ICT4D 2.0: The Next Phase of Applying ICT for International Development

Abstract

Use of information and communication technologies for international development is moving to its next phase. This will require new technologies, new approaches to innovation, new intellectual integration, and, above all, a new view of the world's poor. The phase change from information and communication technologies for international development (ICT4D) 1.0 to ICT4D 2.0 presents opportunities for informatics professionals and offers new markets for ICT vendors. It also brings new challenges to our established methods of working and emphasizes the need for new expertise and new world views. The paper have shown that ICT4D 2.0 focuses on reframing the poor. Where ICT4D 1.0 marginalized them, allowing a supply-driven focus, ICT4D 2.0 centralizes them, creating a demand-driven focus. Where ICT4D 1.0 - fortified by the "bottom of the pyramid" concept - characterized the poor largely as passive consumers, ICT4D 2.0 sees them as active producers and innovators.