Societal impacts of information and communications technology

Abstract

The promise of information and communications technology (ICT) to deliver change is attractive and draws practitioners to experiment and build. Academics and researchers too believe in such benefits but point to certain challenges: changing processes and people to adapt to a new technology, which is invariably an import from a Western nation; the conflicts arising from the changes introduced by ICT, with some groups benefitting over others; and ensuring that the social change that is desired is indeed achieved, while disrupting existing arrangements. The speakers in the panel highlight and provide examples of some of these challenges.