The paper seeks to explain why no registry of low-cost information technologies for developing countries exists. It advances a set of policy proposals and a suggestion for a dedicated new website.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
[1] In F. Rodriquez and E. Wilson , Are Poor Countries Losing the Information Revolution? [Unpublished paper, Info DEV, World Bank , 2000], a study for the World Bank, the authors try to measure the extent of the digital divide between rich and poor countries and they suggest that the size of this gap is growing rather than diminishing.
2.
[2] J. James , Bridging the digital divide with low-cost information technologies , Journal of Information Science27(4) (2000) 211-217 .
3.
[3] P. Henry , A. Reddy and F. Stewart , A blueprint for action. In: A.S. Bhalla (ed.), Towards Global Action for Appropriate Technology ( Pergamon, Oxford , 1979).
4.
[4] Other prominent appropriate technology institutions are the Intermediate Technology Development Group in England and Enterprise Works (formerly Appropriate Technology International) in the USA.
5.
[5] Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) , Communications. Available at: www.vita.org
6.
[6] R. Lempel and S. Moran , The stochastic approach for link-structure analysis (SALSA) and the TKC effect . In: Proceedings of the 9th International World Wide Web Conference, Amsterdam, 15-19 May 2000 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2000).
7.
[7] See, for example, the relevant articles in Proceedings of the 9th International World Wide Web Conference, Amsterdam, 15-19 May 2000.
8.
[8] Namely, Mike Jensen, a consultant mainly to African countries.
9.
[9] See: J. Peizer, Bridging the Digital Divide: First You Need the Bridge. Available at: www.mediachannel.org (21 June 2000). Potential suppliers may be contacted via what Peizer refers to as a ‘third-party, trusted source that brings together like-minded sites under an umbrella site acting as a portal into the larger community’. According to Peizer: ‘An excellent aggregator example is OneWorld.net, the human rights and development site aggregator. OneWorld spiders information from each of its site members. Editors categorize the information and format it as the OneWorld entry point for those seeking access to the human-rights and development sector on the Web. Individual members still have their sites and their autonomy’.
10.
[10] Just as they did in relation to what in earlier periods was referred to as ‘appropriate technology’. See, for example: F. Stewart , Technology and Underdevelopment ( Macmillan, London , 1977).
11.
[11] These examples were kindly provided by Mike Jensen (see [8]).
12.
[12] This need was recognised in the literature in the late 1970s that dealt with various types of global action for appropriate technology (see [13]). Stewart (see
13.
[14]), for example, took note of the strong reasons for believing that socio/economic variables may be of as much significance as technological ones in determining the choice of techniques. Providing information about appropriate techniques (old ones or newly developed ones) may be necessary but not sufficient. A vital element of a successful appropriate technology policy may then be the identification of the other elements necessary for successful introduction of appropriate techniques.
14.
[13] A.S. Bhalla (ed.), Towards Global Action for Appropriate Technology ( Pergamon, Oxford , 1979).
15.
[14] F. Stewart , International mechanisms for appropriate technology. In: A.S. Bhalla (ed.), Towards Global Action for Appropriate Technology ( Pergamon, Oxford , 1979).
