ICTA2K4D - A model for university partnerships in the 21st century
Submitted by arif on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 02:06
ICTA24D stands for 'Information and Communication Technologies and Access to Knowledge for Development. These three dimensions are hypothesized to be critical to meeting the challenges of globalization, and the potentials of the communications revolution and the access to knowledge movement in the 21st century, with particular focus on the university as a central actor in the global knowledge econmy. Within this framework, the concept of networked partnerships (NP) (Diack, Jinha, 2009) will be introduced as a vehicle for strengthening the research and education capacities of the institutions of the South and meeting the internationalization objectives of those of the North.
The model synthesizes concepts and data from three concepts central to development, globalization, communications and knowledge that have emerged as a consequence of digital communications, as identified by their digital acronyms. These are:
(in near future these will be hyperlinked to definitions.)
ICT4D - Information and Communication Technologies for Development.
A2K - Access to Knowledge
K4D - Knowledge for Development.
Two new concepts will be introduced in this thesis; NPs as mentioned above refer to networked partnerships. Open Solutions (OS) refer to a collection of ICT-based technologies that are free or low-costs solutions that expand communication opportunities within the framework of ICTA2K4D. These include web 2.0 (and emerging web 3.0) and Open Source (FLOSS). The software used for this website, Drupal, is an example of both web 2.0 and open source technology.
The model presented here is part of the M.A. thesis being completed by Arif Jinha, with research in collaboration with Dr. Moustapha Diack of Southern University.
Acknowledgments to Michael Geist (thesis supervisor), as well as Leslie Weir and Gilles Breton (thesis committee).
This purpose of this website is to use ICTs to present work in progress, and when the thesis is completed, to provide an alternative method of viewing the research that can continue to evolve.