Exploring developmental and community informatics

Abstract

ABSTRACT Information communication technology projects that purport to provide access to the internet and are meant to enhance (human) development (ICT4D) are undertaken under ambiguous assumptions about what and how information communication technologies (ICTs) contribute to development. It is, therefore, important to explain what kind of development is accomplished or worth pursuing, and how such development can be sustained. This article speculates on what person-dependent attributes ICT4D initiatives will likely develop. A phenomenological appreciation of the effects of ICT4D is provided by using the principles of existence, learning, cultural evolution, human development, social innovation and imagination. The article sheds light on the key role which the imagination of those who are being developed plays in initiating and sustaining development projects. The authors argue that the imagination of Africans should be an important consideration and resource that these projects should prioritise and be more aware of. Considerable effort is made to explain the phenomenon of imagination, in order to demonstrate how this form of social capital is central to development efforts through the internet. This article, therefore, demonstrates the central role of imagination in enabling development by means of the internet, as an act of the people that should be sustained. Imagination is presented as a more holistic project input than user-centred design or user involvement.