Emerging Questions

As the goal of this document is to generate new questions rather than answer old ones, we conclude with a few of questions that have emerged throughout our exploration of Open ICT4D:

  • What are the best ways to avail the enabling resources so that people can mobilize, collaborate, participate and innovate? Content needs to be produced and maintained; people need a way to connect/share/interact. This raises a set of cross cutting issues such as the sustainability of open content providers (relevant business models), and IP law.
  • How do we facilitate people to take advantage of these resources? (What other enabling resources are needed - access, time, cognitive)?
  • How can we mitigate the potential negative outcomes of openness while not overly inhibiting the benefits? What institutional compromises must be made?
  • If development consists of per-poor innovations and peer collaborations – what does this imply for development and development research? Most likely, this is an acceptance of a loss of control, and an increase in trust in the process – that is, the process of openness to lead to relatively unpredictable (hopefully positive) development outcomes.
  • How can we facilitate the communication and acceptance of local knowledge to achieve developmental aims that respects existing power imbalances?
  • What might the role be for new international standards for Internet governance that promote an “Open Internet”?
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