- 20 Evans Rd, Singapore 259365
Han Ei Chew
National University of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Department Member
- Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Internet Research Centre, Department Memberadd
- Dr. Han Ei CHEW is Senior Research Fellow at the IPS Social Lab. He is concurrently a Research Consultant for UNESCO.... moreDr. Han Ei CHEW is Senior Research Fellow at the IPS Social Lab. He is concurrently a Research Consultant for UNESCO. He is a quantitative research specialist and has a keen interest in pursuing research work on social issues and especially technology adoption in societies. Some of his key international projects for UNESCO include “Reading in the Mobile Era” and “I’d blush if I could – Closing Gender Divides in Digital Skills through Education”.edit
This paper investigates the impact of information and communication technologies, especially landline and mobile phones, computers, and Internet cafés in facilitating economic growth in the developing world. Data on access to ICTs, as... more
This paper investigates the impact of information and communication technologies, especially landline and mobile phones, computers, and Internet cafés in facilitating economic growth in the developing world. Data on access to ICTs, as well as business‐relevant behaviors and attitudes, was collected by a multi‐stage probability sample of women microentrepreneurs in Mumbai, India. Main findings include evidence that in urban microenterprises owned by women, business growth is a function of ICT access and is related to motivation to use ICTs for business purposes; and that the more positive a woman microentrepreneur feels about her status and power because of her business, the more she will be motivated to use ICTs in support of her business. Implications for the study of digital divides and strategies for studies of communication and technology more generally are considered.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
As the fastest diffusing ICT in history, the mobile has attracted substantial scholarly interest. However, the historic penetration rate of the mobile phone in the developing world seems discordant with the paucity of evidence linking... more
As the fastest diffusing ICT in history, the mobile has attracted substantial scholarly interest. However, the historic penetration rate of the mobile phone in the developing world seems discordant with the paucity of evidence linking mobiles to productivity gains in micro-enterprises. In this study, we address the dilemma. We are seeing mobile phones everywhere but in the productivity statistics. We believe that there is a disconnect between mobile phone penetration rates and productivity statistics because businesses take time to learn how to exploit the technology for productivity gains. Findings from our study indicate there is latency between the time of mobile phone adoption and the time when this adoption starts to generate economic value. We estimated that it would take approximately three years for the benefits of mobile phone use in business processes to surface in the economic statistics. Practitioners and researchers should take this finding into consideration especially in the planning phase of ICT4D projects.
Research Interests:
Abstract In this paper, we describe the design and use of a knowledge sharing network that has recently been deployed for agricultural extension work in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The system,... more
Abstract In this paper, we describe the design and use of a knowledge sharing network that has recently been deployed for agricultural extension work in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The system, Poverty Reduction and Agricultural Management--Knowledge Sharing Network (PRAM-KSN), was built using a collaborative design process that involved both experts and ministerial agricultural extension workers who are also the current users of this web-based platform. This paper also discusses the relevance of the ...
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What happens when a classic tool meets the Internet? This is the question that word of mouth (WOM) marketing faces. Word of mouth marketing as the oldest marketing method was completed by oral communication. But since entering the... more
What happens when a classic tool meets the Internet? This is the question that word of mouth (WOM) marketing faces. Word of mouth marketing as the oldest marketing method was completed by oral communication. But since entering the Internet era, and especially with the advent of Web 2.0, the way people share information is more dependent on hands rather than mouth – that is, through the keyboard, mouse, and smart phones – to affect others easily. This chapter will discuss the blogs and eWoM from the business, technical, social, and political aspects to reveal how eWoM thrives in the age of the Internet.
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These essays make an interesting contribution to the crucial ongoing debate concerning the impact on the social sciences of the dominance of Eurocentric paradigms. Its contributions are divided into four segments: prolegomena on... more
These essays make an interesting contribution to the crucial ongoing debate concerning the impact on the social sciences of the dominance of Eurocentric paradigms. Its contributions are divided into four segments: prolegomena on metaissues, such as Asia-centrism or Africa-centrism versus Eurocentrism; the promises and pitfalls of research focused on a single nation-state; is a genuine universalism possible in social communication research?; and the prospects for future research in this arena. They are from presentations at a 2008 Taipei conference, itself sparked by a vigorous discussion at a workshop on Chinese communication research the previous year. Some chapters also appeared in the Asian Journal of Communication (19(4), 2009). A majority of the authors, such as Marwan Kraidy, Graham Murdock and David Morley, are from outside Chinese academic circles, and indeed the collection strives hard for inclusiveness. Wang’s essay on Orientalism and Occidentalism offers a carefully considered critical commentary on the latter. She defines Occidentalism as cultural subservience to the West, rather than visceral hostility to it as in some uses of the term. She places Occidentalism as generated originally by the need for “defense, reform and survival” (p. 63) in response to the colonialist bulldozer, but as persisting to the present day despite later anti-colonialist reassertions of the values in traditional cultures. Its sources in the here and now, she argues, lie in the current global dominance of Western tertiary education and its assertion of the universality of the principles of scientific knowledge developed historically within it. These institutional factors also interlock with a subaltern mentality that applies concepts derived from Western sources, such as “public sphere”, with a kneejerk disregard for their degree of fit with non-Western contexts. This mentality is also exemplified in the requirement that scholars publish in so-called “top rank” SSCI journals whose criteria of excellence are frequently highly Eurocentric. Even the West’s “critical thinking” approaches, Wang claims, are all too often squeezed into a mould of sweeping hostility to imported ideas, thereby simply inverting the compulsion to imitate. The common Western notion that Chinese culture is collectivist while Western culture is individualist, a notion that has been picked up and used unreflectively by some Chinese researchers, is one that Wang attacks as misconceived, missing out on the “relationalism” she has argued elsewhere to be a much more perceptive term to pinpoint Chinese cultural specificity. Paul S.N. Lee’s chapter proposes that non-Western researchers should deWesternize in the sense of rejecting the positivist paradigm enthroned in many Western universities, and consequently in many non-Western universities, but work with the interpretive paradigm that also enjoys a minority space in the Western academy. However, he would glue Confucianism’s explicit concern for establishing a
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10.25818/4hba-pn101-66IPS Working Papers (Institute of Policy Studies
This paper investigates the impact of information and communication technologies, especially landline and mobile phones, computers, and Internet cafés in facilitating economic growth in the developing world. Data on access to ICTs, as... more
This paper investigates the impact of information and communication technologies, especially landline and mobile phones, computers, and Internet cafés in facilitating economic growth in the developing world. Data on access to ICTs, as well as business-relevant behaviors and attitudes, was collected by a multi-stage probability sample of women microentrepreneurs in Mumbai, India. Main findings include evidence that in urban microenterprises owned by women, business growth is a function of ICT access and is related to motivation to use ICTs for business purposes; and that the more positive a woman microentrepreneur feels about her status and power because of her business, the more she will be motivated to use ICTs in support of her business. Implications for the study of digital divides and strategies for studies of communication and technology more generally are considered. 1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION As the most rapidly diffused information and communication technology (ICT) in histor...
Mobile technology can advance literacy and learning in underserved communities around the world. Summary Millions of people do not read for one reason: they do not have access to text. But today mobile phones and cellular networks are... more
Mobile technology can advance literacy and learning in underserved communities around the world. Summary Millions of people do not read for one reason: they do not have access to text. But today mobile phones and cellular networks are transforming a scarce resource into an abundant one. Drawing on the analysis of over 4,000 surveys collected in seven developing countries and corresponding qualitative interviews, this report paints the most detailed picture to date of who reads books and stories on mobile devices and why. The findings illuminate, for the first time, the habits, beliefs and profiles of mobile readers. This information points to strategies to expand mobile reading and, by extension, the educational, social and economic benefits associated with increased reading. Mobile technology can advance literacy and learning in underserved communities around the world. This report shows how.
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This article is presented as a response to the increasing need for rigorous impact assessment in ICT4D. The research reported here empirically examines whether ICTs enable microenterprise growth, to what degree, and under what conditions.... more
This article is presented as a response to the increasing need for rigorous impact assessment in ICT4D. The research reported here empirically examines whether ICTs enable microenterprise growth, to what degree, and under what conditions. We created two theoretical models that predict relationships between selected antecedents of ICT access, ICT use, and business growth. Using data collected through a multistage probability survey of women microentrepreneurs in Mumbai, India, we tested the models by structural equation modeling (SEM). Both models predicted a statistically significant, but limited causal relationship between access to ICTs (as the independent variable) and business growth (as the dependent variable). The theoretical model and the analytical techniques suggest that future research should pay greater attention to the specific factors that mediate the impact of ICTs on the growth of very small businesses.
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Efforts to promote sustainable broadband Internet adoption urge new attention to the classic diffusion of innovations paradigm. For this study, innovation attributes were reconceptualized following Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). In a... more
Efforts to promote sustainable broadband Internet adoption urge new attention to the classic diffusion of innovations paradigm. For this study, innovation attributes were reconceptualized following Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). In a sample of inner-city residents, the model accounted for 36% of the variance in intentions to adopt broadband technology and services, primarily from the SCT variables of expected outcomes and self-efficacy. Prior habitual use of the Internet was also a predictor. Price sensitivity was unrelated to adoption. Among demographic variables, only age had a significant (negative) relationship to broadband adoption after accounting for the SCT variables. Recommendations for the design and monitoring of sustainable broadband adoption interventions are made based on these findings.
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Population aging looms over countries all over the world. The social and economic implications of this phenomenon extend beyond the individual person and the immediate family, affecting broader society and the global community in profound... more
Population aging looms over countries all over the world. The social and economic implications of this phenomenon extend beyond the individual person and the immediate family, affecting broader society and the global community in profound ways. Aging populations increase pressure on already over-burdened public health care services and expenditures. To address this impending predicament, many health care providers and countries have turned to technological solutions. The near-ubiquity of mobile devices entails that mHealth will rapidly become a key component of technologically-enabled health care delivery services. This poster presents research and engineering challenges for a sustainable ICT solution that supports information exchange for mobile geriatric care.
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Research Interests:
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DSpace. Log In to DR-NTU. Help... Please enter your username and password into the form below. Please email us if you encounter any problem. Username: Password: Valid XHTML 1.0! NTU Library, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore ...
Efforts to promote sustainable broadband Internet adoption urge new attention to the classic diffusion of innovations paradigm. For this study, innovation attributes were reconceptualized following Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). In a... more
Efforts to promote sustainable broadband Internet adoption urge new attention to the classic diffusion of innovations paradigm. For this study, innovation attributes were reconceptualized following Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). In a sample of inner-city residents, the model accounted for 36% of the variance in intentions to adopt broadband technology and services, primarily from the SCT variables of expected outcomes and self-efficacy. Prior habitual use of the Internet was also a predictor. Price sensitivity was ...
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The renewal of attention on ethnocentrism in communication theory in recent years suggests an impending tipping point in the research direction of the field. That Communication Monographs, a mainstream communication journal, has published... more
The renewal of attention on ethnocentrism in communication theory in recent years suggests an impending tipping point in the research direction of the field. That Communication Monographs, a mainstream communication journal, has published an Issue Forum on “Cultural Bias in Communication Theory”(Vol. 74, No. 2, 2007, pp. 256–285)(Craig et al.(2007)) is itselfa timely testimony to the increasing concern among communication researchers on the inadequacy of the Eurocentric (read Euro-American-centric) paradigm ...
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The Report provides a comprehensive evaluation of the achievements made towards the WSIS Targets that governments agreed upon at the World Summit on the Information Society, and: Reviews progress made on each one of the WSIS Targets,... more
The Report provides a comprehensive evaluation of the achievements made towards the WSIS Targets that governments agreed upon at the World Summit on the Information Society, and: Reviews progress made on each one of the WSIS Targets, which range from connecting villages, schools and health centres to developing content and providing people with ICT access Draws attention to the availability (and lack) of data to track progress today, and over time Makes recommendations on policies that are most relevant in impacting the WSIS Targets Reviews the relevance of targets and indicators to track the information society Highlights lessons learnt and makes recommendations on a possible future (post-2015) ICT measurement framework Links a possible post-2015 ICT monitoring framework to the post-2015 Development Agenda
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The current study extends previous research by using more quotidian media primes in the form of television commercials to establish the threshold of cultural priming. It also examines if attitudinal and perceptual dispositions can be... more
The current study extends previous research by using more quotidian media primes in the form of television commercials to establish the threshold of cultural priming. It also examines if attitudinal and perceptual dispositions can be activated by media content along with the respective ...
Research Interests:
Abstract This paper investigates the impact of information and communication technologies, especially landline and mobile phones, computers, and Internet cafés in facilitating economic growth in the developing world. Data on access to... more
Abstract This paper investigates the impact of information and communication technologies, especially landline and mobile phones, computers, and Internet cafés in facilitating economic growth in the developing world. Data on access to ICTs, as well as business-relevant behaviors and attitudes, was collected by a multi-stage probability sample of women microentrepreneurs in Mumbai, India. Main findings include evidence that in urban microenterprises owned by women, business growth is a function of ICT access and is ...
Based on a survey of urban female-owned microentrepreneurs in Chennai, India, we contend that access to mobile phones is a necessary but not sufficient condition for achieving certain development goals. Through the analysis of a survey... more
Based on a survey of urban female-owned microentrepreneurs in Chennai, India, we contend that access to mobile phones is a necessary but not sufficient condition for achieving certain development goals. Through the analysis of a survey completed by 335 female microentrepreneurs who owned mobile phones, we explicate an innovative concept, entrepreneurial expectations, and explore its linkage with mobile phones and microenterprise growth. We found that among microentrepreneurs with high entrepreneurial expectations (14% of the sample), business use of mobile phones amplified the impact of entrepreneurial expectations and was associated with greater microenterprise growth. Like all technologies throughout time, mobile phones are tools that can improve or worsen the human condition, or perhaps even both simultaneously. Transformative changes, positive or negative, do not occur however because of technology alone; they
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Population aging looms over countries all over the world. The social and economic implications of this phenomenon extend beyond the individual person and the immediate family, affecting broader society and the global community in profound... more
Population aging looms over countries all over the world. The social and economic implications of this phenomenon extend beyond the individual person and the immediate family, affecting broader society and the global community in profound ways. Aging populations increase pressure on already over-burdened public health care services and expenditures. To address this impending predicament, many health care providers and countries have turned to technological solutions. The near-ubiquity of mobile devices entails that mHealth will rapidly become a key component of technologically-enabled health care delivery services. This poster presents research and engineering challenges for a sustainable ICT solution that supports information exchange for mobile geriatric care.
Research Interests:
Efforts to promote sustainable broadband Internet adoption urge new attention to the classic diffusion of innovations paradigm. For this study, innovation attributes were reconceptualized following Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). In a... more
Efforts to promote sustainable broadband Internet adoption urge new attention to the classic diffusion of innovations paradigm. For this study, innovation attributes were reconceptualized following Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). In a sample of inner-city residents, the model accounted for 36% of the variance in intentions to adopt broadband technology and services, primarily from the SCT variables of expected outcomes and self-efficacy. Prior habitual use of the Internet was also a predictor. Price sensitivity was ...
Research Interests:
Millions of people do not read for one reason: they do not have access to text. But today mobile phones and cellular networks are transforming a scare resource into an abundant one. Drawing on the analysis of over 4,000 surveys collected... more
Millions of people do not read for one reason: they do not have access to text. But today mobile phones and cellular networks are transforming a scare resource into an abundant one. Drawing on the analysis of over 4,000 surveys collected in seven developing countries and corresponding qualitative interviews, this report paints a detailed picture to date of who reads books and stories on mobile devices and why.
The findings illuminate, for the first time, the habits, beliefs and profiles of mobile readers. This information points to strategies to expand mobile reading and, by extension, the educational, social and economic benefits associated with increased reading.
Mobile technology can advance literacy and learning in underserved communities around the world. This report shows how.
The findings illuminate, for the first time, the habits, beliefs and profiles of mobile readers. This information points to strategies to expand mobile reading and, by extension, the educational, social and economic benefits associated with increased reading.
Mobile technology can advance literacy and learning in underserved communities around the world. This report shows how.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Public libraries play an important part in the development of a community. Today, they are seen as more than store houses of books; they are also responsible for the dissemination of online, and offline information. Public access... more
Public libraries play an important part in the development of a community. Today, they are seen as more than store houses of books; they are also responsible for the dissemination of online, and offline information. Public access computers are becoming increasingly popular as more and more people understand the need for internet access. Using a series of surveys conducted in 12 libraries across the state of Michigan, the current study is a step towards understanding why the computing facilities are widely used, and what are the motivations behind their use. In addition, barriers and other factors that hinder usage are also discussed. The findings from this study will help policy makers and library administrators evaluate the current allocation of scarce resources, help them promote greater use of the library's resources, and guide their future course of action. The study is conducted as part of a federally funded public computing center grant.
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Abstract In this paper, we describe the design and use of a knowledge sharing network that has recently been deployed for agricultural extension work in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The system, Poverty Reduction and... more
Abstract In this paper, we describe the design and use of a knowledge sharing network that has recently been deployed for agricultural extension work in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The system, Poverty Reduction and Agricultural Management--Knowledge Sharing Network (PRAM-KSN), was built using a collaborative design process that involved both experts and ministerial agricultural extension workers who are also the current users of this web-based platform.
Research Interests:
Efforts to promote sustainable broadband Internet adoption urge new attention to the classic diffusion of innovations paradigm. For this study, innovation attributes were reconceptualized following Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). In a... more
Efforts to promote sustainable broadband Internet adoption urge new attention to the classic diffusion of innovations paradigm. For this study, innovation attributes were reconceptualized following Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). In a sample of inner-city residents, the model accounted for 36% of the variance in intentions to adopt broadband technology and services, primarily from the SCT variables of expected outcomes and self-efficacy. Prior habitual use of the Internet was also a predictor. Price sensitivity was unrelated to adoption. Among demographic variables, only age had a significant (negative) relationship to broadband adoption after accounting for the SCT variables. Recommendations for the design and monitoring of sustainable broadband adoption interventions are made based on these findings.
Research Interests:
As the fastest diffusing ICT in history, the mobile has attracted substantial scholarly interest. However, the historic penetration rate of the mobile phone in the developing world seems discordant with the paucity of evidence linking... more
As the fastest diffusing ICT in history, the mobile has attracted substantial scholarly interest. However, the historic penetration rate of the mobile phone in the developing world seems discordant with the paucity of evidence linking mobiles to productivity gains in microenterprises. In this study, we address the dilemma: we are seeing mobile phones everywhere but in the productivity statistics. We believe that there is a disconnect between mobile phone penetration rates and productivity statistics because businesses take time to learn how to exploit the technology for productivity gains. Findings from our study indicate there is latency between the time of mobile phone adoption and the time when this adoption starts to generate economic value. We estimated that it would take approximately three years for the benefits of mobile phone use in business processes to surface in the economic statistics. Practitioners and researchers should take this finding into consideration especially in the planning phase of ICT4D projects.
Research Interests:
Communications scholars have been challenging the universality of Eurocentric scholarship, which they argue to be a form of intellectual imperialism imposing its provincial ideals and masquerading these as universal. As an answer to... more
Communications scholars have been challenging the universality of Eurocentric scholarship, which they argue to be a form of intellectual imperialism imposing its provincial ideals and masquerading these as universal. As an answer to Eurocentricity, Asiacentricity proposes to place Asian values and ideals at the center of inquiry to see Asian phenomena from the standpoint of Asians as subjects and agents. This article critiques this Asiacentric agenda and critically examines the implications and premises of this paradigm. It suggests instead that a culture-centric paradigm be adopted to avoid an Asian version of the Eurocentricity crisis. The article advocates the adoption of a more harmonious perspective in light of the convergence of global cultures and calls for approaching research deficiencies as a global community of communication scholars rather
than one divided along ethnic fault lines. The culture-centric approach is proposed as a meta-theory that is non-polarizing by nature through its placement of culture at the center of inquiry. To avoid the creation of polarity, culture-centricity seeks to encompass the contradictions and ambivalences as well as other diverse cultural representations. This article argues for a non-polarizing approach so that communication scholars can theorize without ideological bias or artificial boundaries created by arbitrary definitions of what constitutes East or West.
than one divided along ethnic fault lines. The culture-centric approach is proposed as a meta-theory that is non-polarizing by nature through its placement of culture at the center of inquiry. To avoid the creation of polarity, culture-centricity seeks to encompass the contradictions and ambivalences as well as other diverse cultural representations. This article argues for a non-polarizing approach so that communication scholars can theorize without ideological bias or artificial boundaries created by arbitrary definitions of what constitutes East or West.
Research Interests:
The television landscape is in a state of flux. In this new environment, profit-driven media companies have to balance tradeoffs between traditional and new channels of video distribution to optimize returns on their investments in... more
The television landscape is in a state of flux. In this new environment, profit-driven media companies have to balance tradeoffs between traditional and new channels of video distribution to optimize returns on their investments in content generation. This chapter describes the challenges traditional television service providers face in adapting their strategies to an environment in which the internet is playing an increasingly prominent role as a new distribution channel. In the short to intermediate run there is the
challenge of finding ways to monetize an internet audience without cannibalizing profits earned through traditional distribution channels. The longer-term challenge is adapting to a distribution technology that embeds a fundamentally different economic logic for video market organization. In this chapter, we describe and analyze current trends in the internet television market and traditional television industry players’ efforts to respond to the opportunities and threats posed by internet distribution.
challenge of finding ways to monetize an internet audience without cannibalizing profits earned through traditional distribution channels. The longer-term challenge is adapting to a distribution technology that embeds a fundamentally different economic logic for video market organization. In this chapter, we describe and analyze current trends in the internet television market and traditional television industry players’ efforts to respond to the opportunities and threats posed by internet distribution.