Joshua Cohen, Professor of Political Science, Philosophy and Law at Stanford University, began the first session of this quarter's Seminar on Liberation Technologies by posing a big question: are information and communication technologies able to advance human well-being for development? After all, Mobile ICT has potential to be a good thing for development for a multitude of reasons. First, as Solow's model of growth has shown, technological innovation tends to be good for growth. Second, economic growth is closely related to development. Third, mobile phone usage is rapidly growing and indigenous in much of the world, which means that new technologies do not need to be "parachuted" in to scenarios where they are not matched to local needs. Finally, there is high mobile penetration today, even in low-income settings.

Several pieces of evidence from recent literature seem to provide support for the suggestion that ICT can advance development.

• Between 1997 and 2001, mobile phone service was introduced throughout Kerala, a state in India with a large fishing industry.Using microlevel survey data, a 2007 paper showed that the adoption of mobile phones by fishermen and wholesalers was associated with a dramatic reduction in price dispersion, the complete elimination of waste, and near-perfect adherence to the Law of One Price. Both consumer and producer welfare increased
• Between 2001 and 2007, Niger went from having approximately 2 landlines for every 1,000 people to having mobile phone coverage reaching 78% of markets. Analyzing the impact of this change on grain prices, Aker finds that the introduction of mobile phones is associated with a 20-percent reduction in grain price differences across markets, with a larger impact for markets that are farther apart and those that are linked by poor-quality roads. In this case, cell phones lead to reduced search costs for grain traders, more market information and increased efficiency in moving goods across the country.
• In Kenya, where Safaricom has 80% of the mobile phone market, a system called M-PESA has enabled the widespread use of mobile money transfers and payments. M-PESA is broadly used for remittances, savings, purchases, and bill payments. A related product, M-KESHO, connects M-PESA to a real mobile banking services.

Although this evidence is compelling, new mobile technologies that reduce search costs can obviously not advance development all on their own; this can only take place if the government provides some basic level of services, such as roads, transport, electricity and water.

 In the second part of his talk, Cohen introduced the concept of "design thinking," and delved into a practical case of human-centered design for development that emerged from the Spring quarter course on Designing Liberation Technologies in Stanford's School of Design. Terry Winograd also offered comments and observations, especially in response to attendees' questions.

As conceptualized in the course, design thinking is both a process and an orientation in which participants are encouraged to fail early and fail often to reduce risk at later stages of the process. A design thinking orientation has three main components to it: empathy, imagination, and reason. The design thinking process, meanwhile, consists of the seven iterative steps:

1. understand
2. observe
3. point of view
4. ideate
5. prototype
6. test

By pairing mobile for development concepts with human-centered design processes in the Spring course, teams of students developed concepts to respond to identified needs in Kibera, a low income-community outside Nairobi. Despite its low human development indicators and high rates of corruption, about 50% of people in Kenya have a mobile phone, and an even higher percentage have access to a mobile phone. In order to reduce search costs for water in Kibera under these conditions, one student team developed an innovative product called M-MAJI (or "mobile water").  M-MAJI seeks to meet water buyers' need to save time in identifying where water is available, and at what price, while also meeting water vendors' need to advertise when they have water to sell. 

After interacting with water buyers and vendors in the field, the design team found that the market for water did not operate exactly as they had imagined; there are actually strong buyer-vendor relationships based on systems of credit and social connections, which mean that buyers do not necessarily seek out the cheapest available water. Nevertheless, the product was met with great enthusiasm by a local NGO and by community members, who identified an entirely new area in which M-MAJI might provide value. In Kibera, where water pipe leakages are extremely prevalent, M-MAJI could enable faster reporting of leakages leading to less water wastage and more stable water supply. This case offers just one illustration of the potential for advancing development outcomes that can come from coupling human centered design with mobile ICT for development.

[1] Jensen, Robert. The Digital Provide: Information (Technology), Market Performance, and Welfare in the South Indian Fisheries Sector. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2007, 122:3, 879-924. 

[2] Aker, Jenny C., Does Digital Divide or Provide? The Impact of Cell Phones on Grain Markets in Niger (October 1, 2008). Center for Global Development Working Paper No. 154. 

[3] Safaricom. Products & Services: M-PESA. Accessed 25 September 2010.