"The IFAP Annual World Report 2009 offers an overview of major international and national policy documents and highlights the most important trends of the information society during the last year. Information Society Policies. Annual World Report 2009 was written by researchers from the Information
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Society Research Institute of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. According to their analysis, the most important effect of the information society is probably the fact that it eliminates several historical divides. Social differences caused by the unequal distribution of ICT tools are being eliminated by the same tools, which causes a paradoxical situation. The Report outlines cultural and geographical aspects of the digital divide and highlights solutions offered by the information society, such as broadband Internet and mobile technology. It also analyses the link between social and technological changes, which vary from country to country. Among the most significant trends introduced in the Report are some important technical achievements that are likely to change people’s lives in several aspects. Information society strategies increasingly focus on e-government, which is becoming more and more socially oriented. The authors of the World Report examine the e-government aspects that proved to be the most important last year: the breakthrough of social networking, the increasing importance of open source software and of the green IT. No information society strategy today can disregard these trends. The last section provides an overview of the worldwide penetration of ICT tools, both globally and regionally, showing the social and policy challenges faced by particular regions." (UNESCO Communication and Information Sector's News Service, 22-02-2010)
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"This report presents a review of empirical research on the impacts of public access to ICTs in order to document what is known about this approach to ICT service delivery. The results show that there is limited conclusive evidence on downstream impacts of public access to ICTs. The evidence that do
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es exist suggests that the public access ICT model is not living up to the expectations placed on it. This is not necessarily because public access has had no impacts, but because its impact is particularly difficult to identify and measure. As a model, public access to ICTs has experienced success and failure, leading to both reinforcement of the belief that the model should be expanded and strengthened; as well as claims that public access ICTs are ultimately ineffective or even counter-productive from the development perspective. Four main types of evidence are identified: evidence on venue performance and sustainability, users, usage patterns and downstream impacts. Assessment of this evidence indicates that trends are most apparent in the first three areas, while evidence of downstream impacts remains elusive. Most studies show that sustainability is a critical challenge especially in low resource, low income environments where commercial services are not viable. They also show that users are primarily young males with relatively high socio-economic statusand prior access to the Internet. Users tend to engage in social and personal activities as opposed to economic activities, for example. Findings on downstream impacts fall on both sides of the equation, some studies conclude that impacts are high in a variety of areas, development of ICT skills, job creation, civic engagement etc; others find limited impacts." (Abstract)
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"In conclusion and above all, we can see that ICT4D 2.0 is about reframing the poor. Where ICT4D 1.0 marginalised them, allowing a supply-driven focus, ICT4D 2.0 centralises them, creating a demand-driven focus. Where ICT4D 1.0 – fortified by the "bottom of the pyramid" concept – characterised t
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hem largely as passive consumers, ICT4D 2.0 sees the poor as active producers and active innovators. Three overarching questions for this next phase therefore emerge. How can the poor be producers of digital content and services? How can they create new incomes and job through ICTs? And how can we recognise and scale the ICT-based innovations they produce?" (Page 29)
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"Following an initiative of the Committee on Economic Co-operation and Development, the Office of Technology Assessment (TAB) at the German Bundestag (i.e. the German parliament) has carried out a project on the relevance of the Internet and other new information and communication technologies (ICTs
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) for social advancement in developing countries. This final report documents the results of the project. [...] In the first place, the report analyses and discusses the use of ICT and how it can contribute to social development in the context of the situation in developing countries. Secondly, a more detailed examination is undertaken of contributions relating in particular to the areas of democracy, good governance and civil society, of industry and trade, and of education, research and technological development. Thirdly, the results of these analyses are used to draw conclusions about concrete and strategic courses of action and challenges for German development co-operation within the context of general issues relevant to research and education policy." (Preface)
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"This report analyzes the benefits of extending access to ICT in the developing world; of mainstreaming ICT applications, particularly in the area of e-government; and of trading services based on information technology. It also features at-a-glance tables for 150 economies of the latest available d
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ata on ICT sector indicators. Country ICT performance measures for access, affordability, and applications in government and business are also introduced, so that policy makers can assess their countries’ ICT capacities relative to those of other countries." (Foreword)
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"ICT4D provides an authoritative account of the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in contemporary development practice. It combines theory with practical guidance – including both a conceptual framework for understanding the rapid development of ICT4D. Case studies provide d
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etailed examples of issues and initiatives from a variety of countries and organisations. ICTs are becoming increasingly significant in improving the impacts of development practice. However, ICT4D projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America have not always been as effective as their proponents had hoped. This book explores both the successes and the challenges facing such initiatives, and provides clear recommendations for how they can be developed in more sustainable ways for the benefit of poor people and marginalised communities." (Publisher description)
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"The biennial Digital Review of Asia Pacific is a comprehensive guide to the state-of-practice and trends in information and communication technologies for development (ICTD) in Asia Pacific. This fourth edition (2009-2010) features 30 economies and four subregional groupings. The chapters provide u
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pdated information on ICT infrastructure, industries, content and services, key initiatives, enabling policies, regulation, education and capacity building, open source and R&D initiatives, as well as key ICTD challenges in each of the economies covered." (Publisher description)
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"This book offers a view of the cultural, family, and interpersonal consequences of mobile communication across the globe. Scholars analyze the effect of mobile communication on all parts of life, from the relationship between literacy and the textual features of mobile phones to the use of ringtone
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s as a form of social exchange, from the “aspirational consumption” of middle-class families in India to the belief in parts of Africa and Asia that mobile phones can communicate with the dead. The contributors explore the ways mobile communication profoundly affects the tempo, structure, and process of daily life around the world. The book discusses the impact of mobile communication on social networks, other communication strategies, traditional forms of social organization, and political activities. It considers how quickly miraculous technologies come to seem ordinary and even necessary; and how ordinary technology comes to seem mysterious and even miraculous. The chapters cut across social issues and geographical regions; they highlight use by the elite and the masses, utilitarian and expressive functions, and political and operational consequences. Taken together, the chapters demonstrate how mobile communication has affected the quality of life in both exotic and humdrum settings, and how it increasingly occupies center stage in people’s lives around the world." (Publisher description)
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"This edition (2007/2008) continues the tradition of providing an analytical overview of the state of ICT4D in Asia Pacific. It covers 31 countries and economies, including North Korea for the first time. Each country chapter is an attempt to provide a relatively comprehensive coverage of the variou
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s aspects of ICT4D in each of the countries at the time that the chapter was written (in 2006). To provide a broad perspective of the issues covered, the chapters are written by a team of authors representing different sectors, such as government, academe, industry and civil society. There are also fi ve thematic chapters providing a synthesis of some of the key issues in ICT4D in Asia Pacific today." (Introduction, page xii)
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"Entwicklungsländer und moderne Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT): Wie geht das zusammen? Dieses oft diskutierte, aber selten detailliert untersuchte Thema wird in diesem Buch vor allem anhand Afrikas südlich der Sahara behandelt, einer Weltregion mit erheblichen Entwicklungshemmn
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issen. Im Fokus steht dabei die besonders voraussetzungsreiche Internetnutzung. Tatsächlich sind die Hürden für einen entwicklungsförderlichen Einsatz moderner IKT und speziell des Internets dort weiterhin sehr hoch. Die Ergebnisse der materialreichen Studie, für die auch Forschungen vor Ort durchgeführt wurden, verweisen indes nicht bloß auf Potenziale der IKT für Entwicklung, sondern sie zeigen auch, dass sich die Internetnutzung in Subsahara-Afrika bereits vielfältig darstellt und derzeit dynamisch entwickelt. Nicht nur mit Blick auf die schwerpunktmäßig untersuchten Felder (Demokratisierung, Wirtschaft, Bildung und Forschung) bestehen erhebliche Chancen und Bedarfe für einen Ausbau der Informationsgesellschaft in dieser Weltregion. Vorschläge, wie darauf politisch reagiert und Entwicklung durch Vernetzung gefördert werden kann, bilden einen weiteren Schwerpunkt des Bandes." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"This book brings together some of the most outstanding and novel papers on media and development presented at the AMIC Annual Conferences in Bangkok, Thailand in July 2004. It features over a dozen contributions from around the region, providing a wealth of fresh case studies as well as breaking ne
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w ground in highlighting emerging frontiers of media development discourse in Asia, comparing regional development along multiple dimensions and frameworks and pointing the direction towards further media initiatives at a national level. The papers selected are grouped into three key themes: media and development; new narratives and political discourse; and media impacts and capacity building. Part I addresses macro-level impacts and policies pertaining to media and development in Asia. Part II deals with more direct media issues such as new narratives and emerging forms of political discourse and groupings in Asia. Part III shifts the focus to traditional media impacts on youth and tribal audiences, as well as new media impacts on the education and business sectors. The contributors to this book have highlighted not just an interesting range of media and development issues in Asia, but have also introduced a good variety of media research methods. These include quantitative assessments of media impacts in society, comparative and longitudinal frameworks for evaluating regional ICT competitiveness, structural analyses of political and activist communication systems, in-depth case studies of individual organisations, and broad-based surveys of stakeholders in ICT4D." (Publisher description)
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"This is intended to be a "practical" book. It is filled with examples and case studies that illustrate ways that carefully planned and implemented communication interventions have produced positive results. It is also filled with ideas from people who have experienced the challenges of communicatin
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g effectively in development programs. We are indebted to them and I am pleased to provide their ideas - frequentyl in their own words - to th readers of this book, and provide web links to their works. In spinning all of these valuable resources together I have added my own insights based on almost four decades of communication and development experience in countries ranging from Guatemala to Western Samoa, with many other stops in Asia, Africa and Latin America." (Foreword)
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