[Air-l] IT and International Development Journal Published

[George Lessard (s)]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Michael Best <mikeb at media.mit.edu>
> Date: Wed Jul 23, 2003  1:43:21  PM America/Winnipeg
> To: gkd at phoenix.edc.org
> Subject: [GKD] IT and International Development Journal
>

> Call for Papers
> http://mitpress.mit.edu/journals/itid/cfp.pdf

> Reply-To: gkd at phoenix.edc.org
>
> Dear GKD Colleagues,
>
> We are delighted to report that the first issue of Information
> Technologies and International Development is now complete and is with
> the MIT Press. It should be printed and shipped by this October. This
> inaugural issue will be an exciting one with high-quality contributions
> from Anne Holohan, Sugata Mitra, Larry Press, Don MacLean, Nicholas
> Negroponte and others. In addition, two research contributions compare
> the IT activities in China and India which, given recent political
> activities, is more relevant and important than ever.
>
> We are attaching (below) our editorial to the inaugural issue. This 
> will
> give you a better sense of the upcoming material as well as the 
> process.
>
> Deadlines for the next issue are already coming fast upon us. We are
> continuously accepting submissions and hope you will send us your best
> work as well as encourage your colleagues to do the same. Instructions
> for authors can be found off of our website:
> <http://mitpress.mit.edu/ITID>. We also would be delighted if you or 
> your
> institution can subscribe; subscription details can be received by 
> email
> from journals-info at mit.edu.
>
> Finally, we welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions by email
> to itid-ed at mit.edu.
>
> With kind regards,
> Ernest J. Wilson, III
> Michael L. Best
> Editors-in-Chief
>
> **********************
>
>                                  Editorial
>                   Michael L. Best and Ernest J. Wilson III
>            Information Technologies and International Development
>                              Volume 1 Number 1
>
>
> Welcome to the inaugural issue of Information Technologies and
> International Development. Our vision is to become the premier journal
> in this emerging field, probing the multiple intersections between
> international development and information and communication 
> technologies
> (ICTs). We enthusiastically submit to you this first issue in which we
> have engaged some of the field's best scholars and practitioners; we
> hope you find in ITID a helpful platform for rich and vigorous debate
> that advances the field.
>
> We believe the time is right for Information Technologies and
> International Development. After a decade of often breathless and
> hyperbolic dialogue, there is a now a greater sense of realism about
> ICTs potential contributions to international development. The skeptics
> are starting to admit that under the right conditions ICTs can indeed
> play a positive, cost-effective role in development from the local 
> level
> to the global.  The enthusiasts better understand that technology is
> always deeply embedded in society, and that development conditions
> differ from one country to the next and always impose real constraints
> on the speedy roll-out of new applications.  Furthermore, we now have a
> decade of accumulated experience upon which to draw for serious 
> analysis
> and thoughtful reflection.  At this critical moment, we are seeing more
> sustained interest from private firms, government agencies, 
> foundations,
> and civil society organizations eager to learn from the experiences of
> others and to capture best practices.
>
> From the vantage of this Journal these new conditions offer a 
> tremendous
> opportunity: while we, frankly, remain optimistic about the critical
> role new information and communication technologies will play in
> international development there remains an extraordinary amount of
> theoretical and practical work to be done by social scientists and
> engineers alike. We see this issue as both a reminder of the promise 
> and
> excitement of our field as well as a call-to-action since so much
> fundamental work remains.
>
> The inaugural issue you have in your hands was nearly one year in the
> making. We happily received more than fifty submissions for
> consideration, and forty colleagues were kind enough to provide 
> critical
> and insightful peer reviews. The end result is an excellent issue in
> which we are offering three Research Articles, three Research Reports,
> and four Forum essays. We continue to receive high quality submissions,
> and issue number two will also provide you with superior analysis of
> critical issues in ICT and development.  We very much encourage you to
> send us your best work - and to spread the word amongst your 
> colleagues.
> We accept submissions continually, on a rolling basis.
>
> Please do visit our website, http://mitpress.mit.edu/ITID , which
> contains online versions of some of the articles, the Call for Papers,
> and the Instructions for Authors.  Over time we anticipate the site 
> will
> grow into a robust resource for the community.
>
> The number of submissions for our inaugural issue was quite gratifying
> and the quality of the articles selected for publication in this issue
> is very high. However, we were disappointed with several aspects of the
> pool, and perhaps describing the reasons will be useful to potential
> authors. First, the diversity of the submissions was more narrow than 
> we
> hoped. We did not attract sufficient submissions from Africa or Latin
> America.  Second, the range of subjects was not nearly as wide as we 
> had
> wished for, with too few reaching us on the more technical dimensions 
> of
> ICT and development. Some of this is no doubt due to our own failings 
> to
> publicize ITID and to develop networks into these areas; we pledge to 
> do
> better by the next issue.  Nonetheless, we ask for your help especially
> to support research across the South, and to encourage submissions from
> around the globe and across the professions and disciplines.
>
> Furthermore, we were frankly disappointed with the overall quality of
> submissions to the Journal.  We rejected nearly one half of the
> submissions prior to any peer review as they were not judged to be of
> sufficient quality to justify taxing our referees. Too many pieces were
> uncritical rhetorical calls for more and more ICT use in development,
> but without the supporting evidence to make the claims plausible. Too
> many submission lacked analytic depth or original primary research or
> failed to explain adequately the reasons they selected one methodology
> over another.
>
> Happily, the editors and external reviewers were able to select works
> for this inaugural issue of the highest quality. In a very timely
> offering, Don MacLean reviews the efficacy and representativeness of
> global governance structures, especially the International
> Telecommunications Union (ITU) and suggests reforms for a more 
> inclusive
> and transparent organization. Anne Holohan offers a striking example of
> ICTs in action as they facilitate the UN relief operations in Kosovo. 
> In
> a Research Report Mitra, Tooley, Inamdar, and Dixon describe how they
> were able to improve English pronunciation amongst Indian school
> children through the use of a computer based instructional program. In
> the Forum, Nicholas Negroponte provides a controversial look at
> creativity and development and the role computers and the Internet can
> play. And Naveen Prakash and Madanmohan Rao offer companion book 
> reviews
> of Gyandoot - The Model for Community Networks by Rajesh Rajora.
>
> In a Forum essay, we argue that India and China are critical test
> countries for ICTs and development. The Research Article by Press,
> Foster, Wolcott, and McHenry gives a very useful comparison between
> these two Asian giants and demonstrates how they have pursued
> contrasting national ICT strategies. In a related Research Report,
> Mingzhi Li and Ming Gao describe the software sector in China, drawing
> important comparisons to India. These three pieces together offer a 
> mini
> theme for this issue: the contrasting ICT strategies of the world's two
> most populous nations.  We will occasionally offer several articles
> organized around a common theme in future issues of ITID as well.
>
> Finally, our special thanks and gratitude go to our eminent Advisory 
> and
> Editorial Boards who have already proven themselves to be essential
> partners in this enterprise.  In that vein we invite all our readers to
> get involved with us and participate in growing and nurturing this new
> Journal. Please do contact us on itid-ed at mit.edu with your comments,
> your suggestions, and your offers to help build a truly global 
> community
> of people who care about development and ICT.
>
>
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
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