Acceso usuarios
Robert M Davison
This slim tome of short chapters offers a select variety of perspectives on ICTs in Developing Countries. Each essay stands alone effectively, but I failed to find a cohesive structure to the book as a whole. A short preface introduces the chapters, but there is no broad opening chapter or indeed concluding chapter to tie the various materials together. The book is organised in three sections: a conceptualisation of the digital divide and ICT for development; the use and appropriation of ICTs in developing countries; policy and practitioner implications. In the two chapters of the first section, a critical review of the ICT for Development phenomenon is offered, followed by an assessment of the role that structuration theory can play in ICT for Development research. The six more practical chapters that follow in Section 2 examine situations in Swaziland, China, South Africa, Bangladesh (two), and India. Finally in section 3, three chapters offer more reflective analyses though these are not so different from the practical chapters of Section 2. Each of the eleven chapters is undeniably interesting, yet none contributes effectively to a holistic sense of the broader topic. Further, the provenance of the chapters and the way they were solicited or gathered is never explained. The overall impression of the book is unfortunately somewhat haphazard. I am reluctant to recommend the book as an effective introduction to ICTs in Developing Countries.
