Several prominent ICT authors including the United Nations Development agency have found that many ICT4D (Information and Communication for development) projects share a number of fundamental flaws. One prominent author, Alfonso Dargan, in his
article “Take Five” A Handful of Essential ICTs in Development” notes the following problems and challenges for ICT effectiveness in bringing about real social change and development:
1. Community Ownership – Many projects are initiated without community input that leads to equipment theft or deterioration because of lack of a sense of ownership.
2. Local Content – Most Internet content is irrelevant to the developing world’s poor and is controlled by commercial rules. The demand for telephone, fax, and computer services far exceeds the demand for the Internet in most rural centers.
3. Appropriate Technology – Computers themselves remain a luxury, and purchasing decisions appear to be out of step with the needs of communities. The newest hardware/software capacity is generally underused and is not available to be repaired in most local settings. Technology must be appropriate and adequate to the needs of the communities, not in technical terms but in terms of utilization, learning, and adoption.
4. Language and Culture Pertinence - English dominates the web, and when combined with the Internet’s class and cultural uniformity, create a new “Apartheid”. The developing world is also left to inherit a “user culture” because of a lack of opportunities for contribution. Without the presence of local cultural/language, ICT’s cannot contribute to the development of communities. The present unbalanced “cultural exchange” must be altered and will occur only if communities are empowered to produce more local content.
5. Convergence and Networking – Projects are initiated in areas with no history of participation, no convergence with other programs or organizations, and no networking with other ICT projects. Projects are instituted in isolation without alliances amongst each of or the community.
The above issues could be characterized by what the Human Computer Interface (HCI) community calls a failure to “know thy user.” Without adequate consultation and understanding of the target users and their communities, many projects lack sustainable impact. As a result, an obvious “design reality” gap exists between the people who create development informatics solutions and the people and communities that use them.
My talk will describe an ethnographic exploration to understand the information needs of the rural poor in Ensenada, Mexico by studying their day-to-day lives and introducing several technology interventions that are customized to their needs.
The research will begin by closely examining two home-building programs that I’ve participated in as a volunteer builder and community worker during the past five years. The first program, Homes of Hope, has built more than 3,000 wood houses in Ensenada since 1990. The houses are built from scratch, and take 20-24 total human hours to complete. The other program, Arial Homes, builds manufactured homes made of sheet-metal panels and foam insulation, which are completed in less than 8 human hours. Arial Homes has built 15 homes since 2006.
I will discuss my observations and present field notes from preliminary field trips to the region in November 2007 and April 2008. I’ll also discuss a series of proposed field trips in June, July, and August 2008 that will focus more broadly on the information technology needs of the rural poor in Baja, Mexico.
Some possible research explorations include:
- What role do social networks play in the community at large and in neighborhoods such as the Colonias?
- Who are the information gatekeepers in the Colonias?
- Can information and technology enhancements be used to close the digital divide in Ensenada and its surrounding area?
- How can we discover which information and technology interventions are best suited for the rural poor in developing countries?
- Can I generalize the research findings of the rural poor in Ensenada Mexico to rural poor populations in developing countries around the world?
Date:
5/16/2008
to 5/16/2008
Time:
2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Mary Gates Hall 420
More info: Event Website
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