(Some caveats: I’m relatively new to this subject, don’t have on-the-ground experience and haven’t yet read ‘Small Is Beautiful’.)
If you hang around ICT4D long enough (that is, more than a day or so), you’re sure to hear people promoting “Appropriate Technology.” The important idea is not widely understood outside the ICT4D community, but refers to designing and using technology with special consideration to unique environmental, cultural and economic situations. People that work on these issues know that the same technologies that are successful in Silicon Valley are unlikely to be successful in the Great Rift Valley – there are simply too many differences to make it possible.
Supporting “Appropriate Technology” (AT, to those in the know) is taken as something of an article of faith for ICT4Ders – worthy of my admittedly obnoxious capitalization. But, outside of broad (and rather useless) generalizations, how useful is the concept?
Take laptops. The OLPC was touted as AT because it was dust proof, highly readable, mesh networkable, etc. Where my MacBook Pro would kick the bucket in 24 hours, the OLPC would hum away contently. However, plenty of folks have argued that, actually, OLPC is inappropriate for education in important developing countries. In fact, maybe the ubiquitous mobile phone is better suited for educational technology. Or could it be radio? Or (*gasp*) simple paper?
My (half-formed) idea is that “Appropriate Technology” may, in reality, be of very little use to practitioners a priori. Obviously, the Mac isn’t right for a rural Rwandan classroom. But, in determining what specific technology to deploy, I think there are broader, more determinative, aspects of technology utlization such as the passion and dedication of the users and implementers, than simply designating some tech as appropriate and some as not. There are many possibilities and I worry that we lose sight of the non-technical aspects of ICT4D when quibbling about the ICT.
[By the way, infoDev has recently launched Educational Technology Debate, an interactive debate website, that will address issues such as this in the field of ICT for education. Check it out and spread the word - there are a bunch of fun debates coming up.]
View Comments
Leave a Reply
ABOUT
Tech Policy, Development and World Affairs
Kevin,
While I can't comment on how appropriate the use of the term, “Appropriate Technology,” is in the situations you bring up (laptops, communication devices), I will say that it is a very appropriate term considering things like housing, water filtration, agriculture, and solar power in developing nations. For example, my organization, after building houses for the poor in Mexico for 25 years, is starting to build in South Africa. We have a great house design for use in the border towns of Mexico, but it is not culturally appropriate in South Africa though the current living conditions are similar. We not only have to find a house design appropriate for the culture, we also have to find materials appropriate to culture and cost. While houses built with wood are appropriate in some parts of Mexico, they are not in South Africa.
Water filters are another example. A lot of the families we build for have access to clean water, but at a high cost to them. We tested a bio-sand filter that was extremely efficient and cheap. The problem was that it didn't fit into the culture. It took a lot of upkeep and even though using it would save a family enough money every year to send one of their children to school, it was just easier to buy the bottled water.
All this to say that I think the term, “Appropriate Technology” is the right term. Instead of being condescending, I think it reminds us that what works for us in our culture doesn't work everywhere. It reminds us that, most of all, we have to listen to the needs of the host culture and find an appropriate solution with them, not for them.
Looking forward to seeing more posts from you and learning about what you have to say.
Andy Lyde
Amor Ministries
http://www.amor.org/blog
Kevin,
While I can't comment on how appropriate the use of the term, “Appropriate Technology,” is in the situations you bring up (laptops, communication devices), I will say that it is a very appropriate term considering things like housing, water filtration, agriculture, and solar power in developing nations. For example, my organization, after building houses for the poor in Mexico for 25 years, is starting to build in South Africa. We have a great house design for use in the border towns of Mexico, but it is not culturally appropriate in South Africa though the current living conditions are similar. We not only have to find a house design appropriate for the culture, we also have to find materials appropriate to culture and cost. While houses built with wood are appropriate in some parts of Mexico, they are not in South Africa.
Water filters are another example. A lot of the families we build for have access to clean water, but at a high cost to them. We tested a bio-sand filter that was extremely efficient and cheap. The problem was that it didn't fit into the culture. It took a lot of upkeep and even though using it would save a family enough money every year to send one of their children to school, it was just easier to buy the bottled water.
All this to say that I think the term, “Appropriate Technology” is the right term. Instead of being condescending, I think it reminds us that what works for us in our culture doesn't work everywhere. It reminds us that, most of all, we have to listen to the needs of the host culture and find an appropriate solution with them, not for them.
Looking forward to seeing more posts from you and learning about what you have to say.
Andy Lyde
Amor Ministries
http://www.amor.org/blog