Tech-for-development – an app galore to solve the refugee crisis

This series of articles elucidates the consequences of what limited access to information and the ever-growing spread of misinformation have on the most vulnerable groups of the society. In this final blog post I will bring together the topics of my previous four blog posts. I will explore the concepts …

ICT4Bad: A Reflection on Critical ICT4D Discourse

According to Richard Heeks in Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D), in ICT4D, technology “is used to help deliver on the international development agenda” (Heeks, 2017:18).  Such technologies, could provide added benefits or affordances to developing societies such as digital information and new forms of communication as well as …

Forecasting pitfalls – Facebook and the development of our digitized world

While I am writing down this blog post, there probably is a tense atmosphere in the offices of Facebook in the United States. Facebook is struggling. Struggling to not negatively affect the US presidential elections, struggling to prevent misinformation, voters’ suppression, and foreign manipulations. After harsh critiques on the role …

Development and social change embedded as a part of ordinary social media use – What is the problem?

In the NMICT course, I wanted to address an important and much-discussed topic in communication for development, representations of development, but instead of analyzing its role within the field of development, to broaden my perspective on representations of development in society at large. This perspective allowed me to tie my …

Internet.org: Facebook’s approach to “connecting the world”

On the website of Internet.org, Facebook and its partners display their noble goals: Internet.org was founded to bring internet to all people, to connect them and to improve their lives by offering online access. But not all projects by internet.org are actually welcomed in the Global South.

Risky Networks Weekly Review – 18 October

This week, Elli addressed the topic of cancel culture on social media as a way to counter behavior contributing to inequalities and Richaela brought up a recent ICT failure as Uganda imposed a compulsory license for online publishing in addition to the existing tax for social media use.  Cancel Culture …

Cancel culture – The good, the bad and the ugly

In the previous articles, we have explored three different perspectives on the role of social media in (mis)representations of development: the risks of celebrity philanthropy, the white savior complex on Tinder, and sometimes problematic marketing of social enterprises. These new forms of manifestation of deeply rooted perceptions of development on social media are also being countered in a variety of ways. One concept that has risen in recent years but gained especially popularity in 2020 is “cancel culture”.