Will AI kill development?

16 April 2018

Authors: Martin Dittus

Martin Dittus, Joss Wright, and Mark Graham have published a new paper and dataset on the economic geography of darknet marketplaces. Does recent growth of darknet markets signify a slow ... Read More Darknet markets: global platforms used for local retail trade

9 November 2017

Authors: Martin Dittus

You may have seen the news earlier this year that two large darknet marketplaces, Alphabay and Hansa, have been taken down by international law enforcement. Particularly interesting about these ... Read More A distributed resilience among darknet markets?

17 October 2017

Authors: Nicolas Friederici

We will attend next year’s Global Conference of Economic Geography (GCEG) in full strength, running two hopefully lively sessions. Both run under the larger theme “Digital Economies, Digital Connectivity, ... Read More CfP for sessions at GCEG: Digital Economies, Digital Connectivity, Digital Margins

13 September 2017

Authors: Martin Dittus

We’re sitting upstairs, hunched over a computer, and Martin is showing me the darknet. I guess I have as good an idea as most people what the darknet is, ... Read More Introducing Martin Dittus, Data Scientist and Darknet Researcher

12 September 2017

Authors: Martin Dittus

Darknet marketplaces are typically set up to engage in the trading of illicit products and services, and are considered criminal in most jurisdictions. Image: Dennis Yip (Flickr). Many people ... Read More Exploring the Darknet in Five Easy Questions

2 June 2017

Authors: Nicolas Friederici

Kytabu’s colorful Nairobi office: the startup needed several years until it could afford such a space Digital entrepreneurship is on the rise across Africa. There is no question that ... Read More Africa’s Digital (R)Evolution: An Enterprise Perspective

5 May 2017

Authors: Nicolas Friederici

Good news: my dissertation on African technology innovation hubs is now complete! The digital record is here, and the hardbound copy will shortly be deposited with Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries ... Read More Dissertation: African Hubs as Assemblers of Technology Entrepreneurs

27 February 2017

Authors: Mohammad Anwar

This is a short post about the research that I lead into digital work and the digital economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. The work that I do (in tandem with my ... Read More Digital gig work and outsourcing in Africa- Update on Geonet

20 October 2016

Authors: Mark Graham

My colleagues Nicolas Friederici, Sanna Ojanperä, and I have recently finished a paper in which we analyse ‘Grand Visions’ of how Internet connectivity affects development in Africa. In the paper, we ... Read More The Impact of Connectivity in Africa: Grand Visions and the Mirage of Inclusive Digital Development

8 October 2015

Authors: Mark Graham

I recently had the opportunity to give a plenary talk at the Global Conference on Economic Geography. The talk was part of a broader session on digital economies that Matthew ... Read More Video of ‘Digital Economies’ Keynote at the Global Conference on Economic Geography

8 October 2015

Authors: Mark Graham

I recently had the opportunity to give a plenary talk at the Global Conference on Economic Geography. The talk was part of a broader session on digital economies that Matthew ... Read More Digital Economies: Video of Keynote at the Global Conference on Economic Geography

9 June 2015

Authors: Mark Graham

Dollar Inflow and Median Wage by Country Our previous post contained a few maps that shed light on the geographies of online work. But what we didn’t do there ... Read More Uneven Geographies of Digital Wages

2 March 2015

Authors: Chris Foster

Over the past four years we have been working on a project to explore the impacts of changing internet connectivity in East Africa. In particular, we have focussed on ... Read More Internet Connectivity in East Africa – Reports

5 January 2015

Authors: Nicolas Friederici

During the interviews I conducted in Zimbabwe last October, many participants asked me: “Why pick Harare as a case study? Why not Nairobi or Lagos?” Indeed, Harare’s “ecosystem” is ... Read More Harare’s Hubs: Excitement, Experimentation, and Many Open Questions

22 October 2014

Authors: Mark Graham

The picture above was taken in Pasig City in the Philippines. The poster advertising free wifi is symbolic of the changing connectivities of a country in which more than 30 million people are now ... Read More Digital Labour and Development