En Route for the Sustainability of Digital Local Content for Mobile Learning to Preserve Malay Local Cultural Heritage

This study voices serious concern about the sustainable development of Malay digital local cultural content. Digital local content is crucial in learning local cultural subjects in Asia countries, such as Malay culture. However, there is a serious lack of digital local content for mobile learning purposes in Malaysia. One of […]

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Towards the enhancement of Arctic digital industries: ‘Translating’ cultural content to new media platforms

This paper proposes a preliminary framework for digital ‘translation’ attempting to, (while cognisant of conceptual limitations embedded in this model) localise aspects of Inuit knowledge, culture and IQ (in the sense of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit) into digital artifacts for new generations of Inuit and non-Inuit learners. In addition to delineating challenges […]

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Acquisition, Preservation and Accessibility of Indigenous Knowledge in Academic Libraries in Nigeria: The Place of ICT

Nigerians interact well with their natural environment, culminating in the accumulation of diverse experiences. These experiences result in a body of indigenous knowledge which though unique to a given society or culture, forms part of the information needed by researchers. In spite of the place of indigenous knowledge in enriching […]

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Achieving ICT for Development Project Success by Altering Context, Not Technology

When explaining the failure of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) projects, researchers often turn to differences between how designers perceive and users experience the context of technology use. According to these explanations, ICT4D projects fail because designers take an uninformed stance toward context. The ICT4D literature offers four approaches for how […]

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So They Understand: Cultural Issues in Oral History

Illustrated with numerous stories collected from Alaska, the Yukon, and South Africa and further enlivened by the author’s accessible style and experiences as a longtime oral historian and archivist, So They Understand is a comprehensive study of the special challenges and concerns involved in documenting, representing, preserving, and interpreting oral […]

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Challenges and opportunities in the protection and preservation of indigenous knowledge in Africa

This chapter presents challenges and opportunities in the protection and preservation of indigenous knowledge (IK) in Africa. Specific examples have been taken from the Maasai pastoralists and the Sambaa and Zigua traditional medicine men of North-eastern Tanzania. The chapter argues that there is a threat of IK extinction due to […]

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Fishing with New Nets: Maori Internet Information Resources and Implications of the Internet for Indigenous Peoples

Abstract This paper surveys Internet information resources relating to the Maori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand, and examines issues that arise when indigenous peoples’ culture is placed in a digital networked environment. Introduction The indigenous people of New Zealand are the Maori, descended from the great Polynesian voyagers who […]

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Information to Iteration: Using information and communication technologies [ICT] in design for remote regions

Remote design comes with significant challenges. A major barrier to designing in remote regions is the lack of communication between designers and users. As a result, the lack of information flow leads to assumptions about the community’s needs- an inherent weakness in the design process. This study examines the role […]

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Ethnocomputing: Using ICT to Preserve the Culture of the People of North-Rift Region of Kenya

The impact and interaction of ICT and African culture is a critical issue as African nations position themselves to reap the benefits of ICT for development. African nations have different attitudes towards cultural regeneration and dissemination as the continent struggles to address the ambiguous role and position of culture as […]

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Why is it so hard to try something new in ICT4D?

How do you get aid workers to think about new ways of doing things and ensure technologies or tools introduced work in the local context and lead to sustainable change? As impact and scale become increasingly important, Laura Walker Hudson uncovers the barriers to making innovations work at an organisational […]

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Managing & Preserving IK in the Knowledge Management Era: challenges & opportunities

Managing knowledge in general and indigenous knowledge in particular has become an important and valuable input in the management of sustainable development programmes. Historically, indigenous knowledge has been downplayed in the management of information. The tendency among library and information professionals has been to emphasize recorded knowledge at the expense […]

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ICT4D: Connecting People for a Better World

Are information and communication technologies (ICT) such as computers, mobile phones, radio, TV, video and the Internet effective instruments to empower people, reduce poverty and improve lives? Or are ICT just deepening already existing inequalities and divisions in the world? In this book, key innovators, leading CEOs, top-level government leaders […]

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ICT4D: Information and Communication Technology for Development

ICT4D provides an authoritative and accessible account of the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in contemporary development practice. It combines theory with practical guidance – including both a conceptual framework for understanding the rapid development of ICT4D, and practitioners’ overviews of the use of ICTs in enterprise, health, […]

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A Framework to Assess Participation and Empowerment Impacts of ICT4D Projects

Community participation in ICT-for-development (ICT4D) is sometimes portrayed as a ‘magic bullet’, which will inevitably lead to better project outcomes and the empowerment of marginalised participants from the local community. This paper takes a critical approach to participation, drawing on dual roots of participation in Development Studies and Information Systems, […]

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Indigenous Knowledge for Development: Opportunities and Challenges

This paper introduces indigenous knowledge (IK) as a significant resource which could contribute to the increased efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of the development process. IK is defined as the basis for community-level decision making in areas pertaining to food security, human and animal health, education, natural resource management and other […]

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Innovation and Technology for Indigenous Peoples

Excerpt Information and communications technology (ICT) is transformative economically, socially, and politically. Evidence of this transformation can be seen in the dramatic spread of ICT globally and near universal usage in both developing and developed countries. Indeed, ICT is everywhere, with its widest manifestations including computer, multimedia, and Internet technologies […]

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The Fate of a Digital Slate: Unexpected Issues with Deployment in Rural India

As many UX professionals know, an initial rosy impression about the usability of a system may be trumped by unexpected issues seen in the context of actual deployment. These kinds of surprises can be especially dramatic when working in the area of ICT4D (Information and Communication Technology for Socio-Economic Development). […]

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Why it is Hard to Identify Technical Research Problems in ICT4D and How to Make it Easier

My position is that a shortage of detailed and compelling problem statements is the primary bottleneck that prevents most computer scientists from conducting research in ICT4D. While interesting problems exist, they are usually discovered via months of fieldwork, and there is little incentive to formalize and disseminate problems for the […]

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The Challenges Faced by African Libraries & Information Centres in Documenting & Preserving IK

African libraries and Information centres are faced with a plethora of challenges in the documentation of indigenous knowledge. Among the challenges is the lack of legal frameworks at national and international level to support the library efforts. Financial, human capacity and technology shortages pose a challenge to the documentation of […]

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Crisscrossed (Christian Kreutz’s blog)

This blog aims to analyze potentials in the interface of technology and social innovation, and also the challenges of the digital age. It focuses on tools such as internet — it’s impact, potential and challenges it faces within different cultures around the world. It also approaches network learning and highlights […]

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Information Technology and Indigenous Communities: symposium presentations

Donwload the symposium program (PDF) This 2010 AIATSIS Research Symposium was co-hosted with the Australian National University and the National Film and Sound Archive and in conjunction with the National Recording Project’s 9th Symposium on Indigenous Music and Dance. About the Symposium Information Technology and Indigenous Communities (ITIC) explored the […]

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Accelerating Development Using the Web: Empowering Poor & Marginalized Populations

The World Wide Web Foundation is proud to announce the publication of Accelerating Development Using the Web: Empowering Poor and Marginalized Populations. Generously supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, the book is a compendium of articles by recognized experts describing the real and potential effects of the World Wide Web in […]

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ICTS for Intercultural Dialogue: An Overview of UNESCO’s Indigenous Communication Project

Abstract Using ICTs to preserve and revitalize Indigenous cultures and to promote intercultural dialogue is the aim of UNESCO’s ICT4ID Project. Five pilot projects were conducted in 2004-2005 in Africa and South America to train Indigenous people in ICTs, support production of local content and assist in its distribution. Three […]

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Global Competition: Mobile4D Applications for Impact and Sustainability

A Mobile4D Application Generator and Implementation Initiative Mobile phones and smart applications have become an important if not the key factor in many current development initiatives. One of the main questions remaining is: Which are the key “killer” applications that make a real difference for personal and community development, provide […]

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Some challenges for Information and Communication Technologies in Indigenous Knowledge preservation

Abstract Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are the basis for social appropriation in local communities. ICTs hold significant potential for positive benefits for local communities to deal with ‘digital’ connectivity and global knowledge contexts. With the digitalisation of knowledge, including indigenous knowledge (IK), ICTs are offering alternative perspectives of knowledge […]

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