Today is an exciting time to be a political activist in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for the technically inclined. New media technologies including the mobile phone, the Internet, and social media are proliferating rapidly and their potential as potent political tools is being realized. While 2012's Arab Spring in North Africa captivated the world, similar campaigns have been occurring south of the Sahara both before and since. But the embrace of social media for political ends raises the question of how, if at all, these new media actually perturb the political landscape. These questions have been well-studied in Western contexts, but remain virtually unexplored in developing regions where traditional media are scarcer, democracies are younger, and the effect of social media on politics has the potential to be quite distinct. This dissertation explores these questions by focusing on social media use during elections in Nigeria and Liberia in 2011. It asks how social media impacted the democratic process during these key events, and compares social media discourse to formal election monitoring operations. The findings suggest that given sufficient civil-society coordination, social media can be an effective tool for electoral scrutiny. Furthermore, for this and other reasons, it appears that social media has the potential to emerge as a key influence on public faith in electoral processes. Based on these results, it is further argued that social media's true disruptive power in developing world contexts lies in its ability to transcend the economics of scarcity that have dominated traditional media in such contexts. This observation is offered as an extension to the networked public sphere theory of Yochai Benkler that frames this work.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The aim of this thesis is to examine the association between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and poverty reduction in South Africa. ICTs have been argued to be a means to improve household livelihoods and thereby to provide people with the capability of changing their existing poverty trajectories. The study conceptually investigates ICTs as a contributor to human development through the theoretical lens the sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF). Since ICTs broaden the asset base of the poor, the study first theorises household access to ICT as a new form of capital, termed as the ‘digital basket’. This new wealth indicator augments the current well-developed list of capitals adopted within the SLF approach. This digital basket concept and the ICT systems that provide its components are described, establishing the theoretical contributions of this thesis.

This dissertation investigates the evolution of Kenya’s Internet communication technology (ICT) ecosystem and explores the barriers and subsequent enabling processes encountered when growing an ICT ecosystem in a resource-scarce context. Drawing upon 12 in-depth case studies of Kenyan tech entrepreneurs and 45 interviews with technology experts this dissertation provides a holistic perspective on the barriers and enablers that Kenyan technology entrepreneurs encounter across the areas of culture, human capital, finance, policy, entrepreneurial support systems, and markets. Together with relevant theory on how ecosystems emerge and advance the thesis develops a model that explains how ICT ecosystems can emerge in resource-scarce contexts. The model shows how locally available enabling processes may be drawn on to substitute and establish missing condition factors. Furthermore, this dissertation analyzes mobile technology's potential to tackle unemployment in Kenya and provides a critical evaluation of the embedded economic and developmental opportunity.:1. Introduction 1 1.1 The potential of mobile technology to tackle unemployment in Kenya 1.2 Kenya’s emerging “Silicon Savannah” 1.3 Introduction to the research context 1.3.1 Country Context: Kenya the East-African economic hub and its unemployment challenge 1.3.2 The “Silicon Savannah”: Kenya’s ICT entrepreneurship ecosystem 2. Literature chapter 2.1 Basic theoretical concepts 2.2 Mobile for development 2.2.1 Mobile for development fields 2.2.2 Critics of the M4D stream 2.2.3 Contextual challenges faced by M4D initiatives 2.3 Mobile for work (mWork) 2.3.1 The Virtual Economy: A market for virtually traded scarcities 2.3.2 Mobile Micro Work 2.3.3 Mobile for Recruitment 2.4 The ecosystem view on entrepreneruship 2.4.1 Theoretical basis: Cluster Theory and Regional Innovation Systems Theory 2.4.2 Distinguishing features of Entrepreneurship Ecosystem functioning 2.4.3 Emergence and development of ICT entrepreneurship ecosystems over time 2.4.4 The role of Policy in fostering EE growth 2.5 The context for entrepreneurship in Kenya 2.6 Technology entrepreneurship in Kenya: Challenges faced in the Silicon Savannah 3. Methodology Chapter 3.1 Research Design 3.2 Data collection and access 3.2.1 mWork sample selection 3.2.2 Interview conduct with mWork and other local ICT entrepreneurs 3.2.3 Sample selection and interview conduct with “Silicon Savannah” experts 3.3 Data Analysis 3.3.1 Interview data analysis 3.3.2 Case analysis: within case and cross case analysis 3.3.3 Development of the Model of Ecosystem Emergence 3.4 Measurement of mWork development impact 3.5 Other Methodological Considerations 3.5.1 Researcher‘s Role 3.5.2 Ethical Considerations 3.5.3 Credibility of findings 4. mWork in Kenya 4.1 Introduction: mWork in Kenya 4.2 Case presentation 4.2.1 mWork segment: Market Research 4.1.2 mWork Segment: Recruiting 4.2.3 mWork Segment: Mobile Micro Work 4.2.4 mWork segment: Market intermediaries 4.2.5 Overview of mWork Cases 4.3 Cross-case analysis 4.3.1 Feasibility of mWork approaches and challenges faced 4.3.2 Feasibility of business models suggested by literature in a Kenyan context 4.3.3 Overcoming challenges to mWork in Kenya: Four successful examples 4.4 Development impact of mWork 4.4.1 Development impact of mWork Segment Mobile Micro Work 4.4.2 Development impact of mWork segment market research 4.4.3 Development impact of mWork segment recruiting 4.4.4 (Potential) development impact of mWork segment: Market intermediary 5. The Kenyan “Silicon Savannah” 5.1 Empirical Findings: Barriers and enablers to technology entrepreneurship in Kenya 5.5.1 Ecosystem dimension: Culture 5.1.2 Ecosystem dimension: Supports 5.1.3 Ecosystem dimension: Human capital 5.1.4 Ecosystem dimension: Finance 5.1.5 Ecosystem dimension: Policy 5.1.6 Ecosystem dimension: Markets 5.2 Discussion of findings in the wider discourse of the Silicon Savannah 5.3 The unique nature of the phenomenon of technology entrepreneurship in Kenya 5.4 Main growth barriers in the “Silicon Savannah” and ICT EE s in the GS 5.5 Main growth enablers in the “Silicon Savannah” and early ICT EE s in the GS 5.6 Development trajectory of ICT EE s in resource-scarce contexts 6. Conclusion 6.1 Conclusion on the opportunity of mWork in Kenya 6.1.1 Summary of main findings 6.1.2 Theoretical implications 6.1.3 Practical implications 6.1.4 Limitations and further research 6.2 Conclusion on Kenyas “Silicon Savannah” 6.2.1 Summary of main findings 6.2.2 Theoretical implications 6.2.3 Practical implications and recommendations 6.2.4 Limitations and further research References Appendix

The purpose of this research is to critically inquire into the appropriateness of the current human computer interaction (HCI) practices in Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD) system design given the contextual constraints and challenges found in developing country contexts. Despite user participation in system design being a buzzword of HCI the form of this participation varies with the different disciplinary perspectives and paradigms and their different methods for engaging users and identifying users' needs. Moreover, a majority of these dominant HCI perspectives are not only rooted in the developed countries context they also mainly focus on organisational management information systems (MIS) and less on information systems (IS) that place emphasis on the socio-economic context of developing countries. Literature review reveal that limited studies focus on the differences brought about by the western influenced methodologies and principles when applied in different contexts and how they affect the user participation process as well as the outcome. Building on past research, this research argues that HCI for ICTD needs to develop new contextualised participatory methods and strategies that consider the broader and complex contexts of the ICTD users. However, shifting the focus to localised forms of HCI in ICTD system design requires a better appreciation of the challenges and constraints encountered when applying the traditional HCI methods and strategies. Based on this argument the research conceptually explores and reflects on the underlying contextual factors and mechanisms present in participatory ICTD system design and the presumed relationships among them. Drawing on this conceptual framework, the research conducts semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and participant observations with three mobile money system design projects in Kenya that engaged the users during the design process to highlight how current HCI practices respond to the multifaceted nature of ICTD system design which present challenges that include social, technical, cultural and infrastructural issues. Findings from this qualitative study provide significant new insights that support the call for contextualised participatory methods and strategies. The findings suggest that there is tension between the underlying assumptions inherent in western HCI methods and strategies and the local context thus justifying the call for the appropriation of the design process. Drawing on the conceptual framework it was found that bias formed from factors such as power relations, diversity in interests for participation and cross-cultural differences moderate the design process and ultimately the participatory outcome. From the knowledge perspective, this research provides an in-depth understanding of the developing country contextual factors that mediate user participation process in ICTD system design. Furthermore, the research extends the knowledge with regards to participatory interventions in the development of IS in Africa. The research also presents a theoretical framework that makes explicit the contextual assumptions and constraints embedded in participatory ICTD system design interventions and how they shape the design process and the participatory outcome. Finally, the recommendations formulated from this research provide HCI designers and practitioners actionable knowledge in regards to reflecting on their current traditional HCI tools and techniques to ensure better localised design processes.

WhatsApp’s growing presence in the developing world has led to a grassroots movement of messaging groups designed to serve relevant needs for small scale farmers in Kenya. These groups provide the means for as many as 256 members to ask questions, share experiences and solutions, gain access to information, and access markets for their products. This research project examines the use of these WhatsApp groups for agriculture in Kenya. The project seeks to understand the existing barriers to participation, and the use, benefits, and shortcomings of these groups for their members. Research findings indicated that farmers’ overall access to smart phones is a substantial barrier to their participation in groups for agriculture, and these barriers are expectedly more difficult for the poorest and most vulnerable (in which intersectional poverty creates additional barriers). However, while each group can vary significantly, members report that WhatsApp groups as a whole overwhelmingly benefit their livelihoods and practice. Systemic and societal change occurs when the experiences and successes of one individual are shared with a larger group – leading to rapid and shared prosperity. As each individual learns a new skill, technique, or input, the group must also learn and benefit from that knowledge. WhatsApp provides the means and the platform for this type of information exchange to occur at scale, and with individuals who would otherwise be unlikely to communicate. This research project examines the emerging use of grassroots WhatsApp groups as a potential example of this positive and inclusive approach to extension and development in agricultural communities.