Even Web 2.0 has a Digital Divide
Back before the internet became mainstream in South Africa — 2004, I think — my then boyfriend got me to download Opera Mini for my k700i. I was reluctant to do so; I didn’t think I needed the internet on my phone, too.
My resistance didn’t last long and I have been using this browser ever since. I’m an Opera Mini Missionary. So I find it surprising that some people still choose to use the default browser of their phone. Unless you’re using a phone with Windows Mobile you should consider getting a proper browser.
But this isn’t my biggest gripe, actually. My biggest gripe is with companies who build these mobile sites. I’m not sure whether anyone tests it out first. Or perhaps the tester thinks the end-users won’t be interested in building content.
So this means that it’s difficult, nay, impossible, to edit a Wikipedia page by using the mobile version. I played around with the default web browser of my k800i yesterday. The page looks terrible and takes long to load. The information that gets displayed is perhaps only a quarter of what one can see on the ‘real’ web; the page on grammar is divided into three pages.
I also tested the local iAfrica site. I’m not impressed. The News24 site is even worse than iAfrica. The font is small and users cannot comment on articles. Is this the Web 2.0 Digital Divide?
Not even Opera Mini is perfect: it doesn’t recognise predictive text; however, the browser of my phone does. But Opera Mini just makes life so much easier. So I can’t imagine switching. Unless someone develops a new mobile browser that can use predictive text when typing in a Google query *and* doesn’t ever convert sites to the mobile version.
But not many people know about Opera Mini or alternative mobile browsers. Hell, most people do not even know that any WAP-enabled phone can connect to the internet.
So what does this mean for us in South Africa? Most black people do not have access to the traditional web. But almost everyone has a cellphone. The purpose of the internet is no longer just to get information; it is to get information, be entertained and create content. And it is pretty damn impossible to create any type of content with a mobile browser.
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Opera Mini does support predictive text. I just typed “elephant predictive query” into the Google search using it on a Nokia 5220 Classic (Symbian S60).
I suspect it may remember the state of T-9 on/off independently of other applications. Check you have the predictive icon on and if not double-press # to toggle the predictive state.
A 6220 actually.
Perhaps it’s a phone OS thing as I’ve used predictive text in Opera Mini on my previous Nokia S40 phone, too.
You twitted for a comment. Here’s one. You’re spot on. Been thinking about a lot lately. Better apps — like The Grid, eg — for internet capable cells phones must surely be the easiest way to close the digital divide in SA, or at least and important part of the solution. I also think mobile aps can play an essential role in developing our democracy, helping power flow from the bottom up, rather than from apparatchiks down as is now the case. Regular SMS could also play a big role if someone would build a local version of Twitter that would work with cheap messaging like Mxit. Right now, unless you access Twitter via the web, big screen or mobile, you have to send your SMS’s to a number in the UK and you can’t receive updates on you phone.
@Steve: Perhaps it is dependent on the OS of the phone. Not sure. I’m using the newest version. I’ll tweet for help just now.
@Izwi: Thing is, will these apps generate money? Isn’t that always the first concern?
And perhaps Mxit could also integrate with Twitter, as they have done with Gmail chat, MSN and other IMs.