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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Economic Development: A Framework for Change in Developing Countries

2002; African Journals OnLine; Volume: 14; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4314/dai.v14i1.15422

1015-079X

Geoffrey E. Kiangi, K. E. Mshigeni,

ICT Impact and Policies

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be used to accelerate economic development. For many developing countries however, the potential of ICT for economic development has not been fully realized Numerous studies have attempted to examine the underlying problems from different perspectives. While these studies are extremely useful, few examine the situation in its entirety. Researchers who have taken concern on issues of the digital divide, as it is called, have generally worked in isolated areas. There is therefore, a needfor concerted work that investigates how all the different aspects of ICT interrelate to influence economic development. Such an analysis will help developing countries to direct their efforts and resources towards ICT. In this regard, a broader perspective is presented in this paper to examine the relationship between ICT and economic development in a comprehensive manner. An attempt has been made to mention broadly, some work that has been done in different areas of ICT within the comprehensive perspective developed, while areas needing more attention are also identified. From this perspective, efforts can be made to enhance each of the different elements, knowing how they relate in the entire development paradigm. This approach will improve the impact of ICT on economic development. Keywords: information and communication technologies, economic development, developing countries development paradigm. Resume La technologie de l'information et de communication (T.I.C) peut etre employee pour accelerer le developpement economique. Cependant, dans beaucoup de pays en voie de developpement, la potentialite de la T.I.C pour le developpement economique n'a pas ete entierement exploitee. Nombreuses etudes ont tente d'examiner les problemes fondamentaux qui sous- tendent differentes perspectives. Bien que ces etudes soient extremement utiles, peu d'entre elles examinent la situation dans sa totalite. Les chercheurs en questions informatiques, ont generalement travaille en vase clos. Besoin donc se fait sentir de travailler de concert dans le souci de comprendre comment tous les differents aspects de la T.I.C se relient entre eux afin de propulser le developpement economique. Une telle analyse va aider les pays en voie de developpement d'investir leurs efforts et ressources dans la T.I.C. A cet egard, cet article presente une plus large vision et examine d'une facon exhaustive le rapport existant entre la T.I.C et le developpement economique. Une tentative a ete faite pour presenter en long et en large certains travaux qui ont ete effectues dans differents domaines de la T.I.C dans une optique d'ensemble globale, tout en identifiant egalement les domaines qui necessitent plus d'attention. Dans cette perspective, des efforts peuvent etre faits pour renforcer chacun des differents domaines, sachant bien la maniere dont ceux se relient au sein du paradigme global de developpement. Cette approche va certes ameliorer la retombee de la T.I.C sur le developpement economique. Mots cles: technologie de l'information et de communication, developpement economique, pays en voie de developpement, systeme binaire, paradigme mondial de developpement, ordinateurs (Discovery and innovation: 14(1-2): 38-45)