Jonathan Donner – författare

An expert considers the effects of a more mobile Internet on socioeconomic development and digital inclusion, examining both potentialities and constraints.

Almost anyone with a $40 mobile phone and a nearby cell tower can get online with an ease unimaginable just twenty years ago. An optimistic narrative has proclaimed the mobile phone as the device that will finally close the digital divide. Yet access and effective use are not the same thing, and the digital world does not run on mobile handsets alone. In After Access, Jonathan Donner examines the implications of the shift to a more mobile, more available Internet for the global South, particularly as it relates to efforts to promote socioeconomic development and broad-based inclusion in the global information society.

Drawing on his own research in South Africa and India, as well as the burgeoning literature from the ICT4D (Internet and Communication Technologies for Development) and mobile communication communities, Donner introduces the “After Access Lens,” a conceptual framework for understanding effective use of the Internet by those whose “digital repertoires” contain exclusively mobile devices. Donner argues that both the potentialities and constraints of the shift to a more mobile Internet are important considerations for scholars and practitioners interested in Internet use in the global South.

Written by two leading researchers in the field, this volume presents an overview of the mobile telephone as a social and cultural phenomenon. Research is summarized and made accessible though detailed descriptions of ten mobile users from around the world. These illustrate popular debates, as well as deeper social forces at work. The book concludes by considering three themes: 1) the tighter interlacing of daily activities 2) a revolution of control in the social sphere, and 3) the arrival of a world where the majority of its inhabitants are reachable, anytime, anywhere.

In a world increasingly driven by artificial intelligence, leadership needs to move beyond the "agile" approach that dominated organizational leadership practices at the end of the 20th century. What is required now for successful leaders is a skillful juxtaposition of proactivity and humility, which we call "guiding the tide."

Successful leaders of today must demonstrate personal agency in order to guide the tide of events around them rather than have the tide of events sweep them along. The "tide," like a river within an ocean akin to a gulf stream, is a unique, ever-changing stream of business systems, technology, consumers, and competitors.

This book uses storytelling, examples, and clear, everyday language to blend leading-edge psychological research and leadership practices with the authors’ own work in coaching, assessing, and developing leaders for three decades around the world. The book takes the reader on a journey through three major learnings:

First, the authors describe the nature of the tide and the demands on leaders to move beyond a reactionary, agile approach toward the forward-leaning, active stance of personal agency.

Second, they describe three critical practices to successfully lead with agency and guide the tide:

Third, they offer leaders a practical path to achieving the personal agency to successfully guide their organization through the tide that shapes their world.

In a world increasingly driven by artificial intelligence, leadership needs to move beyond the "agile" approach that dominated organizational leadership practices at the end of the 20th century. What is required now for successful leaders is a skillful juxtaposition of proactivity and humility, which we call "guiding the tide."

Successful leaders of today must demonstrate personal agency in order to guide the tide of events around them rather than have the tide of events sweep them along. The "tide," like a river within an ocean akin to a gulf stream, is a unique, ever-changing stream of business systems, technology, consumers, and competitors.

This book uses storytelling, examples, and clear, everyday language to blend leading-edge psychological research and leadership practices with the authors’ own work in coaching, assessing, and developing leaders for three decades around the world. The book takes the reader on a journey through three major learnings:

First, the authors describe the nature of the tide and the demands on leaders to move beyond a reactionary, agile approach toward the forward-leaning, active stance of personal agency.

Second, they describe three critical practices to successfully lead with agency and guide the tide:

Third, they offer leaders a practical path to achieving the personal agency to successfully guide their organization through the tide that shapes their world.