E-Commerce's Dual Realities and Their Impact on Small Online Businesses Globally

13.03.2024
Small Package delivery

E-commerce, likened to a coin with two distinct sides, embodies the dichotomy between digital and physical goods and products. This metaphor illustrates not just the diversity of e-commerce but also the unique challenges and opportunities each side presents.

Digital Products and Services: A Transformational Landscape

The landscape of digital products has undergone a radical transformation since the 2000s. Initially, the concept of purchasing digital services online was met with skepticism. However, the advent of social media and e-commerce ecosystems, such as Shopify, revolutionized this space. These platforms democratized online sales, enabling virtually anyone to market their products from the comfort of their living room, provided they reside in the right country.

This digital boom has seen a surge in the sale of online courses, ebooks, and even Excel templates on platforms traditionally associated with handmade goods, like Etsy. Even seemingly niche products, like sales templates for the information platform Notion, have millions of users.

Read more

Big Tech and Privacy in Humanitarian Aid: Access Now's Digital Challenge Insights

08.03.2024
Report cover page

I was intrigued by the latest report from Access Now entitled "Mapping Humanitarian Tech: Exposing protection gaps in digital transformation programmes." Why? Because it delves into both the potential and challenges of using digital solutions, data, and new innovations to increase effectiveness in the development sector. The report sheds light on the complexity of implementing digital innovations for NGOs, the growing dominance of big tech companies as solution providers, and the lack of consideration for data protection among some actors.

According to the report, the humanitarian field is currently dominated by a small number of organizations primarily based in Europe or North America. These organizations hold most of the public's attention, control over data circulation, and a significant portion of available funding.

The author of the report, Giulio Coppi, and his team highlight two main developments in the use of digital technologies within the humanitarian sector:

More broadly, we believe that two converging processes are unfolding: the transformation of some humanitarian actors into tech services providers, and the transformation of tech companies into de facto humanitarian service providers.

Read more

ChatGPT at Work: Studies on the Impact on Work Practices, Job Landscape, and Freelancers

01.03.2024
Ein Bürogebäude nur mit Computern.

ChatGPT has been an integral part of many people's working lives for a year now. The extensive press coverage and numerous testimonials, despite the sometimes erroneous content, impressively underline the importance of these assistance systems. Initial studies show productivity gains through the use of ChatGPT, as these systems can provide support for a variety of tasks, but the impact on certain job roles can be serious.

An insightful study into the motivations of knowledge workers to use ChatGPT is "Why do people use ChatGPT? Exploring user motivations for generative conversational AI" from December 20231. This study shows how generative conversational AI meets a variety of user needs by overcoming the limitations of traditional conversational technologies - for example, by offloading cognitive or creative tasks to the technology. The majority of respondents cited productivity gains as the primary reason for using ChatGPT. The motivation to use ChatGPT to increase productivity in a variety of ways was clear, such as to find information quickly and easily, to generate text or assist with writing, or in software development to generate code or identify problems in code. Although to a lesser extent, ChatGPT is also used for creative work or learning, mainly because of its ability to simplify complex concepts and explain difficult topics in an easy to understand way.

Read more