A Critical Review of the ICT for Development Research

In recent years, community and development informatics researchers (cf. Bayes, 2001; Hassen and Svensson, 2014; Heeks and Jagun, 2007) have endeavoured to assess the community use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their development implications. They argue that it is possible to reduce the global and regional inequality in accessing ICTs to achieve wider development objectives. However, scepticism regarding the success of ICT-led initiatives and concerns regarding their actual and potential challenges have also been voiced in academic literature (Fors and Moreno, 2002; Kuriyan et al., 2008; Mariscal, 2005; Parmar et al., 2007), and hence the assessments of the impact of ICT intervention on development remain inconclusive, indicating the need for further studies (Donner, 2006; Rashid and Elder, 2009; Thapa and Sæbø, 2014). Nevertheless, due to the multidisciplinary nature of ICT for development research, various theoretical avenues have been explored to investigate the adoption, use and impact of ICT in developing societies. From personal computers to mobile telephones, from telecentres (kiosk-based information centres) to social media, various forms of ICT applications and their contextual use and subsequent socio-economic impacts have been monitored by researchers from information systems (IS), development economics, social science and consumer studies over the years.