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Nigerian Internet use increasing

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Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing

#61
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You assume that Internet access makes you happier. I'm not sure. At least they are spared a lot of distractions :)

They're also spared from distracting things like rice.

Cambodia's largest export is rice. The country is bisected by the mighty Mekong river and the Tonle Sap is the largest lake in Asia. The whole country is lush; when it rains, the drops hurt your skin. Weeks of non-stop thunder and the soil doesn't seem to down a sip of it.

If you believed in a fertility god, you would renounce your faith in it within sight of Cambodia, for the cruel abundance it has inflicted upon that land.

Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing

#63
post #57
post #52

The data on India is interesting. I would have thought there would be more than 50 million internet users in India. That's only about 4 per 100 people. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.BBND.P2 These numbers might be projections

India is not particularly well off. It has a higher poverty rate than Africa, for example.

Is there something I'm missing?

Africa is 45.78% http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=africa+poverty+rate

India is 25% http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=india+poverty+rate

Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing

#64
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

India is not particularly well off. It has a higher poverty rate than Africa, for example.

Is there something I'm missing? Africa is 45.78% http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=africa+poverty+rate India is 25% http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=india+poverty+rate

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/14/poverty-india-af...

Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing

#65
post #12
post #10

Is it really fair to say that people in China have access to the Internet? Maybe it's better to say that they have access to some AOL-ized version of the Internet, not the actual Internet itself. The difference between an open Internet and a closed one is not just a small difference of degree; they are entirely different things.

There are about 20 or 30 websites blocked in china. Not that many.

I sometimes work with developers in China, it's pretty common for me to send a link to some tech info on a blog etc and then have to copy and email the content instead, since the site is blocked for them. Even one site I created myself, which has <10 visitors/day and barely any content was blocked at some point.

Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing

#66
post #7

The first thing I thought when reading the title ("Graphs don't lie :) ) was: "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies and statistics." Presumably, graphs fall under "statistics".

I cringe when I see that quotation trotted out as some kind of truth. It's a joke, popularized by Mark Twain.

Statistics can be insignificant or misinterpreted, but the statistics themselves aren't lies: they are statements of fact (measurements and calculations based on those measurements). Statistics are some of the best tools we have for teasing meaning out of measurements.

(If the "measurements" are actually made up, then yes, they are lies, but then the fault is with the person cooking the measurements, not the statistical tools they bring to bear. One can also misuse statistical tools, but again, the problem is with the user, not the tools.)

Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing

#67
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's important to consider population, so maybe measure Internet penetration as a percentage of the population. For example: Internet Users in US: 230,630,000 Population of US: 307,006,550 people That's roughly 75% of the US population. Internet Users in China: 298,000,000 people Population of China: 1,324,655,000 That's roughly 22.5% of the Chinese population. However, by looking at the graph, we can also se…

You've got a great point there but let me add something. The question if percentages or absolute numbers are valuable depends on the goal of your investigation. When you want to determine the technological advancement of a country going for the relative numbers should be the way to go. However when you want to determine if a country should be a target market for your startup/company absolute numbers are fine. Even th…

Hi niekmass,

You are absolutely correct. The goal of your investigation does in fact dictate if you should use percentages or absolute numbers. Likewise, 298 million Chinese Internet users is nothing to sneeze at!

Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing

#68
post #66
post #7

The first thing I thought when reading the title ("Graphs don't lie :) ) was: "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies and statistics." Presumably, graphs fall under "statistics".

I cringe when I see that quotation trotted out as some kind of truth. It's a joke, popularized by Mark Twain. Statistics can be insignificant or misinterpreted, but the statistics themselves aren't lies: they are statements of fact (measurements and calculations based on those measurements). Statistics are some of the best tools we have for teasing meaning out of measurements. (If the "measurements" are actually made…

I always felt that the quote indicated that statistics are easily used to mislead with credibility. When I homeschooled my sons, I gave them a choice between the algebra/geometry/calc track and a statistics track. They chose statistics. An interesting book we included in our studies was "How to lie with statistics". (FWIW: I think there was a later book called something like "How to lie with charts and graphs".)

My point was not that statistics are lies but just that the statement "Graphs don't lie" isn't some kind of unquestionable grand truth.

Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing

#69
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there something I'm missing? Africa is 45.78% http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=africa+poverty+rate India is 25% http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=india+poverty+rate

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/14/poverty-india-af...

There are more poor people in eight states of India than in the 26 countries of sub-Saharan Africa

That doesn't say anything about the poverty rate.

When the vast central Indian Madhya Pradesh state, which has a population of 70 million, was compared with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the war-racked African state of 62 million inhabitants, the two were found to have near-identical levels of poverty.

So that means certain parts of India have equal or greater levels of poverty than certain parts of Africa. But the poverty rate as a whole is lower.

Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing

#70
post #33

It would be interesting to see also the quality of internet access, like PSTN or DSL etc and if there is any cencorship...

There is no web censorship in Nigeria, only ISP's might ban a user from their network if a report was made about that user. The average 'broadband' speed in Nigeria is 200-400kbps and mostly wireless access. But with the completion of the MainOne submarine cable, it is expected that things here will change for the better. Nigeria's population is huge, 150million although the purchasing power of the average citizen is low, It's a strong emerging market.
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