Information, Technology & Development
This group covers all aspects of the relationship between science, technology and the development process, including appropriate intermediate technology; technological innovation, transfer and impacts; new technologies; science and technology education and training; and science and technology policy.
2007 meeting report and presentations
One-Day International Workshop on "Mobiles and Development", 16 May 2007, University of Manchester
On Wednesday May 16th, the DSA's "Information, Technology and Development" study group held a one-day international workshop on "Mobiles and Development: Infrastructure, Poverty, Enterprise and Social Development".
The workshop was organised at the University of Manchester by the Development Informatics Group, with the support of the Brooks World Poverty Institute.
A two-page summary report from the workshop on key issues and research priorities, plus copies of the presentations are now available at:
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/research/events/conferences/mobile.htmGiven the growing power of mobile devices, their penetration into the poorest communities, and the emergence of innovative applications - such as the use of airtime as currency - it seems likely this will be a rapidly-growing area for research and practice. An agreed output from the workshop was therefore the creation of an m-Development Network, drawing together researchers and practitioners interested in this topic.
If you would like to be registered with the m-Development Network, please email the Study Group convenor - Richard Heeks, (
richard.heeks@manchester.ac.uk) - with your contact details.Past Meetings & Events
One-Day Workshop on "Gender and ICTs in a Global Society", Tuesday 6th June 2006, Manchester Metropolitan University
The DSA Information, Technology and Development study group held a one-day workshop at IDPM, University of Manchester on 6 June 2006, on the topic of "Gender, ICTs and Development". Details of speakers plus access to online abstracts and presentations are available at: http://www.womenictenterprise.org/manworkshop.htm
Evidence was presented showing all facets of the relation between ICTs and women's livelihoods. There were signs of negative impacts: increasing violence against women as their use of technology was perceived as a threat to a male-dominated status quo. There were signs of neutral impacts: reproduction of existing patterns of genderised norms and relations within new ICT-related environments. And there were signs of positive impacts: new jobs, new skills, and social empowerment achieved through ICTs.
The notion of "gender" in practice seemed to be interpreted largely as relating to women, with little if anything being done to address men's attitudes and behaviour. This may increase the danger that ICT introduction creates – or is perceived to create – a zero-sum game between men and women.
Evidence from the workshop supported a more general feeling that "supply-led" initiatives such as telecentres, which have been largely driven top-down by international and national agencies, face difficulties in comparison to more "demand-led" usage of ICTs by women, such as take-up of mobile telephony, which is spreading rapidly. As well as being more sustainable, mobile telephony also seems to be generating innovative developmental applications for women, such as the use of airtime as a form of savings and credit.
Finally, one might expect a typical attitude curve with women's use of ICTs, beginning with an overdose of hope or hype, leading to disillusionment. Two things emerged. First, that there are few signs of the disillusionment – women do seem to be keeping faith with the power of ICTs. Second, that we know little about the value of hope for women from poor communities – ICTs do seem to provide women with a belief (whether realistic or not) that they have a route to empowerment, and it may be that belief and hope are themselves an empowering force for women's development.
Richard Heeks, IDPM, Univ. Manchester, June 2006
richard.heeks@manchester.ac.uk
DSA Conference sessions
The ITD Group held six sessions at the DSA 2005 Conference in Milton Keynes, September 2005. Many of the presentations and papers can be downloaded here. Please visit the ITD Conference Pages for the abstracts and also to download papers and presentations.
The titles of the papers were: