Prepared for a workshop on Open Development organised by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa (Canada) in May 2010, the paper presents a comprehensive critique of the concept of openness, taken from the technology discourse. The paper critically analyses the elements of openness – greater access,…
Advocacy statements
The Department of Public Instruction, Government of Karnataka and Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, have initiated an ICT programme for all the high schools of the state. This entire programme, including the classroom training, has been outsourced. However, our research suggests that vendors are finding it challenging…
Read the IBSA's joint statement presented at the UN meeting in New York on 14 December on constructing internet governance and enhanced cooperation.
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Public software is 'software developed or procured, for the public good, which is publicly owned'. It is essential for participating in the digital society and thus needs to be provided to everyone as an universal right and entitlement. It includes operating system, text/image/audio/…
MHRD released a draft note on 'Public Private Partnership in school education' in October 2009.
The note made several assumptions about the inherent superiority of the private sector, and seemed to suggest that government school system has not worked and private schools are a systemic option.
IT for Change helped bring together…
This document was an input into the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) High-Level Intergovernmental Meeting on the Review of Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.
It aims to use the powerful lens of the 'information society' to define the emerging priorities for analysis…
2008 - National Policy on ICT in School Education - first draft
In January 2008, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) released a draft National policy on ICTs in school education. This policy, drafted by a committee that included big businesses interested in the 'ICT in education' space was hugely problematic. The draft…
This case study is part of a research project that sought to analyse how different telecentre models approach development on the ground, proceeding to elaborate a typology based on the cornerstones of participation and equity. To conduct this assessment, four telecentre projects were examined: the Gujarat government’s e-Gram…
The authors discuss the process of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process and its positive outcomes in terms of Internet governance, and negative outcomes regarding the failure to establish a financing mechanism for Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD).
They also…