PhD student in Information Systems and Innovation
Research Interests
Thesis: 'Role of Telecentres in Local Governance: a case study of Kerala'
Many developing countries have prioritised the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the light of the argument that it offers lower-income countries the chance to 'leapfrog' stages of traditional development through technological advancements. The bulk of the policy initiatives, hence, continue to assume a technologically deterministic position according to which enormous benefits are assumed to flow from the use of ICT. Affirmed recently by the World Summit on Information Society held in Geneva in December 2003 - for example in the summit plan of action - one finds a clear statement of the need for the world's poor inhabitants to have access to ICTs within their reach.
Such a vision is popularly articulated through telecentres, which have currently become a phenomenon in international development efforts. Telecentres have generally been studied and evaluated from the point of view of financial sustainability, usage, pricing, business models and their impact on specific sectors like education and health. The importance of understanding telecentres as part of the local governance network of a region and linked to back-end government reform is gradually becoming recognised in the academic literature with important implications for the development of frameworks for evaluating these initiatives. The ongoing research is a step in this direction. The research focuses on the Akshaya telecentre project in Kerala, India.
Supervisor