A Reaction to Mapping ICT4D Projects in the Philippines

1
A Reaction to Mapping ICT4D Projects in the
Philippines

• Emmanuel M. Lagare, Ph.D.
• Executive Director
• MSU-IIT Information and Communications Technology
  Center

2
Barriers to ICT4D Projects

• Fear of Technology
• Unknown
• Mistrust for Technology
• Reliability
• Cost of Technology
• Expensive
• Relevance of Technology
• Not for me

3
Barriers to ICT4D Projects (Cont )

• Abuse of Technology
• Invasion of privacy
• exploitation
• Greed
• Corruption
• Exaggerated Outcomes
• Undelivered Promises

4
Need to know

• The geographical distribution of projects
• How remote is remote?
• The social strata benefited
• Are the poor helped?
• Sustainability
• Will it be there in the future?

5
Some Government Contradictions

• ICT is a priority area but funds are generally
  unavailable from budget
• Humanware have to contend with other
  responsibilities
• Unclear directions
• Computers donated vs. computer bought
• Definition of ICT supplies

6
Some Projects to Include

• On-line learning initiatives of other schools
  (UIC, ADMU, MSU-IIT)
• PhNet of DOST(Precursor of PREGINET)
• SARNet of DOST
• ZamboNet, NORMINet, CVISNet

7
Issues

• Digital is the future. ICT will be totally
  digital sooner than we think
• ICT has tremendous multiplier and empowering
  effect.
• ICT changes rapidly. Life cycle is typically 18
  mos.
• ICT being another technology has a darkside which
  we should guard against.