Information technology is said to provide paths to empowerment, yet hard data about how this occurs are scant, especially concerning women's IT practices in the Middle East and North Africa. This article uses 25 interviews with female Internet cafe users in Cairo as a small step toward bridging this gap. In general, this study found three main empowerment narratives among females who regularly use Internet cafes in Egypt (the average number of hours online per week was 9.87 for those interviewed). The Internet is said by participants in this study to 1) increase information access/professional development, 2) expand or maintain social networks and social capital, and 3) transform social and political awareness. While this study is based on a small sample size that cannot be generalized at this stage, the analysis does reveal subtle ways in which Egyptian society is changing---one Internet-enabled person at a time.
{"title":"Empowerment zones? women, internet cafés, and life transformations in egypt","authors":"Deborah L. Wheeler","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2008.00009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2008.00009","url":null,"abstract":"Information technology is said to provide paths to empowerment, yet hard data about how this occurs are scant, especially concerning women's IT practices in the Middle East and North Africa. This article uses 25 interviews with female Internet cafe users in Cairo as a small step toward bridging this gap. In general, this study found three main empowerment narratives among females who regularly use Internet cafes in Egypt (the average number of hours online per week was 9.87 for those interviewed). The Internet is said by participants in this study to 1) increase information access/professional development, 2) expand or maintain social networks and social capital, and 3) transform social and political awareness. While this study is based on a small sample size that cannot be generalized at this stage, the analysis does reveal subtle ways in which Egyptian society is changing---one Internet-enabled person at a time.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":"4 1","pages":"89-104"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64557358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Countries at all stages of development have recognized that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are a dynamic engine for economic growth, and SME competitiveness programs are the centerpieces of many economic development initiatives. Studies show that women entrepreneurs are vital to economic growth in general and SME development in particular; they constitute more than 40% of the economically active population worldwide (Tran-Nguyen & Zampetti, 2004, p. 18). Analyses of several countries have even argued that each country’s economic development is “as much female-led as it is export-led” (Tran-Nguyen & Zampetti, p. 33). Yet despite the importance of women workers and entrepreneurs to economic growth, women employees receive lower pay than do men, even for the same work, and women entrepreneurs are often marginalized in the informal sector. Although activities to promote women-owned enterprises help provide women with crucial sources of income, they rarely generate the large income increases that are necessary to carry women—and their families—out of poverty. This article discusses three of the most common approaches to assisting women entrepreneurs and analyzes a new approach conducted by the e-BIZ project in Macedonia.
处于各个发展阶段的国家都认识到，中小企业是经济增长的动力引擎，中小企业竞争力规划是许多经济发展倡议的核心。研究表明，妇女企业家对一般经济增长，特别是中小企业发展至关重要;他们占全球经济活动人口的40%以上(Tran-Nguyen & Zampetti, 2004, p. 18)。对几个国家的分析甚至认为，每个国家的经济发展“既是出口主导的，也是女性主导的”(Tran-Nguyen & Zampetti，第33页)。然而，尽管女工和女企业家对经济增长很重要，但即使从事同样的工作，女雇员的工资也比男子低，女企业家在非正规部门往往被边缘化。尽管促进妇女拥有企业的活动有助于为妇女提供重要的收入来源，但这些活动很少能带来使妇女及其家庭摆脱贫困所必需的大幅收入增长。本文讨论了协助女企业家的三种最常见的方法，并分析了马其顿电子商务项目实施的一种新方法。
{"title":"Transforming opportunities for women entrepreneurs","authors":"J. Brodman, J. Berazneva","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2008.00003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2008.00003","url":null,"abstract":"Countries at all stages of development have recognized that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are a dynamic engine for economic growth, and SME competitiveness programs are the centerpieces of many economic development initiatives. Studies show that women entrepreneurs are vital to economic growth in general and SME development in particular; they constitute more than 40% of the economically active population worldwide (Tran-Nguyen & Zampetti, 2004, p. 18). Analyses of several countries have even argued that each country’s economic development is “as much female-led as it is export-led” (Tran-Nguyen & Zampetti, p. 33). Yet despite the importance of women workers and entrepreneurs to economic growth, women employees receive lower pay than do men, even for the same work, and women entrepreneurs are often marginalized in the informal sector. Although activities to promote women-owned enterprises help provide women with crucial sources of income, they rarely generate the large income increases that are necessary to carry women—and their families—out of poverty. This article discusses three of the most common approaches to assisting women entrepreneurs and analyzes a new approach conducted by the e-BIZ project in Macedonia.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":"4 1","pages":"3-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556989","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kanpur and Lucknow are two of India’s most populous districts and have always enjoyed historical prominence. These urban districts, however, are located in one of the most socially and economically backward states— Uttar Pradesh. The population density in Kanpur–Lucknow puts pressure on the area’s almost nonexistent civic amenities and infrastructure, and the poorest and most underdeveloped areas have high crime rates. Adverse sex ratios and low literacy rates among women also contribute to gender-discriminatory practices such as sex-selective abortions and lack of access to education for women. Table 1 presents district-level demographic data for Kanpur Urban, Kanpur Rural, and Lucknow. Distinctive of these districts is chikankari, or chikan work, a traditional art that is still an integral part of life and an income source for local families. It oourished under the patronage of the 18th and 17th century rulers of Awadh province, who made serious efforts to cultivate the arts and the—at that time, primarily male—artisans. The skill was passed from generation to generation and eventually, as better opportunities in formal sectors arose for men, to women as a source of subsidiary earning for the family. Today, however, the informal chikan embroidery industry is oversaturated, and as the women workers face declining returns, it is increasingly important for them to increase their technical aptitude so they can seek employment in more formal sectors. But major cultural barriers and constraints, lack of employment opportunities, and health risks such as viral epidemics make it especially difacult for the women of central Uttar Pradesh to access resources that will allow them to enhance their skills and increase their livelihoods. Therefore, the Datamation Foundation and InfoDev designed a multidimensional, multistakeholder information and communications technology (ICT) for development project, “Putting ICTs in the Hands of Women
{"title":"Putting icts in the hands of the women of kanpur and the chikan embroidery workers of lucknow1","authors":"Chetan Sharma, Sarita K. Sharma, Ujjwala Subhedar","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2008.00004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2008.00004","url":null,"abstract":"Kanpur and Lucknow are two of India’s most populous districts and have always enjoyed historical prominence. These urban districts, however, are located in one of the most socially and economically backward states— Uttar Pradesh. The population density in Kanpur–Lucknow puts pressure on the area’s almost nonexistent civic amenities and infrastructure, and the poorest and most underdeveloped areas have high crime rates. Adverse sex ratios and low literacy rates among women also contribute to gender-discriminatory practices such as sex-selective abortions and lack of access to education for women. Table 1 presents district-level demographic data for Kanpur Urban, Kanpur Rural, and Lucknow. Distinctive of these districts is chikankari, or chikan work, a traditional art that is still an integral part of life and an income source for local families. It oourished under the patronage of the 18th and 17th century rulers of Awadh province, who made serious efforts to cultivate the arts and the—at that time, primarily male—artisans. The skill was passed from generation to generation and eventually, as better opportunities in formal sectors arose for men, to women as a source of subsidiary earning for the family. Today, however, the informal chikan embroidery industry is oversaturated, and as the women workers face declining returns, it is increasingly important for them to increase their technical aptitude so they can seek employment in more formal sectors. But major cultural barriers and constraints, lack of employment opportunities, and health risks such as viral epidemics make it especially difacult for the women of central Uttar Pradesh to access resources that will allow them to enhance their skills and increase their livelihoods. Therefore, the Datamation Foundation and InfoDev designed a multidimensional, multistakeholder information and communications technology (ICT) for development project, “Putting ICTs in the Hands of Women","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":"4 1","pages":"11-16"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64557025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been increasingly promoted as a key solution for comprehensive development, poverty eradication and the empowerment of historically disadvantaged groups, such as women and minorities in the Global South. ICT-based business initiatives, and e-commerce projects in particular, have been hailed as “potential goldmines” for women's empowerment. However, research and experience show that to be successful, projects must balance the need to overcome structural barriers to women's advancement with sensitivity to the limited space within which many women in the Global South navigate. In this paper, we review literature on ICT and empowerment of women, drawing upon several e-commerce/e-retailing projects as case studies to identify a set of best practices that underlie a successful project: 1) government and institutional support, 2) societal involvement, 3) training and empowerment, 4) expansion of market access, and 5) managerial best practices. We anticipate that the insights generated by this study will be useful both for purposes of effective program development and policy design.
{"title":"Empowering women through ict-based business initiatives: An overview of best practices in e-commerce/e-retailing projects","authors":"Sylvia Maier, Usha Nair-Reichert","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2008.00007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2008.00007","url":null,"abstract":"Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been increasingly promoted as a key solution for comprehensive development, poverty eradication and the empowerment of historically disadvantaged groups, such as women and minorities in the Global South. ICT-based business initiatives, and e-commerce projects in particular, have been hailed as “potential goldmines” for women's empowerment. However, research and experience show that to be successful, projects must balance the need to overcome structural barriers to women's advancement with sensitivity to the limited space within which many women in the Global South navigate. In this paper, we review literature on ICT and empowerment of women, drawing upon several e-commerce/e-retailing projects as case studies to identify a set of best practices that underlie a successful project: 1) government and institutional support, 2) societal involvement, 3) training and empowerment, 4) expansion of market access, and 5) managerial best practices. We anticipate that the insights generated by this study will be useful both for purposes of effective program development and policy design.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":"4 1","pages":"43-60"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64557287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Women's empowerment and the information society","authors":"Sylvia Maier","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2008.00002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2008.00002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":"4 1","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2007-10-01DOI: 10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.19
K. G. Rajalekshmi
Telecenter studies have shown that the centers become socially relevant only when they provide services in accordance with the needs of the local community. Earlier studies have highlighted the importance of a local intermediary in making telecenters successful. This article shows how trust between citizens and intermediaries at various levels affects the way e-governance services are delivered through telecenters. Drawing on the theoretical framework of the sociology of governance and taking an institutionalist perspective, this article highlights how the institutional membership of the intermediary is critical for effective e-governance service delivery. The article is based on an empirical study of the Akshaya telecenter project in Kerala.
{"title":"E-governance services through telecenters: The role of human intermediary and issues of trust","authors":"K. G. Rajalekshmi","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.19","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.19","url":null,"abstract":"Telecenter studies have shown that the centers become socially relevant only when they provide services in accordance with the needs of the local community. Earlier studies have highlighted the importance of a local intermediary in making telecenters successful. This article shows how trust between citizens and intermediaries at various levels affects the way e-governance services are delivered through telecenters. Drawing on the theoretical framework of the sociology of governance and taking an institutionalist perspective, this article highlights how the institutional membership of the intermediary is critical for effective e-governance service delivery. The article is based on an empirical study of the Akshaya telecenter project in Kerala.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":"4 1","pages":"19-35"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2007-10-01DOI: 10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.51
Jacques Panchard, Seshagiri Rao, P. T. V., Jean-Pierre Hubaux, H. S. Jamadagni
COMMONSense Net (CSN) is an ongoing research project that focuses on the design and implementation of a sensor network for agricultural management in developing countries, with a special emphasis on the resource-poor farmers of semiarid regions. Throughout the year 2004, we carried out a survey on the information needs of the population living in a cluster of villages in Southern Karnataka, India. The results highlighted the potential that environment-related information has for the improvement of farming strategies in the face of highly variable conditions, in particular for risk management strategies (choice of crop varieties, sowing and harvest periods, prevention of pests and diseases, efacient use of irrigation water, etc.). Accordingly, we advocate an original use of information and communication technologies (ICT). Our demand-driven approach for the design of appropriate ICT tools that are targeted at the resource-poor, we believe, is relatively new. In order to go beyond a pure technocratic approach, we adopted an iterative, participatory methodology.
{"title":"Commonsense net: A wireless sensor network for resource-poor agriculture in the semiarid areas of developing countries","authors":"Jacques Panchard, Seshagiri Rao, P. T. V., Jean-Pierre Hubaux, H. S. Jamadagni","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.51","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.51","url":null,"abstract":"COMMONSense Net (CSN) is an ongoing research project that focuses on the design and implementation of a sensor network for agricultural management in developing countries, with a special emphasis on the resource-poor farmers of semiarid regions. Throughout the year 2004, we carried out a survey on the information needs of the population living in a cluster of villages in Southern Karnataka, India. The results highlighted the potential that environment-related information has for the improvement of farming strategies in the face of highly variable conditions, in particular for risk management strategies (choice of crop varieties, sowing and harvest periods, prevention of pests and diseases, efacient use of irrigation water, etc.). Accordingly, we advocate an original use of information and communication technologies (ICT). Our demand-driven approach for the design of appropriate ICT tools that are targeted at the resource-poor, we believe, is relatively new. In order to go beyond a pure technocratic approach, we adopted an iterative, participatory methodology.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":"260 1","pages":"51-67"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2007-10-01DOI: 10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.69
Madeline Plauché, Udhyakumar Nallasamy
Speech recognition has often been suggested as a key to universal information access, as the speech modality is a “natural” way to interact, does not require literacy, and relies on existing telephony infrastructure. However, success stories of speech interfaces in developing regions are few and far between. The challenges of literacy, dialectal variation, and the prohibitive expense of creating the necessary linguistic resources are intractable using traditional techniques. We present our findings evaluating a low-cost, scalable speech-driven application designed and deployed in a community center in rural Tamil Nadu, India, to disseminate agricultural information to village farmers.
{"title":"Speech interfaces for equitable access to information technology","authors":"Madeline Plauché, Udhyakumar Nallasamy","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.69","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.69","url":null,"abstract":"Speech recognition has often been suggested as a key to universal information access, as the speech modality is a “natural” way to interact, does not require literacy, and relies on existing telephony infrastructure. However, success stories of speech interfaces in developing regions are few and far between. The challenges of literacy, dialectal variation, and the prohibitive expense of creating the necessary linguistic resources are intractable using traditional techniques. We present our findings evaluating a low-cost, scalable speech-driven application designed and deployed in a community center in rural Tamil Nadu, India, to disseminate agricultural information to village farmers.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":"4 1","pages":"69-86"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An introduction to the best ICTD 2006 conference papers","authors":"K. Toyama, R. Reddy, A. Saxenian","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":"4 1","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556802","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2007-10-01DOI: 10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.III
M. Best, E. J. Wilson
I (Michael Best) recently presented to a lower-division undergraduate class statistics supporting the hypothesis that Internet access can enhance a population’s political and civil liberties. Most of the students had never taken a statistics course, and one of them—enjoying the innocent curiosity of youth often dispatched by four years of university education—asked how I knew that a statistically strong relationship between two variables had not occurred by chance. I fumbled an explanation by noting how we might and a relationship between two independent sequences of a coin toss, that any such relationship would be just a matter of chance, and that we could apply basic probability to determine the likelihood of just such an event. Then I told the truth: I was able to cite a probability, because these days, we all have access to exceptionally sophisticated statistical software, and I relied on the software to calculate it for me.
{"title":"Real synthetic scholarship","authors":"M. Best, E. J. Wilson","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.III","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.4.1.III","url":null,"abstract":"I (Michael Best) recently presented to a lower-division undergraduate class statistics supporting the hypothesis that Internet access can enhance a population’s political and civil liberties. Most of the students had never taken a statistics course, and one of them—enjoying the innocent curiosity of youth often dispatched by four years of university education—asked how I knew that a statistically strong relationship between two variables had not occurred by chance. I fumbled an explanation by noting how we might and a relationship between two independent sequences of a coin toss, that any such relationship would be just a matter of chance, and that we could apply basic probability to determine the likelihood of just such an event. Then I told the truth: I was able to cite a probability, because these days, we all have access to exceptionally sophisticated statistical software, and I relied on the software to calculate it for me.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":"4 1","pages":"1-1"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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