The mobile growth statistics are impressive, but the region is home to some of the lowest internet penetration rates in the world. For example, Only 2% of PNG's population had access to the internet in 2011 and in Solomon Islands, Samoa and Vanuatu, it is less than 10%. However, web-enabled mobile phones and Facebook phones are enabling the region to leapfrog barriers (such as remoteness, cost and availability) to computer-enabled internet access. Decreasing costs for handsets and calls, and better reception, has facilitated more widespread access, far beyond affluent urban dwellers.

There are now almost 700,000 Facebook users in the Pacific Islands, dispersed across the region's population of 10 million people. PNG is leading the region's growth in social media use with Facebook membership nearing 150,000, a figure which has tripled since mid-2011. Fiji and Samoa, also experiencing high growth in Facebook membership, are not far behind.

What makes the ICT revolution in the Pacific particularly transformative is its potential to address the region's demographic, geographic and economic challenges. The Pacific population is dispersed across hundreds of small islands and atolls, spanning an area one-third of the globe's surface. The region's distance from the economic centres of the Asia Pacific make for some of the most remote countries and territories in the world.

Digital technologies are helping Pacific Islanders participate in political dialogue and are improving social inclusiveness and development. People in both urban and rural communities are participating in debates from which they were previously excluded. Unlike radio, arguably the most important source of information for most Pacific Islanders, Facebook discussion groups and blogs provide a forum for an exchange of information and opinion where all users can participate.

My paper doesn't just analyse what is happening in the region, it also tackles the region's 'digital development' opportunities. Tools such as crowdsourcing and mobile phone applications such as those devoted to health present the Pacific Islands region with immense opportunities. Tentative steps have already been made in this area, but there is enormous scope for Pacific Islands governments, the private sector and international donors to make far better use of the region's growing ICT infrastructure.  

Most importantly, I hope to use this paper to start a discussion on The Interpreter that looks at the Pacific's digital future. What could this ICT revolution mean for the Pacific Islands region? Are the region's governments ready to grasp these opportunities? Are the region's business, civil society and donor communities equipped with the right skills, knowledge and vision to capitalise on this digital transformation? Does the region's digital emergence offer an opportunity for Australia, as the largest trade and aid partner, to reinforce and revitalise its relationship with the region? And are there areas where Australia could focus more of its public and private resources?

I hope to see Pacific and Australian government officials, academics, bloggers, civil society representatives and others take part. Please send your submissions (of about 600 words) to DCave@lowyinstitute.org and blogeditor@lowyinstitute.org to take part.

Photo by Flickr user JonJon2k8.

Mobile-supported health services, or mHealth, is a fast growing area, with health ministries the world over supporting deployment of mobile-based data collection and diagnostic tools. Danielle's research highlights some of the innovative deployments of mHealth initiatives across the Pacific, including the Vodafone Foundation's Dr SMS service, which has significantly improved patient services in Fiji. However, such deployments still have a long way to go to take full advantage of the opportunity presented by rapidly increasing mobile penetration across the region.

Indonesian health authorities, for instance, have used mobile-based mass-communication tools such as FrontlineSMS as well as SMS news system Info Obat Murah to significantly improve diagnosis, inform rural patients of appropriate treatments and conduct rapid assessments of rural health infrastructure and medical centre needs. Other text-message survey tools such as EpiSurveyor and GeoPoll have boosted the reach of rural vaccination campaigns in Bangladesh by using SMS to inform residents in targeted districts about where and when to bring their children for treatment.

Meanwhile, Angola's major telecommunications provider Movicel had tremendous success with a recent polio campaign by offering a top-up of phone credit for the parents of vaccinated children, resulting in 100% attendance by local families.

Greater funding from major donors such as AusAID and NZAID for the development of mHealth applications, face-to-face and online training of health workers in data collection, epidemiology and treatment, and the roll-out of mobile-based incentives schemes is vital if one of the major drivers of urbanisation across the Pacific is to be addressed.

The decision to urbanise is often about more than just access to health care. It can be influenced by a variety of factors including the search for employment, education and a richer social life. It's therefore vital that mobile-based and online tools be used to improve government response to the rapid growth of cities.

Lessons from Kenya's informal settlements suggest that accurate mapping of urban topography as well as reliable information about human settlement and the service delivery needs of fringe dwellers are vital enablers of political action. In Nairobi's Kibera slum, for instance, crowdsourced mapping tools such as OpenStreetMap and Ushahidi have been used to collect information cheaply and reliably about the area's human geography, ultimately resulting in its appearance on official maps and inclusion in planning processes.

Closer to home, Indonesia's Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team has focused on data preparedness and disaster risk reduction in cities. The goal is to train communities to collect reliable base data (roads, health facilities, water points etc.) which are then analysed to identify areas vulnerable to natural disasters. The exercise helps government and community decision makers understand the critical importance of developing local disaster resilience. With many Pacific Island countries at high risk of natural disasters, it's vital that similar initiatives aimed at building resilience through mapping and local emergency management partnerships receive strong support from donors.

Obviously, increasing deployment of internet- and mobile-based tools alone will not solve regional challenges such as rapid urbanisation; that's where committed, transparent governments willing and able to take action are vital. But Danielle is certainly right that a coherent Pacific ICT-for-Development Strategy is necessary to ensure donors provide governments with the right tools and expertise to confront those challenges effectively.

Photo by Flickr user WhiteAfrican.

The power of mobile phones is that they are now so common. In the Pacific Islands, even if an individual does not own one, it is very likely they know someone who does. No other form of two-way communication is so widely used. Once connectivity has been restored after a disaster, mobile phone technology can be used to obtain location and status information in a rapid and coordinated way.

After the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand, the only communications system that wasn't knocked out was the mobile internet system. SMS and phone calls were impossible but New Zealanders could access Google's Person Finder, an open source web application developed in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake disaster. New Zealand has a much wider distribution of web-enabled mobile phones than in most Pacific islands but we can look to Haiti for solutions using SMS.

After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, mobile phone towers were quickly repaired. In an effort to centralise data collection and provide Haitians with a way of requesting help, Ushahidi, a not for profit tech organisation, lobbied the authorities for the release of an SMS shortcode. This shortcode was advertised on the radio and people affected by the earthquake provided their location and needs in text. Ushahidi coordinated and crowdsourced volunteers to translate the information from Haitian creole into English (the dominant language used by those coordinating relief efforts) and georeference the texts so they could be mapped in near real-time (see video above). This constantly updated map was used by the large humanitarian relief and aid agencies such as the UN, FEMA and the US Marines.

In the Pacific Islands, developing software and networks that would enable a similar SMS-focused model could be helpful in response to a disaster. This method requires the manual input of position information and translation of texts by people online with the time and internet access required to map the information. Ushahidi maintains a standby volunteer taskforce for just this purpose, tapping into the goodwill of the online community and often the diaspora of a disaster-affected country.

Critics of crowd sourced data are wary of the hyperbole. They are concerned about the confusion when trying to sort information from noise, the need for those coordinating relief efforts to have sufficient bandwidth to view online maps and the false hope that may come from SMS shortcodes. Innovation around crowdsourcing, however, continues to emerge from the online community in response to disasters such as Japan's 2012 earthquake and tsunami.

As the use of such software and techniques become more widespread and agencies more aware, the use of shared information will become more refined and software will become more precise. Equipping the few with more sophisticated and expensive technology to allow them to access collated information provided by the many isn't that difficult. Using information directly from the people that require help, with some intelligent data mining, should lead to increased effectiveness in disaster relief.

The Pacific Islands, a region prone to natural disasters, stands to gain from such developments in situations when they need it most. Disaster response agencies, donors and governments in the Pacific Islands should be looking for the most suitable product that will help to quickly provide access to mobile phone networks in a disaster.

The second issue I would raise is the importance of parallel infrastructure. In a recent study into the impact of increased mobile phone use in Vanuatu, the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (where I am currently employed) identified parallel infrastructure as a key factor affecting the usefulness of mobile phones in relation to social and economic activity.

As might be expected, the significance of parallel infrastructure (eg. facilities for recharging phones or transport services to get produce to markets) is greater in rural than in urban areas and this is part of the reason why availability of mobile communications is linked to increased urbanisation (as discussed by Gerard McCarthy and Keera Pullman). However, the concept of parallel infrastructure goes further, and appropriate parallel policy infrastructure is essential if the use of ICT applications is to be harnessed to enhance development in the Pacific.

What needs to remain central in this discussion is the realisation that use of ICTs is a tool to enable policy responses; it is not a policy response in itself. Take the example of sending lesson suggestions to teachers in rural areas by SMS. This sounds simple, cost-effective and innovative, and indeed it is. However, it presumes a number of things: that there is a teacher at the school who has a phone that is charged and able to receive the message and who has a blackboard on which to write the suggested activity and some chalk with which to write it.

Unless all of these bits of parallel infrastructure are in place (requiring appropriate policy implementation through 'traditional' means: budgeting, procurement, delivery etc), using an ICT application will not add value. In fact, there is a risk that too much focus on ICTs and their potential may create unrealistic expectations among individuals and communities unless the surrounding policy aspects are given appropriate consideration.

Finally, I think there is more to be said about whether a regional response or strategy is most appropriate in this area. There are certainly opportunities for Pacific island governments and policy professionals to share their knowledge, and this is already happening.

However, it is important to be cognisant of the diversity at play in this part of the world. It seems to me that the versatility of ICT applications and the relatively low development costs involved lend themselves to tailor-made solutions to 'on the ground' challenges. More exciting still is the potential for Pacific island communities to grab a hold of the technological building blocks and use them to develop ICT applications that are firmly sited in the particular geographical, cultural, linguistic and political environment in which they will be used.

Dr Newton Cain asks whether a regional ICT-for-development strategy is appropriate for international donors and businesses. I recommend in my paper that the Australian Government, as the region's largest donor, commit to a regional strategy. This certainly doesn't preclude country-tailored mobile application and crowdsourcing programs. In fact, most mobile applications and crowdsourcing programs will have to be tailored to each Pacific Island country, and in many circumstances, to certain provinces and to local communities, for them to be effective. Nevertheless, a regional strategy would ensure a commitment to explore opportunities in all Pacific Islands countries so that both large and small countries can benefit.

I think it is fair to say that, so far, the region has not seen the organic emergence of a locally-led ICT-for-development sector. And this likely won't happen without support, training and the provision of resources from government and business. But, the Pacific Islands region is in the unique position of being able to cherry pick the digital development tools and applications that have worked in countries facing similar development challenges. 

So far, few organisations have capitalised on the Pacific's growing ICT infrastructure to enhance development and social outcomes. It wouldn't take a lot of effort or resources from the region's key donors and businesses to collaborate directly with Pacific Island governments in creating and supporting the types of digital tools (such as mobile applications, mobile-based projects and crowdsourcing) that would benefit Pacific populations. 

It is abundantly clear that the Pacific Islands region is suffering from an under-use of digital development tools and I think the greatest concern lies in the opportunities being missed. These tools help get the right information to the right people at the right time. And the power of timely information, in a region as dispersed and remote as the Pacific, should not be underestimated.

Photo by Flickr user US Pacific Fleet.

Kenya's budget tracking tool examines the allocation of the Constituencies Development Fund, which the members of the parliament use to invest in their constituencies. The public response to the tool has been overwhelming. The website receives more than 5700 hits and 4000-4500 SMS messages per month. Cases have been uncovered where funds that existed on paper did not translate into expenditures, in some cases leading to the resignation of officers in charge of those projects.

The closest thing to an anti-corruption reporting website in PNG is fixmyroad.com, where users can upload pictures and reports of roads needing repair and alert other road users to problems. Unfortunately, the website has had only 35 reports since it was begun in 2009, not really surprising given PNG's still limited (although growing) internet penetration. However, even the Indian and Kenyan examples have had little measurable success in changing corrupt practices at the state level.  
 
This isn't to say that the excitement around online transparency initiatives is simply hype. There are few long-term studies, but that is probably because the technology is so new that the data is simply not available, and also because the structures surrounding corruption are so complex that transparency initiative will only ever be part of a larger puzzle.

One long-term study does find a link between mobile phone ownership and reduction in perceptions of corruption, suggesting that decentralised networks facilitated by mobile phones can reduce opportunities to engage in corruption and increase the risk of detection (although not everyone agrees). Others find that simply increasing citizen engagement — for example, by  participating in communal discussions about corruption — can engender greater participation in governance, with developmental benefits.

Perhaps major changes in corruption aren't the end goal, but just try posting that on Sharp Talk.

Photo by Flickr user Jorge Lascar.

This means the mobile phone is seen as having the potential to directly assist poor people, particularly those in remote or isolated locations. Trials around the world have shown the potential for strategic mobile phone interventions to improve health and education, as well as in the lives of women and other disadvantaged groups.

Commentators have suggested the use of mobile phones for mHealth applications in the Pacific region. Telemedicine is one type of mHealth, and a pilot project was recently launched in Milne Bay Province to test its effectiveness in PNG. It is hoped this province-wide research project will give direction and guidance to the funder and others about the use of telemedicine in PNG. Another free-call line related to maternal health in PNG is the Susu Mamas Hotline. Other community service hotlines in PNG include the BAHA line for information on HIV/AIDS and the Famli Seif Line for domestic violence cases.
 
Receptiveness to the use of mobile phones for development in PNG is high. Mobile operators are open to M4D projects ('mobile phones for development'), and development sector organisations are also expressing interest in M4D, though most projects are only in the idea phase. Non-government organisations are keenly thinking discussing M4D, but their concerns include costs for the end user, the cost for the organisation, and the problem of charging mobile phone batteries in locations with no mains electricity supply.

Non-government organisations and church agencies of various sizes and issues of concern want to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the expansion of mobile phone networks in PNG. However, most do not have the technical capacity or understanding to implement the projects they envisage. Others are not sure of what is technically possible.

As Danielle Cave has suggested, a coordinated approach to the use of mobile phones in development could be beneficial. It may also be that there is a role for a funder to provide enabling support such as technical advice, relationships with providers and perhaps even funding. Such support could bring into being project ideas that have the potential to benefit disadvantaged or marginalised people in PNG or other Pacific nations.

Photo by Flickr user Butterfly Works Social Campaigns and Learning. A longer version of this post will be published in the next edition of Contemporary PNG Studies: DWU Research Journal.

SMS language has also spilled onto the comments pages of blogs and community Facebook pages used by Papua New Guineans. In PNG, where 2011 census data recorded that only 50% of the population could read or write in any of the three official languages of Tok Pisin, Motu or English, this is potentially significant. Improving literacy and access to education across the country is critical, and it's an area where SMS has helped in other developing countries. Mapping how people otherwise classified as illiterate are using text-based ICT may provide important insights into how to better target literacy programs in PNG.

Across East New Britain and many parts of PNG, mobile phones are a ubiquitous accessory for men and women in most age groups. People who lack knowledge of or confidence with new technology are sometimes jokingly referred to as 'grinred man' or 'grinred meri', a man or woman who can only use the green button on their phones to access calls or text messages, and the red button to end calls. Even so, these people still have phones. And as Olivia Wilson notes, 'even if someone doesn't own a phone, they will know someone who does'. Equally, if a phone doesn't have internet access or if someone can't access the internet on their phone because they don't know how or don't have enough credit, someone else will help.

This means phone and internet use is not necessarily only about single users congregating in online communities. It may be several people sharing a password and/or collectively authoring a comment or text. With the rollout of initiatives such as mobile banking, this is important to consider, as it raises issues of privacy and the potential for theft and misuse of funds. These risks are higher for less educated people, and particularly for women. However, group or proxy user behavior may also be harnessed and targeted to disperse information via peer education programs for initiatives such as electoral education and health.

These brief examples indicate that new literacies and ways of using ICT are evolving endogenously and organically in communities across the Pacific. It is vital that any attempts by development partners to help generate ICT-for-development initiatives prioritise understanding and working within the trends set on the ground before attempting to apply lessons learned from other countries.

Photo by Flickr user Scallop Holden.