[Sigiii-l] [Fwd: February 2010 Issue of 'Information Technology in Developing Countries']

[M.J. Menou]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	February 2010 Issue of 'Information Technology in Developing 
Countries'
Date: 	Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:08:20 +0530
From: 	ifipnewsletter at iimahd.ernet.in



Dear Subscriber,
 
Warm Greetings! The February 2010 issue of ‘Information Technology in Developing Countries’ is now available at: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/current.htm

The current issue of Information Technology in Developing Countries carries articles that explore the innovative uses of mobile phones by women micro traders in Ghana, thus highlighting the potential of ICT to impact development; analyze the reasons for failure of ICT projects in low income countries thereby suggesting development of ICT applications that are more compatible with the local cultures to ensure long term sustenance; describe the use of Internet kiosks for enabling e-payment in Kerala; question the hyped role of access to information; attempt to clarify misconceptions about cloud computing technology; and demonstrate the experience of developing and using digital libraries.

The first article "Enhancing Micro-Trading Capabilities through Mobile Phones: The Case of Women Traders in Ghana" by Richard Boateng investigates the impact of mobile phones on the micro-trading activities of women traders in Ghana. A case study approach was used and the findings suggest that traders primarily use mobile phones to communicate and exchange information in pre- and post-trade activities. The study concludes that developing the capabilities of the poor to use basic mobile functions and services, beyond voice calls, should define the agenda of future research, polices and strategies towards the "mobiles for development" movement.

This is followed by an article on "Failures in Technological Intervention and the Promise of ICT" by Peter A. Kyem. The author analyzes the reasons for failure of ICT projects and feels that the primary reason is that ICT is insufficient when simply deployed under the status quo model of development without engaging the complementary social behaviors and structures in society that are essential to support the adoption.

The article by Rathan U Kelkar and Rema Sundar describes the "E-Pay" project of the Kerala State IT Mission which provides an integrated electronic payment facility for rural Kerala. Services are delivered through Akshaya centers set up in all 14 districts of the state. Citizens can pay their utility bills at the nearest Akshaya centers, thus avoiding the hassle of visiting multiple offices.

Kentaro Toyoma's article "Information is not the bottleneck" emphasizes that access to information alone does not accrue any direct benefits; the presence of other necessary elements such as good infrastructure, economic slack, decent education, future orientation, social ties to power, etc is also required to make the information more useful to all stakeholders of the project. This is followed by Korath Mathew's article on "Cloud Computing" which discusses the existing misconceptions about using this technology and the chief considerations for government organizations wishing to use it. The next article by John Rose and Mohan R. Pradhan describes the evolution of "The Greenstone Support Network for South Asia" to promote the development, adaptation and use of the Greenstone Digital Library (GSDL) software suite for implementation of digital libraries in this region. 

Sapna Narula and Navin Nainwal's article on "ICTs and Agricultural Supply Chains: Opportunities and Strategies for Successful Implementation" explores how ICTs can facilitate the building of linkages between farmers and markets thereby increasing efficiency across supply chains. This is followed by a brief note by G. K.Winley on research concerned with the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) being carried out by the Information Technology Research Laboratory (ITRL) at the Faculty of Science and Technology of Assumption University in Thailand.

Conference announcements include the International Conference on ICT for Africa in Cameroon in March 2010, the 6th International Conference on E-government to be held in Cape Town, South Africa in September 2010, and the second International Conference on Mobile Communication Technology for Development (M4D 2010) in Kampala, Uganda in November this year.

We hope you will find this issue interesting and we look forward to receiving your feedback on the same. We welcome your contributions for the forthcoming issue of the IFIP WG 9.4 Newsletter. Interested contributors are requested to refer to the guidelines for authors available at: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/guidelines.htm  or may mail us at: ifipnewsletter at iimahd.ernet.in 

The February 2010 Issue can be directly accessed at: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/feb2010/feb2010.htm. A downloadable PDF version of this Issue is also available on our website (URL: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/feb2010/feb2010.pdf) to ease access and facilitate printing. 

With Best Regards,
Editorial Team, IFIP WG 9.4 Newsletter.
Centre for Electronic Governance, 
Indian Institute of Management,
Ahmedabad - 380 015, India
Tel.: +91 79 6632 4128, URL: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/wg.htm



-- 
=====================================================================
Dr. Michel J. Menou
Visiting Professor, Department of Information Studies 
University College London, U.K.
Consultant in ICT policies and Knowledge & Information Management
B.P. 15
F-49350 Les Rosiers sur Loire, France
Email: micheljmenou[at]gmail[dot]com
Phone: +33 (0)2 41511043
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ciber/peoplemenou.php
=====================================================================