Discovering development from information technologies: does open access to technology improve the lives of people?
ABSTRACT: One of the most compelling problems facing society is how to understand the effects of Information Technology and that illusive “Communication” technology in the more contemporary term Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on the lives of people – especially those living in marginalized circumstances. The ability to communicate through the use of information technologies has enabled access to skill, expertise and knowledge by people who are able to use these resources to improve their lives. This ability is also manifest in technologies, such as cell phones and internet chat rooms that allow innovative uses of the technology to bring about measureable improvements in the lives of people. Discovering these improvements in the lives of people who use these technologies to come out of poverty or deprivations, is the subject of the study of how Information Technology may enable Development. The effects of ICTs on Development can be studied to assess how economic growth, namely income generation and job creation may take place; how social development outcomes, such as the effects of technology on healthcare, government and education may be improved; and how human development outcomes of empowerment, participation in civic life and the achievement of individual freedoms may be enabled through access and use of information technology. These are just some of the many ways in which ICTs have been shown to bring about improvements in the lives of people. Researchers in the Information Technology for Development field have shown that there is a link between the adoption of ICTs by people in a region and an increase in incomes of people in that region (Baliamoune-Lutz, 2003; Bollou and Ngwenyama, 2008; Cecchini and Scott, 2003; Kottemann and Boyer-Wright, 2009; Kosempel, 2007).
Keywords: Information and Communication Technologies, Telecenters, Internet chat rooms, payment systems, e-government
Extending Human Capabilities through Information Technology Applications and Infrastructures
ABSTRACT: Many studies explore the ways in which information technology can bring about improvements in people’s lives by considering aspects of how it is used, applied in various communities and countries and how it affects certain key economic indicators such as growth. In particular, it appears that human development can be enabled through access and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by enabling personal freedoms to be achieved. Sen (1999) suggests that in order to achieve Development, people need to be able to extend their capabilities so that they can access resources, earn an income and achieve their personal goals. The freedom of choice to be able to take opportunities that will enable people to earn an income is according to Sen (1999) alleviating poverty in developed as well as countries that are considered developing. Income is needed in order to enable people to get an education, healthcare and achieve other personal goals. Yet a key aspect of Sen’s capability perspective is that income is only a means to achieve the ends that people want to pursue if given the freedoms to do so. This is central to an understanding of development as a means of offering people the freedom to achieve their aims
Keywords: Healthcare, IT infrastructure, Human Capabilities, e-business, Community Telecenters
Extending Human Capabilities through Information Technology Applications and Infrastructures
ABSTRACT: Many studies explore the ways in which information technology can bring about improvements in people’s lives by considering aspects of how it is used, applied in various communities and countries and how it affects certain key economic indicators such as growth. In particular, it appears that human development can be enabled through access and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by enabling personal freedoms to be achieved. Sen (1999) suggests that in order to achieve Development, people need to be able to extend their capabilities so that they can access resources, earn an income and achieve their personal goals. The freedom of choice to be able to take opportunities that will enable people to earn an income is according to Sen (1999) alleviating poverty in developed as well as countries that are considered developing. Income is needed in order to enable people to get an education, healthcare and achieve other personal goals. Yet a key aspect of Sen’s capability perspective is that income is only a means to achieve the ends that people want to pursue if given the freedoms to do so. This is central to an understanding of development as a means of offering people the freedom to achieve their aims
Keywords: Healthcare, IT infrastructure, Human Capabilities, e-business, Community Telecenters
Networks of change, shifting power from institutions to people: how are innovations in the use of information and communication technology transforming development?
ABSTRACT: In 2006, Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, for their pioneering work in fighting global poverty by providing financial services for the poor. Grameen Bank, started by Professor Yunus in 1976, is credited with pioneering microcredit banking when he gave a loan of $27 to 43 poor women. Since then, Grameen Bank has helped more than 8.3 million borrowers, 97% of whom are women (Grameen Foundation, 2013). The following year, Forbes magazine reported that there were about 12,000 micro-finance institutions in the world with some of the big banks, government and private foundations getting into the game (Swibel, 2007). When receiving his Nobel Peace Prize, Professor Yunus was asked by a reporter: “what is your secret to helping people out of poverty?”
Keywords: Information and Communication Technologies, Microcredit banking, Micro-businesses, Mobile cellphones, Telecenters, Electronic telecommunications
