ICT for Development: Solutions Seeking Problems?

Chaudhuri, Anindya

doi:10.1057/jit.2012.19

Cited by 37 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…2 Increasing this number will require massive infrastructure investments [18]. Possibly, wired Internet solutions will never emerge in many places and will be directly replaced by mobile solutions [4]. However, mobile solutions still require infrastructure and impose centralized points of control (the network operators), which implies a single point of failures [33].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Padoc: Enabling social networking in proximity

et al. 2016

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Padoc: Enabling social networking in proximity

et al. 2016

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“…Consequently, Toyama (2010) called ICTs used for development (ICT4D) "a magnifier of human intent and capacity." They have been adopted as first-choice methods both by international agencies, such as the World Bank 4 and the United Nations, as well as by national governments, particularly in developing countries (Chaudhuri, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Guo & Chen, 2011;Yan & Sun, 2012). In addition, Chaudhuri (2012) maintained that most published results are issued by international agencies, who, having subscribed to the ICT4D agenda, have a natural interest in legitimizing their choice. As Chaudhuri (2012, p. 328) criticized, they tend to "highlight cherry-picked outcomes rather than critically analyzing the broad spectrum between success and failure."…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Dis)Empowering technologies: ICT for education (ICT4E) in China, past and present

Schulte

2015

Chinese Journal of Communication

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Information and communication technologies (ICT) are often presented as the cure-all for various problems: ICTs for education (ICT4E) are considered promising tools for promoting self-directed, creative learning and bridging various divides, such as those between developed and developing countries, urban and rural regions, and so on. While the lofty goals of ICT4E are continuously being highlighted, surprisingly little attention has been paid to how these technologies are embedded in sociocultural and political environments.China is no exception to this narrative of techno-determinism. In China, new technologies are being widely propagated as effective instruments for erasing differences between learners and learning communities, particularly with regard to transplanting "modern" education into rural communities. The novelty of 21st century ICT, however, tends to obscure the fact that these techno-optimist beliefs date back to attempts in the early 20th century to uplift rural China through the implementation of modern technologies. The article will scrutinize this history of techno-optimism and will relate it to recent attempts at "transformation by technology." Finally, I will discuss how the new keyword in both educational modernization and the knowledge economy-"creativity"-functions as the conceptual ideological heir to "production capacity," the core ingredient of the industrializing societies of the 19th and 20th centuries.Keywords: ICT4E; techno-determinism; techno-optimism; creativity; rural China IntroductionIn the field of education, information and communication technologies (ICT) are often presented as the cure-all for a variety of problems: on the one hand, ICTs for education (ICT4E) are considered appropriate and promising tools for promoting self-directed and creative learning, which are deemed crucial for education in the 21st century. On the other hand, these new technologies are expected to bridge various divides, such as those between developed and developing countries, urban and rural regions, affluent and poor neighborhoods, and so on, by spreading the most up-to-date knowledge and skills to every classroom on the globe. While the merits and lofty goals of ICT4E are continuously highlighted in the research on ICT4E, surprisingly little attention has been paid to how these technologies are embedded in sociocultural and political environments after they are designed in national contexts and implemented in local schools. In a manner that can be best described as both ahistorical and apolitical, both ICT4E practitioners and policy makers assume that the newly promoted technologies, by virtue of their novelty, will automatically transform and improve learning both in and outside the classroom.China is no exception to this narrative of techno-determinism. New technologies are being widely propagated as effective instruments to both erase differences between learners and learning communities and raise learning behaviors and outcomes to a new level of quality. This has been true particularly with r...

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“…It is widely acknowledged that diffusion of such public information and communications technology (PICT) 1 projects is a key driver for inclusive development and better governance [18,33]. Unlike their private sector counterparts, which are almost always concerned only with business objectives, ICT deployments in the public sector aim to use technology extensively to also address issues of social inclusion, transparency, decentralized delivery of public services, public accountability and governance [8,19,46]. Increasingly, many PICT projects are also launched with the objective of cutting down costs in government departments [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The continuity of underperforming ICT projects in the public sector

Sandeep

Ravishankar

2014

Information & Management

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The continuity of underperforming ICT projects in the public sector AbstractThere is a growing body of research on the successes and failures of information and communications technology (ICT) projects in the public sector. However, this literature has rarely addressed the question: why do some projects persist and continue despite functioning poorly in several areas. In this paper, we suggest that the notions of institutional logics and status differences provide useful insights into the structure and trajectory of such a continuity.We build our arguments through an in-depth qualitative case study of a public information and communications technology (PICT) project in India. From our findings, we develop a process model of PICT project continuity. We explain how bureaucratic posturing -a manifestation of bureaucratic logic -when employed as a tactic by high status groups, lead to poor performance on several fronts. The paper elaborates on two levels of continuity: policylevel continuity, which in our case was enabled by the logics of decentralization and technocracy, and operational-level continuity, which was achieved when groups with contrasting status-related motivations supported the project.

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ICT for Development: Solutions Seeking Problems?

Cited by 37 publications

References 14 publications

Padoc: Enabling social networking in proximity

Padoc: Enabling social networking in proximity

(Dis)Empowering technologies: ICT for education (ICT4E) in China, past and present

The continuity of underperforming ICT projects in the public sector

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