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Connectivity in Africa: Use, Benefits and Constraints of Electronic Communications - Ethiopia By Abebe Rorissa,
National University of Lesotho Table of Contents 1. Introduction
2. Implementation of the Study
3. Patterns of Use of Electronic Communications 4. Benefits and Constraints of Electronic Communications 5. Changes Brought by Full Internet Access 6. Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations
List of Tables Table 1: Number of Completed Baseline & Revised Baseline Questionnaires Returned Table 2: Number of Completed Questionnaires (on Changes Brought by Full Internet Access) Returned Table 3: Distribution of Local(Ethiopian) and Expatriate(Foreigner) Respondents by Gender Table 4: Distribution of Local(Ethiopian) and Expatriate(Foreigner) respondents by Level of Use Table 5: Highest Qualification of the Respondents Table 6: Computer Skills of the Respondents Table 7: How Essential it is to Communicate Outside the Country Table 8: Adequacy of Information Facilities at the Respondents' Organizations Table 9: From Where Respondents Send/Receive Electronic Messages Table 10: How Often Respondents Send/Receive Electronic Messages from their Office and/or Home Table 11: How Respondents Usually Send Electronic Messages Table 12: Who Covers Electronic Mail Cost Table 13: How Often the Local & Expatriate Respondents Send/receive Electronic Messages Table 14: Relationship Between Computer Skills of Respondents and How They Send Electronic Messages Table 15: Relationship Between Computer Skills of Respondents and How Often They Send Electronic Messages Table 16: What E-mail was Used for Table 17: Percentage of Electronic Messages Sent Outside Africa, Within Africa and Within the Country Table 18: Percentage of Electronic Messages Destined Outside Africa by Type of Organization of Respondents Table 19: Percentage of Electronic Messages Destined Within Africa by Type of Organization of Respondents Table 20: Percentage of Electronic Messages Destined Within the Country by Type of Organization of Respondents Table 21: Improvements, in Ranked Order, Brought in the Respondents' Work by the Use of Electronic Communications Table 22: Difficulties, in Ranked Order, Brought in the Respondents' Work by the Use of Electronic Communications Table 23: Constraints to the Respondents for Making Effective Use of Electronic Communications Table 24: Number of Respondents Who are Currently Using Internet, Have Full Internet Access and those Who Plan to Obtain Full Internet Access Table 25: Reasons Given by Respondents Who do not have Plans to Obtain Full Internet Access. Table 26: Type(s) of Internet Services that Prompts/Prompted Respondents to Subscribe Table 27: Types of Internet Services Respodents Use and Feel Useful Table 28: How Respondents Feel about the Adequacy of Telecommunications Facilities Available at their Organizations and in their Area for Full Internet Access Table 29: Adequacy of Information Facilities at the Respondents Organizations Table 30: Improvements, in Ranked Order, Brought in the Respondents' Work by the Use of Internet Table 31: Technical or other Constraints Preventing Respondents from Making a more Effective Use of Internet Table 32: Improvements, in Ranked Order, which Respondents Expect to be Brought to their Work by the Use of Internet Table 33: Technical or other Constraints which Respondents Expect May Prevent them from Making a more Effective Use of Internet Appendix I: Baseline Questionnaire Appendix II: Revised Baseline Questionnaire. Appendix III: Procedures Used for Classifying PADISnets E-Mail
Appendix IV: Questionnaire on Changes Brought by Full Internet Access Appendix V: Interview Schedule 1. Introduction 1.1. The IDRC Impact Program In 1992, the International Development Research Center (IDRC) of Canada organized an exploratory workshop in which researchers from almost all the continents participated in. The main theme of the workshop was the impact of information on development. An electronic conference, on top of the above mentioned workshop, gave rise to the production, in 1993, of an important publication in the area of impact assessment, "Measuring the Impact of Information on Development", edited by Michel Menou and published by the IDRC. The entire IDRC Impact Program was divided into two phases. The first phase identified key issues and formulated "a preliminary framework for future investigations" while the second phase of the IDRC Impact Program, which run from 1994 to 1998, focused on testing "the preliminary framework and get hands-on experience of the problems associated with this unusual kind of investigation." A total of eight (8) projects were launched during the second phase to test the framework under different situations. 1.2. The UNECA/PADIS Project The IDRC sponsored project "Capacity Building for Electronic Communication in Africa" (CABECA), which was implemented by the Pan African Development Information System (PADIS) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) introduced low cost electronic communication networks in many African countries since 1993. The UNECA/PADIS project which is one of the eight IDRC supported projects mentioned above (1.1) and being reported here involved four of the countries (Ethiopia, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia), which were beneficiaries of the CABECA project. It was originally entitled "Impact of Electronic Communications on Development in Africa", consonant with the overall theme of the program of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, through which it was supported. The research team felt that this title sounded too broad and ambitious with respect to the actual scope and outcome of the project. They thus decided to use the above main title for the final reports of the project. The final report of the project is made of a series of self-contained documents with a view to facilitate their further dissemination and use. The series includes:
The reports will be available in print or electronic form from the Pan African Development Information System (PADIS) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. It is also planned to post, at a later stage, an eventually adapted version of all of them on the Web site of the African Information Society Initiative (http://www.uneca.org/aisi). The present document is devoted to reporting results of a two-phase survey of users of the PADISnet FidoNet node in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 1.3. Objectives of the Study The main objectives of the UNECA/PADIS study were "to contribute to the development of indicators for the measurement of the impact of information and to assess the impact of electronic communications (telematics) on development in Africa." However, due to various reasons (constraints in time and other resources), the study failed to achieve its objectives. 1.4. Organization of the Report This report has six sections. The first section outlines the IDRC Impact Program and the UNECA/PADIS Project together with its objectives. Section two deals with detailed procedures followed in the execution of the study. In sections three and four, patterns of use of electronic communications and their benefits and constraints, respectively, as indicated by users of the PADISnet through their responses to the baseline and revised baseline questionnaires (Appendix I and II) and interviews (Appendix V) are presented. Results obtained from the questionnaire on changes brought by full Internet access (Appendix IV) are presented under section five. The last section gives summary of major findings, conclusions and recommendations for future studies. 2. Implementation of the Study 2.1. Baseline Survey
Table 1: Number of Completed Baseline and Revised Baseline Questionnaires Returned
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-governmental, *This classification was made based on PADISnets traffic data for January & February 1995; **N=101 Table 1 above shows that users affiliated to Academic and Research institutions and users from the low level of use group were the majority of the respondents. (see Appendix III for the original structure of the 206 entry points)
Table 2: Number of Completed Questionnaires on Changes Brought by Full Internet Access Returned
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-governmental *This classification was made based on PADISnets traffic data for January & February 1995; **N=58 According to Table 2 above, private/individual users of the PADISnet and users affiliated to Academic and Research institutions as well as users from the low level of use group were the majority of the respondents.
2.2. Interviews Interviewing was the most difficult as well as least productive part of the study. A total of 33 out of the original sample of 50 users were interviewed. Out of the 33 users interviewed, 22 were interviewed between December 1995 and March 1996 while the remaining 11 were interviewed during the month of March 1997. The organizational affiliations of these 33 users are as follows: 11 were from private/individual, 8 were from academic & research, 7 were from non-governmental, 5 were from international and 2 were from governmental organizations.
2.3. Problems encountered
3. Patterns of Use of Electronic Communications Out of 25 respondents who indicated that they are the sole users of their addresses, about half (12=48%) are private/individual users with 5, 4, 3 and 1 respondents from academic & research, non-governmental, international and governmental organizations, respectively. Moreover, 15(60%) of the sole users were expatriates.
Table 3: Distribution of Local(Ethiopian) and Expatriate(Foreigner) respondents by Gender
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=101, **N=59, ***N=42 Female respondents were very few (13.9%) compared to male respondents (86.1%). Respondents from academic & research institutions are also the majority (61.0%) of the local users while 71.4% of the expatriates were private/individual users and users from International organizations. Out of the 42 expatriate respondents, more than two third were temporary residents (i.e. less than 5 years). Table 4: Distribution of Local(Ethiopian) and Expatriate(Foreigner) respondents by Level of Use
Table 4 above shows that the majority of both local and expatriate respondents were from the low and very high levels of use groups. This is due to the fact that the low and very high level of use group of entry points were the 1st and the 2nd largest groups of all the PADISnet users.
Table 5: Highest Qualification of the Respondents
*N=100 Almost all the respondents (96.0%) are holders of BA/BSc degree or above. On the average, the higher the qualification the greater the number of respondents.
Table 6: Computer Skills of the Respondents
*N=100 Qualifications and computer skills of the respondents do not seem to be positively correlated for experienced computer users though they do for those who rated their computer skills as intermediate. Only 3.0% of the respondents are beginners while the rest 97.0% are intermediate and experienced computer users, the majority of them (60%) being experienced computer users. Table 7: How Essential it is to Communicate Outside the Country
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=99 As far as essentiality of communicating outside the Country is concerned, 93.9% of them indicated that it is essential while only 1.0% of them think that it is seldom essential.
Table 8: Adequacy of Information Facilities at the Respondents' Organizations
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=99 Except respondents from international and governmental organizations, the majority of those from other types of organizations feel that information facilities at their organizations are inadequate. Moreover, respondents from academic & research institutions, who heavily rely on libraries and information centers for their day to day activities, feel more so. Their opinion conforms with the usual criticism about the inadequacy, in terms of quality as well as quantity of information, of academic and research libraries in the country. Table 9: From Where Respondents Send/Receive Electronic Messages
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=101 Tables 9 and 10 show that home computers in general and E-mail facilities at home in particular are not common among the respondents and that is why more than three fourth of them indicated that they send/receive electronic messages only from their offices, with the exception of about half of the private/individual users who send/receive electronic messages both from their offices and homes. It is also apparent from Table 10 that the majority (75%) of the respondents send/receive electronic messages at least once per week. Table 10: How Often Respondents Send/Receive Electronic Messages from their Office and/or Home
*N=99
Table 11: How Respondents Usually Send Electronic Messages
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=100 It is clear from Table 11 above that most (90%) of the respondents send electronic messages by logging in and typing for themselves. This conforms to the fact that E-Mail is more personalized than, for instance, fax. Out of a total of 21 respondents who subscribe to other networks (on top of PADISnet), about half (47.6%) of them are affiliated to international organizations which have electronic connections to their respective head offices abroad. The Ethiopian Telecommunications Authoritys network (which provides full Internet services), UN CC-Mail(?) and HealthNet are the networks, other than PADISnet, used by the 21 respondents. Table 12: Who Covers Electronic Mail Cost
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=100 Electronic mail cost is mostly covered by either the respondents organizations or projects. Only 14.0% of the respondents cover the cost for themselves, among which (64.3%) are private/individual users. Table 13: How Often the Local & Expatriate Respondents Send/receive Electronic Messages
*N=99 According to Table 13 above, there is no difference between the locals & expatriates in the frequency with which they send electronic messages. More than three fourth of the respondents send an average of one message per working day (Monday - Friday).
Table 14: Relationship Between Computer Skills of Respondents and How They Send Electronic Messages
*N=99 One can see from Table 14 that computer skill gives one the confidence of logging in and typing electronic messages. Most of the respondents (89.9%), who indicated that they login and type their messages, are experienced computer users and those with intermediate computer skills. Similarly (Table 15), the frequency with which respondents send electronic messages drops with their computer skills. Generally, Tables 14 and 15 show us that mode and frequency of sending electronic messages depend on the computer skills of the users. Table 15: Relationship Between Computer Skills of Respondents and How Often They Send Electronic Messages
*N=98 Table 16: What E-mail was Used for
*N=101 Electronic mail was most used for sending/receiving personal messages (Table 15) than regular business and, exchange of documents, receiving technical advise and exchange of ideas were among activities E-Mail was heavily used for. It was least used for computer conferences. Table 17: Percentage of Electronic Messages Sent Outside Africa, Within Africa and Within the Country
About 76.0% of the respondents indicated that more than 60% of their messages are destined outside Africa while 84.0% and 87.0% said that 20 and less percent of their messages were destined within Africa but outside the country and within the country, respectively. One may conclude that communication among the PADISnet users is insignificant and E-Mail was mainly used for long distance communications. Table 18: Percentage of Electronic Messages Destined Outside Africa by Type of Organization of Respondents
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=100 Table 19: Percentage of Electronic Messages Destined Within Africa by Type of Organization of Respondents
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=100 Tables 18, 19 and 20 reveal that there isnt much difference among respondents from the five types of organizations in the percentage of their messages destined outside Africa, within Africa (but outside the country) and within the country. In general:
Table 20: Percentage of Electronic Messages Destined Within the Country by Type of Organization of Respondents
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=100
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental There is no marked difference among the respondents across the organizations in the improvements brought in their work by electronic communications. What is more, 'Increased Speed & Efficiency and Decreased Cost of Communication' was rated by all groups as the significant improvement. Table 22: Difficulties, in Ranked Order, Brought in the Respondents' Work by the Use of Electronic Communications
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental Very few respondents listed difficulties brought in their work by electronic communication. For those who responded, the top most difficulty is 'delayed/undelivered messages' which led to resending/receiving the messages via other alternative channels of communication such as Fax. Table 23: Constraints to the Respondents for Making Effective Use of Electronic Communications
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental Respondents seem to have realized the potential of full Internet connection for overcoming the current problems associated with store-and-forward E-mail system. That is why they have rated 'lack of direct access to the Internet' as the second major constraint next to lack of funds, maintenance and enough workstations/modems. No file attachment facility, Non-networkability, limited length of recipient's address, unavailability of a facility for confirmation of receipt of the message at the other end are among the limitations of the E-Mail software (Frontdoor) mentioned. Results Obtained From the Interviews A mixed (analytical and historical) Interview schedule(Appendix V) was used to solicit more information on benefits and constraints from those users of PADISnet who responded to the baseline questionnaires. However, use of the historical part was not productive enough. Number of users who indicated the particular response are shown in brackets. The numbers in brackets do not add up to the total number of interviewees, that is 33, since some of them either gave multiple responses to the same question or didnt respond to some of the questions.
5. Changes Brought by Full Internet Access Subsequent presentations and analysis of results are based only on the responses received from respondents to the questionnaire on changes brought by full Internet access (Appendix IV) which was distributed and collected between October 1996 and March 1997. Since three of the 61 questionnaires returned were incomplete, only 58 of them were considered for analysis. Table 24: Number of Respondents Who are Currently Using Internet, Have Full Internet Access and those Who Plan to Obtain Full Internet Access
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=58 Table 24 above shows that all of the respondents who are currently using the Internet have full Internet access. Except one of the 34 respondents who have full Internet access, all of them were connected through the only Internet Service Provider(ISP) in the country, the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation(ETC). Table 25: Reasons Given by Respondents Who do not have Plans to Obtain Full Internet Access
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=10=total number of respondents who do not have plans to obtain full Internet access All of the respondents, that is those who do not have plans to obtain full Internet access, think that Internet is necessary and they would be interested to have access but their major problem is that connection and access costs are prohibitive. Table 26: Type(s) of Internet Services that Prompts/Prompted Respondents to Subscribe
*N=48(those who have full Internet access + those who plan to obtain) The majority of the respondents who are currently using Internet were prompted by E-Mail and the World Wide Web(WWW) facilities of the Internet. However, according to Table 27 below, almost all of them(94.1%) feel that electronic mail(E-Mail) is the most useful service of the Internet; followed by the Web (91.1%). Table 27: Types of Internet Services Respondents Use and Feel Useful
*N=34(Those respondents who are currently using Internet) Table 28: How Respondents Feel about the Adequacy of Telecommunications Facilities Available at their Organizations and in their Area for Full Internet Access
*N=58 While half(50%) of the respondents feel that telecommunications facilities available at their organizations are adequate, about two-third(62.1%) feel that these facilities in their area are inadequate. Table 29: Adequacy of Information Facilities at the Respondents Organizations
*N=58, **It is not 100% due to rounding off Regarding adequacy of information facilities at their organizations, though a little more than half(51.7%) of the respondents indicated that they are inadequate, not much less than half (44.8%) feel that they are adequate. Only 2(3.4%) respondents said that the facilities are not available at their organizations. Table 30: Improvements, in Ranked Order, Brought in the Respondents' Work by the Use of Internet
*N=34 According to Table 30 above, the most cited (by all respondents who have full Internet access) improvement brought to the respondents work by the use of the Internet is that they are able to search, access and download current information, documents and software. An equally cited improvement is that, unlike their PADISnet E-Mail system, the Internet made it possible for them to communicate by E-Mail in real time. Very few respondents listed difficulties brought in their work by the use of the Internet. The major difficulty mentioned by 8(23.5%) of the 34 respondents who are currently using Internet was that "surfing the World Wide Web is addictive and it takes much of our time". Four (11.8%) respondents indicated that they spend quite some time sorting out unwanted(junk) mail. Table 31: Technical or other Constraints Preventing Respondents from Making a more Effective Use of Internet
*N=34 While lack of funding/budget and facilities was cited as the major constraint preventing respondents who have full Internet access from making a more effective use of the Internet, only few (11.8%) indicated lack of expertise and knowledge as the constraint. About half(47.1%) of them also said that one other major obstacle is the poor and low capacity of telephone lines, since the Internet service being provided is a dial-up one. The telephone lines took the blame partly because even academic institutions, such as the Addis Ababa University, do not have well established local area network infrastructure for faster and Internet access by a wider community of users, and currently each user has to dial which adds up the access cost. Another limitation that respondents consider may prevent them from making the fullest possible use of the Internet is lack of appreciation for the Internet by policy makers. Perhaps they are referring to the monopoly by the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation, a government body, which is the result of lack of flexible policy that allows other competitors to provide Internet services. Table 32: Improvements, in Ranked Order, which Respondents Expect to be Brought to their Work by the Use of Internet
*N=14 Improvements which those respondents who have plans to obtain full Internet access expect to be brought to their work by the use of the Internet are similar to those cited by respondents who already have full Internet access. On the other hand, according to Table 11, poor and low capacity telephone lines is the most cited constraint which they expect may prevent them from making a more effective use of Internet, followed by hardware problems and lack of funding/budget and facilities, which were indicated by 10(71.4) of them each. A number of them (6=42.8%), in response to the question what difficulties they expect to be brought to their work by the use of the Internet, said that they can not tell at this moment. However, information overload, wastage of time and additional cost were mentioned as possible difficulties by 2(14.3%) respondents each.
Table 33: Technical or other Constraints which Respondents Expect May Prevent them from Making a more Effective Use of Internet
P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=14 6. Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations 6.1. Summary of Major Findings Summary of the major findings obtained from responses to the baseline questionnaires and the questionnaire on changes brought by full Internet access are summarized as follows.
6.2. Conclusions Though we were ambitious to embark up on a project of this nature, we only managed to compile a baseline data that could be used as a basis for a detailed study of the impact of electronic communications on development in Africa. We understand the fact that at the time this project was planned and executed, electronic communication was at its early stage of development and such a study could not effectively be undertaken as users of the electronic communication networks have not yet fully realized the use and benefits of the technology, let alone be able to provide concrete data on its impact. Therefore, we only hope that our study could be used as a springboard for other similar studies in the area of electronic communication and its impact on development. 6.3. Recommendations This project has been completed. However, the search for a clearer and more sound methodology to identify impact indicators and, in turn, measure the impact of information or electronic communication on development continues. Based on our experience in planning and executing this project, the following guidelines (to be used in conjunction with other guidelines and frameworks already developed) are recommended for a similar study.
Appendix I Baseline Questionnaire
UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA PAN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS ON AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT Pan African Development Information System (PADIS) of UNECA is undertaking a two-year project funded by the International Development Research Center to evaluate the impact of electronic networking on development in Africa. As part of the evaluation, we are sending this questionnaire to each registered user (including you) of PADISnet. We hope you appreciate the importance of the study and, therefore, urge you to complete this questionnaire within few days and send it to: email: 5:751/1.100 OR PADIS, P. O. Box 3001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Thank you for your cooperation. __________________________________________________________________ A. USERS IDENTIFICATION 1. Full name 2. Organization 3. Billing address 4. Personal Mailing address (if different from 3) 5. Street address 6. Personal Phone number Fax number 7. Email address(Point number) 8. Are you the sole user of this Email address? YES [ ] NO [ ] 9. If not, are you the system's administrator? YES [ ] NO [ ] 10. How many other users have access to this Email address? B. PERSONAL DATA 1. Gender: Male [ ] Female [ ] 2. Age 3. Nationality 4. If expatriate, are you a permanent resident? YES [ ] NO [ ] or a temporary resident (<5 years)? YES [ ] NO [ ] 5. Highest educational qualification or degree 6. Place and year of qualification/degree 7. In which foreign language(s) do you consider to be fluent? 8. Would you rate your computer skills as (tick appropriate box) [ ] Experienced [ ] Intermediate [ ] Beginner 9. List the professional societies you belong to C. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES 1. What is your professional specialization? 2. What is your current title/position? 3. What are currently your principal professional activities? 4. What are your other administrative duties? 5. How many persons are under your direct supervision? 6. Whom do you report to (indicate title/position)? D. ORGANIZATION 1. What is the mission of your organization? 2. What are the principal activities of your organizations? 3. What is the size of your organization's staff? 4. For the conduct of your organization's business, is communicating outside the country (tick appropriate box) [ ]Essential [ ]Sometimes important [ ]Seldom required E. COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION FACILITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION 1. What are the major communication facilities (e.g. telephone, telex, fax, radio, etc.) available in your organization? 2. What are the computer facilities available in your organization? (indicate number and types of computers, operating systems, networks, etc.) 3. Which electronic communication networks (e.g. PADISnet, HealthNet, etc.) does your organization currently use?
4. Are information facilities (e.g. library, records unit, documentation center) at your organization (tick appropriate box) [ ]Adequate [ ]Inadequate [ ]Not available F. INDIVIDUAL COMMUNICATION FACILITIES 1. Do you send/receive Electronic messages through (tick appropriate box) Regularly Occasionally Never At the office from - your own computer [ ] [ ] [ ] - a computer on your desk [ ] [ ] [ ] - someone else's computer [ ] [ ] [ ] - a computer dedicated to Email [ ] [ ] [ ] At home from - your own computer [ ] [ ] [ ] 2. If you use your own computer, please indicate the brand, type, operating system, communication software and modem speed 3. Do you usually send Electronic messages by (tick one) [ ] logging in and typing yourself [ ] bringing a diskette with your messages to another operator [ ] bringing hard-copy of your messages for entry by another operator [ ] dictating or describing your messages for entry by another operator [ ] other (specify): 4. How long have you been using this electronic communication Network? 5. Did you use electronic communication before? YES [ ] NO [ ] If yes, how long? 6. Do you currently use another electronic communication network? YES [ ] NO [ ] If yes, which one: 7. Is the cost of your electronic communications supported by (tick one) [ ] yourself [ ] your department (or any other part of your organization) [ ] your organization [ ] a project in your organization [ ] other (specify): G. USE AND BENEFITS 1. How often, on the average, do you send electronic messages(tick one) [ ] less than once per month [ ] 1 to 4 times per month [ ] 1 to 5 times per week [ ] once or more per day 2. How often, on the average, do you receive personal messages (other than multiple recipients' ones, e.g. BBS or conference postings)? [ ] less than once per month [ ] 1 to 4 times per month [ ] 1 to 5 times per week [ ] once or more per day 3. How often, on the average, do you yourself log on to check for incoming messages? [ ] rarely or never [ ] 1 to 4 times per month [ ] 1 to 5 times per week [ ] once or more per day 4. Tick the appropriate box to indicate the frequency of each type of use (either sending or receiving) never <1/m 1-4/m 1-5/w >1/d personal messages [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] arranging meetings [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] implementing regular business [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] managing projects [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] exchanging research ideas [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] receiving technical advice [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] providing technical advice [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] literature searches [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] exchange of documents [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] computer conferences [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] (<1/m = less than once per month, 1-4/m=1 to 4 times per month, 1-5/w=1 to 5 times per week, 1/d=once per day) 5. Approximately what percent of the electronic messages you send are destined % outside Africa % within Africa but outside the country % within the country 100% 6. Indicate the frequency with which you send messages or pass information using each of the following channels never <1/m 1-4/m 1-5/w >1/d surface mail [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] air mail [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] telephone [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] telex [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] facsimile (fax) [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] travel for documents delivery [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] travel for meetings [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] 7. Cite, by order of importance, at least 3 major improvements brought in your work by the use of electronic communications (feel free to explain) 8. Cite, by order of importance, at least 3 major difficulties brought in your work by the use of electronic communications(feel free to explain) 9. Cite, by order of importance, at least 3 major constraints for making a more effective use of electronic communications (feel free to explain) Appendix II Revised Baseline Questionnaire
UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA PAN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS ON AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT Dear Sir/Madam, The realized as well as potential role of electronic communications in development is immense. However, there is a need to understand better what is going on in order to bargain for enhanced connectivity. In the light of this, the Pan African Development Information System (PADIS) of UNECA in cooperation with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is going to evaluate the impact of electronic communications on development in Africa. As part of the evaluation, we are sending this questionnaire to each registered user of PADISnet. We hope you appreciate the importance of the study and, therefore, cordially request you to complete this questionnaire within few days and send it to: sysop@padis.gn.apc.org OR PADIS, P. O. Box 3001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia We are specifically interested in what communication difficulties might have been hindering the professional activities which you feel are critical for the success of your organization; how electronic communications are alleviating these difficulties; in which way and to what extent are your essential professional activities carried out more effectively with the help of electronic communications; what new difficulties are you experiencing in the meantime; what technical or other obstacles prevent you to take full advantage of electronic communications. We would also be much interested in hearing about particular success stories as a result of the use of electronic communications, or, conversely, stories of failures due to ineffective electronic communications. We would be much indebted to you for sharing your experience with us. Your testimonies will be treated in strict confidentiality. The results of the study will also be made publicly available by PADIS and IDRC. We would appreciate if you kindly provide us with your address and telephone number where you could be contacted in case further details would be needed. We thank you once again for your cooperation. PS: Distribute the questionnaire to as many users as possible. Nancy Hafkin Officer in Charge PADIS PART I 1. Full name Organization 2. Contact phone number 3. Are you the sole user of this E-mail address? YES [ ] NO [ ] 4. If not, how many other users are there? 5. Gender: Male [ ] Female [ ] 6. Nationality 7. If expatriate, are you a permanent resident? YES [ ] NO [ ] or a temporary resident (<5 years)? YES [ ] NO [ ] 8. Highest educational qualification or degree 9. What is your level of computer skill(tick appropriate box) [ ] Experienced [ ] Intermediate [ ] Beginner 10. What are the principal activities of your organization? 11. What is your job? 12. For the conduct of your organization's business, is communicating outside the country (tick appropriate box) [ ]Essential [ ]Sometimes important [ ]Seldom required 13. Are communication facilities (e.g. telephone, telex, fax, radio, computer systems, LAN's, etc.) at your organization (tick appropriate box) [ ]Adequate [ ]Inadequate [ ]Not available Remarks: 14. Are information facilities (e.g. library, records unit, documentation centre) at your organization (tick appropriate box) [ ]Adequate [ ]Inadequate [ ]Not available Remarks: 15. Do you send/receive Electronic messages through (tick appropriate box) [ ]At the office [ ]At home [ ]Both 16. Do you usually send electronic messages (tick appropriate box) [ ]by yourself [] through someone else(an operator, secretary, etc) 17. Within your organization, are E-mail transactions mostly carried out by: [ ]the originator/recipient [ ]someone else 18. How long have you been using electronic communication networks? 19. Do you currently subscribe to more than one electronic communication network? YES [ ] NO [ ] If yes, please list: 20. Who pays the cost of your electronic communication (tick one) [ ] yourself [ ] your organization [ ] a project/other (specify): 21. How often, on the average, do you send/receive electronic messages (tick one) [ ] less than once per month [ ] 1 to 4 times per month [ ] 1 to 5 times per week [ ] once or more per day 22. How many electronic messages do you on average: send per week: receive per week: 23. Tick the five(5) major uses you make of electronic communication exchange personal messages [ ] arrange meetings [ ] implementing business [ ] managing projects [ ] exchanging research ideas [ ] receiving technical advice [ ] providing technical advice [ ] literature searches [ ] exchanging documents [ ] listservs/discussion groups [ ] others (please specify) [ ] 24. Approximately what percentage of the electronic messages you send are destined % outside Africa % within Africa but outside the country % within the country 100% 25. Cite, by order of importance, at least 3 major improvements brought to your work by the use of electronic communications (feel free to explain) 26. Cite, in order of importance, at least 3 major difficulties, not previously experienced, brought to the implementation of your work by the use of electronic communications (feel free to explain) 27. Cite, in order of importance, at least 3 major technical or other constraints preventing you from making more effective use of electronic communications (feel free to explain) Appendix III Procedures Used for Classifying PADISnets E-Mail Entry Points and for Selecting a Sample of 50 Points for interview
Frequency of Use Level of Use (No. of messages) No. of Points --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Very High > 121.8 27(13.1%) High 60.9 - 121.8 20(9.7%) Medium 30.45 - 60.4 16(7.8%) Low 0 - 30.40 143(69.4%) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 206(100%) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level of Use Number of Entry Points Drawn ------------------------------------------------------------------ Very High 13.1% of 50 = 7 High 9.7% of 50 = 5 Medium 7.8% of 50 = 4 Low 69.4% of 50 = 34 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Total 50 -----------------------------------------------------------------
3. Distribution of Entry Points by Organizational Type and Level of Use.
Level of Use --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type of Organization Low Medium High Very High --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Private/Individual 46(32.17%) 7(43.75%) 3(15%) 10(37.04%) Academic & Research 16(11.19%) 4(25%) 4(20%) 6(22.22%) Non-Governmental 46(32.17%) 5(31.25%) 7(35%) 5(18.52%) Governmental 11(7.69%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 2(7.40%) International 24(16.78%) 0(0%) 6(30%) 4(14.82%) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total=143(100%) 16(100%) 20(100%) 27(100%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total number of entry points to be selected from the high level of use group = 5 Total number of entry points with high level of use = 20 Number of entry points in Academic & Research organizations with high level of use = 4 (20% of 20) Therefore, Total number of entry points in Academic & Research organizations to be selected from the high level of use group = 20% of 5 = 1) Level of Use ------------------------------------------------------------- Type of Organization Low Medium High Very High Total -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Private/Individual 11 2 1 2 16 Academic & Research 4 1 1 2 8 Non-Governmental 11 1 2 1 15 Governmental 3 0 0 1 4 International 5 0 1 1 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total =34 4 5 7 50 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix IV Questionnaire on Changes Brought by Full Internet Access UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA PAN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC NETWORKING ON DEVELOPMENT Dear Sir/Madam, We would like to take this opportunity and thank you for your cooperation during our previous study. The emergence of full Internet connectivity in Africa and its associated services such as FTP, Telnet access to database, interactive navigation on the World Wide Web (WWW), search engines, access to interactive multimedia, etc. prompted us to broaden the scope of the study. Therefore, we, once again, cordially request you to complete this questionnaire within few days and send it to: Bettya@padis.gn.apc.org OR PADIS, P. O. Box 3001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia We would be much indebted to you for sharing your experience with us. Your testimonies will be treated in strict confidentiality. The results of the study will also be made publicly available by PADIS and IDRC. We would appreciate if you kindly provide us with your address and telephone number where you could be contacted in case further details would be needed. We thank you once again for your cooperation. PS: Distribute the questionnaire to as many users as possible. Nancy Hafkin Officer in Charge PADIS 1. Are you currently using Internet ? [ ]YES [ ]NO If no go to item 3 2. Do you have full Internet access ? [ ]YES [ ]NO If yes, through which service provider(s) ?_________________________________ 3. Do you plan to obtain full Internet access in the year to come? [ ]YES [ ]NO If yes go to item 5
4. If not, why (tick appropriate box(es)? [ ] do not feel it is needed [ ] would be interested but [ ]cost is prohibitive, [ ]lack computer facilities, [ ] lack telecommunication facilities in house, [ ] others (please explain) 5. What type of Internet services prompts/prompted you to subscribe? (If future user go to item 10) _____________________________________________________________________
6. What services do you mostly use and feel useful (tick appropriate boxes)? Electronic mail [ ] use [ ] useful [ ] not useful Ftp [ ] use [ ] useful [ ] not useful Telnet [ ] use [ ] useful [ ] not useful WWW [ ] use [ ] useful [ ] not useful WAIS [ ] use [ ] useful [ ] not useful search engines (specify) [ ] use [ ] useful [ ] not useful other (specify) [ ] use [ ] useful [ ] not useful
[ ] adequate [ ] inadequate [ ] not available [ ] do not know
[ ] adequate [ ] inadequate [ ] not available [ ] do not know
[ ] adequate [ ] inadequate [ ] not available [ ] do not know Appendix V Interview Schedule
A. Analytical Part
4. Before you had access to electronic communication:
B. Historical Part
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