From the article: "Under
what conditions can information and communications technologies (ICTs) enhance
the well-being of poor communities? The paper designs an alternative evaluation
framework (AEF) that applies Sen’s capability approach to the study of ICTs in
order to place people’s well-being, rather than technology at the center of the
study. The AEF develops an impact chain that examines the mechanisms by which
access to, and meaningful use of, ICTs can enhance peoples “informational
capabilities” and can lead to improvements in people’s human and social
capabilities. This approach thus uses peoples’ human capabilities, rather than
measures of access or usage, as its principal evaluative space. Based on
empirical evidence from rural communities’ uses of ICTs in Bolivia, the study
concludes that enhancing people’s informational capabilities is the most
critical factor determining the impact of ICTs on their well-being. The
findings indicate that improved informational capabilities, like literacy, do
enhance the human capabilities of the poor and marginalized to make strategic
life choices to achieve the lifestyle they value. Evaluating the impact of ICTs
in terms of capabilities thus reveals that there is no direct relationship
between improved access to, and use of, ICTs and enhanced well-being; ICTs lead
to improvements in people’s lives only when informational capabilities are
transformed into expanded human and social capabilities in the economic,
political, social, organizational and cultural dimensions of their lives." Read more