Tools of Liberation

Patricia Daniel writes about multipath approaches to ICT sustainability:

The real question is perhaps not "what type of technology is best for empowerment?", but also "what type of empowerment is best for technology?"...In the final analysis, mobiles and community radio are the technology of choice for a majority of people in Africa at the moment.
However, I wish the One Laptop One Child project well, because where there's democratisation of technology it has to have implications for a more open democracy. But I don't think it's going to succeed without drawing on lessons that have already been learned in relation to the social development issues of governance, ownership, inclusion and sustainability. There has been no discussion about who is going to provide the funding for wide-scale community consultation, integration of gender equality or capacity building and ongoing support for education departments to ensure effective use.