The Role of ICT in Capacity Building in the Developing World

摘要

Approximately three billion people exist on less than USD2 per day- a situation, which is untenable from a humanitarian viewpoint and a threat to global peace and stability. The underlying thesis of this panel is that Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) can play an important role in developing the economic capacity of underdeveloped nations and increasing the welfare of their citizens. A second thesis is that, to ensure success, ICT should be introduced as part of a total system in which political, legal, economic, social and human factors play an equal, or even more important, role than the technology itself. These factors are of course at play when ICT is introduced in the developed world. However, experience in the very different milieu of the developing world is likely to reveal that these environmental factors are even more important.Even though the role of ICT in socio-economic development is rapidly becoming an established area for IS research, there is still a need to develop theories and concepts that can help lead to useful ICT implementations under the vastly different conditions that are found in impoverished regions of the world. This panel explores the role of ICT in Global Development emphasizing the diffusion of global knowledge and its impact on the welfare of poor communities and developing economies. Three panelists with extensive experience in various aspects of global development will provide their insights into what works and what does not work. They will be asked to respond to the following questions: 1. What practical lessons can be learnt from past attempts to introduce ICT in developing regions of the world? 2. What conceptual and theoretical approaches can best be applied to study the role of ICT in the processes of socio-economic development? 3. What are the pressing research questions and what is the best approach for studying them? 4. How can the IS community contribute to the advancement of the developing world?