<incom> working papers on ICT

[Steve Cisler]

The UK Information Society Research Group issued a
group of working papers on ICT use in Jamaica, Ghana,
South Africa, and parts of Asia.

An Australian anthropology site has some interesting
commentary on the papers, esp.the one on Jamaica where
the authors make a number of recommendations:

-Instead of more computers in secondary schools invest
in post-educational training for young adults.

-Instead of investing into expensive high-end
computers invest in low-price computers without gaming
facilities

-Instead of investing in new educational content,
create trustworthy portals

-Instead of investing in community computers, offer
Internet access via individual mobile phones

What they found was that the realities of use at the
local level diverged enormously from the purposes
envisioned by the governments and international NGOs. 

http://culturematters.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/rich-ethnographic-reports-about-the-uses-of-ict-in-low-income-communities/



Steve Cisler
Center for Science, Technology, and Society
Santa Clara University
http://scu.edu/sts/