Since the inception of computing technologies half a century ago after the Second World War, different social segments and institutions have benefited from the use of ICT (Information and Telecommunication Technologies). Initially the main beneficiaries were government, the military and business. After the advent of the PC, ICT provided functionality for more informal uses, such as for entertainment: gaming and multimedia, including music and video). The introduction of the World Wide Web and more recently web-based tools that enable "ordinary" users to become socially active using ICT, it benefited social communities, who use ICT for typical social networking rather than for business or entertainment purposes. These social segments have very different needs. Business wants to make money; members of communities may be more interested in social networking.
Informatics is the scientific discipline investigating the use of ICT in domains such as business, the military and government. Initially ICT technologies used to be prohibitive in cost, and application software difficult to use. Now device costs are relatively cheap, open source software available for a diverse range of applications, and applications are becoming very easy to use. Social participation is now relatively easy and cheap, due to communication technologies such as the Web and smart mobile devices. The focus on the social aspect resulted in a particular branch of informatics, namely Community Informatics, which focuses on Social Computing, or the social aspects of ICT.
Access to and use of ICT is globally very diverse. High penetration of ICT use is found mainly in economically highly developed regions, resulting in commentators referring to a digital divide among communities. This divide is not a distinction by country, as in economically very powerful countries certain social groups are also disenfranchised.
Rural and geographically remote communities as well as socially remote communities do not have the benefits of ICT services that are readily available to highly developed urban communities. Such communities suffer from the consequences of the digital divide, and some implementation programs attempt to make provision for social inclusion. The particular branch of Informatics that investigates such disadvantages communities is Development Informatics (DI). This discipline investigates how ICT solutions can be designed, developed, engineered and deployed sustainably in disenfranchised communities, such as rural or remote communities. It is thus an idealistic scientific discipline that strives to provide answers to questions on how to bridge multiple digital divides, but also questions whether the divides should be bridged at all.
The digital divides are not particular to lesser economically developed regions. Even in highly developed economies such as in Canada and Australia, less developed geographical regions do not have the same levels of access to energy grids or communications infrastructure. Despite the high bandwidth The Supernet project in Canada, farmers and inhabitants of reserves do not have this kind of network access. The same holds for the Australian Outback. In economically developing regions there are also additional constraints such as poverty and poor literacy.
Development Informatics researches not only geographical remote communities, but also socially "remote" communities, such as the aged and kids on the edge who are disenfranchised or even alienated from mainstream social groups. Public access, such as telecentres, internet cafés and Multipurpose Community Centres are investigated as possible applications to bridge the digital divide, and to provide opportunities for social inclusion.
Development Informatics not only investigates the status quo of ICT implementation academically for the sake of explanatory theories, but also strives to design practical, sustainable ICT solutions that enable communities for self-empowerment, and to evaluate their effectiveness. Technically, mainstream ICT solutions can be re-engineered to assist in overcoming constraints such as lack of energy or communications infrastructure, and assist in addressing issues such as illiteracy or poverty. DI is not only concerned with technical matters, because the success of ICT deployment depends heavily on the buy-in of communities, requiring an understanding of social factors, including cultural factors, value systems, the nature of the local economy and many other factors. DI requires an inter-disciplinary approach focusing on the design of ICT solutions in constrained contexts.
This book series is a multi-volume set (Development Informatics and Regional Information Technologies: Theory, Practice and the Digital Divide) offering case studies of ICT solutions deployed in developing regions. Three volumes focus on different geographical regions, and will contain case studies with evidence of the approaches that have been more successful than others :
A fourth volume will focus more on theoretical aspects of the discipline of Development Informatics, such a theory and scientific methodology.
The volumes will be published by IGI
as
The volumes will be published in 2010.
Editor in Chief for the volume set is Jacques Steyn, Director of IDIA, and Head of the School of IT, Monash University (South African campus).
Postal Address:
School of IT
Monash South Africa
Private Bag X60
Roodepoort
South Africa
Phone: +27-11-950-4132
Fax: +27-11-950-4033
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