Globalism and Diversity

How to help make emerging technologies valuable to others, while maintaining gender, cultural, and socioeconomic sensitivity

The rapid development and use of information and communication technologies is having a direct and dramatic impact on all aspects of life. The traditional distinctions among media, publishing, telecommunications, and computing and information services are becoming blurred, and new paradigms for creation, dissemination and exploitation of knowledge are evolving. In this transformation from an industrial to an information society, the developed and rich nations have a unique intellectual and ethical mandate to make these new technologies work for social, cultural and economic development, in the interest of democracy and peace.

In my humble opinion, and as a member of the so called developing nation, I think that networked technologies are the key to achieving this noble and equitable objective. The most important rationale for using networked technologies in rural and underdeveloped parts of the world is that these new resources can compensate for the absence of other forms of infrastructure. If online work, trade, or payment were to become available for members of a village community, the poor quality of roads to and from that village becomes less of an obstacle to earnings and employment. I am sure Dr Thornburg will attest to this assumption from his experiences in Brazil and other developing nations he has visited and or lived in. Each information center along a rural network can allow new knowledge, services, and monies to flow in and out of the village across long distances, thus alleviating the disparities between urban and rural environments. In future, information networks will also prove to be essential infrastructure for new networked centers of manufacturing and other commercial activities. Once money begins to flow into the village economy through such businesses, the capital to finance basic infrastructure, like roads, will be far more readily available.

In some very selected villages in Africa, information centers are already substituting for a range of virtual institutions, such as a community center, a bank, a medical center, a government information center, a matrimonial office, a public telephone booth, a public library and educational resource center, all at a fraction of the cost of corresponding traditional institutions. At present, the village information center may itself only represent a transient phase in the growth of ICTs in rural areas. This is a means through which the development of technological infrastructure can enable the on-going development of social infrastructure.

The challenge for developing countries will be to develop cheap, simple and robust technologies using flexible, modular, and scalable network designs for coping with increasing users and traffic. Standards are important to the creation of systems within which future networks and services can evolve. Ideally, such systems should be based on standards that are not restricted to proprietary specifications. The adoption of a set of flexible standards that are conducive to the conditions in developing countries will be essential for certain cost-efficiencies to be gained in these countries. Standards should also reflect the financial realities of developing countries, which have limited budgets and as a result much longer product purchasing cycles than their counterparts in the industrialized world.

Training will be required at many different levels by many different users to avoid their becoming only passive recipients. Training programs should be developed to make decision makers in developing countries aware of the opportunities that ICTs offer as well as of their potential pitfalls. They should explore how existing and emerging technologies can be applied to development goals. The ministries of education must be made aware of different technologies in order to consider how these can be applied in their education systems.

Developing countries should also ensure the education and training of specialists needed to develop networks and ICT based applications. Both university-level education and practical continuing education are required. Training should cover both technical and management concerns and take full account of both the latest international developments and the national socio-economic and cultural context. As a complement and component of education on ICTs, developing countries should support research on innovations in their use by different populations and on their effects on society and development. I do however believe that these steps can also be applied to enhance the assimilation of poor neighborhoods in developed countries too. Even very highly developed countries like the United States, a visit to some areas will remind one of a typical third world nation and so an application of these technologies will improve the lives of those people too.