Mobile apps and services for development: What can we learn from the non-smartphone era in ICT4D?

This project aims to describe and explain the field of mobile apps and services for development—'m4d' apps and services—primarily by studying its realisation in South Africa during the pre-smartphone era. Concepts from infrastructure studies (Star, 199) and platform studies (Montfort & Bogost, 2009) are employed to describe the relationship between technology platforms and the apps and services built on them. Research activities include producing a historical and technical account of the mobile network and platforms for m4d apps and services, taking inventory of m4d apps and services in South Africa and categorizing them according to various dimensions of interest, conducting and analysing unstructured interviews with developers and designers of m4d apps and services, and carrying out an exploratory quantitative analysis of secondary data generated through use of a mobile data collection app. The findings demonstrate that claims about the potential for m4d apps and services should be understood in the context of embodied infrastructural limitations, arising from the gap between design context and the use contexts in the developing world. The result is a field with limited diversity, with designs for m4d apps and services reducible to a relatively small number of archetypes. Alignment with actants in the global network for m4d apps and services, including funders, mobile network operators and ""circuits of truth"" (Roy 2010, location 123) such as the GSMA's Mobiles for Development Impact programme produces additional incentives for concentration. Finally, the discursive construction of the m4d consensus as it relates to apps and services is not neutral. Whatever benefits accrue to users in the developing world, frames that position technologies as offering solutions to development problems are designed to achieve favourable public perception, and by extension favourable regulatory treatment, for technology industry interests.本研究旨在系统阐释面向发展的移动应用与服务（Mobile for Development，下文简称m4d）领域，核心研究路径为探究该领域在功能手机时代南非的实践形态。本研究引入基础设施研究（Infrastructure Studies，Star，199）与平台研究（Platform Studies，Montfort & Bogost，2009）的理论框架，剖析技术平台与其上构建的应用与服务之间的关联。本研究的具体研究工作包括：梳理面向发展的移动应用与服务所依托的移动网络与平台的历史脉络与技术细节；盘点南非境内的面向发展的移动应用与服务，并依据核心研究维度对其进行分类；对面向发展的移动应用与服务的开发者与设计师开展非结构化访谈并进行质性分析；基于移动数据采集应用生成的二手数据开展探索性定量分析。研究结果表明，针对面向发展的移动应用与服务的潜力相关论断，需结合具身化的基础设施局限加以理解——这类局限源于发展中国家的设计场景与实际使用场景之间存在的落差。该领域的实践呈现出多样性不足的特征，面向发展的移动应用与服务的设计模式可归纳为数量有限的几类原型。与面向发展的移动应用与服务全球网络中的行动者（Actant），包括资助方、移动网络运营商，以及如全球移动通信系统协会（GSMA）移动促进发展影响力项目这类‘真理回路（circuits of truth，Roy 2010, location 123）’保持协同，会进一步加剧行业集中化趋势。最后，与面向发展的移动应用与服务相关的‘m4d共识’的话语建构并非中立。尽管发展中国家的用户可能从中获益，但将技术定位为发展问题解决方案的叙事框架，其设计初衷是为技术产业利益群体博取良好的公众舆论，并进而争取有利的监管环境。