Definitions

ICT4D = Information and Communication Technologies for Development.
A2K = Access to Knowledge.

ICT4D represents activities, policy, infrastructure and cooperation toward bridging the digital divide, a term describing the disparity in access to ICTs and the resulting world of information haves and have-nots.

Access to ICTs enables individuals to view freely available information available on the World Wide Web(WWW). ICT diffusion across societies is correlated with social and economic development. Access to information is frequently a necessary condition for solving development problems, for individual and community empowerment, and for self-determination in development. The WWW is rich with potentially useful information and connectivity provides further opportunities to gain information through e-mail communication. While necessary, information is frequently not sufficient for development. Moreover, the information that is critical to development may not be on the internet, may be better shared or used by other means, may be vested in local people and oral culture.

The digital divide can be said also to deprive the 'information haves' of authentic knowledge of societies, peoples and cultures not represented well by this medium. Lack of access to ICTs means lack of ability to contribute content, so information on the WWW about societies that are low in access is likely produced by societies that have access. Therefore, ICT4D is not merely about developing countries catching up with the technologies and information of the developed countries, it is as much about representation in the digital world of better information about all the world's peoples, and the use of the digital world to provide a bridge between real worlds and lessen real disparities in development. It is also about increasing the ability of societies in the South who may share common challenges to communicate with one another - South-South cooperation.

ICT4D initiatives should be more than simple connectivity, they need to be undertaken with regard for culture, gender and power, and most of all to need to be undertaken in service of people's aspirations, rights and needs.

ICT4D should also be viewed from a historical point of view, understanding that new communication technologies have had a transformative impact on societies in the past. We also need to understand what is novel about contemporary ICTs in contrast with this continuity.

If understanding can be communicated well, it becomes clear that there are risks in adopting ICTs, but that there are greater risks in going without. With communication, people may be able to adpat and modify ICTs to mitigate those risks, to retain value in culture amidst change, and embrace transformation that reduces suffering and degradation, and uplifts humanity.

ICT4D recognizes the universality and level playing field that access can create, but also the distinct challenges facing developing countries in terms of infrastructure, bandwith, telecom policies, cost, and even steady electricity.

Finally, there is a distinction made between ICT4D and ICTD in terms of university by NEPAD (Quoted in Colle, 2005). For our purposes, we will consider ICTD as a subset of ICT4D, where the activities are directed specifically at connectivity at the institution.

ICT Development in the university context refers to building media and digital facilities to support university internal functions, along with an academic and research programs that prepare students to function effectively in an information society - in both the public and the private sectors;

ICT for Development refers to the university applying ICT in programs outside its walls in the service of communities and the nation.

ICT4D definitions can be found on Wikipedia; and South Asia Development Gateway