Revisiting the "Magic Box"
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Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are transforming the lives of communities and groups in developing countries. This book shows that we are slowly beginning to understand how these communities are appropriating ICTs to address their needs. ICTs are being integrated into wider community-based activities and adapted to fit different contexts. A significant development has been in the growth of telecommunications, in particular mobile phones, that have proven to be relat ively cheap and powerful tools for poor communities, even in remote areas. The power of oral communication through telephones and radio cannot be underestimated. Whether for strengthening social relations, checking that remittances will arrive on time or increasing market opportunities, voicebased communications are appropriated far quicker than those based on the written word or even video. The challenge is to adapt the new, usually computer-based ICTs to the needs of poor, predom inantly oral-based communities so that they can be appropriated effectively and quickly. However, two years on from the paper, ‘Discovering the “Magic Box”, there are still too few examples of community-driven and locally appropriated ICT initiatives – and an absence of standards or guidelines to evaluate ICT-based projects. This book offers some analytical frameworks and indicators that move us further in the direction of identifying good practice and evidence of impact.