Information-for-Development: Business as Usual, or Breakthrough?

The author questions "whether information-for-development is another round of business as usual, now sheltered under the new umbrella of digital capitalism, or whether it holds a potential for a breakthrough in development." Two approaches are discussed.

The first is to take information-for-development in a light sense. This is about such activities as recycling old computers by donating them to developing countries, companies offering software discounts, and development organisations setting up training courses in developing countries. According to the author, this kind of approach often comes with ideas of information technology (IT) as a techno-fix that makes it possible to leapfrog development.

Alternatively, the author proposes that information-for-development can be more seriously assessed by its contributions. This begins with recognising that development is an intervention in a field of power and resources, and that information and communication technology (ICT) represents the "latest wave of capital accumulation." At the same time, the article proposes that ICT for development (ICT4D) is a strategic part of ICT expansion, "digital capitalism looking South-to growing middle classes, rising educational levels, vast cheap labor pools, regimented labor conditions, and yet difficult regulatory environments." The author warns that ICT4D is a package deal in which the means of bridging the digital divide contradict the very idea of bridging the digital divide. If implemented without caution, ICT4D could lock developing countries in a software-hardware arms race that will yield never-ending compatibility problems, because ICT is essentially being designed for advanced markets. Thus, it becomes necessary to unpack ICT4D so its development potential can be harnessed.

The article proposes that if ICT4D is to be considered a new threshold in development policy, realistically, the first place to look is at IT services that are provided by the private sector. For large corporations, providing IT services in many developing countries, and especially in the countryside, is not profitable; but small profit margins are adequate for small and medium size enterprises. While the purpose and reach of such initiatives may be limited, private sector firms are not dependent upon external funding sources, and operating at low profit margins may mean that they have a greater reach and are more sustainable than donor or public sector projects.

The article states that some developing countries have been gaining a competitive advantage in globalisation by combining low wages with good infrastructure, capable workers and docile labour regimes, and now this also applies to information processing services. However, as long as the advanced countries, more precisely corporations in the advanced countries, can monopolise intellectual property rights (IPR ) they may be able to hold on to an advantage which in other respects is slipping away. This means that ICT is not only important in its own right; it is also an arena in which at this stage the shape of globalisation is being decided. The major tipping points here are Free and Open Source Software , Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and patent laws. According to the author, this is the "real frontier of ICT4D."