Role of ICTs in Socioeconomic Development and Poverty Reduction

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are often promoted as central to reviving and sustaining regional communities. Apart from these, the revolutionary feature of modern ICTs—mainly the Internet and mobile telephony—facilitate low cost and speedy interaction among network participants. In this context, knowledge and information are fundamental for facilitating rural development and bringing about social and economic escalation. Nowadays, ICTs are universally acknowledged as powerful tools for development. At the same time, ICTs are seemingly essential to social development and economic growth. In recent years, the process of ICTs has been influencing the socioeconomic context in many countries. Despite that, in many countries a significant proportion of the population does not have access to clean water, sanitation, basic health services and proper education; ICTs provide novel opportunities for information interchange and technology transfer. This chapter looks into critical aspects of ICTs in raising socioeconomic development in underdeveloped countries and tries to illustrate success cases in developed countries that can be replicated in developing countries to reduce poverty. Emphasis has been given to analyze the role of ICTs in poverty reduction processes upholding regional developments. Enactment of ICTs has been elaborately discussed for the uplift of community and it has been observed that solving common causes for common citizens needs strategic implementation of policies at the central core and pragmatic implementation of actions at the grass roots. Simultaneously, this chapter discusses various critical aspects of the development processes to achieve good governance that is vital for sustainable development. However, as ingredients for uplift through ICTs, institutional approaches in various forms have been found to be extremely effective for socioeconomic development and at the same time for regional developments.

Holistic Evaluation of the Roles of ICTs in Regional Development

Regional Australia continues to be the recipient of public programs premised on assumptions about the benefits of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) related development, at the same time as it is experiencing a reduction in basic services and problems associated with the digital divide. From a research perspective, these circumstances pose challenges on how to evaluate meaningfully the impacts of ICTs on regional development. These challenges are compounded by the considerable confusion that exists over what is meant by regional development, how it can be achieved, and how to measure and evaluate the role ICTs play in reviving and sustaining regional communities. The exploratory research reported in this chapter examines the issues surrounding what is meant by ICT-related development in a regional context. It also explores the usefulness of multiple measures, as opposed to single measures, to describe what in reality is a very complex process. In this context, the chapter outlines the preliminary development of, and the rationale behind, a holistic approach for evaluating the role of ICTs in regional development, based on insights generated from ongoing research in Tasmania. The role of ICT … in economic growth and social change has received considerable attention in recent years [but] … reliable and comprehensive indicators are needed to track developments in new information technologies and understand their impacts on our economies and societies. (OECD, 2002, p. 3)

Management of New Genetic Knowledge for Economic and Regional Development of Ethnic Minorities in China

The banking of genetic appliances and DNA represents an attempt to understand sustainable use and preservation for the benefit of current and future generations. The goal of this chapter is to highlight BioBanking as a tool for accelerating knowledge, understanding, conservation, and sustainable use of biodiversity. Genetic biobanks, collected from indigenous peoples, may pose some ethical risks for the ethnic populations. The new information in the hands of insurance companies, employees or governmental agencies could mean insecurity for ethnic minorities if the use of information violates the fundamental human rights of ethnic people. The new genetic knowledge may alter the relations between the individual (the self) and the community; the individual and the state; and the community and the state. This chapter will explore the technical issues, difficulties and benefits this tool provides when dealing with marginalized ethnic populations in Southwest China.

Role of ICT in Development Process

Empirical studies that focus on impact of ICT for development usually make a distinction between ICT as a production sector and ICT as an enabler of socioeconomic development. Although the developed countries are reaping very high benefits from the ICT, its diffusion in developing countries has been limited. It is often argued that for developing countries benefits from ICTs are more likely to accrue from consumption rather than production. In the context of the selected five South Asian countries, the ICT penetration is relatively very low, although there have been some success stories in software production sector and IT-enabled service sector in the region. Generally speaking, the author argues that the developing countries need to integrate ICT policies more closely into economic strategies, which can be done by strengthening the links between development and technology agencies via the organizational structure of policy-making bodies.

Developing a Global Perspective for Knowledge Management

Localization of a document or other product requires tacit knowledge of the target language and culture. Although it is promoted by many activists, localization is becoming increasingly inadequate as a strategy for disseminating knowledge on the World Wide Web (WWW). The 21st century has already seen dramatic rises in the numbers of Internet users in nearly every country, making it unlikely if not impossible for any translation effort to accommodate all of the 347 languages that claim at least 1 million speakers. The best way to maximize the accessibility of Web content is to make it more explicit, not more tacit. This means developing a global perspective and writing English text clearly so that nonnative speakers can easily understand it. Global English is characterized by simpler sentence structure, less jargon, and no slang, thereby making it a viable global language for countless Web users whose native language is not considered important enough to merit a localization effort.

New ICTs for Conflict Prevention and Management

This chapter introduces the impact of new information and communication technologies (nICTs), specifically the Internet, on national and international conflict prevention and management. This analysis provides case studies of the use and examples of the prospective use of nICTs to counteract conflict as it undermines social and economic structures and hinders regional development. This study reviews the specific application of nICT-related initiatives at the different phases of the conflict cycle: from addressing the root causes of conflict as a tool for prevention and management, through the reconciliation and reconstruction phase. The author intends this analysis to illustrate and contribute to the discussion of how the social and development-related application of nICTs can compliment existing conflict prevention and management reduction strategies.

ICT-Based Learning

ICT mediated learning provides utilities for achieving the goal of education for all, and in turn acts as an enabler in reducing the digital divide, reducing poverty, and promoting social inclusion. However, the integration of ICTs in education deserves considerable investment in time and resources. Consequently, during planning to integrate ICTs in evidence-based information for making sound decisions by the end users incorporate extensive research and sharing of critical information along different phases of planning. Furthermore, implementation of ICT based learning demands in depth analysis and intelligent feedback of the processes. Technology does not improve learning in a straight way and the fundamental question remains always unanswered, in assessing the effectiveness of ICTs or assessing the effectiveness of instructional treatments that were initially (and effectively) less than perfect. This chapter has tried to critically analyze the effective role of ICT methods in learning and put forwards several success cases of learning mechanisms that assisted in socioeconomic empowerment and at the same time, provided a few futuristic recommendations in establishing similar endeavors in promising economies.

Strategies for the Cooperation of Higher Education Institutions in ICT

This study analyzes the strategic planning of the ICT center, which is a joint venture of three higher education institutions. The strategies of focus and operations excellence are natural choices to define the strategic outlines for the center, which aims to increase the economic growth of the region. The selected strategies are described in this study using the balanced scorecard approach. It allows the network of organizations to articulate and communicate their strategy to their employees and stakeholders. The concept of the strategy map is used to describe the strategy. The decentralized efforts of separate organizational units would most likely fail without the network strategy and cooperation.

Potential Challenges of ICT Implementations in Sri Lanka

This chapter offers a state-of-the-art review of the implementation of ICTs strategies in a developing country with special reference to Sri Lanka as a case study. This chapter is based on primary and secondary sources (books, articles, Web sites, white papers, and grey literature). It also brings in a small number of empirical studies that serve to illustrate the practical use of the ICT to support arguments. Traditionally, access to ICTs and information has not been viewed as basic a need. However, if needs are interpreted as being dynamic and changing over time and culture (Max-Neef, 1986), access to information and knowledge could be treated as a basic need. Information and knowledge have become increasingly important in the contemporary globalized economy, as advancement in ICTs has enabled larger amounts of information to circulate at a much higher speed and at lower cost. This is partly due to the balance between knowledge and natural resources, but with regard to being the most important factor in determining the standard of living in a country, it is said to have shifted in favor of knowledge. This has led many authors to claim that the people are now living in an information society or a knowledge-based economy (Drucker, 1993). Nowadays, it is a country’s ability to assimilate, use, and diffuse knowledge that will essentially determine its chances of uplift in the new economy.

Cultural Knowledge Management and Broadband Content in Development

This chapter examines the possibility of creating online creative production archives with which to make locally and internationally sourced high quality video, audio, graphics, and other broadband content available to grassroots producers in developing economies. In particular, the possibility of Cultural Knowledge Management Systems and the use of innovative Creative Commons copyright licenses are explored. It is argued that in a global knowledge economy, cultural production is a major driver of economic growth. The creativity and culture needed for cultural production are plentiful in developing countries indicating that if technical and institutional conditions are right there is significant potential for developing economies to compete in the global economy. It is, therefore, desirable for local groups to be able to acquire, store, and distribute locally and internationally sourced content to stimulate local-level cultural production.