The ‘techie’ archetype is the mascot of our age. Generally imagined and depicted as a youth, most often male, wearing a casual sweat-shirt, and carrying a backpack that contains the tool of his trade—the laptop. The techie dreams of building a software ‘app’ that commands a global following and so ingenious that wealthy investors line… Read More »
This map shows internet penetration, i.e. the percentage of the population of countries that has accessed the internet within a 12 month period, from any device (click for full size). It is an update of our earlier visualizations on this topic. Digital connectivity is often viewed as a vital resource for successful participation in the… Read More »
A response to the ETUI and IG Metall’s request for comment. Download the PDF at: Wood, A., Graham, M., Anwar, M. A., Ramizo, G. 2017. Minimum wages on online labour platforms. Oxford Internet Institute. Background Some members of our research group have recently completed a three-year study of workers on online platforms who live in… Read More »
Digital entrepreneurship is on the rise across Africa. There is no question that the number of technology startups and the number of organizations trying to support them has multiplied in recent years. Many have taken this rise of activity to indicate a fundamental and promising shift. Already, The Next Africa has been proclaimed, and policymakers… Read More »
I am hiring a Digital Geographer to work with me at the Oxford Internet Institute for two years on a full-time contract (we’ll also consider part-time options for the right person). My existing research (much of it with wonderful collaborators) has uncovered highly uneven digital geographies: with some parts of the world far more like to… Read More »
Good news: my dissertation on African technology innovation hubs is now complete! The permanent digital record (incl. a pdf for download) is here, and the hardbound copy will shortly be deposited with Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries as well. Friederici, N. (2016, October). Innovation Hubs in Africa: Assemblers of Technology Entrepreneurs. Dissertation, Oxford, UK: Oxford Internet Institute, University… Read More »
I have a new paper out in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers with Andrea Ballatore and Shilad Sen. In it, we ask (and empirically answer) questions about the the local-ness versus foreign-ness of content that Google serves up to people around the world. You can access the full paper below. Ballatore, A., Graham,… Read More »
Our ICT and Development seminar series gathers leading scholars and practitioners to reflect on the influence of new communication technologies on development processes. We were lucky to have four great speakers this year. If you didn’t manage to make it to any of the talks, you can find recordings of them all below.
The trade union leaders from across the African continent are coming together to meet in Dakar, Senegal for 4th UNI Africa Regional Conference on March 23-25, 2017. This will be a gathering of 161 Unions from 40 African countries and roughly 500 participants will be attending it, along with invited guests from across the world. We… Read More »
This report is based on a three-year investigation conducted by researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) at the University of Oxford and the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) at the University of Pretoria. Online gig work is becoming increasingly important to workers living in low- and middle-income countries. Our multi-year and multi-method research… Read More »