mediadev library

Action Steps: A Decade of Civil Society Advocacy in the Information Society. A Baseline Review of the Global Information Society Watch Country Reports (2007-2017)

Alan Finlay

Association for Progressive Communications (APC); International Development Research Centre (IDRC) (2018), 80 pp.

"This review looks back over 11 years of civil society advocacy in the information society – a total of 510 country reports published in Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) from 2007 to 2017. It covers a period of important global shifts, from the exponential growth and influence of social ... more

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Empowerment as Development: An Outline of an Analytical Concept for the Study of ICTs in the Global South

Jakob Svensson

In: Handbook of Communication for Development and Social Change

Jan Servaes (ed.)

Singapore: Springer (2018), 19 pp.

"It is a certainty that the proliferation of ICTs (mobile phones in particular) has opened up a range of possibilities and new avenues for individuals, aid agencies, and NGOs. However, overviews of communication supposedly for development reveal a field based on economic understandings of developmen ... more

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Experiences of ICT Use in Shared, Public Access Settings in Philippine Slums

Cheryll Ruth Soriano, Ruepert Jiel Cao, Marianne Sison

Development in Practice, volume 28, issue 3 (2018), pp. 358-373

"This article examines how privacy is understood, lived, and negotiated by youth users of information and communication technology (ICT) in slum communities in the Philippines. In the context of shared and public access arrangements prevalent in many low-income communities in the Global South, the a ... more

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Entwicklungszusammenarbeit 4.0: Digitalisierung und globale Verantwortung

Hartmut Sangmeister, Heike Wagner (eds.)

Baden-Baden: Nomos (2018), 172 pp.

"Die internationale Entwicklungszusammenarbeit kann die Digitalisierung in ihrer Vielfalt nutzen, um ihre Ziele besser und schneller zu erreichen. Mit der Digitalisierung sind aber auch Risiken im Bereich Datenschutz, Arbeitswelt oder Zugang zum Internet verbunden. Wer profitiert von der „digitale ... more

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Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D)
Top Insights

Richard Heeks

London; New York: Routledge (2018), xviii, 410 pp.

"The first three chapters set out the foundations of ICT4D: the core relation between ICTs and development; the underlying components needed for ICT4D to work; and best practice in implementing ICT4D. Five chapters then analyse key development goals: economic growth, poverty eradication, social deve ... more

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Reflecting the Past, Shaping the Future: Making AI Work for International Development

Amy Paul, Craig Jolley, Aubra Anthony

USAID (2018), 97 pp.

"This document aims to inform and empower those who may have limited technical experience as they navigate an emerging ML/AI landscape in developing countries. Donors, implementers, and other development partners should expect to come away with a basic grasp of common ML techniques and the problems ... more

The Age of Digital Interdependence
Key Guidance

UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation (2018), 47 pp.

"After an introduction which highlights the urgency of improved digital cooperation and invites readers to commit to a Declaration of Digital Interdependence, our report focuses on three broad sets of interlocking issues, each of which is discussed in one subsequent chapter. As a panel, we strove fo ... r consensus, but we did not always agree. We have noted areas where our views differed and tried to give a balanced summary of our debates and perspectives. While there was not unanimity of opinion among the Panel members regarding all of the recommendations, the Panel does endorse the full report in the spirit of promoting digital cooperation. Chapter 2, Leaving No One Behind, argues that digital technologies will only help progress towards the full sweep of the SDGs if we think more broadly than the important issue of access to the internet and digital technologies. Access is a necessary, but insufficient, step forward. To capture the power of digital technologies we need to cooperate on the broader ecosystems that enable digital technologies to be used in an inclusive manner. This will require policy frameworks that directly support economic and social inclusion, special efforts to bring traditionally marginalised groups to the fore, important investments in both human capital and infrastructure, smart regulatory environments, and significant efforts to assist workers facing disruption from technology’s impact on their livelihoods. This chapter also addresses financial inclusion – including mobile money, digital identification and e-commerce –, affordable and meaningful access to the internet, digital public goods, the future of education, and the need for regional and global economic policy cooperation. Chapter 3, Individuals, Societies and Digital Technologies, underscores the fact that universal human rights apply equally online as offline, but that there is an urgent need to examine how time-honoured human rights frameworks and conventions should guide digital cooperation and digital technology. We need society-wide conversations about the boundaries, norms and shared aspirations for the uses of digital technologies, including complicated issues like privacy, human agency and security in order to achieve inclusive and equitable outcomes. This chapter also discusses the right to privacy, the need for clear human accountability for autonomous systems, and calls for strengthening efforts to develop and implement global norms on cybersecurity." more

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Reclaiming Information and Communication Technologies for Development

Tim Unwin

Oxford: Oxford University Press (2017), viii, 226 pp.

"ICTs undoubtedly have the potential to reduce poverty, for example by enhancing education, health delivery, rural develop and entrepreneurship across Africa, Asia and Latin America. However, all too often, projects designed to do so fail to go to scale, and are unsustainable when donor funding ceas ... more

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Data for Development: What’s Next? Concepts, Trends and Recommendations for German Development Cooperation

Balthas Seibold, Elisabeth Hobl (eds.)

Bonn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); Institute of Development Studies (IDS); World Wide Web Foundation; (2017), 83 pp.

"In this report, we look at the state of digital data for development and emerging trends. We aim to support German development cooperation in integrating and prioritising data approaches and investments in their work. In this study we focus on four data categories: big data, open data, citizen-gene ... more

World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends

Washington, DC: World Bank (2016), xxiii, 330 pp.

"Digital technologies have spread rapidly in much of the world. Digital dividends—the broader development benefits from using these technologies—have lagged behind. In many instances digital technologies have boosted growth, expanded opportunities, and improved service delivery. Yet their aggreg ... more

Terminaux et environnements numériques mobiles dans l'espace francophone

Alain Kiyindou, Étienne Damome (eds.)

Paris: L'Harmattan (2016), 240 pp.

A Framework for the Adoption of Information and Communication Technology in Faith-Based Organizations in Kenya: A Case of Comboni Missions

Haron Gacengechi

Nairobi: Master Thesis Strathmore University (2016), viii, 60 pp.

"This research covers the adoption of ICT in Comboni missions, a faith-based organization with operations in Kenya among other global countries. Comboni missions focus on less developed Kenya counties, and in economically challenged areas such as slums in Mathare, Korogocho, Kariobangi in Nairobi. R ... more

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Technology and Society as Embedded: An Alternative Framework for Information and Communication Technology and Development

Natascia Boeri

Media, Culture & Society, volume 38, issue 1 (2016), pp. 107-118

"An emerging topic in the development field is how information and communication technology (ICT) can be used for economic and social development. The general approach relies on technological determinism, whereby the discussion revolves around how and to what extent will ICT support development. It ... more

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ICTs in Developing Countries: Research, Practices and Policy Implications

Bidit Dey, Karim Sorour, Raffaele Filieri (eds.)

London: Palgrave Macmillan (2016), 192 pp.

"ICTs in Developing Countries is a collection of conceptual and empirical works on the adoption and impacts of ICT use in developing societies. Bringing together a wide range of disciplines and contributors, it offers a rich examination of digital divide and ICT for development both in terms of cont ... more

SDG ICT Playbook: From Innovation to Impact

Carol Bothwell et al.

NetHope; Intel; Catholic Relief Services (CRS); Microsoft; CDW (2015), 66 pp.

"The playbook addresses ten technology areas and explores how each might be applied to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). We provide a basic overview of each, discuss benefits, trends and challenges and make recommendations for what nonprofits, governments and the private sector can do ... more

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Open Innovation with Social Media: A Source Book for Policy and Decision Makers in International Cooperation

Christian Kreutz, Jan Schwaab, Balthas Seibold

Bonn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) (2015), 22 pp.

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New Technologies in Developing Societies: From Theory to Practice

Levi Obijiofor

London: Palgrave Macmillan (2015), xii, 295 pp.

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ICT4D Donor Agencies and Networks

Paula Uimonen, Johan Hellström

In: International Encyclopedia of Digital Communication and Society

Robin Mansell, Peng Hwa Ang (eds.)

Chichester et al.: Wiley Blackwell (2015), pp. 323-30

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Digital Divides: The New Challenges and Opportunities of E-Inclusion

Kim J. Andreasson (ed.)

Boca Raton et al.: CRC Press (2015), xxviii, 300 pp.

"The rapid development of the information society has accentuated the importance of digital divides, which refer to economic and social inequalities among populations due to differences in access to, use of, or knowledge of information and communication technologies (ICT). This book discusses the cu ... more