“Mobile communication significantly improves quality of life, providing the tools to deliver enormous socio-economic benefits to people in developing countries. Connectivity helps to offset a lack of resources, particularly in rural areas, and provides access to a range of services, including education and healthcare.”
Jan Embro, President of Ericsson in sub-Saharan Africa believes that.
According to ITU 2011, there were 6 billion mobile subscriptions. That represents 87% of the world population. There are over 1 billion people in Africa, 41% have access to mobile phones. Developing countries have more mobile phones than developed nations. In Uganda as of June 2011, there were over 14 million mobile subscribers. Thus, more than 50% of Ugandans own mobile phones.
Wikipedia defines new media as “a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century that refers to on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content.”
Mobile phones are a form of new media that has exhibited exponential growth over the last decade. Whether this growth has been reflected in the day to day lives of Ugandans is relative. Developing countries in addition to Uganda need to appreciate new media. Appreciation means that we allow ourselves to fully understand the capabilities that are possessed by these technologies.
Michael Niyitegeka Head Corporate Relations Makerere University College and Information Sciences says, “There is need for sensitization about the power of new media in supporting social development. The citizens need to be empowered to use these media. Governments ought to develop platforms that enable incorporation of new media in their operations/ processes. This will act as an incentive to the citizens to utilize new media. There are platforms that have been created. They may not have been necessarily been created by the government of Uganda, but they exist.”
Mobile Phones to enhance development
Text to Change (TTC) is a nongovernmental organization based in Uganda. It is working in eight countries in Africa and South America. Text to Change gives an opportunity to mobile phone users in Africa to participate in text message quizzes and win prizes in interactive education and development partners. Communities benefit from TTCs service as they receive information, pose questions and send back answers without being charged. TTC has been able to show clear results in terms of high response rates and uptake in health services [for- example] varying from 35% to 200% at partnering clinics by using SMS.
Namirembe Eunice Gnay is a Programme Manager at TTC; she has been and still is a manager for health projects in Africa like the STOP TB Campaign Uganda and Mobile for Reproductive Health (M4RH) among others. m-Health or mobile-Health is a term used for the practice of medicine and public health, supported by mobile devices.
“The use of new media, especially mobile phones, has opened up new opportunities for Ugandans. Farmers can now easily access markets and price information, health care is foreseen to improve with more information being shared via mobile. Education systems will also improve with the introduction of e-education and m-education. The opportunities are endless. People are able to tap into the opportunities within and outside Uganda.This reflects the adage, “If its not documented and shared on the Internet, then it did not happen.’’
She goes on to say that the current growth mobile phone use and coverage has opened up Uganda to new opportunities on how to inform and reach people at a wider scale. Many areas like health, education and economic development have already gained from the availability of mobile phones. People are also creating useful applications that smartphone users can download and use to share information. With appropriate content for health, people can be reached widely on issues like HIV/ AIDS, reproductive health and TB.
Javie Ssozia new media consultant working with the Open Society Institute explains how stakeholders have given a chance to the growth of the use of new media: ‘A couple of years ago, two of the major telecoms in Uganda – MTN and Orange – launched a free Facebook service which basically allows their subscribers to access Facebook at “zero” cost. Android has provided a free platform for developers to develop and test their own applications and also to upload them and sell them on the App Market.
Uganda and new Media
Is Uganda headed in the right direction as far as embracing new media is concerned? Simon Kaheru, a director at sms.info, sums it up: “Uganda is moving at a good pace – but we cannot be satisfied with where we at. There is still a long way to go in making the people and sectors that matter realize that mew age media forms and platforms are useful for more than just entertainment. For example, it was heartening to see, during the SIM registration exercise, MTN [a telecommunication company in Uganda] deploy registration agents with GPRS enabled phones to take photographs of people during the process. However it would have been much better if those photos and user details were uploaded onto a live database right there at the registration points.”
James Makumbi a software developer, said it best, “The government needs to move faster. Enforce quality access of New Media and obviously the Internet to enhance its work, encourage the use of mew media and lead by example: use New Media and its’ tools.”
SMS aids simple, rapid and spontaneous communication. We owe it to ourselves to look at the future and embrace it.
