CodeZed

Arjan de Jager, formerly at IICD, together with Victor van Reijswoud, a former researcher, IICD partner and Head of IT at Uganda Martyrs University, published a book on Open Source Software for Development. The book actually costs money to order, but a free PDF of the entire book can be downloaded for reading only at Free and Open Source Software for Development.
 
Perhaps some of the arguments made in the book and the analysis of the case studies may be of interest to you. A brief abstract of the book is below:

Development organizations and International Non-Governmental Organizations have been emphasizing the high potential of Free and Open Source Software for the Less Developed Countries. Cost reduction, less vendor dependency and increased potential for local capacity development have been their main arguments. In spite of its advantages, Free and Open Source Software is not widely adopted at the African continent. In this book the authors will explore the grounds on with these expectations are based. Where do they come from and is there evidence to support these expectations? Over the past years several projects have been initiated and some good results have been achieved, but at the same time many challenges were encountered. What lessons can be drawn from these experiences and do these experiences contain enough evidence to support the high expectations? Several projects and their achievements will be considered. In the final part of the book the future of Free and Open Source Software for Development will be explored. Special attention is given to the African continent since here challenges are highest. What is the role of Free and open Source Software for Development and how do we need to position and explore the potential? What are the threats? The book aims at professionals that are engaged in the design and implementation of ICT for Development (ICT4D) projects and want to improve their understanding of the role Free and Open Source Software can play.

Telkcom has recognised that democracy requires that citizens have the right to know about activities that affect their lives and the recognition of the importance of their participation within the democratic system to make it work and flourish.

In her welcome address Bintu Petsana, Acting Group Executive: Corporate Communication at the opening of Highway Africa said that it was important to have the right of expression and human rights culture .
Petsan said the precondition was that people could not be regarded as consumers or markets or passive recipients in a multi-directional social dialogue.

“We look at the media to provide the framework for such a discourse and to act as a mechanism that allows citizens to develop their level of awareness,” explained Petsane.

She observed that when one speaks of informed citizens with a heightened level of awareness, one would have to search far to better illustrate the power of the media in the 21st century information society, than the war in Iraq.

Looking at Media Columinist, Stephen glover who writes: As any armchair general will tel l you, the second Gulf war is something else. It is the first media war. This means that we experts, safely ensconced on our sofas, can follow battlefield events almost before they happen. It has never been remotely like this before. The advances of technology allow reporters to stand before a camera in the middle of Iraqi desert an dbring the war into our sitting rooms.”

Petsana bserved that since these words were written a few years ago, the proliferation and increasing sophistication of information communication technologies (ICTs) has given the war and other events be it mundane or global importance, an immediacy unparelled in the history of Journalism.

“It is citizen Journalism in action, and it is here to stay. It is driven by ICTs and it will change the way we evaluate information and view the world,” said Petsana