Your Cart

• Log in

• Related Products
• Parent
  • • The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society
• Associated
  • • Identifying Hacking and Abuse Threats towards a Home DSL Internet Connection with High Interaction Honeypot Implementation
  • • Automated Clinical Research Mice Movement Detection System
  • • The Techne Project
  • • Southern Africa and the Digital Divide
  • • Migrants’ Communication Practices with ICTs
  • • Scholarly Communication through e-Publishing in Digital Libraries
  • • Enhancing Control and Empowerment of Elders through Assistive Technology
  • • Toward an Online Community Model for Local Businesses
  • • Priorities in Educational Technology Research
  • • Summarising the Visual via the Verbal
  • More →

Southern Africa and the Digital Divide: A Malawian Case Study

By Robert M. Bichler.

Published by The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have a major impact on Western societies concerning economy, politics and culture. These technologies are a main driving force for societal progress and prosperity within such societies. However, this development is still very limited and huge regions of the world are totally cut off from the global information flow and have not yet arrived in the so-called information age. Different kinds of endeavours are undertaken to bridge this digital divide by various institutions, mainly from the first world. These development activities often seem to be undertaken in a “retro-colonial” way, which means that Western technologies and the fields of their applications are put upon developing countries without taking into account the local conditions and needs.
This paper is part of a larger research project that compares different developing countries (Yemen, Laos, Malawi and Guatemala) concerning the status quo of the ICT diffusion. For this purpose, a case study in the Republic of Malawi was carried out, using expert interview surveys with Malawian decision-makers and questionnaires for the general public.

The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society, Volume 4, Issue 6, pp.41-50. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 596.938KB).

Robert M. Bichler

Research and Teaching Assistant, ICT & S Center, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria