Building Social Networks to Bridge Cultural Misunderstandings:
Working with Mobile Technologies and Microfinance in the United States
and the Democratic Republic of Congo
Bernadette Longo, University of Minnesota
Problem. When people in the United States seek to collaborate with partners in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), even the best intentions cannot overcome differing
expectations for how people use technologies to facilitate communication – both interpersonal
and among social groups. This case study looks at an ongoing collaboration between a faculty
member at the University of Minnesota and the founder of First Step Initiative (FSI), a
microfinance NGO working with women entrepreneurs in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In
the course of this collaboration, it has become clear that differing expectations for
communication channels to support the NGO have resulted in sub-optimal participation in the
NGO from potential collaborators both in the US and the DRC. This study explores whether
Web 2.0 social networking tools and cell phones can be used to establish new channels for
communication that meet interpersonal expectations for participants and potential participants in
both the US and the DRC.
Context. This study is taking place in conjunction with a faculty fellowship that Dr. Longo
has been awarded from the Office of Information Technology-Digital Media Center at the
University of Minnesota. This fellowship supports an ongoing collaboration in which the
researcher is engaged with Chingwell Mutombu, founder of First Step Initiative. Dr. Longo and
Ms. Mutombu initially worked on a communication audit and plan for FSI with the students in a
graduate Information Design class in spring semester of 2008. That communication audit
revealed differing expectations between the collaborators in the US and the DRC for using
computer technologies to access web-based information in support of FSI operations. As a
result of that audit, Dr. Longo applied for and was awarded one of five faculty fellowships at the
University of Minnesota to study this case further.
Participants. This study is a collaboration among the following participants:
•
Bernadette Longo, who is a faculty member at the University of Minnesota.
•
Chingwell Mutombu, the founder of First Step Initiative and a person of Congolese
descent who has lived both in the US and DRC. Ms. Mutombu holds a master’s degree in
economics, and works as a consult to non-profit organizations internationally.
•
First Step Initiative program staff and participants in Democratic Republic of Congo who
will work with this case study in spring semester 2009 and throughout 2009.
•
Graduate students in Dr. Longo’s Information Design course who will help to conduct
this research in spring semester 2009.
Resolution. Dr. Longo presents preliminary findings regarding expectations and
opportunities for using cell phones to support social networks between FSI participants in the
US and DRC. Study participants share a value for face-to-face communications among people
in their social circles and communicate frequently in this mode. University students additionally
communicate with their social circles through cell phones and a wide variety of technology-
based tools. Colleagues in the DRC express a desire for more access to use cell phones to
communicate with their social and business circles, but are not yet able to afford to purchase
adequate numbers of cell phone minutes to meet that desire. Implications for differing
worldviews and expectations are explored in relation to communication misunderstandings.
Implications for increased use of technology-based communication in DRC social circles are
also explored.
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