Beyond Access to Information: Understanding the Use of Information by Poor Female Mobile Users in Rural India

Digital inclusion research has focused overwhelmingly on access to information. But access to information by itself is of limited value unless the intended beneficiary has the capacity to use it. It is the use of information that delivers the benefits. However, in information and communication technologies for development literature, there is little empirical work on the process by which use of information delivers benefits. This study fills the gap by studying information use by poor female mobile phone users in rural India. It identifies six stages in the information use process and models them.

[1]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  DIGITAL INCLUSION PROJECTS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: PROCESSES OF INSTITUTIONALISATION , 2007 .

[2]  Thomas D. Wilson,et al.  Human Information Behavior , 2000, Informing Sci. Int. J. an Emerg. Transdiscipl..

[3]  Heidi E. Julien,et al.  Information behavior , 2009, Annu. Rev. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[4]  Araba Sey,et al.  ‘We use it different, different’: Making sense of trends in mobile phone use in Ghana , 2011, New Media Soc..

[5]  Julian Thomas,et al.  DIGITAL DIVIDES: FRAMING THE ISSUES , 2002 .

[6]  S. Huyer,et al.  Women in the information society , 2005 .

[7]  C. Maybee.  Undergraduate Perceptions of Information Use: The Basis for Creating User-Centered Student Information Literacy Instruction , 2006 .

[8]  Christine L. Borgman,et al.  Why Are Online Catalogs Still Hard to Use? , 1996, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[9]  Richard Ling.  New Tech, New Ties: How Mobile Communication Is Reshaping Social Cohesion , 2008 .

[10]  Elfreda A. Chatman,et al.  The Impoverished Life-World of Outsiders , 1996, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[11]  Heidi Ertl,et al.  From the digital divide to digital opportunities : measuring infostates for development , 2005 .

[12]  Naomi S. Baron.  Letters by Phone or Speech by Other Means: The Linguistics of Email. , 1998 .

[13]  Jason Whalley,et al.  The impact of mobile telephony on developing country micro-enterprise: A nigerian case study , 2008 .

[14]  S. Cecchini,et al.  Can information and communications technology applications contribute to poverty reduction? Lessons from rural India , 2003 .

[15]  D. Narayan,et al.  Empowerment and Poverty Reduction: A Sourcebook , 2002 .

[16]  Jonathan Donner,et al.  The Rules of Beeping: Exchanging Messages Via Intentional "Missed Calls" on Mobile Phones , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[17]  T. D. Wilson,et al.  Information behaviour: an interdisciplinary perspective , 1997, Inf. Process. Manag..

[18]  Reaching the unreached: how can we use information and communication technologies to empower the rural poor in the developing world through enhanced access to relevant information? , 2002, J. Inf. Sci..

[19]  Rich Ling,et al.  1 “ She calls , [ but ] it ’ s for both of us you know ” : The use of traditional fixed and mobile telephony for social networking among Norwegian parents , 2000 .

[20]  Angela Lewis.  Hoax E-mails and Bonsai Kittens: Are You E-literate in the Docuverse? , 2002, First Monday.

[21]  Christine L. Borgman,et al.  Why are online catalogsstill hard to use , 1996 .

[22]  Karine Nahon,et al.  Gaps and Bits: Conceptualizing Measurements for Digital Divide/s , 2006, Inf. Soc..

[23]  Brenda Dervin,et al.  On studying information seeking methodologically: the implications of connecting metatheory to method , 1999, Inf. Process. Manag..

[24]  N. Hoffart.  Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory , 2000 .

[25]  S. Huyer,et al.  Overcoming the Gender Digital Divide: Understanding ICTs and their Potential for the Empowerment of Women , 2003 .

[26]  B. Street.  Literacy and Development: Ethnographic Perspectives , 2001 .

[27]  Hester W. J. Meyer.  The nature of information, and the effective use of information in rural development , 2005 .

[28]  James E. Andrews,et al.  Intention to seek information on cancer genetics , 2005, Inf. Res..

[29]  Rachel A. Fleming-May.  “Use” in the Literature of Library and Information Science: A Concept Analysis and Typology , 2008 .

[30]  Sophia Huyer,et al.  Women, ICT and the information society: global perspectives and initiatives , 2005, CWIT '05.

[31]  A. Strauss,et al.  The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research aldine de gruyter , 1968 .

[32]  Estelle Brodman.  Use of Libraries , 1952 .

[33]  Mark Warschauer,et al.  Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide , 2002, First Monday.

[34]  L. Fortunati.  The mobile phone: Towards new categories and social relations , 2002 .

[35]  Juliet M. Corbin,et al.  Basics of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.): Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory , 2008 .

[36]  Anselm L. Strauss,et al.  Basics of qualitative research : techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory , 1998 .

[37]  Barbara A. Rice Mls.  SCIENCE PERIODICALS USE STUDY , 1979 .

[38]  Ragnar Andreas Audunson,et al.  Technology and Social Inclusion. Rethinking the Digital Divide , 2006, J. Documentation.

[39]  Christian Licoppe,et al.  ‘Connected’ Presence: The Emergence of a New Repertoire for Managing Social Relationships in a Changing Communication Technoscape , 2004 .