Mark Zuckerberg on connectivity

Mark Zuckerberg says connectivity is a basic human right – do you agree?

3 January 2014 theguardian.com

 

It's good to talk … Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg believes the world is better off connected.

 

Amid a year of online innovations, the Facebook founder says a better-connected world benefits local economies. Is he right?

Over the past year, several significant online innovations have emerged. It was predicted that mobile phones would outnumber people by 2014, with low-cost smartphones opening up opportunities for even more people to get connected. And the UN turned to the internet to canvass opinion on what should replace the millennium development goals.

In August, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that he aimed to get every person on the planet online. He then launched internet.org, along with a 10-page document entitled Connectivity is a Human Right that outlines his vision of the future.

This followed the 2010 launch of Facebook Zero, a text-only version of the site with no data charges. In the 18 months since its launch, Facebook users in Africa increased by 114%. The business benefits for the popular social-networking site are obvious, but Zuckerberg believes a better-connected world is better for local economies, too.

Next came Twitter, which in December signed a deal with a Swiss mobile company to enable cheap access to users of phones with basic features or on low-cost plans.

Wikipedia also got in on the act. Its foundation, Wikimedia, has a clear mission: to create a world "in which every single human being can freely share the sum of all knowledge''. Last year the company launched Wikipedia Zero, a flagship programme that partners with mobile phone providers to let people browse with no data charges. As with Facebook, the term "zero" signifies free data.

In October, Wikipedia joined forces with Airtel to provide Wikipedia Zero by SMS for the first time in Kenya. Users can text *515# to receive an invite to search Wikipedia; they are then sent the information requested a paragraph at a time. After a three-month trial they hope to expand the service. Wikimedia hopes to reach 1 billion people by 2015.

The most recent partnership announced by Wikipedia is in Burma, which has a 10% mobile phone penetration rate, one of the lowest in the world.

Meanwhile, Groundsource is testing a new platform to ensure that communities that are not online are able to get their voices heard. The platform, which works on feature phones, hopes to bring people together over shared concerns and connect them with journalists.

In India there are an estimated 200m internet users, but only 30% are women. Google hopes to change this by helping 50 million women go digital over the year. It's helping women get online website gives a step-by-step guide to the internet, from computer basics to language preferences. Mothers are targeted by "inspirational" quotes such as "internet moms connect well with their kids" and "internet moms make meals fun". The company has also set up a toll-free helpline and partnered with companies to raise awareness of the initiative offline.

There are also innovations such as BRCK, a low-cost modem, designed for Africa that can switch between Ethernet, WI-Fi and 3G/4G connection. Its backup battery means it can last for eight hours off grid.

So are we going to see a dramatic increase in the number of people getting online in developing countries over the next few years? How can people overcome the barriers of high charges, low network coverage, a lack of reliable electricity and restrictions to information due to laws enforced by their governments?

Questions for comprehension

1. What is your understanding of the term “connectivity”?
    
   The state of being connected and interconnected, joining platforms and systems and applications together such as Facebook zero, this article is connectivity, also connectivity is a human right.
    
2. What are Facebook Zero and Wikipedia Zero, and how do these work? Why are these thought to be good for developing countries?
    
   Facebook zero is a text only, no data charges site, it’s a better connected site it appeals more to people worldwide. The business benefits social networking platforms and ever since it was launched 114% in Africa has increased. Wikipedia zero is a flagship programme that partners with mobile phone providers to let people browse with no data charges, both Facebook zero and Wikipedia zero are good when it comes to developing countries because some countries don’t have a lot of money and can’t afford to buy data or any type of Wi-Fi so the fact that both of this applications require no data free of charge is a benefit for countries such as Africa and India.
    
3. What other initiatives are taking place in developing countries, to encourage people to get online?
   There are 200m internet users in India and only 30% are women, google hopes to change that by getting 50 million go digital over the next year , its helping women get online websites , gives a step by step guide to the internet. There are also innovations such as BRCK, a low cost modem designed for Africa that can switch between Ethernet, WI-Fi 3G /4G connection, its back up battery means it can last up to 8 hours off the grid.

 

1. Do you agree with Zuckerberg's view that connectivity is a human right?

I do agree that connectivity is human right because it gives developing countries a chance to experience online activity, its only right for those who don’t have a lot of access to Wi-Fi, people are connected through the internet so if that was taken away it feels not exactly right, countries with less access should be given that opportunity as non-developing countries because its only right for them to have the same rights as other countries do , so yes I do believe that connectivity is a human right.

 

1. How does your internet behaviour differ from five years ago? Many people now turn to the web for information on key services – are you among them?

The internet was different 5 years ago, we didn’t use it back then unlike how we use it now,  people didn’t really rely on using the internet whereas now we use the internet for everything ,  it because of the development of technology over the years. The technology was very advanced and developed 5 years so ago. We now a days use the internet as a guide for information for example when we don’t understand or know a word we tend to use google or translate we use the internet many different ways but the main one is to search for information because the internet is now more advanced for use to just search things, I am one of them people because our society and world is so used to just turning to the internet, our brains adapt to using the internet , and plus the technology is way more advance so we don’t even have to use a computer screen we can just turn and use our mobile phones. Society is nothing like how it was 5 years ago.