New paper – Mapping Information Wealth and Poverty: The Geography of Gazetteers

31 March 2015 0

Stefano and I have put together a short paper that will be forthcoming in Environment and Planning A. The paper focuses on the geography of geographic information, and builds on our work into the uneven geographies of information. It highlights how the very information systems that we use as ‘ground-truth’ are themselves characterised by significant biases. Abstract Gazetteers are… Read More: New paper – Mapping Information Wealth and Poverty: The Geography… »

The Internet and Business Process Outsourcing in East Africa

25 February 2015 0

I’m happy to report the release of a new report that comes our of a multi-year project to student the Internet and the Business Process Outsourcing sector in East Africa. This work has, in many ways, informed the research design and framing of our current Geonet project. Mann, L., Graham, M. and Friederici, N. 2015.… Read More: The Internet and Business Process Outsourcing in East Africa »

CfPs for 4th Global Conference on Economic Geography 2015 (Oxford)

17 February 2015 0

We are happy to announce that we are going to represent our agenda on connectivity, virtual/digital global production networks, and digital production/innovation at this year’s Global Conference for Economic Geography (GCEG) in Oxford. The planned sessions will serve to further hone and deepen our understanding of Digital Economies at Global Margins, following more exploratory sessions… Read More: CfPs for 4th Global Conference on Economic Geography 2015 (Oxford) »

New paper: “Barriers to the Localness of Volunteered Geographic Information”

12 February 2015 0

Some colleagues (Shilad Sen, Heather Ford, Dave Musicant, Oliver Keyes, Brent Hecht) and I have put together a paper for CHI on Barriers to the Localness of Volunteered Geographic Information. The paper asks important questions about both the geographies of information, and the factors that explain those geographies. This work forms an important part of our… Read More: New paper: “Barriers to the Localness of Volunteered Geographic Information” »

New paper: ‘Contradictory Connectivity: Spatial Imaginaries and Techno-Mediated Positionalities in Kenya’s Outsourcing Sector’

22 January 2015 0

I am very happy to announce a new paper: ‘Contradictory Connectivity: Spatial Imaginaries and Techno-Mediated Positionalities in Kenya’s Outsourcing Sector.’ A pre-print is available below. Graham, M. 2015. Contradictory Connectivity: Spatial Imaginaries and Techno-Mediated Positionalities in Kenya’s Outsourcing Sector. Environment and Planning A. (in press). Abstract East Africa has traditionally been characterised by stark barriers to… Read More: New paper: ‘Contradictory Connectivity: Spatial Imaginaries and Techno-Mediated Positionalities in… »

Informational Magnetism on Wikipedia: geographic networks of edits

15 January 2015 0

The previous posts about the geography of contributions to Wikipedia showed the varying types of local engagement that different regions have, the primary reason that Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, has such a low proportion of locally created content, and some of the ways that Sub-Saharan Africa’s already extremely low proportion of local contributions is inflated… Read More: Informational Magnetism on Wikipedia: geographic networks of edits »

Sample chapters available from new book ‘Research and Fieldwork in Development’

12 January 2015 0

The publisher has kindly allowed us to freely share three chapters of our new book (that I co-wrote with colleagues Dan Hammett and Chasca Twyman): ‘Research and Fieldwork in Development.‘ The book draws on our experiences of doing fieldwork about development and explores both traditional and cutting edge research methods, from interviews and ethnography to… Read More: Sample chapters available from new book ‘Research and Fieldwork in… »

Harare’s Hubs: Excitement, Experimentation, and Many Open Questions

5 January 2015 0

During the interviews I conducted in Zimbabwe last October, many participants asked me: “Why pick Harare as a case study? Why not Nairobi or Lagos?” Indeed, Harare’s “ecosystem” is nascent, and the few tech startups that exist are hampered by fundamental market and skill constraints, as discussed in my last post. At the same time,… Read More: Harare’s Hubs: Excitement, Experimentation, and Many Open Questions »

Let’s Work Together: Mobile Operators and Digital Startups in Africa

29 December 2014 0

Click here to view this post as it originally appeared on VC4Africa.   We all know that early monetization and revenue generation are crucial for digital startups in Africa. Entrepreneurs in pretty much any African city find it impossible to obtain significant scaling capital before they show revenue, as angel investors (if they exist at… Read More: Let’s Work Together: Mobile Operators and Digital Startups in Africa »