Technology

Floating-bed cultivation has proved a successful means to produce agricultural crops in different wetland areas of the world. In freshwater lakes and wetlands, vegetables, flowers and seedlings are grown in Bangladesh using this floating cultivation technique, without any additional irrigation or chemical fertiliser. No detailed study of this indigenous cultivation technique has been published to date, although the laboratory method, hydroponics, is well documented in the professional literature.

Conferences are typically organised around specialist presentations and panel discussions in ways that do not foster broad participation or effective knowledge-sharing. The paper describes a computer-based method to facilitate focused dialogue among participants.

This brief paper outlines a range of facilities and new developments in web-based and Internet services. While many of the applications are being used for publishing, dialogue, research, and feedback in development, the question remains of how profoundly the development of communications and in particular the Internet, is changing the international development community and the way it works.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have created new economic and social opportunities the world over. Their use, however, continues to be governed by existing power relations where women frequently experience relative disadvantage. Amidst this inequality are individuals and organisations that are working to use ICTs to further gender equality. These are the issues addressed by the BRIDGE Cutting Edge Pack on Gender and ICTs. This section consists of extracts from the Overview Report part of the Pack.

Knowledge in development has been perceived as a one-way commodity that developed nations could bring ‘down to’ the level of ‘developing countries’. Sharing knowledge is generally seen as a North–South operation. This vertical approach to knowledge in development echoes the vertical approach to development in general, wherebyt knowledge is perceived as an ingredient of the technical assistance given by those who have it to those who do not.

The paper examines whether the concept of social capital can facilitate our understanding of online networks in development. Much of the knowledge generation and social learning in development takes place in networks, which are increasingly online. Although these networks are assumed to be a positive force in development, there are many unknowns about them, partly because they are in their infancy. The concept of social capital has traditionally been applied to examine the functioning of groups and societies.

This paper argues that those keen to characterise and harness the empowering potential of Information and Communications Technology [ICT] for development projects have to understand that the very existence of this technology opens up alternative models of cooperation and collaboration. These models themselves necessitate breaking away from ‘traditional’ command-and-control models of management.

This article provides an overview of issues relating to the use of knowledge by development organisations. It starts by exploring the various definitions of knowledge which exist in a world of many cultures and intellectual traditions and the role of language. It considers their relationship with each other and with the many and varied ‘informational developments’ – information-related changes in work, culture, organisations, and technology across the world. It argues that these issues pose a number of fundamental strategic challenges to the development sector.

Cyberfeminists share the belief that women should `take control of and appropriate the use of cybertechnologies in an attempt to empower ourselves.' The author argues that the demystification of technology is necessary, but not sufficient, for empowerment (or re-empowerment, a term she prefers) since mainstream cyberfeminism fails to `address the complexities of the lived contexts of women in the South.'

With reference to a recent visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, the author gives his personal view on the spread of IT technology that accompanies globalisation. He comments particularly on the communication potential of the Internet and email, and the tendency of the technology to aggravate existing inequalities.