WIA Report

While many governments are working to improve their information infrastructure, a significant number of governments around the world do not have the capacity to host their own websites. A third of all countries maintain websites with commercial hosting services in the United States. One quarter of all countries maintain all of their government websites on servers in other countries. (more…)

For several decades, international lending agencies have encouraged African governments to reform their telecommunications sector by privatizing the public telephone services, separating and depoliticizing the agencies that regulate telecommunications sector, and opening up competition in the consumer market for telecommunications services. Over this period, Africa’s share of the world’s internet hosts and secure servers has actually declined. (more…)

Political life in Muslim countries is surprisingly wired. In 2000, fewer than 50 political parties from Muslim countries had Web sites. By 2007, there were more than 200 parties online, the majority of them secular. The expansion of politics online in the Muslim world is out pacing that of the rest of the developing world. (more…)

Many developing countries have a rapidly growing online news industry.  Controlling for the number of internet users, hosts, and print newspapers,  which countries have a surprisingly large online news industry? (more…)

Over the last 10 years, nearly 10,000 civic groups in 152 countries around the world have asserted a digital presence. More than twice as many civic groups came online between 2000-04 as came online between 1995-99. (more…)