Measuring Progress: Towards Better Measures of Global ICT Adoption and Use

This report, written as a chapter for the Global Information Society Watch 2008 Report, discusses what indicators would best take into account the growing broadband divide, what constitutes “universal access”, and how to accommodate local realities regarding data availability, especially in developing countries. It includes background and status of the work on global information and communication technologies (ICTs) indicators and principles and considerations for selecting future indicators. It concludes with a chart called the "Core Indicator List" from The Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development.


According to authors, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Action Plan and the ICT-related components of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provided further momentum for two developments in ICT uptake measurement. First, three indices aimed at measuring and ranking national progress towards becoming information societies were developed and published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU has now begun work on a single index which aims to combine the best features of the earlier indices. Second, the formation of the international multi-stakeholder Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development was established and now comprises the ITU, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Eurostat, the World Bank Group, and the UN regional agencies. The partnership was set up for three key reasons: to achieve a common set of core ICT indicators, agreed upon internationally; to help build the capacities of national statistical offices in developing countries to collect the necessary data; and to develop a global database on ICT indicators and make it available on the internet.

One of its outputs, the Core ICT Indicators (included at the close of this document), describes a set of 41 core indicators that were identified during the stocktaking exercise and subsequently endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in 2007. The core indicators are divided into four groups as follows:
• ICT infrastructure and access (twelve indicators)
• Access to and use of ICT by households and individuals (thirteen indicators)
• Use of ICT by businesses (twelve indicators)
• The ICT sector and trade in ICT goods (four indicators).

This document recommends rethinking the core indicators because lack of data availability from many countries remains a key problem - "only a small proportion of countries are able to report on all 41 indicators...[T]he total number of indicators may have to be reduced, especially those that require user surveys....Developing countries need indicators which help them formulate regulatory and policy decisions around how to best extend the network using constrained resources. Shared use, community networks, telecentres and so forth are strategies that are not yet fully reflected or measured in the legacy indicators agreed to by the partnership."


As stated here, "[i]n considering options for choosing indicators, the key considerations and assumptions can be summarised as follows:
• The goal should be to provide universally accepted measures of ICT adoption at a national level that encompass as many nations as possible, using consistent data definitions and timing for data reporting.
• The selection of indicators should be based on a solid conceptual framework that aims to provide measures of actual uptake and use. The use of factors that attempt to ascribe the potential for access are likely to find less wide acceptance. Similarly, supply-side indicators also tend to reflect potential use rather than actual use.
• The focus should be on personal rather than business use (although ideally in future when more data are available, household use and other types of disaggregation would also be more explicitly included in the indicators).
• To maximise the validity period in the face of evolving technologies, new infrastructure and new services adoption, the indicators need to anticipate the future evolution of ICT infrastructure and services.
• Indicator data used should be provided by credible organisations which issue them on a regular basis to allow for longitudinal studies (over time)."

The document recommends opting for fewer indicators and fresher data from a more inclusive number of countries, if possible. It reviews in further detail considerations of what might be included based upon the practical obstacles to acquiring accurate and timely data. It recommends measures of gender equity, particularly to support national efforts in the developing world on policies prioritising women’s and girls’ access to and ability to use ICTs. "...other equity indicators would include the dispersion of public access facilities (telecentres, cybercafés, or public phones), mobile coverage areas, mobile and broadband affordability, and basic literacy levels." Measures of network coverage and affordability indicators are also cited for inclusion, among others.