Impact / Influence of

Technology on Cultural

Perspectives/ Practices

Marriage of Development communication with

Technology: Unfair Alliance

Mira K DesaiAssociate Professor

University Department of Extension EducationSNDT Women’s University

Juhu Campus, Mumbai

DevCom…..Terminology!

Development

Support

Communication

Social ChangeCommunication

Media forDevelopment

Communication

For

Development

Development Perspectives• Economic growth: Gross National Product

and Income per capita• Improvement in Quality of Life: PQLI (Infant

mortality, death rate, life expectancy, literacy rate)

• Distribution: social-economic-political- technological-gender Equality

• Liberation from dependency and exploitation: Human rights and social justice

DevCom….evolution• It is widely accepted that development

communication is an art and science of human communication for ‘speedy transformation of a country’.

• The name Development Communication’ (DevCom) in 1971 and formally in 1975 by Nora Quebral

• Her own modification of definition in 2008 by adding words, ‘linked to planned intervention’,

• The objectives of any Devcom intervention are ‘greater economic and social equality and larger fulfilment of human potential’.

Development Communication?

• Not only a nomenclature debate about DevCom, C4D, M4D, ICT4D….!

• Not only about mere behaviour or practice change of the people

• Not mere Monitoring and Evaluation of outcomes BUT also• Change in the quality of life of human societies• Building up communities and helping them to help

themselves• Making a world a better place to live not only for present

but also for future

7 Threads of DevCom• UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)

and Erskine Childers• Extension• Community participation• Population IEC (Information Education

Communication) and health communication, • Social marketing• Institution building• finally the ICT (Information Communication

Technologies)

ICT4D…..as a term…is:

• conceptualised mostly as a monolithic and homogeneous entity (http://www.ict4d.org.uk/)

• consists of hardware, software, networks, and media for collection, storage, processing, transmission, and presentation of information (voice, data, text, images)(http://info.worldbank.org)

• used to seek, receive, create and impart information and ideas by anyone, at any time and for any purpose. This makes it possible for users to bypass traditional and official channels of information and communication (http://www.cprsouth.org)

ICT4D gets defined….by:• e-Gov (e-governance), digital LEARNING

(online/open learning) eHEALTH, mServe (Mobile technologies), Tele-centre forum, e-Agriculture, and municipal IT with multiple applications.

• Funded by Government, private corporations, multi-lateral agencies or philanthropic organizations and Non-Government Organisations (NGO), most being multi-party or multi-stakeholder projects.

• G2G, G2B, G2C, and B2C. G being Government, C is Citizen and B being private player.

• Sectoral like education, health, agriculture, governance, livelihood, employment generation, and so on.

Secondary sources…….

• Bhatnagar and Schware (2000) (ed.) Information and Communication Technology in Development- Cases from India, Sage Publications, New Delhi.

• Harris and Rajora (2006) Empowering poor- Information and Communication Technology for governance and poverty reduction, A Study of rural development projects in India, UNDP-APDIP ICT4D series, Elservier, New Delhi.

• Agarwal (2007) (ed.) E Governance Case studies, Universities Press India (Pvt.) Ltd., Hyderabad.

Bhatnagar and Schware (2000)

• 14 projects/programmes into 4 categorizations:• projects for decision support to public

administrators in planning and monitoring of development programmes

• improving services to citizens and bringing in transparency

• empowering citizens through access to information and knowledge

• use of ICT for training in rural areas

Harris and Rajora (2006)

• 18 development projects using ICTs in the form of community tele-centre for poor

• Evaluating key constructs relating to their potential for scaling up; these were Project Design, Community Participation, Project Outcomes, and their contextual Political Economy.

• 2,156 users of the tele-centre completed questionnaires and interviews were conducted with project stakeholders and personnel.

Agarwal (2007)• 41 on-going e-Governance projects entered for the

Computer Society of India- Nihilent e-Governance Awards 2005-06 from 11 States and 3 union territories out of 28 States and 7 union territories.

• Majority represented six States- Andhra Pradesh and Kerala (6 each), Gujarat (5), Karnataka and Maharashtra (3 each), Haryana (2) and Government of India (6).

• One case study each from 5 States (8 North-Eastern States treated as one, Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Uttaranchal, Assam) and three Union Territories (Delhi, Chandigarh, Luckshdeep).

National e-Governance Plan of Government Of India (NeGP)

• 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 10 components approved on May 18, 2006

• NeGP as a part of its National Common Minimum Program has been aimed at improving the quality, accessibility and effectiveness of Government services with the help of ICT with total estimate cost of approx. 1276 million US$ using Public Private Partnership model.

• The project suggests creation of Community Information Centres (CICs) to provide various kinds of community information, State Wide Area Networks (SWAN) and State Data Centres (SDC).

Unfair Alliance……global

• MDG task force report of 2012 by UN (www,un.org) remarks that Internet penetration in the developing countries stood at 26.3 per cent of the population in 2011 compared to 74 per cent in developed countries.

• Even with the rapid spread of ICT, the challenge of making the technologies easier, more accessible and more affordable continues.

Households in India……

Half (53%)Without

latrine/toilet facilities

49% without Drainage

67 % use firewood, only 29 % use LPG for cooking, 55% has kitchen in house

42% do not have bathroom facility within the house

Source: Census 2011

33%without

electricity

• Has the demand for ICTs come from people?• Are ICTs part of day-to-day life?• Are ICTs solving day-to-day problems?• Can scaling up help in the given diverse contexts if

India? Language-culture-gender dimensions!• Does ‘access’ resolve the challenge of ‘control’?

NOIs this not the Dominant Paradigm…?!

Unfair Alliance……local

DevCom allied with technology

• Where technology remains only as means to delivery and not the end

• In place of techno-centric to human-centred perspective

• Locally relevant technologies and not technology for vested interests

• Emphasis on ‘communication’ and not on ‘transmission’

What is Communication TODAY?

• Technological connectivity does not guarantee communication

• Connectivity does not guarantee interaction• Interaction does not mean TWO parties• Two parties does not necessarily mean both

are listening to each other • Listening does not mean understanding of

each other• Understanding may not mean acceptance

What is Communication?

Reality

Product

Facts, Opinions,

Emotions, Ideas…

Ideology Technology Process

Interaction Exchange

Communication also means…….

Empathy

Understanding

Acceptance

Acknowledgement

Respect

SensitivityTRUST

Tolerance

Thank you for YOUR

time and patience

Feel free to connectdrmiradesai@gmail.com