Bridging the Digital Divide? Development of Information Society in Namibia -Conceptions of the Local Actors
MUNUKKA, KATRIINA (2005)
2005
Sosiologia/ISSS - Sociology/ISSS
Yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2005-06-03
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:uta-1-14846
https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:uta-1-14846
Tiivistelmä
Hakutermit:
information society, ICT, digital divide, development co-operation, Namibia, e-governance
Information society is a current topic in nearly every country’s development strategies and there are several initiatives all over to enhance development of the information systems to support countries’ economical and social development. Also the developing countries in the sub-Saharan Africa are within the process. However, there are many challenges for developing countries to overcome to achieve the level of information society where the systems really benefit their citizens. Furthermore, there are number of problems within the implementation of information systems in the third world countries since the models originally derive from the western world and are improved in different circumstances. The purpose of this thesis was to find out how the local actors in Namibia experience the development of information society and how do they understand the model of information society to fit in the Namibian context.
As a theoretical point of view in this thesis there is the power relations between the western world and developing countries. As main theories there are introduced some views of H. Schiller and M. Castells. In addition, the common discussion about digital divide is an important point of view.
There were done ten interviews done for this study. The interviewees were people who are working in the ministries and other high-level organizations. The interviews were thematic ones and the data was analyzed by using classification technique.
The results indicate that there are many constraints for the development of information society in Namibia; there is lack of human resources, lack of technical infrastructure and lack of investments. The local actors seem to think that other infrastructure than ICT should be in place before the more serious investments on ICT can be done. Mainly, people did not maintain ICT within the top developmental needs. A significant result there is also that people seem to lack relevant context in which to utilize ICT based systems. This also hinders the development of information society. In addition, a significant result from the theoretical point of view is that the local actors did not consider imported systems as a problematic issue. They mainly maintained that any development from the western world is positive impact.
As a conclusion, the local actors were mostly skeptical about the development of information society in Namibia and it could be maintained that since all the challenges, the development will be rather slow in the future as well. In addition, criticism towards imported systems is essential for the sustainability of information society development.
information society, ICT, digital divide, development co-operation, Namibia, e-governance
Information society is a current topic in nearly every country’s development strategies and there are several initiatives all over to enhance development of the information systems to support countries’ economical and social development. Also the developing countries in the sub-Saharan Africa are within the process. However, there are many challenges for developing countries to overcome to achieve the level of information society where the systems really benefit their citizens. Furthermore, there are number of problems within the implementation of information systems in the third world countries since the models originally derive from the western world and are improved in different circumstances. The purpose of this thesis was to find out how the local actors in Namibia experience the development of information society and how do they understand the model of information society to fit in the Namibian context.
As a theoretical point of view in this thesis there is the power relations between the western world and developing countries. As main theories there are introduced some views of H. Schiller and M. Castells. In addition, the common discussion about digital divide is an important point of view.
There were done ten interviews done for this study. The interviewees were people who are working in the ministries and other high-level organizations. The interviews were thematic ones and the data was analyzed by using classification technique.
The results indicate that there are many constraints for the development of information society in Namibia; there is lack of human resources, lack of technical infrastructure and lack of investments. The local actors seem to think that other infrastructure than ICT should be in place before the more serious investments on ICT can be done. Mainly, people did not maintain ICT within the top developmental needs. A significant result there is also that people seem to lack relevant context in which to utilize ICT based systems. This also hinders the development of information society. In addition, a significant result from the theoretical point of view is that the local actors did not consider imported systems as a problematic issue. They mainly maintained that any development from the western world is positive impact.
As a conclusion, the local actors were mostly skeptical about the development of information society in Namibia and it could be maintained that since all the challenges, the development will be rather slow in the future as well. In addition, criticism towards imported systems is essential for the sustainability of information society development.