Sanna is a DPhil Student at the OII and also a doctoral student at the Alan Turing Institute, where she leads the Data and Inequality interest group together with her supervisor Mark Graham.
Email: sanna.ojanpera@oii.ox.ac.ukTel: +44 (0)1865 612344
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Sanna is a DPhil Student at the OII and also a doctoral student at the Alan Turing Institute, where she leads the Data and Inequality Interest Group together with her supervisor Mark Graham. Her doctoral research investigates the relationship between accessing work through online platforms and informality, and how these practices impact inequality, social exclusion, well-being, productivity, and the government’s ability to collect taxes. She is also very interested in the applications of big data in international development and through her research in the Big Data and Development Research Cluster and the Connectivity, Inclusion, and Inequality Research Group endeavours to understand what development is and should be in the era of massive data and ever-increasing computing abilities.
Before commencing her doctoral studies Sanna worked as the quantitative research lead in an ERC-funded GeoNet project which studies how new economic practices and processes are taking root in Sub-Saharan Africa as a result of changing connectivities. Before joining the OII, Sanna worked with the Digital Engagement team of the World Bank Governance Global Practice and the Inter-American Development Bank’s Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness Unit. She earned a Master’s Degree from American University’s School of International Service (Washington, DC) in 2013. At SIS she studied international development, governance, and innovative research methods as an ASLA-Fulbright Fellow.
Research interests
international development, digital economy, online labour, big data, informality, internet and information geography, knowledge economy, ICT for development, connectivity, inclusion, and equality.
Latest blog posts
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How ready is Africa to join the knowledge economy?
Date Published: 22 June 2017
Authors: Sanna Ojanpera
Changes in the ways knowledge is created and used are driving economic and social development worldwide. Ugandan school by Brian Wolfe (Flickr CC BY-NC ... Read More How ready is Africa to join the knowledge economy?
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New Publication: Engagement in the Knowledge Economy: Regional Patterns of Content Creation with a Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa
Date Published: 15 March 2017
Authors: Sanna Ojanpera
We have a new publication out: Ojanperä, S., Graham, M., Straumann, R. K., De Sabbata, S., & Zook, M. (2017). Engagement in the knowledge ... Read More New Publication: Engagement in the Knowledge Economy: Regional Patterns of Content Creation with a Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mapping the Availability of Online Labour
Date Published: 20 October 2016
Authors: Sanna Ojanpera
Digitalization and the increasing connectivity across the globe have capacitated the emergence of an online labour market. A number of platforms now facilitate transactions ... Read More Mapping the Availability of Online Labour
Current projects
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GeoNet: Internet Geographies: Changing Connectivities and the Potentials of Sub-Saharan Africa’s Knowledge Economy
Participants: Professor Mark Graham, Dr Stefano De Sabbata, Nicolas Friederici, Dr Christopher Foster, Sanna Ojanperä, Dr Mohammad Amir Anwar, Dr Fabian Braesemann, Michel Wahome
This research project is examining the geographies, drivers, and effects of Sub-Saharan Africa's emerging information economies at a time of changing connectivity and Internet access across the region.
Past projects
Conference papers
- (2016) "Measuring the Contours of the Global Knowledge Economy with a Digital Index", Development Studies Association Conference.
- (2013) "Networked Structures in International Development: A Proposal for a Research Agenda", 6th Annual Meeting of the Political Networks Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA).
Journal articles
- (2017) "Digital Connectivity and African Knowledge Economies", Questions de communication. 32.
- (2017) "Engagement in the Knowledge Economy: Regional Patterns of Content Creation with a Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa", Information Technologies and International Development 13. 33-51.
- (2017) "The Impact of Connectivity in Africa: Grand Visions and the Mirage of Inclusive Digital Development", Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. 79 (2) 1-20.
- (2017) "Book review: Africa's Future: Darkness to Destiny: How the Past is Shaping Africa's Economic Evolution", Progress in Development Studies. 17 (1).
- (2017) "The impact of connectivity in Africa: Grand visions and the mirage of inclusive digital development", Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. 79 (1) 1-20.
Other
- (2017) Africa's digital knowledge economy worrying. SciDev.Net.
Presentations
- (2016) Big Data in International Development. Oxford, United Kingdom.
- (2016) Addressing New Societal Challenges with the Use of Big Data: Inequality and Exclusion. Brussels, Belgium.
- (2015) Economic Geographies of Knowledge Production in Sub-Saharan Africa. Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
- (2015) Lopsided Geographies of Connectivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Oxford, United Kingdom.
- (2015) The Geography of Engagement in the Knowledge Economy: Regional Patterns of Content Creation. Oxford, United Kingdom.
- (2015) Uneven Geographies of Connectivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kings International Development Institute.
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How ready is Africa to join the knowledge economy?
22 June 2017
Author: Sanna Ojanpera
Changes in the ways knowledge is created and used are driving economic and social development worldwide. Ugandan school by Brian Wolfe (Flickr CC BY-NC ... Read More How ready is Africa to join the knowledge economy?
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New Publication: Engagement in the Knowledge Economy: Regional Patterns of Content Creation with a Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa
15 March 2017
Author: Sanna Ojanpera
We have a new publication out: Ojanperä, S., Graham, M., Straumann, R. K., De Sabbata, S., & Zook, M. (2017). Engagement in the knowledge ... Read More New Publication: Engagement in the Knowledge Economy: Regional Patterns of Content Creation with a Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mapping the Availability of Online Labour
20 October 2016
Author: Sanna Ojanpera
Digitalization and the increasing connectivity across the globe have capacitated the emergence of an online labour market. A number of platforms now facilitate transactions ... Read More Mapping the Availability of Online Labour
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Presenting the Digital Knowledge Economy Index at the Upcoming Development Studies Association Conference
6 June 2016
Author: Sanna Ojanpera
In this year’s Development Studies Association Conference, we will present a paper titled ‘Measuring the Hidden Contours of the Global Knowledge Economy with a ... Read More Presenting the Digital Knowledge Economy Index at the Upcoming Development Studies Association Conference
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Geographies of Knowledge and Information in Europe: Mapping the Data-Driven Contours of the Digital Single Market
27 January 2016
Author: Sanna Ojanpera
The Digital Agenda presented by the European Commission proposes to realize the potential afforded by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in order to encourage ... Read More Geographies of Knowledge and Information in Europe: Mapping the Data-Driven Contours of the Digital Single Market
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The Geographies of Science
1 July 2015
Author: Sanna Ojanpera
Description This graph illustrates the number of journal articles produced around the world. Data The data used in this graph are from Thomson Reuters’ ... Read More The Geographies of Science
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First Geonet Publications Start Taking Shape
2 December 2014
Author: Sanna Ojanpera
The first stage of the Geonet project aiming to broadly understand the diversity of new practices in Sub-Saharan Africa’s knowledge economy is off to ... Read More First Geonet Publications Start Taking Shape
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Continent risks fading from digital knowledge economy
30 June 2017 University World News
The rapid growth of internet use on the African continent has sparked hopes for the democratisation of knowledge production, but recent research suggests that connectivity is not enough to boost Africa’s position in the knowledge economy.
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Sub-Saharan Africa needs more than just connectivity
27 June 2017 ITWeb
Connectivity is an important enabler of digital content creation and knowledge production; however, a new study has found it is not an all-encompassing condition.
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Africa’s digital knowledge economy worrying
8 June 2017 SciDevNet
Africa has traditionally been left out of what is called the knowledge economy, but this is a concern, write Sanna Ojanpera and Mark Graham.
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Come Google sta cambiando la nostra percezione dei luoghi
11 May 2017 Motherboard
OIII research on language, geography, and power in Google is featured (in Italian).
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Pour leur développement économique, la Malaisie et le Nigeria de viennent de véritables usines à clic
14 April 2017 Le Figaro
OII research is featured in this piece on the online gig economy (in French).