<nettime> [Gurstein's Community Informatics] A New Blogpost: The IDRC and "Open Development": ICT4D by and for the New Middle Class

["Michael Gurstein" <gurstein@gmail.com>]

The IDRC and "Open Development": ICT4D by and for the New Middle Class

URL    :
http://gurstein.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/the-idrc-and-%e2%80%9copen-developm
ent%e2%80%9d-ict4d-by-and-for-the-new-middle-class/
 
"Certainly it is very hard to fault (or even disagree) with any of the above
except that this definition and the following paper seem to not understand
that lack of access in most developmental contexts isn't simply a failure of
reasonable people to understand that they should proceed in an "open" rather
than a "closed/restrictive" fashion.  The lack of access in many if not most
cases serves the interests of some quite well including many who gain
considerable advantage from lack of transparency, restrictions on use of
government data, the use of security designations in inappropriate contexts.
In these instances a lack of access is most frequently a function of a lack
of power in a particular social and economic context and that articulating
the good feelings attendant on an "openness" strategy are as unlikely to
change those restrictions as were the thinking of good thoughts sufficient
to stop the flow of oil from the BP Gulf catastrophe. 







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