Lab+3


 * CCT333 Tutorial #3 Wiki Questions:**


 * 1. Describe the benefits of microfinancing according to 'Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty' at**
 * __[]__(200 words):**

There are many benefits microfinancing through cellphones in underdeveloped nations because it enables illiterate individuals to access a telecommunications service which they can use to transfer information, money, or even credit. According to the article, the cellphone has become an integral part of identity and purpose which contains private and/or shareable information.

The cellphones allow the individuals to increase and organize resources such as time and opportunity. They also keep these individuals sensitive to "just-in-time" events via alerts or updates. During the study regarding the fishermen relaying catch information back to shore resulted in higher profits for the fishermen and lower costs for the buyers. In addition to wireless access to telecom services, the cellphones also help these people in poverty maintain a better standard of privacy.


 * 2. “It’s really quite striking,” Hammond says. “What people are voting for with their pocketbooks, as soon as they have more money and even before their basic needs are met, is telecommunications.” (World Resources Institute)**
 * In the spirit of this quote, describe four instances of how owning a cellphone enables users to better their lives. (4 paragraphs/ one for each instance):**

One example of how owning a cellphone enables users to better their lives is through the women or "phone ladies" in Bangladesh who use microloans to specifically buy cellphone kits to create an "operator" service in the town or community. The "phone ladies" charge small commissions for people who want to make or receive calls. The cellphones become economically beneficial because the town operators and people are working together to establish higher production revenues.

Another instance of how owning a cellphone enables users to better their lives is through companies like Wizzit in South Africa and GCash in the Philippines use programs that allow customers to use their phones to gather cash credits transferred from another phone or purchased through a post office or phone-operator kiosk. This becomes economically beneficial for the public as well as the suppliers of airtime.

Cellphones also help protect what is very important to us: family and friends. In times of natural disaster, notifying your family of your whereabouts and status becomes very important, especially because of the dependencies you have for each other.

Cellphones are small multi-purposed tools that have various other functions such as alarm clock, calculator and in some cases cameras. The notion of proximate literacy allows illiterate people to communicate effectively by showing cellphones to trusted people that can interpret the messages for them.