The Role of Discourse in Ict for Development:: Lessons from Jamaica

This book presents the findings of an interdisciplinary study which attempted to understand the role and implications of ?discourse? in the implementation of various Information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development initiatives in Jamaica using a Critical Discourse Analysis Methodology. Discourse, the unit of analysis, is an emerging buzzword in the social sciences and humanities today. The inclusion of discourse as a unit of analysis in various disciplines and, the use of several discourse analysis methodologies as discursive deconstructive tools, have proven to be a valuable way of understanding social, political and economic life within these disciplines. Discourse, however, has not been properly introduced to the Information and Communication Technology for Development space. This book attempts to correct this oversight. ?A highly original work? Professor Ziauddin Sardar, Editor, Futures, Visiting Professor of Postcolonial Studies, the City University, London. ?Lloyd Waller brilliantly shows how critical discourse analysis can be employed to uncover the worldviews and underlying assumptions about the links between technology and modernization among development actors from the international to the grassroots level.? Professor Suzanne Schech, Director, Centre for Development Studies, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia