Leapfrogging into the information society

Sometimes I feel that I need to refocus and put the things I’ve posted about into context. This blog is supposed to be about leapfrogging, but it might not always be clear where I’m going with these ponderings of mine. So here’s a brief opinion piece to tie some things together. The burning question of the day – given what I’ve posted here, what is my view of leapfrogging development?
For me, this boils down to at least two questions:
– What are the goals of leapfrogging development?
– What is the role of ICTs in leapfrogging development, given those goals?
My answer to the first question is that the goal of leapfrogging development is the expansion of the information society to be representative of the multitude of ways of knowing throughout the world. This is not a technological development and it is not something that concerns only those who find themselves on the wrong side of the “digital divide”. To me, the notion of the information society is global, democratic and inclusive. Being a part of the information society is not only about having access to information, more important is being able to contribute to the information society. The focus for leapfrogging development is then on finding ways to increase the input of marginalised societies and cultures into the global information flow. As long as that input is missing, the information society is deficient. Hence, leapfrogging is intended to “fix” the information society by increasing the diversity of resources available.
The reason that ICTs are important for leapfrogging development has nothing to do with the technological sophisticiation expected of members of the information society. Rather, it just so happens that they are, at the moment, the best means we have for sharing information. If we were to discover tomorrow that we are all able to communicate globally through “extra-sensory perception”, a lot of that technology would be immediately rendered obsolete. The technology is not the necessary part of the equation. The necessary part of the equation is being able to translate knowledge into information in a way that it becomes meaningful for others and to have the means for effectively using and communicating that information.
Leapfrogging is to me not a matter of one party helping another. It is a collaborative activity that is intended to benefit everyone involved. What leapfrogging can provide for developing countries is acknowledgement of the relative cultural knowledge base in a global society – empowerment in a world driven by knowledge and information. For developed countries, recognition that there is no supremacy in knowledge – knowledge, wherever it originates, constitutes a valuable contribution to be evaluated on a par with any other knowledge. You never know where the “next big thing” is going to come from. Now, how do we effectively use ICTs to promote and support the activities necessary to form an equitable information society? And, how will we know if it is being achieved?
This is certainly not all I have to say on the matter, but let it suffice for the time being. And now for a couple of relevant links:
India is such an excellent example of what I’m talking about – India Empowered to me is Knowledge taking roots in the village
I think Wikipedia can be leveraged as an important tool in leapfrogging development – Blogs and Wikis: Ushering in an Era of Change