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At the core of this chapter is a series of projects in a rural community in South Africa that succeeded in developing a well-functioning community network (CN). The chapter highlights several key conditions to achieving sustainability: the community taking part in all design decisions; the efforts to build local capabilities for running and maintaining the CN; and the steps towards ensuring its financial sustainability, based on legal provisions and a well-considered business model. Research revealing the complex ecology of repair shops in developing countries strengthens some of these insights, in particular the need to practise the ‘creative repurposing’ of materials and design for the easy maintainability and repair of technical devices.

This chapter explores the relationships between ICTs and ‘development’, drawing in particular on the Critical Theory of Jürgen Habermas, and highlighting the relationship between theory and practice, knowledge constitutive interests, and empowerment. It suggests that there are many different definitions of ‘development’, and that the hegemonic focus on ‘economic growth’ has inevitably led to greater inequality. This has been exacerbated by the rapid expansion of ICTs, which have widely been interpreted as being positive for development. There is, though, increasing recognition that whilst ICTs can indeed contribute to economic growth, they have also led to increasing inequality between those who have access to the latest technologies, and those who only have access to older ICTs or none at all. The book argues that there needs to be a refocusing on the interests of the poorest and most marginalized if ICTs are to be seen as contributing to effective development.

Technology is all too often seen as being inherently good, and there are powerful interests limiting the amount of attention paid to the darker side of ICTs and Internet access in particular. However, these darker aspects are crucial to understanding ICT4D, especially since they can more seriously impact the poor, both countries and people, than the rich. The following main challenges are covered in the chapter: privacy and security; the Surface Web and the Dark Web; cyber-security and resilience; negative aspects of the exploitation of Big Data and the abuse of people through social media; and the increasing dehumanization of people through the use of ICTs and the Internet of Things.

This concluding chapter highlights some of the most important changes that need to be made in ICT4D policies and practices if these technologies are to be used to empower poor and marginalized people and communities. These include the development of innovative pro-poor technologies, a reorientation of government policy and international agendas away from economic growth and towards the reduction of inequality, the use of effective multi-sector partnerships in support of the poorest, increased dialogue between governments and citizens with respect to security and privacy, greater attention to the creation of more resilient infrastructures, enhanced learning for all stakeholders, and a comprehensive focus on working with poor people rather than for them.

This chapter articulates a practice-oriented critical design approach for empowerment. It situates global design issues concerning structure and agency in a discourse of redistributing power and privileges. It first paints a big picture of the social justice–oriented design scholarship in the disciplines of human–computer interaction (HCI), technical and professional communication, and informatics with its key issues. Then it reviews the development of critical design movement and the turn and re-turn to practice in HCI and design communities. Built on that discussion, it integrates the two into a critical practice approach for empowerment—a relational view of design that centers on everyday practice and aims to transform its inequalities of power.

How do Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) contribute to international development? What roles do the state and market play in deploying ICTs? How can one assess the development impact of ICTs, and are these impacts scalable or sustainable? To approach these questions this chapter maps key ideas and debates surrounding the field of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D). Practical examples of ICT use in the developing world are examined, including telecentres, LAN houses, and the growing number of mobile devices affordable for the poor. Critical issues include the extent to which markets provide access to ICTs, and the extent to which ICTs empower wider social transformation. Looking forward, ongoing debate revolves around internet governance and which policies foster or threaten online rights. Will the future use of ICTs expand human freedom and development, or enable increased surveillance and control?