IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/titdxx/v28y2022i1p165-188.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) critique

Author

Listed:
  • Laura Schelenz
  • Maria Pawelec

Abstract

This paper reconstructs the major points of criticism of both research and practice of Information and Communication Technologies for/and Development (ICT4D/ICTD). Since ICT4D/ICTD was established both as a stream in development work and as an academic field of study, numerous critical reflections on its norms, theories, methods, and consequences were published. This paper provides a first comprehensive compilation and synthesis of what the authors term ICT4D critique. The authors recount criticism about the modus operandi of ICT4D research, the alleged weakness of theories and lack of quality, research gaps, and the politics of ICT4D research. They further recite criticism of the neoliberal orientation of ICT4D practice, the lack of user-centric projects, Eurocentrism and techno-optimism, and the lack of ethical reflection in the field. This paper is intended to serve as a resource and point of reference for students, researchers, and practitioners, in particular those who are new to the field.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Schelenz & Maria Pawelec, 2022. "Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) critique," Information Technology for Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 165-188, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:titdxx:v:28:y:2022:i:1:p:165-188
    DOI: 10.1080/02681102.2021.1937473
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02681102.2021.1937473
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/02681102.2021.1937473?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Luiz Antonio Joia, 2024. "ICT4D Research: The Lame Duck of the Brazilian Academy of Management," RAC - Revista de Administração Contemporânea (Journal of Contemporary Administration), ANPAD - Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração, vol. 28(Vol. 28 N), pages 230187-2301.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:titdxx:v:28:y:2022:i:1:p:165-188. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/titd20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.