ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2005

In association with Development Policy and Practice and the International Development Centre at the Open University

Milton Keynes, UK
7th-9th September 2005

Connecting people and places: challenges and opportunities for development

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8TH 11.00
CHAIR: MAUREEN MACKINTOSH, ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE, OU

AMBIGUOUS CONNECTIONS: RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN GLOBAL NETWORKING
Robin Mansell, holder of the Dixons’ Chair in the New Media and the Internet, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics

The recent emphasis on information and communication technology ‘for development’ places too great a premium on technological innovation and technology diffusion to establish access to global networks for people in developing countries. From the formal documentation of the World Summit on the Information Society to the numerous and ongoing initiatives to adopt global networking solutions as a means of alleviating poverty, and to an overwhelming extent, the principal concern of governments and technology and service supplying firms is to promote access or connection to global networks.

Aspirations of ensuring that ‘communication’ or ‘information’ societies develop in the interests of all and that they provide a means of tackling inequality wherever it is found are being articulated by some representatives of civil society organisations. Their arguments, in marked contrast to the dominant rhetoric, place a high premium on the human rights and responsibilities that need to be associated with the establishment of any such connections in order to assure their benefits.

The polarisation between approaches to the issues in this area can be illustrated using the effort to develop and promote a new low cost Personal Internet Communicator. In this paper the ambiguities for potential users of this technology are examined in terms of the potentially positive and negative consequences of establishing Internet access or connection in this way. This provides a basis for highlighting the difficult choices confronted by local decision makers in developing countries and by development agencies and for observations about why these choices matter.