ICT and development gates

Phew. Been evaluating tenders for an information system and did not know whether to cry or laugh, breakdown or loose the head, keep quiet or scream. It is good, but it is goof. The system promises lot only that they are merely promises. The reality could also be different.

Many developing world's information systems are funded by international donors or are they loans. Read an insightful evaluation here. Do it. Spend the money. It must be spent. You will pay the loan later. But it is good. But look, you have the money (albeit borrowed). Do it and it is yorkish, a shackle. Don't do it, and it is beyond you. So a system is copied and pasted. Copied from the first worlds and pasted in Uganda, Southern Sudan and Africa because, because it is good. World class.

Welcome June. When yours truly was lost in transliteration, what does my TechRepublic assistant tell me: Salam Taki, one of your unknowing mentors has post. It is an international conference. Doha Qatar. The famed Bill Gates is confirmed guest speaker. Call for papers. Could you respond to a call for a paper and write something which could spell the pungency in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)? Richard Heeks, PhD my mentor and ICT champion at ICTD 2009.

ICTD 2009 IEEE/ACM International Conference of Information and Communication Technologies and Development April 17 - 19, 2009 Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar Campus Education City, Doha, Qatar

Well. ICT and development. Finally the role of ICT shall be put to a scrutiny. I will scream, write, and at worst be in Doha in spirit, question gates, solutions heeks and kith, and attention governments, civil societies, and private sector. It is a wispher of a life time. The bank. The consultants. The corrupt. The rebranding as I stabbed a sky. Hoooooraaaaay