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ICTs, development and e-government 2.0: empowering the citizenry

By Ismael Peña-López (@ictlogist), 21 October 2008
Main categories: Digital Literacy, e-Government, e-Administration, Politics, ICT4D, Meetings, Participation, Engagement, Use, Activism
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ICTs, development and e-government 2.0: empowering the citizenry

Presentation
Recommended Readings
Escher, T. & Margetts, H. (2007). Understanding Governments and Citizens On-line: Learning from E-commerce. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA) in Chicago (30. August – 2. September 2007). Oxford: OII.
Fages, R. & Sangüesa, R. (2008). “Good practice exchange from a Web 2.0 point of view”. In European Journal of ePractice, (1). [online]: ePractice.eu.
Noveck, B. S. (2008). “Wiki-Government”. In Democracy, Winter 2008, (7), 31-43. Washington, DC: Democracy, a Journal of Ideas, Inc..
Assignment

Find and choose an e-government, political or civil society project based in Web 2.0 applications (blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, social networking sites, etc.).

Briefly describe it, stating its purpose, who is running the project, what technology is using, etc. and what difference does it make (i.e. what innovation or added value does it bring) to the status quo.

Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the following answers (based on Zuckerman’s Innovation Test) briefly stating the reasons for your answer:

  1. Does the innovation come from constraint?
  2. Does it fight culture?
  3. Does it embrace market mechanisms?
  4. Does it innovate on existing platforms?
  5. Does it come from close observation of the target environment?
  6. Does it focus more on what you have more that what you lack?
  7. Is it based on a “infrastructure begets infrastructure” basis?

Evaluation criteria:

  • Identification of main/critical aspects
  • Depth of analysis, conclusions backed with data/evidence…
  • Use (and citation) of appropriate and complementary references
  • Quality of exposition, structure, clarity of language…

More information

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ICTs, development and government: from e-Readiness to e-Awareness

By Ismael Peña-López (@ictlogist), 20 October 2008
Main categories: Digital Divide, e-Government, e-Administration, Politics, e-Readiness, ICT4D, Meetings
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These are the materials I used on a seminar belonging to the Executive Master in e-Governance organized by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and partnered by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

ICTs, development and government: from e-Readiness to e-Awareness

Presentation
Recommended Readings
Association for Progressive Communications & Instituto del Tercer Mundo (2007). Global Information Society Watch 2007. [online]: APC & ITeM. (See, especially, pages 77-95)
Assignment

Take your home country as the basis.

Describe the strengths and weaknesses of this country in the following five fields:

  • Infrastructures
  • ICT Sector
  • Digital Literacy
  • Content and Services
  • Legal Framework

and relate them to what you think is critical to establish a full range of operational e-Government initiatives (basic, intermediate and advanced levels).

Evaluation criteria:

  • Identification of main/critical aspects
  • Depth of analysis, conclusions backed with data/evidence…
  • Use (and citation) of appropriate and complementary references
  • Quality of exposition, structure, clarity of language…

Where to start from:

More information

ICTs for development: from e-Readiness to e-Awareness

By Ismael Peña-López (@ictlogist), 20 November 2007
Main categories: Digital Divide, Digital Literacy, e-Government, e-Administration, Politics, e-Readiness, ICT4D
Other tags:
No Comments »

Today I imparted a seminar belonging to the Executive Master in e-Governance organized by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and partnered by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

General information

I just want to thank the attendants to the course for being such an interesting audience and for making me think because of their witty questions.

Syllabus

Information and Communication Technologies for Development: ICT4D
  • Food or computers?
  • Efficacy, efficiency
  • Leapfrogging Development
  • Second Bests
  • Endogenous development
The concept of access and the measurement of the Knowledge Society
  • The Telecommunications Model: limitations
  • The Broadcasting Model: limitations
  • Access vs. Ownership: different solutions
  • Access vs. use
Digital Divide: a holistic approach
  • A five tier model
  • Old and new divides
  • Hardware
  • Software
  • The broadband divide
  • Informational Literacy
  • Content and Intellectual Property
  • e-Awareness and the leadership divide
e-Readiness and Web 2.0 for e-Governance in Developing Countries
  • e-Participation and e-Democracy
  • Censorship circumvention and freedom of speech
  • Transparency and accountability
  • Law enforcement
  • Open Access and access to knowledge

Slides

Recommended Bibliography

Center for International Development at Harvard University. (Ed.) (2000). Readiness for the Networked World. A Guide for Developing Countries. Cambridge: Center for International Development at Harvard University. Retrieved February 17, 2006 from http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/readinessguide/guide.pdf
Economist Intelligence Unit. (2007). The 2007 e-readiness rankings. London: EIU. Retrieved May 01, 2007 from http://graphics.eiu.com/files/ad_pdfs/2007Ereadiness_Ranking_WP.pdf
International Telecommunication Union. (2006). World Telecommunication/ICT Development Report 2006: Measuring ICT for social and economic development. Geneva: ITU.
International Telecommunication Union. (2007). World Information Society Report 2007. Geneva: ITU. Retrieved May 18, 2007 from http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/worldinformationsociety/2007/WISR07_full-free.pdf
OECD. (2007). OECD Communications Outlook 2007. Paris: OECD. Retrieved October 10, 2007 from http://www.oecd.org/document/17/0,3343,en_2649_34225_38876369_1_1_1_1,00.html#HTO
Peña-López, I. (2007). “Jakob Nielsen’s Digital Divide: The Three Stages”. In ICTlogy, February 2007, (41). Barcelona: ICTlogy. Retrieved March 01, 2007 from http://ictlogy.net/review/?p=504
The World Bank. (Comp.) (2003). ICT and Development – Enabling the Information Society. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Retrieved May 17, 2005 from http://iris37.worldbank.org/domdoc/PRD/Other/PRDDContainer.nsf/WB_ViewAttachments?ReadForm&ID=85256D2400766CC78525709E005A9C6A&
Tongia, R., Subrahmanian, E. & Arunachalam, V. (2005). Information and Communications Technology for Sustainable Development. Bangalore: Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd.. Retrieved November 03, 2005 from http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rtongia/ICT4SD_Full_Book.pdf
World Economic Forum. (2007). Global Information Technology Report 2006-2007. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

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