Information Technology Support to Developing Countries: The Canadian Experience

Abstract

Today many of us live in a world where computers, telecommunications and other tools of the information technology age are becoming ever more pervasive in our work. But two decades ago, information technologies (IT) meant expensive mainframe computers tended by specialists, requiring arcane language skills and much care and tending. Remote sensing was a new science and the analysis was mainly visual, not digital. At that time, with telephone systems scarcely functioning in most developing countries, the idea of the developing world entering the IT age seemed an unrealistic notion to many. But this scepticism was not shared by the founders of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), who, in framing the Act of the Canadian Parliament1 which established IDRC in 1970, planted the first seeds with references to ‘information and data centres and facilities for research’ in developing countries. This early recognition of the importance of Information Sciences to research and development led to the establishment of programs in this field at IDRC.2 IDRC and its partners in Canada and in developing countries have since accumulated valuable experience in the development of IT and its application to research.