Demystifying the Possibilities of ICT4D in the Mountain Regions of Nepal

Thapa, Devinder; Sæbø, Øystein

doi:10.1109/hicss.2011.142

Cited by 22 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…B4RN deploys and operate optical fibre deployments in a cooperative way. NWNP [2] is a social enterprise that provides Internet access, electronic commerce, education, telemedicine, environmental and agricultural services to a number of remote villages, using wireless technologies. The French Data Network Federation (FFDN 3 ) is a federation of French Do-itYourself ISPs which comprises DSL resellers, WISPs, collocation centres and the like.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

guifi.net, a crowdsourced network infrastructure held in common

Baig¹,

Roca²,

Freitag

et al. 2015

Computer Networks

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Crowdsourced computer networks refers to network infrastructure built by citizens and organisations who pool their resources and coordinate their efforts to make these networks happen. Community networks are a subset of crowdsourced networks that are structured to be open, free and neutral. In these the infrastructure is contributed by the participants and is managed as a common resource. Many crowdsourcing experiences have flourished in community networks. This paper discusses the case of guifi.net, a success case of a community network daily used by thousands of participants, focusing on its principles and the crowdsourcing processes and tools developed within the community, the role they play in the ecosystem that is guifi.net nowadays, the current status of its implementation, its measurable local impact, and the lessons learned in more than a decade.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

guifi.net, a crowdsourced network infrastructure held in common

Baig¹,

Roca²,

Freitag

et al. 2015

Computer Networks

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“…Also, Nepal mountain communities/individuals require PCs, laptops, or smartphones to access climate adaptation services as Geo-ICT services. In the absence of Internet service providers in Nepal's rural areas, with existing telecenters only concentrated in places with high population-mostly in Katmandu [46] MCAS is currently not attainable in the study area. However, if a telecenter was to be set up in the study area-as would be expected in the medium term-MCAS could be considered attainable.…”

Section: Attainablementioning

confidence: 97%

Evaluating a Fit-For-Purpose Integrated Service-Oriented Land and Climate Change Information System for Mountain Community Adaptation

Khezri¹,

Bennett

Zevenbergen³

2018

IJGI

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Climate change challenges mountain communities to prepare themselves via Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) plans that reduce vulnerability. This paper outlines the evaluation of a developed web-based information system to support CBA, referred to as a Mountain Community Adaptive System (MCAS). The web-based user interface visualizes collated data from data providers, integrating it with near real-time climate and weather datasets. The interface provides more up-to-date information than was previously available on the environment, particularly on land and climate. MCAS, a cloud-based Land Information System (LIS), was developed using an Agile-inspired approach offering system creation based on bare minimum system requirements and iterative development. The system was tested against Fit-For-Purpose Land Administration (FFP LA) criteria to assess the effectiveness in a case from Nepal. The results illustrate that an MCAS-style system can provide useful information such as land use status, adaptation options, near real-time rainfall and temperature details, amongst others, to enable services that can enhance CBA activities. The information can facilitate improved CBA planning and implementation at the mountain community level. Despite the mentioned benefits of MCAS, ensuring system access was identified as a key limitation: smartphones and mobile technologies still remain prohibitively expensive for members of mountain communities, and underlying information communication technology (ICT) infrastructures remain under-developed in the assessed mountain communities. The results of the evaluation further suggest that the land-related aspects of climate change should be added to CBA initiatives. Similarly, existing LIS could have functionalities extended to include climate-related variables that impact on land use, tenure, and development.

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“…Thamel.com 5.5 Dissidence As defined in Section 2.2, the consensus and the alliances that it implies can be contested at any moment and the translation can be turned into treason. There can be lack of alignment between ICT actors, and interests may be diverging, in opposition, or competing direction due to different social, human, physical, economical, and political factors (Thapa & Saebø, 2011). For instance, the existing challenges such as, lack of physical infrastructure, power shortages, illiteracy, one man dependency, political instability, brain drain, lack of employment opportunities, lack of funding, market competition, and lack of pro-poor government planning may hamper the alliance, consequently, development process in a long run.…”

Section: Figure 2 Enrolment and Mobilisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of ICT Actors and Networks in Development: The Case Study of a Wireless Project in Nepal

Thapa

2011

E J Info Sys Dev Countries

Self Cite

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The role of ICT actors in the formation and extension of ICT4D projects is important. The actors through their extended network and aligned interest can enhance the effectiveness of the project which in turn enables socioeconomic development opportunities. However, few studies have been conducted to understand the role of these central players. The objective of this paper, therefore, is to address this knowledge gap by conducting a qualitative case study in the Myagdi district in the mountain region of Nepal. In this study we explored the Nepal Wireless Networking Project (NWNP) and examined how an activist started it from one mountain village and gradually extended across more than 150 villages. The formation and extension of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) projects goes through different phases of identification of relevant ICT actors, roles, negotiations, and their interest alignment. To understand the various phases, we employed Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and explored how a social activist, in the midst of challenges, initiates the wireless project to facilitate educational and healthcare services to the mountain regions. In continuum, the study found how the activist identified relevant actors and enrolled them to form a network of aligned interest. The study also identified several challenges such as high illiteracy rate, over dependency on focal actor, and poor physical infrastructure that may impede the network building process. Furthermore, we identify some implications for research and practice based on insights from the case study.

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Demystifying the Possibilities of ICT4D in the Mountain Regions of Nepal

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 22 publications

References 17 publications

guifi.net, a crowdsourced network infrastructure held in common

guifi.net, a crowdsourced network infrastructure held in common

Evaluating a Fit-For-Purpose Integrated Service-Oriented Land and Climate Change Information System for Mountain Community Adaptation

The Role of ICT Actors and Networks in Development: The Case Study of a Wireless Project in Nepal

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