Kentaro Toyama

1
Reflections on the 10 Myths of ICT for
Development

• Kentaro Toyama
• Visiting Researcher
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of Washington Change
• Seattle October 20, 2011

2
(No Transcript)
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Technology can be a major force to advance
financial inclusion, which can help improve the
lives of the poor in the developing world.
Bill Gates
Photo Safaricom Source http//www.thegatesnotes
.com/Topics/Development/Mobile-Phones-and-Savings-
A-Powerful-Pair
4
Facebook-armed youth of Tunisia and Egypt rise
to demonstrate the liberating power of social
media. Roger Cohen New York Times
Photo Khalil Hamra, Associated Press,
http//www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/world/middleeast
/09egypt.html Source http//www.nytimes.com/2011/
01/28/opinion/28iht-edcohen28.html
5
We want to be connected to one another, a desire
that our use of social media actually
engages. Clay Shirky
Photo http//jobsblog.com/blog/wumpus-outreach-pr
oject Source Shirky, Clay. 2010. Cognitive
Surplus Creativity and Generosity in a Connected
Age.
6
Technology can be a major force to advance
financial inclusion, which can help improve the
lives of the poor in the developing world.
Bill Gates
Facebook-armed youth of Tunisia and Egypt rise
to demonstrate the liberating power of social
media. Roger Cohen New York Times
We want to be connected to one another, a desire
that our use of social media actually engages
Clay Shirky
Sources New York Times, 2011 Bill Gates, 2011
Clay Shirky, 2008.
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A Theory and 10 Myths
Theory Technology (only) magnifies human intent
and capacity.
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Range of Responses
Theory Technology (only) magnifies human intent
and capacity.
The blog is a breath of fresh air among all
the bland, boring, conveyor-assembled writing
about the subject.
The way Kentaro presents it, we should
conclude that nobody can do anything.
Everything that Kentaro said was true, but
thatthe talk still left me completely deflated
and uninspired.
Redoubled efforts to create technology that will
be of special value to the least advantaged might
help to offset technologys tendency to heighten
inequality.
Sources Ekaterina Mitiaev Archon Fung Tapan
Parikh kansal123. http//www.youtube.com/watch?v
E_mTwm5m8DM
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Does the theory work?
Theory Technology (only) magnifies human intent
and capacity.

• Falsifiability
• E.g., counterexample if ICT has positive impact
  without positive intent or capacity
• Causal explanations
• E.g., ICTs can have either positive or negative
  impacts, depending on the situation
• E.g., projects tend to work if theres a
  committed partner
• Predictions
• E.g., ICTs alone will never turn around an
  underperforming school system.

• Corollaries
• Directionality of impact determined by people.
• Positive impact can be had by people alone, but
  not by technology alone.
• Complete solutions involve human components.
• Technology scales impact, only if the right
  substrate of human intent and capacity is
  present.
• Without that substrate, scaling technology impact
  requires scaling intent and capacity.

10
Does the theory work?
Theory Technology (only) magnifies human intent
and capacity.

• Falsifiability
• E.g., counterexample if ICT has positive impact
  without positive intent or capacity
• Causal explanations
• E.g., ICTs can have either positive or negative
  impacts, depending on the situation
• E.g., projects tend to work if theres a
  committed partner
• Predictions
• E.g., ICTs alone will never turn around an
  underperforming school system.

• Corollaries
• Directionality of impact determined by people.
• Positive impact can be had by people alone, but
  not by technology alone.
• Complete solutions involve human components.
• Technology scales impact, only if the right
  substrate of human intent and capacity is
  present.
• Without that substrate, scaling technology impact
  requires scaling intent and capacity.

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What the theory doesnt say
Theory Technology (only) magnifies human intent
and capacity.

• This does NOT mean
• Technology is bad.
• Technology cant have positive impact.
• Its never worthwhile to work on technology
  projects.
• Technology isnt a component of economic growth.

• We should all quit our technology jobs.
• We shouldnt use technology.
• ICT4D efforts are futile.
• No one should fund ICT4D efforts.

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Underlying Misconceptions
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Underlying Misconceptions
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The gadget is the technology.

1. Marx, Leo. "Technology The Emergence of a
   Hazardous Concept". Social Research, Vol 64. N.
   3, Fall 1997.

Misconception

• Exemplar Nicholas Negroponte
• Counter Socio-technical theory
• E.g., By consigning technologies to the realm of
  things, this well-established iconography
  distracts attention from the humansocioeconomic
  and politicalrelations which largely determine
  who uses them and for what purposes. (Leo Marx
  1997)
• Fix Always think of technology as a
  socio-technological system.

Reference Marx, Leo. "Technology The Emergence
of a Hazardous Concept". Social Research, Vol 64.
N. 3, Fall 1997.
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Underlying Misconceptions
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The free market can solve all problems.
Misconception

• Exemplar C. K. Prahalad
• Counter Progressivism
• E.g., It is not very unreasonable that the rich
  should contribute to the public expense, not only
  in proportion to their revenue, but something
  more than in that proportion. (Adam Smith 1776)
• Fix Keep attention on progressive efforts.
• People benefit more as producers than as
  consumers.

Social Welfare Public/non-profit
services distribute means to wealth attention
to justice
Growth Corporations / taxation focus wealth att
ention to efficiency
Reference Smith, Adam. 1776. The Wealth of
Nations. Book V, Chapter 2, Part 2.
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The free market can solve all problems.
Misconception

• Exemplar C. K. Prahalad
• Counter Progressivism
• E.g., It is not very unreasonable that the rich
  should contribute to the public expense, not only
  in proportion to their revenue, but something
  more than in that proportion. (Adam Smith 1776)
• Fix Keep attention on progressive efforts.
• People benefit more as producers than as
  consumers.

Growth Corporations / taxation focus wealth att
ention to efficiency
Social Welfare Public/non-profit
services distribute means to wealth attention
to justice
Reference Smith, Adam. 1776. The Wealth of
Nations. Book V, Chapter 2, Part 2.
18
The free market can solve all problems.
Misconception

• Exemplar C. K. Prahalad
• Counter Progressivism
• E.g., It is not very unreasonable that the rich
  should contribute to the public expense, not only
  in proportion to their revenue, but something
  more than in that proportion. (Adam Smith 1776)
• Fix Keep attention on progressive efforts.
• People benefit more as producers than as
  consumers.

Social Welfare Public/non-profit
services distribute means to wealth attention
to justice
Growth Corporations / taxation focus wealth att
ention to efficiency
Reference Smith, Adam. 1776. The Wealth of
Nations. Book V, Chapter 2, Part 2.
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Underlying Misconceptions
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What works in the developed world works in the
developing world.
Misconception

• Exemplar John Williamson (Washington
  Consensus)
• Counters Path dependency contextual design
• Fix Understand problem first develop solution
  second. (Note, technology may not be part of the
  optimal solution.)

Photo Vishwa Kiran
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Underlying Misconceptions
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Technological progress will save the poor.
Misconception

• Exemplar Eric Brewer
• Counter Science and technology studies
• E.g., The very successes of technology often
  produce perverse outcomes, in the form of
  unpredicted threats to life, health, nature and
  social cohesion. (Jasanoff 2002)
• Fix Accept that poverty is primarily a social
  phenomenon.
• Progressive efforts are worthwhile (even with
  technology).

Sources U.S. Census Bureau, Wikipedia
Jasanoff, Sheila. "New Modernities Reimagining
Science, Technology, and Development".
Environmental Values. Vol. 11, No. 3 (2002), pp.
253-276.
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Underlying Misconceptions
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External change is what matters.
Misconception

• Exemplar Megan Smith (Google.org)
• Counter Human development
• E.g., The first and overarching Big Problem is
  to make the Good Person The equally Big Problem
  is to make the Good Society. (Maslow 1971)
• Fix Focus more on mentoring, less on providing
  for.

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Recommendations

• If insisting on technology use
• Identify trends and institutions already having
  positive impact and apply technology to amplify
  them.
• Get immersed in on-the-ground development, not
  just technology hacking.
• Stay focused on development goals remain
  detached from technology success.
• Maintain focus on progressive application of
  technology.
• Consider teaching and mentoring, over production
  of technology.

• If not insisting on technology use
• Lavish efforts on individual and institutional
  capacity.
• Maintain focus on progressive activity.
• Let technology take care of itself.
• Stay focused on development goals.
• Dont be distracted by development fads
  (including technology-based ones).

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Technologies that might invalidate the theory
I know kung fu!
then again, maybe not!
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Jean-Marc Côté, education in the year 2000 (1899).
Thanks!
kentaro_toyama_at_hotmail.comhttp//www.kentarotoyam
a.org
Image Buckingham, David. "Beyond Technology
Children's Learning in the Age of Digital
Culture. 2007 Polity Press.
28
We want to be connected to one another, a desire
that our use of social media actually engages
Clay Shirky
Facebook-armed youth of Tunisia and Egypt rise
to demonstrate the liberating power of social
media. Roger Cohen New York Times
Technology can be a major force to advance
financial inclusion, which can help improve the
lives of the poor in the developing world.
Bill Gates
Sources New York Times, 2011 Bill Gates, 2011
Clay Shirky, 2008.
29
We want to be connected to one another, a desire
that our use of social media actually
engages. Clay Shirky
Photo http//blog.beliefnet.com/markdroberts/2011
/01/in-the-news-does-facebook-make-us-more-or-less
-social.html http//newsone.com/nation/newsonesta
ff2/glenn-becks-civil-rights-rally-ripped-by-jon-s
tewart/ http//whsbulldogs.wikispaces.com/Cyberb
ullying
30
Facebook-armed youth of Tunisia and Egypt rise
to demonstrate the liberating power of social
media. Roger Cohen New York Times
Photos Sergey Ponomarev, Associated Press,
http//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/p
icturesoftheday/8719801/Pictures-of-the-day-24-Aug
ust-2011.html?image36 http//the-explorer.com/hu
man-chains-tanks-crisis-in-syria-worsens-2/2011/34
22172.html/ http//www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2
007-01/24/content_790804.htm
31
Technology can be a major force to advance
financial inclusion, which can help improve the
lives of the poor in the developing world.
Bill Gates
Photo Vishwa Kiran http//www.electronicstakebac
k.com/global-e-waste-dumping/ http//in.reuters.
com/article/2010/10/14/idINIndia-52199820101014
cameroonechoes.org