New forms of digital work have emerged which, in theory, can be done from anywhere. Does this mean that geography no longer matters to digital work? Not exactly. My new chapter with Amir Anwar draws on our empirical research into digital labor to outline how geography still matters, and who it matters for in a… Read More: ‘Digital Labour’ – our new publication »
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: Michel Wahome joins Geonet and talks digital entrepreneurship »
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: Who can access the internet? »
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: Africa’s Digital (R)Evolution: An Enterprise Perspective »
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: Want to work with us at the Oxford Internet Institute?… »
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: Dissertation: African Hubs as Assemblers of Technology Entrepreneurs »
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: Digital Hegemonies: The Localness of Search Engine Results »
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: New report: ‘The Risks and Rewards of Online Gig Work… »
As ever more policy-makers, governments and organisations turn to the gig economy and digital labour as an economic development strategy to bring jobs to places that need them, it becomes important to understand better how this might influence the livelihoods of workers. Drawing on a multi-year study with digital workers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-east… Read More: New paper: Digital labour and development: impacts of global digital… »
We have a new publication out: Ojanperä, S., Graham, M., Straumann, R. K., De Sabbata, S., & Zook, M. (2017). Engagement in the knowledge economy: Regional patterns of content creation with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Information Technologies & International Development, 13, 33–51. It is open access, so please navigate to the journal site to download the… Read More: New Publication: Engagement in the Knowledge Economy: Regional Patterns of… »