A digital ecosystem approach to using ICT for sustainable development in communities

The role of information in promoting development has been well researched and documented, and there has been much interest in harnessing ICT (information & communications technology) for this purpose. The dynamics of this transfer and its overall effectiveness depends on social capital and how the synergies generated by social capital can impact the co-ordination between member-nodes which is necessary for the sustenance of a digital network depends. Conventional network design featuring a central node has not been as successful in building sustainability in projects as anticipated. We propose that adopting a more community centric design for these interventions can improve their sustainability and lead to the evolution of a more complex and multi functional ICT enabled socio-technical system. In this context, we present the concept of digital ecosystems for using ICT as a means of information delivery to the masses. A digital ecosystem (DE) describes an ICT enabled network that displays associative and autopieotic properties capable of self sustenance and of expansion through heightened inclusion and growth. We conclude by presenting the case of the DEAL (digital ecosystem for agriculture and livelihood) project, a rural development initiative in agriculture in Northern India to illustrate the DE approach.