About my thesis:

Globalisation is everywhere, and this is a thesis about globalisation. Politicians are producing discourses addressing the urgent need to be facing the challenges of the global capital flows. People working with technology, supported by NGO’s are addressing the issues of the developing countries, as potentially being left behind in this development. In particular, the lack of technology is regarded as a huge obstacle to not be able to be a part of this globalisation.
In recent years the emergence of information and communication technologies has been regarded as primary promoters of globalisation, through its role as the new, important component, of the emerging information societies. In developing countries the Western information societies are regarded as potentially excluding the countries in South; here, a Digital Divide is anticipated to emerge, between those who have ICT and those who do not. Various efforts are being done by developing countries to alleviate the risk of being left behind. One of these countries is South Africa, where information and communication technologies and the creation of an information society has been of high priority, since the inauguration of the current post-apartheid government. The transition to democracy is an integrated part of the South African efforts to address the challenges of not getting behind and together with the efforts of creating an Information Society, these are integrated in the South African reactions towards globalisation.
Studying community IT (multi purpose community centre, tele centres etc.), I would like to examine how the notion of the importance of becoming an information society is having an impact on the communities targeted for becoming global through the process of becoming information societies. I am aiming examine how the imperatives of the South African government’s effort to make the country a part of the global information society, is having an impact at the very local level. For this reason field work has been central for my thesis, involving several interviews and field research in a township.
I am operating with the following research problem statement:

Problem statement.

Basing my research on my collection of empirical data in the township of Thembalethu, in conjunction with additional case data collected from the sites I have been visiting, my intention isto base my focus on the globalising effects of ICT in small communities.

I intend to investigate how the imperatives of the information society and ICT are being translated, when passed along with technology to localised communities, connecting these to a global context on global terms.

How does a small community like Thembalethu deal with the imperatives of the need for connecting to a global context? What happens, when ICTs are being introduced to the community?

My aim is to problematise the construction of these communities as under resourced areas, targeted for ICT development to investigate how the information society has an effect on this aspect

How are these communities, targeted for ICT implementation, constructed as a part of the landscape of development through the connection with the Information Society? What is their role in this process?

I intend to investigate whether there are indications that ICTs in a local community does contribute to the de-marginalisation of previously marginalised groups, as proposed by the South African government.

As a part of the South African transformational goals towards de-marginalising previously marginalised groups, can the globalising effects of connecting to the information society be seen as a means of achieving this goal? Or does it rather marginalise other groups?

I would like to investigate the various understandings of ICT among the actors involved, in order to find out whether current strategies live up to the targets and visions, as stated by the South African government.

Focusing on the passing of technology how are the imperatives of globalisation understood and translated by the various actors and are these translations consistent with the ideals outlined by government officials? For what reasons do people want ICT?