Subject: [gaia] Internet Inclusion Report: Gap Mapping Working Group

From: Arjuna Sathiaseelan <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2016 20:31:04 +0100

This will be of interest to many here...

The Gap Mapping Initiative is intended to serve as a guide to those who
wish to stay informed, create, invest, and take action to speed the growth
of human potential through Internet connectivity: Connect to Thrive.

The Gap Mapping Initiative will visualize the gaps keeping the next billion
and a half people from getting meaningful value from Internet connectivity
- by region (hence map). It will identify regions' current conditions, the
inhabitant's goals and the best potential pathways to success for each
region. Organizations with resources will then have visibility into where
investments have the highest likelihood of the largest impact.

As simply getting a connection to the Internet is not enough, our first
step will be to agree on a definition of "Meaningful Connectivity".
Connectivity must provide enough positive value to be sustainable and
measuring that value requires a clear definition. And as "meaningful" is
also in the eye of the beholder, we will float a small, exploratory survey
of underserved to ensure our results are in line with their aspirations as
well as our ambitions. We want to get the language right.

We also intend to survey funders (governments/banks/philanthropists, etc.)
to find out what information they wish to rely on to make judicious,
investment risk analyses. Our intermediate goal is to come up with a
minimum viable Gap Map prototype to show to potential consumers for
feedback. We intend to learn by doing.

If you are interested in any of the above, please email me at jim [at]
PeopleCentered.net now so we can take the first steps together.

--
Arjuna Sathiaseelan
Personal: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~as2330/
N4D Lab: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~as2330/n4d