User Technology Readiness in ICT for Social Development Initiatives

Abstract

Information and Communication technology (ICT) is fuelling the growth of global economy. Intelligent use of ICT is a key to transform societies and it can contribute to the development objectives of a nation mainly through three ways: (1) serving as a tool to tackle some of the real world issues like health, education, agriculture, poverty, etc. (2) acting as a medium for efficient delivery of government services, and (3) promoting techniques to tackle the problem of information asymmetry. ICT for Development (ICT4D) is one of the dominant themes in the domain of Social Informatics studies. It encompasses socio-economic research that examines the ways in which the technological artifact and the human social context mutually constitute the ICT ensemble (Kling, 2000). ICT4D is defined in this study as the design and use of ICT and e-Services that consider social context and socio–economic development.