 77 yrs old 70% - access to mobile Assess SMS, MMS, video and voice Limited SMS capability 56% - send 66% - retrieve 24% - create Majority attended primary school 21% no school 64% no secondary educati

Literature Review University of London Role of ICT in lives of low-literate youth in Ethiopia and Malawi Focus on context, content, needs Educational divide Communal ownership model Gendered dynamic Radio most widespread technology -81% in Ethiopia and 78% in Malawi Mobile phone most popular – 20% in Ethiopia, 28% in Malawi Mobile phones mostly used for emergency situations – only way to justify cost of airtime Text/voice .35 vs .55-.75

Literature Review Catholic Relief Services - Niger Mobile influence on literacy education Eight months of literacy training over 2 yr period “ABC” villages had access to mobile phones Achieved Level 1 in six weeks vs year Greater persistency – higher scores 8 mos after end of instruction

Looking Ahead Complete literature review Submit for peer-review Scope field research Seek funding Questions?