Open ICT ecosystems transforming the developing world

  • Posted on: 3 December 2012
  • By: Anonymous (not verified)
TitleOpen ICT ecosystems transforming the developing world
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsSmith M, Elder L
Volume6
Issue1
Pagination65-71
Keywordsdevelopment, ICT ecosystems, mobile phones, openness, participatory web, social arrangements
Abstract

In the years following 2008, developing countries as a whole may invest as much as US$100 billion annually in information infrastructure (Khalil & Kenny, 2008). In addition, the rapid expansion of mobile phones—even in the poorer regions of the world1,2—and the emergence of the “social” (i.e., participatory and collaborative) Web3 are rapidly reshaping not only the ways people access and share information, but also how they relate, collaborate, and organize (Benkler, 2006; Shirky, 2008). These new tech- nologies, most notably information and communication technologies (ICTs), offer new and transformative applications and services, means to communicate and produce content, and decentralized innovation models (Heeks, 2008). In this context of expanding ICT networks and applica- tions, Khalil and Kenny (2008) appropriately ask, “How can we catalyze the impact of ICTs on development?” The hypothesis of this paper is that open social arrangements, enabled by ICTs, can help to catalyze the development impacts of ICTs. In other words, open ICT ecosystems provide the space for the ampliªcation and transformation of social activities that can be powerful drivers of develop- ment. Note that an ICT ecosystem4 is understood to be more than just a technological system; rather, it is a social system within which ICTs are embedded.

URLhttp://itidjournal.org/itid/article/viewFile/489/214
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