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Digital Planet: Mobile phones not always beneficial to displaced people

Factual: Science & Nature

Mogadishu-CROP-1230171988.jpg

07/12/2021 GMT

Mobile phones not always beneficial to displaced people

BBC World Service - Digital Planet, Mobile phones not always beneficial to displaced people

A new study shows that mobile phones are not as beneficial to displaced people as thought.

Mobile phones are not always beneficial to displaced people. Also, could slaughterbots (autonomous lethal weapons) be banned? Plus, improving WikiAfrica.

New research shows that mobile phones may not be as beneficial to displaced people as previously thought.  Using video diaries, where displaced people in Somalia recorded their mobile phone use, researchers found that women, in particular, are being exploited by employers who fail to pay them using mobile money.  Professor Jutta Bakonyi from Durham University is on the show and her colleague Dr. Peter Chonka joins us in the podcast.


Slaughterbots – autonomous lethal weapons
Slaughterbots - if human: kill(), is a short film that warns of humanity's accelerating path towards the widespread use of slaughterbots – autonomous weapons that use artificial intelligence (AI) to identify, select, and kill people without human intervention.  It’s produced by The Future of Life Institute and its lead on autonomous weapons Dr. Emilia Javorsky explains how the UN is currently looking at banning this type of tech.

WikiAfrica
A growing movement to create and edit Wikipedia articles in official African languages is proving successful following a series of Afrocurations, organised by the Moleskine Foundation, where young people from South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Morocco are learning how to tell the stories of their lives, culture, and history through Wikipedia.  We hear from one of these students and also Lwando Xaso, a South African lawyer, writer and activist, who helped set up the events. 


The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.

Studio Manager: John Boland
Producers: Alex Mansfield and Ania Lichtarowicz

(Image: Getty Images)

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