Design and Determination: The Role of Information Technology in Redressing Regional Inequities in the Development Process

This book draws on research into current and prospective developments in information and communication technologies and their impacts on the continuing process of globalization. It breaks new ground by promoting a design paradigm to aid understanding of the process of technological shaping within the globalizing. It is concerned with the balance between the constraints imposed by design decision-making in technical and social artifacts, and the space for those outside the initial decision loop to occupy and modify those design spaces. It identifies windows of opportunity provided by the shift from hierarchical to essentially disintermediated systems for the delivery of information and communication resources. This book also provides a framework for policy analysis and development at micro, meso and macro levels.