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Bar, François

Best, Michael L.

Tomaya, Kentaro

Information Technologies and International Development

Scholarly Materials And Research @ Georgia Tech

Selected Papers from IFIP Working Group 9.4 BYRNE, NICHOLSON, SALEMFrom the EditorsBuilding on Seven Years of Collaborative EffortFrançois Bar, Michael L. Best, Editors-in-ChiefKentaro Toyama, Associate Editor and Editorial Board LiaisonIt has now been seven years since the ªrst issue of ITID, and we have much to be proud of, both as ajournal and as a community of researchers in information technologies and international development.We have witnessed the community grow from a handful of researchers in isolated disciplines toresearchers numbering in the hundreds, perhaps thousands, and from a wide array of academic ªelds.It is increasingly common to hear computer scientists talking about grounded theory and anthropolo-gists participating in iterative prototyping. We were also happy to see the birth of the ICTD conferencein 2006 and to support its growth; this year’s event in London will mark the fourth event.ITID has also come into its own as a journal. In 2006 we went fully open access, so that our articleswere available to anyone with an Internet connection. In 2008, as we launched our new web site, webrought on four Associate Editors and an Editorial Board Liaison, who have been a tremendous helpwith many of the editorial tasks. Over time, we have broadened our initial conception of the journal,which was to include articles from both ICT observers and ICT interventionists. With increasing submis-sions and opportunities for special issues, we now regularly ªll four issues per year (something that westruggled with in our earlier years), and we often ªnd that we have an embarrassment of riches withrespect to submissions to choose from. All of this has allowed the journal to continue its quest forever greater quality.As evidence of our success, we are very pleased to present in this issue’s Forum section, ranking tablesof ICT4D journals compiled by Richard Heeks. Among the 15 main ICT4D journals included in his anal-ysis, ITID features at the top of the “Impact Score” ranking, and in third position for the “Citation”ranking. We owe these distinctions to our outstanding ITID authors, editorial board members, review-ers, and not least, our readers. We are extremely grateful.With growth comes change, and over the last few months, we have reconstituted our Editorial Board.The founding Editorial Board members—Izumi Aizu, Raymond Akwule, Subhash Bhatnagar, AntonioBotelho, Martha Garcia-Murillo, Seymour E. Goodman, Guo Liang, Cees J. Hamelink, Heather Hudson,Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Beth Kolko, Catherine Mann, Robin Mansell, Venâncio Massingue, Michel J.Menou, Alemayehu Molla, Ben Petrazzini, Nii Quaynor, Mitchel Resnick, Rohan Samarajiva, AnnaLeeSaxenian, Ben Shneiderman, Ramesh Srinivasan, Tim Unwin and Robert Valantin—have providedadvice, encouragement, and quite a few paper reviews from the beginning. ITID would not be whereit is today without them.After seven years of service, it seemed a good time to check in. Many board members have becomeincreasingly busy in their own professional lives, just as ITID’s demands are growing. Some have thusiii© 2010 USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Published under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unportedlicense. All rights not granted thereunder to the public are reserved to the publisher and may not be exercised without its express written permission.Volume 6, Number 4, Winter 2010, iii–ivmoved to our Emeritus Board, whose wisdom we will undoubtedly seek from time to time. Mean-while, we are delighted to welcome our new Editorial Board members— Jennifer Bussell, AndyDearden, Keith Edwards, Helani Galpaya, Martha Garcia-Murillo, Heather Horst, Tim Kelly, CharlesKenny, Dorothea Kleine, Richa Kumar, Renee Kuriyan, Rich Ling, Joyojeet Pal, Balaji Parthasarathy, ReviSterling, Lakshmi Subramanian, Bill Thies, and John Traxler. Reºecting the growth of the community,many are “ªrst generation” researchers in ICT and development who are plotting new academic tra-jectories. They join Raymond Akwule, Antonio Botelho, Heather Hudson, Beth Kolko, and BenPetrazzini, all of whom have kindly elected to remain active on the Editorial Board.We should also note a change of guard among our Associate Editors. Roxana Barrantes, AlemayehuMolla, Tapan Parikh, and Rahul Tongia are our ªrst group of Associate Editors, and all of them havebeen fantastic over the last two years in helping us triage submissions, oversee reviews, and makeacceptance decisions. Barrantes and Molla will continue as Associate Editors, while Parikh and Tongiahave moved to the Editorial Board. And, we are very happy to announce that Jenna Burrell and GaryMarsden have accepted posts as Associate Editors. Burrell is an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley’sSchool of Information, where she is well-known for her work in user agency, post-colonial relations,digital representation, and the appropriation of ICTs by individuals and social groups in Africa. Marsdenis an Associate Researcher in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Cape Town; heis a pioneer in human-computer interaction research with mobile phones and co-author of MobileInteraction Design.And, now, on to our issue …A research report by Fischman, Alperin and Willinsky assesses the status of Spanish-language scholarlypublishing in Latin America today, situating it within the broader context of the evolution of LatinAmerican universities. This piece explores in particular the role online publishing platforms can play instrengthening scholarly publishing in the region. The authors note the rapid adoption of electronicpublishing and open access models in Latin America, with an eye toward increasing the global reachof scholarship originating in the region. They caution however that technology alone will not sufªce,and that it will be important to promote a stronger research and review culture. Wagner, Daswani, andKarnati explore whether local language multimedia software can be effective to promote literacyamong poor and illiterate children and youth. Based on short-term interventions in two communitiesof Andhra Pradesh, India, they conclude that computer-aided instruction does make a difference,especially when it is available in local languages.Majumdar’s study of Indian information technology ªrms shows that their R&D spending levelsigniªcantly contributes to their earnings from exports. Importantly, many global ªrms, including IBM,Microsoft and Google, for example, have chosen to locate top research laboratories within India. Theauthor argues that a broader segment of domestic ªrms ought to emulate them and increase theirR&D investments. Graham critically evaluates claims that Internet use within the Thai silk industry, inparticular the establishment of a virtual presence by Thai silk producers, leads to signiªcant gainsthrough disintermediation of the commodity chain, as producers become able to sell directly to theircustomers. However, in surveys of prices and wages received by Thai silk producers, the author ªndslittle evidence to support those claims. Alampay and Bala’s “Notes from the Field” reports onLIRNEasia’s 2008 survey of mobile money use at the bottom of the pyramid in the Philippines. Theyshow that despite widespread awareness of m-money’s availability and broad access to mobile hand-sets, very few among the poor have been using these services.iv Information Technologies & International Development

Building on Seven Years of Collaborative Effort

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Building on Seven Years of Collaborative Effort

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