
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.
Sanna Ojanperä
DPhil Student
Profile
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.
Research
Past projects
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GeoNet: 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.
Chapters
- (2018) "Uneven Digital Geographies ...and why they matter" In: This Is Not an Atlas. Transcript Verlag, Roswitha Gost, Sigrid Nokel u. Dr. Karin Werner. 310-318.
- (2014) "Internet geographies: Data shadows and digital divisions of labor" In: Society and the Internet: How Networks of Information and Communication are Changing our Lives. GRAHAM, M. and Dutton, W. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 99-116.
Conference papers
- (2016) "Measuring the Contours of the Global Knowledge Economy with a Digital Index", Development Studies Association Conference. Development Studies Association.
- (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
- (2019) "The Digital Knowledge Economy Index: Mapping Content Production", Journal of Development Studies. 55 (12) 2626-2643.
- (2017) "Engagement in the Knowledge Economy: Regional Patterns of Content Creation with a Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa", Information Technologies and International Development 13. 13 33-51.
- (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) "Digital Connectivity and African Knowledge Economies", Questions de communication. 32 (32) 345-360.
- (2017) "Book Review: Clarke, D. 2012: Africa’s Future: Darkness to Destiny", Progress in Development Studies. 17 (1) 92-94.
- (2016) "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.
Reports
- (2018) Data science, artificial intelligence and the futures of work. London: The Alan Turing Institute.
- (2014) Missing a Generation in EU Politics. Brussels: European Policy Centre.
- (2013) Social Innovation: the Experience of the IDB's Innovation Lab. Washington D.C.: Inter-American Development Bank.
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.
Working papers
- (2019) "Vulnerabilities of Networked Energy Infrastructure : A Primer", Policy Research Working Paper. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Blog
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BUSTED! – OII researchers help to debunk 50 most common myths about the Internet
27 November 2019
Author: Corinne Cattekwaad
BUSTED! – OII researchers contribute to new book busting 50 of the most common myths about the Internet. Co -author, DPhil candidate Corinne Cath-Spet, explains ...
Read More BUSTED! – OII researchers help to debunk 50 most common myths about the Internet -
Transforming African economies through digitalisation
8 July 2019
Author: Sanna Ojanpera
The stakes are high for Africa’s digital transformation, but the measurement of related changes is lacking behind. Sanna Ojanperä, DPhil student and researcher at ...
Read More Transforming African economies through digitalisation -
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? -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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
Press
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The Reader: AI is not the only factor that will affect our working lives
28 August 2020 Evening Standard
The disparate impacts of AI on different jobs and tasks must be considered alongside the changing nature and organisation of work. Technological change is just one of the transforming drivers.
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Imagining the future connected business
30 March 2020 Raconteur
Walking around the office of 2030, it is fair to assume that technology will play an even bigger role, but it may not be time to write human workers off just yet.
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Role of women in the rise of Artificial Intelligence | Video
18 April 2019 Channel News Asia
Video interview on a new study finding women, more than men, could be hurt by the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace.
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Getting To Grips With The Future Of Work
12 December 2018 Forbes
The future of work has been one of the most interesting topics of recent years, as researchers and commentators have given tremendous thought to how new technologies will impact how, where and even whether we will work in future.
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What Will Work Look Like In The Future?
4 December 2018 Hello Digital - Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Everyone has a stake in the changing nature of work, yet many are confused about what is changing, why and how these changes take place, and whether anything can be done to shape the future.
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Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, & the Futures of Work – Turing Institute
20 November 2018 Future of Work
With technology developing at a great pace, there have been many concerns over how it will impact the jobs of the future and our working lives.
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The future of work will soon be the present
1 November 2018 Knowledge Quarter
Everyone has a stake in the changing nature of work, yet many are confused about what is changing, why and how these changes take place, and whether anything can be done to shape the future. This article was also published by The Alan Turing Institute.
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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).