The idea that Toyama is conveying in this paper [1] is that not every problem across the globe can be solved by simply providing wifi, internet access and smartphones to the general public of the selected location. He has explained in depth the need to acknowledge what the needs are of the people, what their current scenario is, and where do the people see themselves heading. It’s at this last point where the scope for intervention lies and needs to be engaged with.
The flow of content begins with the authors establishing that as an outsider, a person from a technical background has certain perceptions regarding the requirements of the less privileged. Often at times these assumptions are made at a global level. They’ve talked about the inconceivability of projection of certain concepts or needs of a certain set of people for others. After bringing the reader to pace with the problem, Toyama leads with the proposal of an positively inclined aspiration based approach, which is more vernacular and abstract. It is to be appreciated that the author has taken up the concepts of needs and aspirations separately and talked about them in detail, illustrated with examples in different contexts, rather than simply mentioning definitions. The downsides of adopting a need - based approach are substantiated from cited of various academic literature.
The authors have made Table 1: Needs versus aspirations, a good summary of the differences between the two central concepts of needs and aspirations explained in-depth, thereby occupying a significant portion of the paper.
Research methodology adopted was academic literature review to state concepts, survey for preliminary analysis and case studies to establish them. The first study is from Kenya in the form of oral surveys, Based on the responses of the locals, the researchers could draw seven broad themes under which all aspirations of the people were categorised. These included income-related banter, family planning and growth and improving the standards of living. The three case studies studying the aspirations of people with a technological perspective are from Kenya and India, both developing nations. The first one looks at a telecenter in Kenya, the second at increasing investments north Indian parents are making in the growth of their female children, and the third revolves around those involved in blue collar jobs in a technical firm based in Bangalore. The study conducted, although is exceptional, could have been extended to case studies in underdeveloped countries or developed countries for proof of concept worldwide.
While reading through the course of the paper, a question that was raised was - what is unique about adopting an aspiration based approach to information technology for development, considering the fact that most products and services made are for the benefit of or are solving some problem faced by the target audience it is being designed for. The “What aspirations are not” section tries to address this concern by highlighting that not all desires may be aspirations and hence any ICT4D direction lead by the desire of the target audience does not fall into this category.
This study is theoretical in nature and focus and ends with the conclusion that technical needs of people and the needs for international growth are not completely overlapping and need to be considered as individual entities. This study is has great potential to be adopted and extended for development in the information technology industry, but the approach can be tested outside, in different contexts as well. The researched concept is not novel, it is a glorified way of emphasising on an alternative way of looking at context specific applications, rather than global, generic solutions.
The framing of the first half of the title can mean two things and take the suggested approach in two different directions: abandoning needs and focusing on aspirations, or adopting the entire range between the two properties in order to design, make and deploy for ICT4D. This wasn’t cleared out for a major part of the paper. The flow of content makes it easy to read and follow.
References