Social and Technical Issues of Technology in Developing Countries: an Ip-based Communications System Development in Rural South Africa

Most developing areas in the world are faced with problems such as poor bandwidth, shortage of doctors, poor power supply and high rates of illiteracy. Information Technology is often seen as a solution to these problems. Unfortunately, technology is often bought from the developed countries and deployed in these environments. This book argues that the systems bought from the developed countries are not appropriate for developing country contexts by virtue of the way they are developed. The book argues that the users of these systems and the conditions in which they live are critical and must be taken into consideration when building systems. The book suggests a combination of various methodologies from social sciences and computer sciences and applies these methodologies in developing a communication system for doctors in nurses in rural South Africa. The results are around usage and acceptance of the system are documented and discussed with key insights and recommendations being given for developing technogy for rural areas of developing countries