Schwittay, Anke (2008) 'A living lab': corporate delivery of ICTs in rural India. Science Technology and Society, 13 (2). pp. 175-209. ISSN 0971-7218

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Information and Ccommunication technologies (ICTs) are increasingly seen as essential tools in development projects that can create new sources of income, make governments more transparent and accessible, improve education and health care, and overcome social exclusion and discrimination. To harness these potentials, multinational hi-tech corporations are forming public-private partnerships with governments, development institutions and civil society organisations in the delivery of ICTs to the rural masses. This article analyses the work of the Hewlett-Packard Corporation (HP), in India, where its three-year i-community programme aimed to bring access to ICTs and resulting benefits to rural citizens of Andhra Pradesh. I will show that ICTs are not neutral tools of development as conceptualised by practitioners of ICTD, but are commodities produced by corporations with the ultimate aim to increase the corporate bottom line. They are imbued with relations of power that skew 'partnerships' and must fulfil corporate objectives that weaken their potential impact. © 2008 SAGE Publications.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Global Studies > International Relations
Subjects:	H Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Nadya Herrera Catalan
Date Deposited:	04 Feb 2015 09:20
Last Modified:	04 Feb 2015 09:20
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/52698

📧 Request an update