Information technology (IT) professionals face markedly different kinds of challenges in developing countries from the ones in developed countries. Based on the research literature and our fourteen years of fieldwork in Iringa, Tanzania, we have identified eight groups of technical characteristics of IT work that significantly affect the work of…

Examines ethical considerations involved in the transfer of appropriate information technology to less developed countries. Approaches to technology are considered; two philosophical frameworks for studying ethical considerations are discussed, i.e., the Kantian approach and the utilitarian perspective by John Stuart Mill; and integration of the…

Argues that the underdevelopment of national information sectors is a major factor acting against developing nations and lists a number of problems for which developing nations must provide effective solutions if their respective information sectors are to support national development. An agenda of activities for the 1990s to address this…

Papers on regional activities in Africa, Asia and Oceania, and Latin America which were presented at the 1986 IFLA general conference include: (1) "Appropriate Technology for Libraries in Developing Countries" (Peter N. Chateh, Cameroon); (2) "The Impact of Information Technology on Libraries in Thailand--Present and Future…

"Global outreach" refers to the international delivery of education, health, public information, commercial, and other services using appropriate communications technology. International organizations are partnering in various ways with developing-country governments, private companies, local communities, and non-governmental…

The Diffusion of Appropriate Educational Technology in Open and Distance Learning in Developing Countries project was designed to determine awareness and use of educational technologies and communications media in developing countries, to identify factors constraining wider use of educational technologies by developing nations, and to explore…