6533b833fe1ef96bd129c093

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Information Ecology as a holistic lens to understand ICTD initiatives

Devinder ThapaMaung K. Sein

subject

EngineeringKnowledge managementbusiness.product_categorybusiness.industry05 social sciencesPsychological intervention050301 educationDeveloping country02 engineering and technologyOpen learningInformation ecologySoftware deployment020204 information systemsLaptopPremise0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineeringbusinessDigital divide0503 education

description

Techno-centric initiatives to bridge the digital divide, such as One Laptop per Child (OLPC), has been criticized for not taking a holistic approach. This has led to limited success in areas such as providing quality education in developing countries. In this paper, we offer a premise for a holistic understanding by borrowing from the field of information ecology. To illustrate our premise, we applied the theoretical lens of information ecology to analyze a case study of Open Learning Exchange (OLE) which has been described as one of the few successes in implementing OLPC. Based on our analysis, we posit that information ecology is a suitable and appropriate lens to interpret and understand how IT interventions can be successfully deployed in developing countries.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2016-06-03Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development
https://doi.org/10.1145/2909609.2909610