FSCONS 2010/Mathias Lightning

In the age of information technology Sub-Saharan Africa remains divided with economic and political power concentrated amongst a few wealthy urbanites. Meanwhile, the majority of the rural and ghetto population is left without means of influencing the course of their society. The past 15 years have seen a great number of well-intended projects aimed at poverty reduction in East-Africa through information technology, yet the source of the problems addressed are rarely recognized. Based on participant-observation field work in Tanzania, the interrelation of technology, knowledge diffusion and social inclusion is explored within the context of rural development, providing special reference to a number of FOSS initiatives.