Anthem Press ICTs and Development in India: Perspectives on the Rural Network Society (India and Asia in the Global Economy)

‘ICTs and Development in India’ is a unique attempt to study the nature and consequences of the growing presence of Information Technology in development projects in India, focusing particularly on E-governance and Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) development programs initiated by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). Sreekumar persuasively argues that there is in fact a wide chasm between the expectations and the actual benefits of CSO initiatives in rural India, and that recognising this crucial fact yields important lessons in conceptualizing development and social action in rural areas. Review ‘Rural India has become a model laboratory for global experiments in a new era of market-driven development communication. T. T. Sreekumar’s critical and empirically rich study of India’s emerging “rural network society” offers a much needed counter-history to the dominant techno-utopian narratives that continue to fuel both policy and scholarly discussions.’ — Paula Chakravartty, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts Book Description Provides a critical account of the social impact of the use of Information Technology in developmental projects in rural India. About the Author T. T. Sreekumar is Assistant Professor at the Department of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore. His research interests focus on the social impact of ICTs, the impact of mobile phones in developing countries, and the social impacts of tourism, civil society and new social movements and youth techno-culture in Asia. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. ICTs and Development in India Perspectives on the Rural Network Society By T.T. Sreekumar Wimbledon Publishing Company Copyright © 2011 T. T. Sreekumar All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-84331-843-9 Contents List of Figures and Tables, vii, Preface, ix, 1. Introduction: Exploring the Rural Network Society, 1, 2. Civil Society and Cyber–Libertarian Developmentalism, 33, 3. Decrypting E-Governance, 67, 4. Cyber-Kiosks and Dilemmas of Social Inclusion, 97, 5. Innovating for the Rural Network Society, 125, 6. ICT and Development: Critical Issues, 151, Notes, 175, Bibliography, 187, Index, 207, CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: EXPLORING THE RURAL NETWORK SOCIETY Two Rural Vignettes and the Beginning of a Story The following introductory paragraphs appeared in an article published in the Canadian Journal of Educational Communication in 1987: In the small Swedish village of Vemdalen, the visitor can witness an unexpected sight. On the first floor of the building containing the local general store, a considerable number of modern computers and other equipment are being used diligently by local people from eight o'clock in the morning until ten o'clock in the evening. The equipment is worth a closer look: PC ATs, 15 personal computers from the United States and Japan, word processors and teletexts from Holland, Telefax, Videotex; in short, lots of high technology in the heart of a sparsely populated mountainous part of Sweden (Vemdalen today boasts having more computers per capita than any other part of Sweden). The first Scandinavian telecottage, Härjedalens Telestuga, was opened here on 13 September 1985, and shortly after its inception, all this equipment was being used by 15 per cent of the people in the village, with everyone from 10-year-old children to pensioners represented. The funds for establishing the telecottage came from the County Government Board as part of a project for the propagation of modern technology in sparsely populated areas, Swedish Telecom and the municipal board. The aim of the telecottage was to open up the vast opportunities of the information age to the people in this remote part of Sweden (where there is less than one inhabitant per square kilometre) by providing access to a variety of computers and modern teleco