Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ICT4D Lecture 5
Tim Unwin
Outline
• Catching up!
• Introductory
What do we understand by ICTs?
• Information
• Communication
• The technologies
Production, consumption, exchange
Their distribution
• Uses
Lecture 5
Catching Up
• Discussion Forum
please log on so that you receive
updates!
• Bibliographies
Make sure you are working on these
• Be thinking about the web-groups
you want to work in
• Essays - do start work on them
soon!
Lecture 5
What technologies?
Lecture 5
Defining ICTs
• Standard definitions:
ICT (information and communications technology - or
technologies) is an umbrella term that includes any
communication device or application, encompassing:
radio, television, cellular phones, computer and
network hardware and software, satellite systems and
so on, as well as the various services and
applications associated with them, such as
videoconferencing and distance learning. ICTs are
often spoken of in a particular context, such as ICTs
in education, health care, or libraries.
(techtarget.com)
Lecture 5
The technologies
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
ICT Fig. 1: ICT for Development: Range of Technologies and Users Relevance
Definition: The term “Information and Communication Technologies” (ICT) refers to
technologies designed to access, process and transmit information. ICT encompass a
full range of technologies – from traditional, widely used devices such as radios,
telephones or TV, to more sophisticated tools like computers or the Internet. The mix
of technologies used should be determined mainly by the specific local context and
demand. (Weigel and Waldburger, 2004, p.19)
Lecture 5
Defining ICT4D
Lecture 5
Defining ICTs is
problematic
• ICTs (adapted from Fillip)
capturing technologies (cameras, tape recorders)
storage technologies (film, CD-Roms, digital media)
processing technologies (software),
communication technologies (telephones, local area
networks)
display technologies (monitors)
GIS (combine many of the above)
• ICTs are not particularly new
Need to be very specific about what we mean
Invariably people claim to use inclusive definitions, but
then concentrate on computers and the Internet
Lecture 5
A framework for thinking
about ICT4D technologies
• Most definitions begin with the
technologies
And are thus ‘technology’ led
Rather than seeing technologies as tools
• Let’s begin with information and
communication
And then see what technologies can help us
enhance these
And use information and communication for
development purposes
• A focus on poor and marginalised
communities
Lecture 5
Information
Lecture 5
Relevant information
technologies
• Examples of information
technologies
****
Lecture 5
Information
Lecture 5
Communication
• How do we communicate?
What kinds of communication are
there?
Lecture 5
Relevant communication
technologies
• Examples of communication
technologies
****
Lecture 5
Communication
• Involves interaction
Synchronous and asynchronous
Space-time implications
• Communicators must understand each
other, and must wish to be understood
Languages, codes, rules of communication
• Uses many different senses
Hearing, sight, smell, touch, taste
• Those who control the communication
media wield considerable power
Lecture 5
ICTs: The technologies
• Production
Capital seeks to reduce production costs
and expand markets
ICTs are products
And yet are also capable of reducing costs and
expanding markets
High innovation costs, and yet relatively
low production costs
Technological innovation to ensure continued sales
• A challenge to sustainability
Separation between
Production of the enabling media
Production of the content
Lecture 5
ICTs: The technologies
• Consumption
Of both the technologies, and the messages
transmitted thereby
Technologies allow new modalities of consumption
• Exchange
ICTs enable exchanges of
Information
Finance
Communication
But little exchange value in themselves
High costs of recycling
Environmental costs usually not taken into
consideration
Lecture 5
Distribution: ITU, 2003