African Information Society Initiative [AISI] - Studies

Connectivity in Africa: Use, Benefits and Constraints of Electronic Communications - Ethiopia

Abebe Rorissa, National University of Lesotho
P. O. Roma 180, Lesotho, Southern Africa
E-Mail: r.abebe@nul.ls March 1998

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1. The IDRC Impact Program

1.2. The UNECA/PADIS Project

1.3. Objectives of the Study

1.4. Organization of the Report

2. Implementation of the Study

2.1. Baseline Survey

2.2. Interviews

2.3. Problems encountered

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

6.1. Summary of Major Findings

6.2. Conclusions

6.3. 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 PADISnet’s E-Mail

Entry Points and for Selecting a Sample of 50 Points

for interview.

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:

Extended abstracts of the synthesis report and national reports;
A synthesis report in two parts, one dealing with methodological issues, the other one with the overall findings and conclusions of the project;
The reports of phase one and phase two of the national studies in Senegal, Uganda and Zambia and a consolidated report for phase one and two in Ethiopia, all in a revised version.

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

No.	Activity	Duration/Date
1	Identification of entry points of the PADISnet and their classification into five(5) groups, namely Private/Individual, Academic & research, International, Governmental, and Non-governmental	March 1995
2	Identification of active entry points during the month of October 1994 (222 entry points were identified)	March 1995
3	Compilation of traffic data (for October 1994) of all the active entry points during the month of October 1994	April 1995
4	Distribution of a separate questionnaire prepared for participants of the April 1995 Regional Symposium on Telematics for Development in Africa, organized by PADIS	April 1995
5	Since the traffic data of a single month was not found sufficient for classification of the entry points into various levels of use (low, medium, high and very high), identification of all active entry points during January and February 1995 was necessary and a total of 215 entry points were identified	June 1995
6	Exclusion of entry points being used by embassies and users outside the country was made and this decreased the number of active entry points during January & February 1995 to 206 (see Appendix III for the distribution of the 206 points by level of use and type of organization)	June 1995
7	Classification of the active entry points into low, medium, high and very high levels of use and working out the sample structure of the entry points for interviews (see Appendix III)	August 1995
8	Distribution (via E-mail) of the baseline questionnaire (Appendix I) to all the 206 entry points identified as active during January & February 1995	August 1995
9	Posting of the sample structure onto the INIMCAS-L Listserv	August 1995
10	Identification and selection of 50 entry points for interviews	September 1995

No.	Activity	Duration/Date
11	Collection of the distributed questionnaires	August - October, 1995
12	Redistribution and collection (via E-mail and by handing out) of the baseline questionnaire (2nd round) (see Table 1 below for the number of returned questionnaires)	November - December 1995
13	Interviewing the sample of entry points (interview questions were first sent to them via E-mail to see how they would react to them)	December 1995 - March 1996
14	Writing up of the Phase I report	May 1996
15	Distribution (by E-Mail) of the revised baseline questionnaire (Appendix II) and the questionnaire on changes brought by full Internet access. A combined questionnaire(of these two) was sent to those entry points from which no response was received during the 1^st phase while the one on changes brought by full Internet access was sent to all the 206 entry points of the PADISnet identified as active during January & February 1995	October 1996
16	Since, among the users to which the questionnaires were sent via E-Mail, only two have responded, the two sets of questionnaires had to be handed out to the respondents and appointments to collect them had to be fixed	March -May 1997
17	Interviews were conducted with additional users from the sample selected during the 1st phase (to make the total number of interviewees 50) and to check whether those responses received during the 1st phase still hold	March 1997
18	Writing up of the Phase II report	August 1997
19	Writing up of the final report	March 1998

Table 1: Number of Completed Baseline and Revised Baseline Questionnaires Returned

Level of Use*	Type of Organization
Level of Use*	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total**
Low	11	14	15	2	9	51	50.5
Medium	3	9	-	-	3	15	14.8
High	1	5	3	-	3	12	11.9
Very High	3	12	6	1	1	23	22.8
Total	18	40	24	3	16	101	100
% of Total	17.8	39.6	23.8	3.0	15.8	100

P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-governmental, *This classification was made based on PADISnet’s 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

Level of Use*	Type of Organization
Level of Use*	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total**
Low	16	10	8	3	2	39	67.2
Medium	1	3	-	-	1	5	8.6
High	-	1	1	-	1	3	5.2
Very High	2	6	1	1	1	11	19.0
Total	19	20	10	4	5	58	100
% of Total**	32.8	34.5	17.2	6.9	8.6	100

P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-governmental *This classification was made based on PADISnet’s 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

1. There were much less number of respondents, than expected, to the baseline questionnaire and, as a result, it was difficult to interview a satisfactory proportion of the target of 50 entry points.

2. What have been identified as active entry points at the beginning of the survey were later discovered to be inactive due to various reasons (such as broken machine or modem, people being on long vacations and away from office or leaving the country or organization, etc.)

3. Unavailability of some users for interview sessions demanded for repeated visits to a single user who, in some cases, gives very little information when interviewed. For instance, a lecturer said that his problem is related to getting a chalk rather than communication related.

4. As some of the former PADISnet users have already been using the Internet services (being provided by the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation) for electronic communications and much more, and since they have either not been using their PADISnet entry points or they have been using it rarely, they were very reluctant to fill in the questionnaires and gave various excuses when asked to be available for interview sessions. Therefore, this resulted, once again, in low response rate.

5. Some of the respondents didn’t respond to the open-ended questions and some of them didn’t list their responses in ranked order, where they were asked to do so. As a result, analysis of results was difficult.

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

	Type of Organization
	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total
Local:	4	36	8	3	8	59	58.4*
Male	3	34	8	2	6	53	89.8**
Female	1	2	-	1	2	6	10.2**
Expatriate:	14	4	16	-	8	42	41.6*
Male	13	3	11	-	7	34	81.0***
Female	1	1	5	-	1	8	19.0***
Permanent Residents	6	2	2	-	3	13	31.0***
Temporary Residents	8	2	14	-	5	29	69.0***

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

Local/Expatriate	Level of Use
Local/Expatriate	Low	Medium	High	Very High	Total
Local:	32	11	4	12	59
Male	27	10	4	12	53
Female	5	1	-	-	6
Expatriate:	19	4	8	11	42
Male	17	4	7	6	34
Female	2	-	1	5	8

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 1^st and the 2^nd largest groups of all the PADISnet users.

Table 5: Highest Qualification of the Respondents

Local or Expatriate	Highest Qualification
Local or Expatriate	High Sch. Cert.	Diploma	BA/BSc	MA/MSc	PhD/MD	Total	% of Total*
Local	1	3	24	17	14	59	59.0
Expatriate	-	-	11	12	18	41	41.0
Total	1	3	35	29	32	100	100
% of Total*	1.0	3.0	35.0	29.0	32.0	100

*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

Computer Skill	Highest Qualification
Computer Skill	High Sch. Cert.	Diploma	BA/BSc	MA/MSc	PhD/MD	Total	% of Total*
Experienced	1	3	26	15	15	60	60.0
Intermediate	-	-	8	12	17	37	37.0
Beginner	-	-	1	2	-	3	3.0
Total	1	3	35	29	32	100	100
% of Total*	1.0	3.0	35.0	29.0	32.0	100

*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

How Essential	Type of Organization
How Essential	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total*
Essential	15	36	24	3	15	93	93.9
Sometimes Essential	1	3	-	-	1	5	5.1
Seldom Essential	-	1	-	-	-	1	1.0
Total	16	40	24	3	16	99	100
% of Total*	16.2	40.4	24.2	3.0	16.2	100

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

Adequacy	Type of Organization
Adequacy	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total*
Adequate	4	7	12	2	6	31	31.3
Inadequate	8	33	11	1	7	60	60.6
Not Available	4	-	1	-	3	8	8.1
Total	16	40	24	3	16	99	100
% of Total*	16.2	40.4	24.2	3.0	16.2	100

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

From Where They Send/Receive E-Mail	Type of Organization
From Where They Send/Receive E-Mail	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total*
Office	5	37	19	3	14	78	77.2
Home	6	-	1	-	-	7	7.0
Both Office & Home	7	3	4	-	2	16	15.8
Total	18	40	24	3	16	101	100
% of Total*	17.8	39.6	23.8	3.0	15.8	100

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

How Often they Send/receive E-Mail	Where they Send/receive E-Mail from
	Office	Home	Both Office & Home	Total	% of Total*
Less than once per month	8	-	2	10	10.1
1 to 4 times per month	12	1	2	15	15.1
1 to 5 times per week	32	3	2	37	37.4
More than once per day	25	3	9	37	37.4
Total	77	7	15	99	100
% of Total*	77.8	7.1	15.1	100

*N=99

Table 11: How Respondents Usually Send Electronic Messages

How They Send E-mail	Type of Organization
How They Send E-mail	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total*
Themselves	17	38	21	3	11	90	90.0
Through someone else	1	2	2	-	5	10	10.0
Total	18	40	23	3	16	100	100
% of Total*	18.0	40.0	23.0	3.0	16.0	100

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 Authority’s 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

E-mail Cost is Covered by	Type of Organization
E-mail Cost is Covered by	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total*
Yourself	9	-	4	-	1	14	14.0
Your Organization	2	30	10	2	2	46	46.0
A Project/Other	7	9	10	1	13	40	40.0
Total	18	39	24	3	16	100	100
% of Total*	18.0	39.0	24.0	3.0	16.0	100

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

How Often they Send/receive E-Mail	Local/Expatriate
	Local	Expatriate	Total	% of Total*
Less than once per month	8	2	10	10.1
1 to 4 times per month	9	6	15	15.1
1 to 5 times per week	23	14	37	37.4
More than once per day	17	20	37	37.4
Total	57	42	99	100
% of Total*	57.6	42.4	100

*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

How They Send E-mail	Computer Skills
How They Send E-mail	Experienced	Intermediate	Beginner	Total	% of Total*
Themselves	57	32	1	90	90.9
Through Someone else	3	4	2	9	9.1
Total	60	36	3	99	100
% of Total*	60.6	36.4	3.0	100

*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

How Often they Send E-Mail	Computer Skills
	Experienced	Intermediate	Beginner	Total	% of Total*
Less than once per month	3	7	-	10	10.2
1 to 4 times per month	7	8	-	15	15.3
1 to 5 times per week	23	11	2	36	36.7
More than once per day	26	10	1	37	37.8
Total	59	36	3	99	100
% of Total*	60.2	36.7	3.1	100

*N=98

Table 16: What E-mail was Used for

E-mail was Used for	Number of Respondents
E-mail was Used for	Total	% of Total*
Personal Messages	72	71.3
Arranging Meetings	38	37.6
Regular Business	49	48.5
Managing Projects	40	39.6
Exchanging Ideas	56	55.4
Receiving Technical Advice	63	62.4
Providing Technical Advice	47	46.5
Literature Searches	40	39.6
Exchange of Documents	64	63.4
Computer conference	18	17.8

*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

% of Electronic Messages	Number of Respondents Who Indicated that Their Messages were Destined
% of Electronic Messages	Outside Africa	Within Africa But Outside the Country	Within the Country
� 20	7(7.0%)	84(84.0%)	87(87.0%)
21 - 40	10(10.0%)	8(8.0%)	6(6.0%)
41 - 60	7(7.0%)	5(5.0%)	2(2.0%)
61 - 80	24(24.0%)	2(2.0%)	2(2.0%)
81 - 100	52(52.0%)	1(1.0%)	3(3.0%)
Total	100(100%)	100(100%)	100(100%)

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

% of Electronic Messages	Type of Organization
% of Electronic Messages	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total*
�20	1	4	-	-	2	7	7.0
21-40	2	1	5	1	1	10	10.0
41-60	2	1	4	-	-	7	7.0
61-80	2	9	3	2	8	24	24.0
81-100	11	25	11	-	5	52	52.0
Total	18	40	23	3	16	100	100
% of Total*	18.0	40.0	23.0	3.0	16.0	100

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

% of Electronic Messages	Type of Organization
% of Electronic Messages	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total*
�20	13	37	18	2	14	84	84.0
21-40	2	1	3	-	2	8	8.0
41-60	2	1	1	1	-	5	5.0
61-80	1	-	1	-	-	2	2.0
81-100	-	1	-	-	-	1	1.0
Total	18	40	23	3	16	100	100
% of Total*	18.0	40.0	23.0	3.0	16.0	100

P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=100

Tables 18, 19 and 20 reveal that there isn’t 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:

a. For at least 60% of the respondents from each type of organization, more than 60% of their electronic messages were sent outside Africa;

b. For at least 66.7% Of them from each type of organization, less than 20% of their messages were destined within Africa (but outside Ethiopia); and

c. For at least 78.3% Of them from each type of organization, less than 20% of their messages were destined within the country.

Table 20: Percentage of Electronic Messages Destined Within the Country by Type of Organization of Respondents

% of Electronic Messages
% of Electronic Messages	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total*
�20	17	36	18	3	13	87	87.0
21-40	1	2	3	-	-	6	6.0
41-60	-	-	2	-	-	2	2.0
61-80	-	1	-	-	1	2	2.0
81-100	-	1	-	-	2	3	3.0
Total	18	40	23	3	16	100	100
% of Total*	18.0	40.0	23.0	3.0	16.0	100

P=Private/Individual, A=Academic & Research, I=International, G=Governmental, NG=Non-Governmental, *N=100

4. Benefits and Constraints of Electronic Communications

Table 21: Improvements, in Ranked Order, Brought in the Respondents' Work by the Use of Electronic Communications

Improvements	Type of Organization
Improvements	P	A	I	G	NG	Total
Increased Speed & Efficiency and Decreased Cost of Communication	10	28	15	3	14	69
Increased contact and Exchange of Ideas/Data with Colleagues and Fellow Professionals Within and Outside the Country	5	24	7	-	6	42
Access to Current Information & Documents	3	18	4	1	2	28
Attending/Getting results of Conferences	-	3	2	1	-	6
Introduction of New Services	-	1	-	-	-	1

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

Difficulties	Type of Organization
Difficulties	P	A	I	G	NG	Total
Delayed/Undelivered Messages	1	5	3	1	5	15
Too much/Unwanted mail and Information Overload	1	4	3	-	1	9
Managing E-mail is Time Consuming	2	2	2	-	2	8
Increased dependence on Electronic Communication and forgetting to make hard Copies of Messages	1	3	1	-	-	5

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

Constraints	Type of Organization
Constraints	P	A	I	G	NG	Total
Lack of Direct Access to the Internet	4	9	6	1	5	25
Lack of funds, Maintenance and enough Workstations/modems	5	9	9	-	3	26
User Un-friendliness and limited features of the E-mail Software (Frontdoor)	1	13	7	-	1	22
Too many Users of the PADISnet that make the line to the Mail Server busy most of the time(i.e. Absence of other service Providers)	2	10	2	1	3	18
Lack of Expertise and Knowledge of What can be Achieved with E-mail	3	6	2	1	4	16
Poor(Improperly Working) Telephone Lines	2	8	3	-	1	14
Lack of Privacy	-	1	1	-	-	2
Lack of E-mail Directory	-	-	1	-	-	1

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 didn’t respond to some of the questions.

1. Professional activities of the respondents: teaching/training(12); research (11); information acquisition, development and dissemination(8); managing projects, personnel & other resources(6); link with other institutions(4); publication/printing(2); transportation(1); policy(1); and statistical functions (1).

2. The major problems/difficulties usually faced by respondents to implement their critical professional activities were: lack of information/documents and shortage of teaching materials(15); lack of access to efficient communications channels(5); shortage of funds, time and staff(5); bureaucracy & lack of cooperation(3); lack of equipment(2); lack of transportation(1); lack of connectivity(1); lack of training(1); poor language proficiency(1); and lack of security(theft, etc.) (1).

3. Communication problems associated with the above difficulties were: failure and unreliability of communication media such as bad telephone lines(10); lack/shortage of channels such as telephone, fax and telex and lack of access to them(5); slow mail/postage system(4); high Cost involved to communicate outside the country(3); heavy traffic on telephone lines(3); prohibitive customs policy regarding communications media(2); outdated hardware/software and lack of them(2); no Internet connectivity(1); and delays in transmission of information(1).

Though all of them said that they face communication related problems in implementing their critical activities, some of them did not pinpoint the specific problems. As usual, lack and failure of telephone and other communication media are the major communication related problems.

4. Before respondents had access to electronic communications:

4.1. The nature of their difficulties/problems were: slow/infrequent communication/postal system led to inability to meeting deadlines and perform better(13); lack of or limited access to current information(6); communication outside the country was difficult and expensive(6); lack of access to communication channels such as telephone and fax(1); unable to send/receive data/information(1); information became outdated(1); and inconvenience of delivery of materials/documents(1). By ‘slow/infrequent communication system’, respondents were referring to the postal system in Africa in general and in the country in particular.

4.2. The causes of their difficulties/problems were: lack of economical and efficient communication mechanism/system and service provider(11); slow postal/communication system(7); shortage of funds/budget(3); lack of information or access to it(2); lack of communication facilities(telephone, fax, etc.) (2); and lack of awareness/appreciation for modern technology (1).

4.3. Effects of the difficulties/problems: incomplete/delayed research/work/service(15); poor efficiency/productivity and decisions(8); unable to update oneself(3); more cost(2); loss of possible funding opportunity(1): and lack of timely access to information(1).

4.4. Possible solutions to the difficulties/problems were: electronic communications and other economical & efficient means of communication(14); rely upon resources/information/data at hand and available locally(2); allocate sufficient fund(2); using hand delivery(2); persistence(1); solar power(1); planning(1); .

4.4.1. How could have these solutions been implemented?: by allocating adequate resources for E-Mail(4); by improving management bottlenecks(2); by creating/enhancing awareness of policy makers about Information Technology(1); and planning ahead and anticipating difficulties(1).

4.5. What would have these solutions changed: completed/quality/increased research/work and better/efficient service(9); improved and timely communication and better information exchange(7); and they could have avoided more errors(1).

5. After they had access to electronic communications:

5.1. Nature of their difficulties were: the same difficulties/problems that existed before they had access still exist (partially or totally)(6); Could not go through to the mail server at PADIS easily(5); no serious problem/difficulty(4); too many unwanted messages(2); lack of skills(2); unreliable communication facilities(2); I can’t know whether my messages reached their destinations or not(1); and breakdown of equipment(1).

5.2. The causes of the difficulties/problems were: too few/bad/out of order telephone lines(8); I don’t know(3); lack of adequate training(3); limitations in the E-Mail facilities available(e.g. single mail server)(2); the same causes as those existed before they had access(2); lack of time(2); power failure/surge(2); an employee was not replaced(1); and unavailability of sufficient resources(1).

5.3. Effects of their difficulties/problems were: delays in communication and performance (13); poor decision making and often targets were not met(inefficiency) (4); the same effects as those before they had access to electronic communications(3); and expectations of electronic communications were not met(1).

5.4. Possible solutions to the difficulties/problems: upgrade E-Mail facilities including the software (Frontdoor) and increase the capacity/number of mail servers(6); improved & dependable communication channels/services (5); use other alternative communications media(3); waiting with patience & repeated trial(2); getting new/additional equipment, funds and other resources(2); getting someone to troubleshoot(1); and none(1).

5.4.1. What would these solutions change?: speed of communication and response time and avoid delay(4); they would have enabled faster/efficient performance and undisrupted activities(3); I may have been able to do what I was intending to do(1); complete failure of projects(1); and I would have got uptodate and relevant information(1).

6. Comparing the two situations, before and after they had access to electronic communications:

6.1. What has improved: speed and efficiency of communication and work/performance/decision making (26); access to information(4); and nothing(1).

6.2. What has deteriorated: the majority of the users who were interviewed said that nothing has deteriorated except one respondent who indicated that the frequency with which to connect to the PADISnet server has deteriorated due to the large number of users.

6.3. What is unchanged: nothing(problems are the same)(5); lack of information(2); telecommunication facilities(2); hardware/software situation(1); "the human capacity to think"(1); internal communications(1); lack of access to the Internet(1); skill to manage E-Mail(1); and the time taken to get connected to servers(1).

6.4. New difficulties arose: access to PADISnet and other networks is cumbersome and takes time(4); now there is need for more money to pay for the service(2); none(2); security(no security)(1); now we are aware of direct Internet access(1); there is too much haste(1); too much information and finding what I want is slow(1); and people who don’t have E-Mail access are frustrated(1).

6.4.1. Why?: telephone lines are busy/bad(2); E-Mail is easy and compulsive(1); no one wants to be left behind(1); and due to the nature of electronic communications(1).

6.4.2. What are their consequences?: more time is spent and work is interrupted(3); inability to access E-Mail networks(1); higher overhead cost(1); redefining our priorities(1); and inability to keep confidential information(1).

6.4.3. What are their possible solutions?: better equipment(7); and international/external assistance(1).

6.5. In which way is your organization performing better?: it is saving money(2); communication and access to information has improved(2); we have better contacts with donors, etc.(2); difficult to tell(1); and not measurable yet(1).

6.6. In which way are you yourself performing better?: I have easier access to people and made more contacts now than before(4); my access to information has improved(3); I have saved time & effort(1); I answer much more promptly(1); and my performance has not changed(1).

6.7. Almost all of the respondents (25) indicated that the overall change is positive.

6.8. What is required to make the change continued?: improved electronic communication systems and full Internet access(12); Support from government and other donor agencies(6); more resources(5); training & creating awareness among users(3); lowering prices through competition among private service providers(2); and sustained source of funding(1).

7. Very few proclaimed success and/or failure stories. The only failure stories before they had access to electronic communications mentioned are:

1. Documents for a library were delayed and the graduate student who requested them has already graduated when they arrived. The reason was that follow up was very slow.

2. Slow responses led to missed opportunities.

3. People didn’t receive air tickets in time for a meeting.

4. "At one time, I used to send and receive messages from someone abroad by going to the airport and the person who was delivering the message happened to be careless. As a result, the message took more time to reach me than if it were sent by post".

5. A registered letter went missing and a proposed training course was not carried out.

8. Success stories after they had access to electronic communications:

1. Was able to send notices, documents, requests and follow up messages any time and any day of the week.

2. Was able to frequently communicate with project sponsors/colleagues outside the country and met deadlines.

3. Arrangements for an important visit at short notice were easily made by E-Mail.

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

Respondents Who:	Type of Organization
Respondents Who:	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total*
Are currently using Internet	11	9	9	2	3	34	58.6
Have full Internet access	11	9	9	2	3	34	58.6
Are planning to obtain full Internet access	6	6	-	2	-	14	24.1

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

Reason	Type of Organization					Total	% of Total*
Reason	P	A	I	G	NG	Total	% of Total*
Do not feel it is necessary	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Would be interested but:
cost is prohibitive	2	5	1	-	2	10	100
lack computer facilities	1	2	-	-	1	4	40
lack telecommunications facilities	1	1	-	--	-	2	20

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

Type of Service(s)	Those who are currently using Internet	Those who plan to obtain Internet access	Total	% of Total*
E-Mail only	5	6	11	22.9
WWW only	6	1	7	14.6
FTP only	-	-	-	-
E-Mail & WWW	18	4	22	45.8
E-Mail, WWW & FTP	5	3	8	16.7
Total	34	14	48	100
% of Total*	70.8	29.2	100

*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

Types of services	Number of respondents who:		Total	% of Total*
Types of services	Use and Feel Useful	Do not Use but Feel useful	Total	% of Total*
Electronic Mail	28	4	32	94.1
FTP	17	6	23	67.6
Telnet	9	6	15	44.1
WWW	31	-	31	91.1
WAIS	4	4	8	23.5
Search Engines	23	-	23	67.6

*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

In their Organization	In their area				Total	% of Total*
In their Organization	Adequate	Inadequate	Not Available	Do not know	Total	% of Total*
Adequate	8	17	-	4	29	50.0
Inadequate	6	17	-	-	23	39.7
Not Available	-	2	-	-	2	3.4
Do not know	-	-	-	4	4	6.9
Total	14	36	-	8	58	100
% of Total*	24.1	62.1	-	13.8	100

*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

Adequacy	Those who are currently using Internet	Those who plan to obtain Internet access	Those who are not currently using Internet	Total	% of Total*
Adequate	15	7	4	26	44.8
Inadequate	19	5	6	30	51.7
Not available	-	2	-	2	3.4
Do not know	-	-	-	-
Total	34	14	10	58	99.9**
% of Total*	58.6	24.1	17.2	99.9**

*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

Improvements	Total	% of Total*
Ability to Search, Access and Download Current Information, Documents and Software	34	100
Real Time E-Mail Communication, Increased Speed & Efficiency and Decreased Cost of Communication	28	82.4
Increased contact and Exchange of News/Ideas/Data/Documents with Colleagues and Fellow Professionals Within and Outside the Country	26	76.5
Improved Teaching, Research and Publications	6	17.6

*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

Constraints	Total	% of Total*
Lack of funding/budget and facilities	20	58.8
Hardware problems (low capacity of PCS, slow modems, etc.)	18	52.9
Poor and low capacity telephone lines	16	47.1
Lack of Expertise and Knowledge	4	11.8

*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

Improvements	Total	% of Total*
Ability to Search, access and Download Current Information, Documents and Software	12	85.7
Real Time E-Mail Communication, Increased Speed & Efficiency and Decreased Cost of Communication	8	57.1
Increased contact and Exchange of News/Ideas/Data/Documents with Colleagues and Fellow Professionals Within and Outside the Country	8	57.1

*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

Constraints	Total	% of Total*
Poor and low capacity telephone lines	12	85.7
Hardware problems (low capacity of PCS, slow modems, etc.)	10	71.4
Lack of funding/budget and facilities	10	71.4
Lack of Expertise and Knowledge	2	14.3

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.

1. Qualifications and computer skills of the respondents are positively correlated for those who rated their computer skills as intermediate than the experienced computer users who are the majority of the respondents.

2. Information facilities in most of the organizations are inadequate and most respondents (82.5%) from academic & research institutions indicated so.

3. In Africa in general and in Ethiopia in particular, home computers and E-mail facilities at home are not common. Perhaps that is why more than three fourth(77.2%) of the respondents indicated that they send/receive electronic messages only from their offices.

4. The most common method of sending electronic messages among the respondents is logging in and typing the message which could be attributed to the fact that most of the users are computer literate who rated their computer skills as experienced and intermediate.

5. Among the respondents, only 2.1% indicated that they are using other networks on top of PADISnet. These are the Ethiopian Telecommunications Authority’s Internet services, HealthNet and UN CC-Mail.

6. There is no difference between locals and expatriates with respect to frequencies of sending electronic messages and logging in to check for electronic messages.

7. The frequency and mode of sending electronic mail were found to be dependent on the computer skills of the respondents. Those with better computer skills login and type their messages as well as send messages frequently.

8. In general, electronic mail was most used for sending/receiving personal messages than for regular business.

9. Respondents were mainly using electronic mail for communicating outside Africa than within the continent since very few of the respondents' messages were destined within Africa and the country.

10. There are much more improvements brought in the work of the respondents' organizations by electronic communications than difficulties. However, there are still constraints for making effective use of electronic communications, among which, ‘lack of funds, maintenance and enough workstations/modems’ and ‘lack of direct access to the Internet’ are the two top major constraints.

11. All users of the Internet have full access and almost all of them were connected through the only Internet Service Provider(ISP) in the country, the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation(ETC).

12. Prohibitive cost of Internet connection is the main reason why those respondents without full Internet access were not able to obtain it.

13. Though E-Mail and the World Wide Web(WWW) are popular among the respondents, E-Mail is the most used and useful service to them.

14. Quite a number of the respondents feel that telecommunications facilities available both at their organizations and in their areas are inadequate for full Internet access. The same is true for information facilities as well.

15. The major improvement brought (and expected to be brought) to the work of the respondents by the use of the Internet is their ability to search, access and download current information, documents and software(freeware).

16. Lack of funding/budget and facilities is the major bottleneck for those respondents who have full Internet access while those who plan to have full Internet access fear that poor and low capacity telephone lines could prevent them from making a more effective use of the Internet.

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.

Define the target population and stratify it into a manageable number of homogeneous groups.

Include both users and non-users of the information system(s) or electronic communication network(s).

Have a focus (i.e. concentrate on a particular group of organizations or individuals, e.g. small/medium businesses).

Work in close collaboration with the service providers and/or system operators or managers of the information system(s) or electronic communication network(s).

Collect as much background data on the population (e.g. traffic data) as possible.

To identify the impact indicators and measure the real impact of information or electronic communication on development, do a longitudinal study over a longer period of time (for instance 5 years).

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

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 PADISnet’s E-Mail Entry Points and for Selecting a Sample of 50 Points for interview

1. Distribution of entry points by frequency and level of use (the traffic data used was that of January and February, 1995)

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%)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Since a sample of size 50 was drawn out of the total number of entry points of the PADISnet (i.e. out of the 206 points), the breakdown of the sizes of the samples drawn from each category of entry points (by level of use) is as follows:

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%)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Distribution of sizes of the samples drawn from each group of organizations by level of use: (to illustrate how the sample sizes were determined, let us take Academic & Research organizations with high level of use.

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

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

7. Cite, in order of importance, at least 3 major improvements brought to your work by the use of Internet (feel free to explain):

8. Cite, in order of importance, at least 3 major difficulties not previously experienced, brought to the implementation of your work by the use of Internet (feel free to explain):

9. Cite, in order of importance, at least 3 major technical or other constraints preventing you from making a more effective use of Internet (feel free to explain):

10. Cite, in order of importance, at least 3 major improvements which you expect to be brought to your work by the use of Internet (feel free to explain):

11. Cite, in order of importance, at least 3 major difficulties not previously experienced, which you expect to be possibly brought to the implementation of your work by the use of Internet (feel free to explain):

12. Cite, in order of importance, at least 3 major technical or other constraints which you expect may prevent you from making a more effective use of Internet (feel free to explain):

13. Do you feel that for full Internet access, the computer and telecommunication facilities available in your organization are (tick appropriate boxes; feel free to explain):

[ ] adequate [ ] inadequate [ ] not available [ ] do not know

14. Do you feel that for full Internet access, the telecommunication facilities available in your area are (tick appropriate boxes; feel free to explain):

[ ] adequate [ ] inadequate [ ] not available [ ] do not know

15. What other limitations (e.g. awareness, training, computer skills, etc.) do you consider may prevent you from making the fullest possible use of Internet ?

16. Are information facilities (e.g. library, records unit, documentation centre) at your organization (tick appropriate box)

[ ] adequate [ ] inadequate [ ] not available [ ] do not know

Appendix V

Interview Schedule

A. Analytical Part

1. Which of your professional activities do you consider is critical for your organization to achieve its goals?

2. In implementing this activity, what is the major difficulty/problem you usually face?

3. a. In implementing this activity, do you face any difficulty related to communications?

b. What are the communication problems associated with this difficulty?

4. Before you had access to electronic communication:

- What was the nature of the difficulty, what happened?

- What was the cause of the difficulty?

- What were the effects of the difficulty?

- What were the possible solutions to the difficulty?

- How could have they been implemented?

- What would have these solutions changed?

5. After you had access to electronic communications:

- What was the nature of the difficulty, what happened?

- What was the cause of the difficulty?

- What were the effects of the difficulty?

- What were the possible solutions to the difficulty?

- How could they be implemented?

- What would these solutions change?

6. Comparing the situation before you had access to electronic communication and the current one:

- What has improved?

- What has deteriorated?

- What is unchanged?

- What new problems/difficulties arose?

- Why?

- What are their consequences?

- What are their possible solutions?

- In which way is the organization performing better?

- In which way are you yourself performing better?

- Is the overall change positive?

- What is required for the change to be continued/expanded?

- Is the overall change negative?

- What is required to turn it positive?

B. Historical Part

1. Before you had access to electronic communications, do you remember of a particular instance/case where you most effectively handled this difficulty turning the activity an exceptional success?

2. Before you had access to electronic communications, do you remember of a particular instance/case where the particularly ineffective handling of this difficulty resulted in a major failure in the activity?

3. Since you had access to electronic communications do you remember of a particular instance/case where you most effectively handled this difficulty turning the activity an exceptional success?

4. Since you had access to electronic communications, do you remember of a particular instance/case where the particularly ineffective handling of this difficulty resulted in a major failure in the activity?

5. Comparing the success and failure stories before and after you had access to electronic communications, what are the respective advantages and inconveniencies of both situations?