Ian Thomson

Ian Thomson

Organization Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Organization type International Organization
Country New Zealand
I work for the Pacific Regional organisation SPC as an ICT Outreach coordinator. We provide Technical Assistance on ICT Policy across most sectors and have a strong focus on rural access. I am the regional project manager for OLPC and also the Rural Interenet Conectivity System, a VSAT solution that covers the whole Pacific

This member participated in the following Forums

Forum Forum: "ICT for Rural Economic Development" November, 2010

2. How to analyze the socio-economic impact in rural areas?

Submitted by Ian Thomson on Sat, 11/27/2010 - 03:03
I think it is important to focus on systemic change and innovation, both of which often take many years to show themselves. ITCs are only tools and it is how well the tool is used over time that is important. Typically when ICTs are introduced there is some incremental change, but as it becomes widely adopted, significant process re-engineering becomes possible and transformative change becomes available if there is an innovation present. This is what we need to focus on and report on. ICT enabled change management is the hardest part of ICT4D and it is often the local bureaucracy, not the end user that prevents change and causes ICT4D projects to "fail"

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