Pub Date : 2007-07-01DOI: 10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.III
M. Best, E. J. Wilson
{"title":"The Velocity of Rebirth","authors":"M. Best, E. J. Wilson","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.III","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.III","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556758","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 : 2007-07-01DOI: 10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.15
R. Mansell, K. Nordenstreng
In 1980 UNESCO published Many Voices, One World, the report of its International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems, also known as the MacBride Report, after the commission’s chair, Sean MacBride, the Irish statesman and peace and human rights activist.1 In 2004, in an acknowledgment of its importance in current debates about the evolution of information societies, Rowman & Littleaeld republished it. Many Voices, One World was a groundbreaking report and became a milestone in the discussions that had been ongoing since the 1970s. We examine its insights in the light of debates leading up and subsequent to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005. We argue that many of the issues and dilemmas highlighted by the MacBride Report’s authors exist today. The record of WSIS participants in tackling these issues is unfortunately little better than that of those who sought to inouence debates about media and communication some twenty-ave years ago. Although there has been much talk in the intervening years, there are few signs that international debates and diplomatic mechanisms are fostering the equitable development of the media and communication environment that is so crucial for the emergence of information societies in the twenty-arst century. There is a profusion of smaller and larger initiatives aimed at reducing various social and economic inequalities including those associated with the media and communication industries. In our view, however, it is unlikely that the new institutional forums that have emerged since the WSIS will be equal to addressing sources of inequality in areas such as governance, anancing, media diversity, freedom of speech, and human rights. Nevertheless, and partly as a result of the WSIS dialogue, participants in civil society are becoming better informed about the issues involved. Whereas the WSIS, as the MacBride Commission before it, failed to galvanize private and public sector participants into action to promote the massive investment that is needed, the WSIS process did heighten the proale of core international media and communication issues in many key international forums. It also conarmed the need to address these issues through multilateral platforms that encompass all stakeholders, including civil society actors.
{"title":"Great Media and Communication Debates: WSIS and the MacBride Report","authors":"R. Mansell, K. Nordenstreng","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.15","url":null,"abstract":"In 1980 UNESCO published Many Voices, One World, the report of its International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems, also known as the MacBride Report, after the commission’s chair, Sean MacBride, the Irish statesman and peace and human rights activist.1 In 2004, in an acknowledgment of its importance in current debates about the evolution of information societies, Rowman & Littleaeld republished it. Many Voices, One World was a groundbreaking report and became a milestone in the discussions that had been ongoing since the 1970s. We examine its insights in the light of debates leading up and subsequent to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005. We argue that many of the issues and dilemmas highlighted by the MacBride Report’s authors exist today. The record of WSIS participants in tackling these issues is unfortunately little better than that of those who sought to inouence debates about media and communication some twenty-ave years ago. Although there has been much talk in the intervening years, there are few signs that international debates and diplomatic mechanisms are fostering the equitable development of the media and communication environment that is so crucial for the emergence of information societies in the twenty-arst century. There is a profusion of smaller and larger initiatives aimed at reducing various social and economic inequalities including those associated with the media and communication industries. In our view, however, it is unlikely that the new institutional forums that have emerged since the WSIS will be equal to addressing sources of inequality in areas such as governance, anancing, media diversity, freedom of speech, and human rights. Nevertheless, and partly as a result of the WSIS dialogue, participants in civil society are becoming better informed about the issues involved. Whereas the WSIS, as the MacBride Commission before it, failed to galvanize private and public sector participants into action to promote the massive investment that is needed, the WSIS process did heighten the proale of core international media and communication issues in many key international forums. It also conarmed the need to address these issues through multilateral platforms that encompass all stakeholders, including civil society actors.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556600","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}
It is hard enough to believe that in afteen years any country could transform itself from one using telex to one implementing eGovernment, but it is even more outstanding for one that a little over a decade ago emerged from a genocide. My arst visit to Rwanda was in February 1992, two years before the genocide, when I was the newly appointed regional ICT ofacer for UNICEF’s Eastern and Southern Africa Oface, based in Nairobi. It was my arst ofacial country visit outside Kenya, but I had a general idea of what to expect. The UNICEF Kigali oface was using telex to communicate with the regional oface and with headquarters, as we had not yet introduced fax. From start to anish, sending a telex took a minimum of two days: it had to be dictated to a secretary, typed, approved, retyped, rechecked, and anally sent, leaving behind a faded copy in the triplicate. This cumbersome communication system was not solely the fault of using technology from the 1850s but was also related to awkward business processes. Furthermore, these processes were not limited to the UN ofaces; they were de rigueur in most large organizations. In terms of other technology, the oface had two 286 Wang computers, each of them dual ooppies, and they had some rudimentary software such as Wang word processing and Lotus 1-2-3. The use of computers, however, was limited to the few who had been trained, and, besides, the electricity was so erratic that a good old-fashioned manual typewriter was far more secretary-friendly. There was an international phone connection, but it rarely worked. I remember telling my secretary in Nairobi, “If Kigali calls, and I’m not in the oface, keep the caller on the line, and and me, and me, no matter where I am!” I knew I would never be able to call them back. Kigali itself was a sleepy, dusty little African town. No one paid any attention to it in the early 1990s. There were a few dirt roads going nowhere, hardly any vehicles on the road, and almost nothing going on. The oface put me up at the Hotel des Mille Collines, which was, compared to the rest of the country, the lap of luxury. They even had their own generator. During the next two years, between 1992 and early 1994, I began a program of bringing the country ofaces up to the UNICEF oface technology platform. We rolled out some standard hardware and software, but not a local area network, because there were no qualiaed local staff to operate or maintain it. We recruited and trained a technician in basic hardware maintenance—things such as how to connect the monitor to the CPU, take off the cover, and blow the dust out once per month. We started some word processing and spreadsheet training for the secretaries
{"title":"From Telex to eGovernment: The Birth of eRwanda","authors":"Arleen Cannata Seed","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.9","url":null,"abstract":"It is hard enough to believe that in afteen years any country could transform itself from one using telex to one implementing eGovernment, but it is even more outstanding for one that a little over a decade ago emerged from a genocide. My arst visit to Rwanda was in February 1992, two years before the genocide, when I was the newly appointed regional ICT ofacer for UNICEF’s Eastern and Southern Africa Oface, based in Nairobi. It was my arst ofacial country visit outside Kenya, but I had a general idea of what to expect. The UNICEF Kigali oface was using telex to communicate with the regional oface and with headquarters, as we had not yet introduced fax. From start to anish, sending a telex took a minimum of two days: it had to be dictated to a secretary, typed, approved, retyped, rechecked, and anally sent, leaving behind a faded copy in the triplicate. This cumbersome communication system was not solely the fault of using technology from the 1850s but was also related to awkward business processes. Furthermore, these processes were not limited to the UN ofaces; they were de rigueur in most large organizations. In terms of other technology, the oface had two 286 Wang computers, each of them dual ooppies, and they had some rudimentary software such as Wang word processing and Lotus 1-2-3. The use of computers, however, was limited to the few who had been trained, and, besides, the electricity was so erratic that a good old-fashioned manual typewriter was far more secretary-friendly. There was an international phone connection, but it rarely worked. I remember telling my secretary in Nairobi, “If Kigali calls, and I’m not in the oface, keep the caller on the line, and and me, and me, no matter where I am!” I knew I would never be able to call them back. Kigali itself was a sleepy, dusty little African town. No one paid any attention to it in the early 1990s. There were a few dirt roads going nowhere, hardly any vehicles on the road, and almost nothing going on. The oface put me up at the Hotel des Mille Collines, which was, compared to the rest of the country, the lap of luxury. They even had their own generator. During the next two years, between 1992 and early 1994, I began a program of bringing the country ofaces up to the UNICEF oface technology platform. We rolled out some standard hardware and software, but not a local area network, because there were no qualiaed local staff to operate or maintain it. We recruited and trained a technician in basic hardware maintenance—things such as how to connect the monitor to the CPU, take off the cover, and blow the dust out once per month. We started some word processing and spreadsheet training for the secretaries","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556709","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 communication technologies for development (ICT4D) is a new field of study that contains few grand theories compared to other areas of social science. This article analyzes some shortcomings of ICT4D research. First, there is juxtaposition between ICT4D's being a multidisciplinary field while its authors are predominantly not multidisciplinary. Second, ICT4D is not a panacea; it is only a piece of the development puzzle. ICTs alone cannot lead to social elevation. Third, who is responsible for the structure of ICT4D literature? Fourth, Habermas's public sphere is applied to mobile telephony in sub-Saharan Africa to demonstrate how ICT4D could expand upon the theoretical tradition within media studies. The conclusion recommends the creation of a global summit on ICT4D and more grand theories.
{"title":"The Lost Sheep of ICT4D Literature","authors":"G. Raiti","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.1","url":null,"abstract":"Information communication technologies for development (ICT4D) is a new field of study that contains few grand theories compared to other areas of social science. This article analyzes some shortcomings of ICT4D research. First, there is juxtaposition between ICT4D's being a multidisciplinary field while its authors are predominantly not multidisciplinary. Second, ICT4D is not a panacea; it is only a piece of the development puzzle. ICTs alone cannot lead to social elevation. Third, who is responsible for the structure of ICT4D literature? Fourth, Habermas's public sphere is applied to mobile telephony in sub-Saharan Africa to demonstrate how ICT4D could expand upon the theoretical tradition within media studies. The conclusion recommends the creation of a global summit on ICT4D and more grand theories.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556590","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 : 2007-07-01DOI: 10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.37
W. Griswold, E. McDonnell, Terence E. McDonnell
In the fragile reading cultures of the developing world, will people abandon print as they embrace the Internet? Whether media compete or collaborate depends on place-specific factors. West Africans insert online practices into a local context of material circumstances, social roles, and cultural values. In Nigeria and Ghana these include (1) unreliable electricity and execrable telephone service; (2) overworked women, jobless young men, scammers, and ambitious teenagers; and (3) a reading culture of limited penetration but enormous prestige. Internet access via cybercafes has intensified personal communications, reinforced gender inequality, and enabled petty crooks to go global. It has not, however, encroached on reading's all-but-sacred status. Both netsavvy youth and the adult “reading class” protect reading practices through spatial and temporal separation, time management, and functional differentiation. These preserve the honored position of reading despite West Africans' enthusiasm for the glamour of going online.
{"title":"Glamour and Honor: Going Online and Reading in West African Culture","authors":"W. Griswold, E. McDonnell, Terence E. McDonnell","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.37","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.37","url":null,"abstract":"In the fragile reading cultures of the developing world, will people abandon print as they embrace the Internet? Whether media compete or collaborate depends on place-specific factors. West Africans insert online practices into a local context of material circumstances, social roles, and cultural values. In Nigeria and Ghana these include (1) unreliable electricity and execrable telephone service; (2) overworked women, jobless young men, scammers, and ambitious teenagers; and (3) a reading culture of limited penetration but enormous prestige. Internet access via cybercafes has intensified personal communications, reinforced gender inequality, and enabled petty crooks to go global. It has not, however, encroached on reading's all-but-sacred status. Both netsavvy youth and the adult “reading class” protect reading practices through spatial and temporal separation, time management, and functional differentiation. These preserve the honored position of reading despite West Africans' enthusiasm for the glamour of going online.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556646","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 : 2007-07-01DOI: 10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.67
T. Molony
Despite its importance in African enterprise, the issue of “trust” is absent in information and communication technology for development scholarship. This article examines three case study subsectors of the Tanzanian economy to shed light on some of the complexities surrounding the sudden interface between traditional, established communication, and the increasing use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). It seems from the case studies that, whereas mobile phones are indeed creating new forms of network in the twenty-first century, they are still far from being Africa's dominant form of network as Stovring (2004, 22) contends. The case studies reveal the overlap between social interaction and business in an African economy. Trust emerges as a common theme, and I discuss how important an issue it is in relation to the new form of communication that ICT provides for entrepreneurs in Africa. I suggest that, in relation to ICT in developing countries, trust might at this stage be separated from the more slippery concept of social capital that it is frequently associated with elsewhere. I then reflect on the implications of this for future research into ICT and its business and nonbusiness applications in developing countries. I conclude by suggesting that the need for direct, personal interaction through face-to-face contact---a traditional pre-ICT aspect of African business culture---is unlikely to change for some time.
{"title":"‘I Don’t Trust the Phone; It Always Lies’","authors":"T. Molony","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.67","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.3.4.67","url":null,"abstract":"Despite its importance in African enterprise, the issue of “trust” is absent in information and communication technology for development scholarship. This article examines three case study subsectors of the Tanzanian economy to shed light on some of the complexities surrounding the sudden interface between traditional, established communication, and the increasing use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). It seems from the case studies that, whereas mobile phones are indeed creating new forms of network in the twenty-first century, they are still far from being Africa's dominant form of network as Stovring (2004, 22) contends. The case studies reveal the overlap between social interaction and business in an African economy. Trust emerges as a common theme, and I discuss how important an issue it is in relation to the new form of communication that ICT provides for entrepreneurs in Africa. I suggest that, in relation to ICT in developing countries, trust might at this stage be separated from the more slippery concept of social capital that it is frequently associated with elsewhere. I then reflect on the implications of this for future research into ICT and its business and nonbusiness applications in developing countries. I conclude by suggesting that the need for direct, personal interaction through face-to-face contact---a traditional pre-ICT aspect of African business culture---is unlikely to change for some time.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556656","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 : 2007-03-01DOI: 10.1162/ITID.2007.3.3.35
C. Stanforth
The implementation issues leading to successful application of information and communication technologies (ICT) is a well-researched area in the information systems literature. But there is little research work of this nature that is theoretically based and undertaken in the field of development informatics/ICT4D. Within this field, an important focus for any theoretically based study could be successful application of ICT in the public sector. This focus is taken in this paper because e-government is regarded by international financing institutions as a core component of the public sector reform programs that are currently reinventing government in developing countries. It is believed that key goals of the good governance agenda—increased efficiency, improved resource management, and increased accountability—will be engendered by the application of ICT. This paper presents actor-network theory (ANT) as a framework for understanding the processes of implementing e-government in developing countries. Drawing particularly on the work of Michel Callon and John Law, it applies this theory to a longitudinal study of the public expenditure management information systems supporting the fiscal reform program in Sri Lanka. Specific findings about the global and local networks that have shaped this set of e-government applications are presented. The conclusion is drawn that the application of ICT is an inherently political process and that a successful outcome requires continuous incremental action and improvisation to address the ongoing issues as they emerge. The paper identifies operational challenges in applying ANT that can be overcome by taking a more comprehensive analytical approach. Overall, ANT is seen as having a potentially wide area of application and being a promising theoretical vehicle for development informatics research.
{"title":"Using Actor-Network Theory to Analyze E-Government Implementation in Developing Countries","authors":"C. Stanforth","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.3.3.35","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.3.3.35","url":null,"abstract":"The implementation issues leading to successful application of information and communication technologies (ICT) is a well-researched area in the information systems literature. But there is little research work of this nature that is theoretically based and undertaken in the field of development informatics/ICT4D. Within this field, an important focus for any theoretically based study could be successful application of ICT in the public sector. This focus is taken in this paper because e-government is regarded by international financing institutions as a core component of the public sector reform programs that are currently reinventing government in developing countries. It is believed that key goals of the good governance agenda—increased efficiency, improved resource management, and increased accountability—will be engendered by the application of ICT. This paper presents actor-network theory (ANT) as a framework for understanding the processes of implementing e-government in developing countries. Drawing particularly on the work of Michel Callon and John Law, it applies this theory to a longitudinal study of the public expenditure management information systems supporting the fiscal reform program in Sri Lanka. Specific findings about the global and local networks that have shaped this set of e-government applications are presented. The conclusion is drawn that the application of ICT is an inherently political process and that a successful outcome requires continuous incremental action and improvisation to address the ongoing issues as they emerge. The paper identifies operational challenges in applying ANT that can be overcome by taking a more comprehensive analytical approach. Overall, ANT is seen as having a potentially wide area of application and being a promising theoretical vehicle for development informatics research.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556887","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 : 2007-03-01DOI: 10.1162/ITID.2007.3.3.81
R. Duncombe
This paper provides a contribution to theorizing information and communication technology (ICT) and development by applying a livelihoods approach. This is found to provide the basis not only for an information-centered understanding of ICTs but also a means for broad and systematic analysis of poverty. The specific development issue analyzed is the role of ICT in microenterprise because microenterprise represents a viable route out of poverty through increased and more diversified income streams for poor households. A case study of Botswana is presented to demonstrate how the livelihoods framework can be applied. This suggests that ICT applications may only bring marginal direct benefits for poverty reduction. Viewed from the perspective of a livelihoods approach, greater benefits for the poor may be derived from ICTs if they are applied to strengthen a broader range of social and political assets and if they are able to assist in building more effective structures and processes that favor the poor. The livelihoods approach is therefore able to identify information and ICTs as only one part of a much broader development picture, and it avoids the overemphasis on technology that can beset some development informatics/ICT for development (ICT4D) research. Mainstream application of livelihoods ideas tends not to engage explicitly with either information or ICT issues but the framework developed in this paper shows how such engagement can occur. It identifies both an analytical role for information/ICTs that helps understand livelihoods of the poor, and a functional role that uses these assets within livelihood strategies.
{"title":"Using the Livelihoods Framework to Analyze ICT Applications for Poverty Reduction through Microenterprise","authors":"R. Duncombe","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.3.3.81","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.3.3.81","url":null,"abstract":"This paper provides a contribution to theorizing information and communication technology (ICT) and development by applying a livelihoods approach. This is found to provide the basis not only for an information-centered understanding of ICTs but also a means for broad and systematic analysis of poverty. The specific development issue analyzed is the role of ICT in microenterprise because microenterprise represents a viable route out of poverty through increased and more diversified income streams for poor households. A case study of Botswana is presented to demonstrate how the livelihoods framework can be applied. This suggests that ICT applications may only bring marginal direct benefits for poverty reduction. Viewed from the perspective of a livelihoods approach, greater benefits for the poor may be derived from ICTs if they are applied to strengthen a broader range of social and political assets and if they are able to assist in building more effective structures and processes that favor the poor. The livelihoods approach is therefore able to identify information and ICTs as only one part of a much broader development picture, and it avoids the overemphasis on technology that can beset some development informatics/ICT for development (ICT4D) research. Mainstream application of livelihoods ideas tends not to engage explicitly with either information or ICT issues but the framework developed in this paper shows how such engagement can occur. It identifies both an analytical role for information/ICTs that helps understand livelihoods of the poor, and a functional role that uses these assets within livelihood strategies.","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64557002","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 : 2007-03-01DOI: 10.1162/ITID.2007.3.3.III
M. Best, E. J. Wilson
{"title":"10 Million for Your Thoughts","authors":"M. Best, E. J. Wilson","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.3.3.III","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.3.3.III","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64557015","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}
The aim of this special issue is to show how theoretical ideas from the social sciences can be applied to researching ICTs and socioeconomic development. Why should this be needed? Because the explosion of work on ICTs for development (ICT4D) has (unconsciously) followed Marx’s dictum: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world differently; the point is, to change it.” There has been a bias to action, not a bias to knowledge. We are changing the world without interpreting or understanding it. Most of the ICT4D research being produced is therefore descriptive not analytical. It might make some interesting points but it lacks sufacient rigor to make its andings credible and it can often be repetitive of earlier work. It has a close-to-zero shelf life. The pictorial analogy of such work is that of stones being thrown into a pond, each one making a ripple but then sinking without trace. Instead, it would be better if each “stone” was placed on a cairn, building on what has come before and acting as a foundation for future work. Such a contribution is generally possible only where the research draws on some preexisting conceptual framework. Of course, there are existing and ongoing research foundations for ICT4D work, which we can and particularly in various factions of “informatics”:
{"title":"Theorizing ICT4D Research","authors":"R. Heeks","doi":"10.1162/ITID.2007.3.3.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/ITID.2007.3.3.1","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this special issue is to show how theoretical ideas from the social sciences can be applied to researching ICTs and socioeconomic development. Why should this be needed? Because the explosion of work on ICTs for development (ICT4D) has (unconsciously) followed Marx’s dictum: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world differently; the point is, to change it.” There has been a bias to action, not a bias to knowledge. We are changing the world without interpreting or understanding it. Most of the ICT4D research being produced is therefore descriptive not analytical. It might make some interesting points but it lacks sufacient rigor to make its andings credible and it can often be repetitive of earlier work. It has a close-to-zero shelf life. The pictorial analogy of such work is that of stones being thrown into a pond, each one making a ripple but then sinking without trace. Instead, it would be better if each “stone” was placed on a cairn, building on what has come before and acting as a foundation for future work. Such a contribution is generally possible only where the research draws on some preexisting conceptual framework. Of course, there are existing and ongoing research foundations for ICT4D work, which we can and particularly in various factions of “informatics”:","PeriodicalId":45625,"journal":{"name":"Information Technologies & International Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64556839","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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