ICT innovation and sustainable development

2011

Sustainable development requires the decoupling of economic growth from environmental impacts and from the use of natural resources. This article gives an overview of existing approaches to using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the service of sustainability: Environmental Informatics, Green ICT, and Sustainable Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

This workshop brings together researchers from the entire iSchools community to propose, share and discuss their current research and future research agendas and foster collaborations on ICT for Sustainability. Sustainability as a research focus has inspired the creation of a number of workshops and conferences, including the International Conference on ICT for Sustainability (http://www.ict4s.org). ICT plays a major role in sustainability. It threatens sustainability as ICT devices cause carbon emissions, produce e-waste, but it can also be an enabler of sustainability [4], in form of systems that support the protection of natural resources, and that foster social sustainability, in the form of systems that foster communities and participation [8, 5]. These supporting systems come from many intellectual traditions within and beyond the information field (e.g., requirements engineering [9], software quality [10], life cycle analysis [6]) and design (e.g., sustainable HCI [1, 11]). As information scholars, we have a responsibility to work to ensure the survival of life on this planet, including humans as well as other rational agents, namely animals [2]. Sustainability is thus a critical value for ICT researchers to embrace and strive toward [3, 7, 12]. The iSchools community provides an excellent place to discuss this crucial topic at the intersection of information, society, and technology. This workshop will bring together scholars from across the information field studying ICT for sustainability, to foster new interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaborations. 2 Proposed Format The workshop is planned as a full day workshop. We will solicit abstracts, papers, and/or position statements, and will set up easychair for managing submissions. Participant registration will be managed through the conference registration site. We will start the morning with a series of short presentations by the authors, each of them followed by a brief discussion. The audience will be engaged by guiding questions from the moderators to spark discussion. We will wrap up the morning session by summarizing the talks and connecting them to identify common topic areas and future research needs. For the afternoon sessions, we envision a series of breakout sessions that discuss selected common topic areas and future research needs. These breakout sessions shall facilitate the design of a future research agenda as well as the development of new research collaborations between the participants. The results from the breakout sessions will be reported back in a plenary wrap up session that outlines possible next Abstract This workshop brings together researchers from the entire iSchools community to propose, share and discuss their current research and future research agendas and foster collaborations on ICT for Sustainability. ICT plays a major role in sustainability. It threatens sustainability as ICT devices cause carbon emissions, produce e-waste, but it can also be an enabler of sustainability, in form of systems that support the protection of natural resources, and that foster social sustainability, in the form of systems that foster communities and participation. These supporting systems come from many intellectual traditions within and beyond the information field and design. The iSchools community provides an excellent place to discuss this crucial topic at the intersection of information, society, and technology.

2021

There has been a rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) globally, and ICT have been used as a tool to attain environment sustainability all over the world. There are diverse environmental challenges faced by developing countries such as ecosystem deterioration, pollution, resource depletion, loss of biodiversity and climate change and the management of above problems is difficult because they involve multiple actors and its occurrence is over time and space. Environmental Scientists have raised concerns on how these environmental challenges can be tackled bringing into lamplight, how ICT and environmental science research can be used to wedge these challenges in developing countries. The study is exploratory and employed the use of survey questionnaires as an instrument to collect data. Findings revealed that a lot needs to be done for ICT to be effectively used in the environment, factors such as inadequate facilities, problem of acceptance and adapt...

What Kind of Information Society? Governance, …, 2010

We discuss various views and conceptual frameworks put forward in the discussion of ICT and sustainable development: An optimistic and a pessimistic view of ICT with regard to sustainability, the three-pillar approach to sustainable development, the three-level approach to ICT impacts, the claim of human, social and ecological compatibility of ICT and the plain use of ICT for development. We show that each of these approaches has its problems and limitations and conclude with formulating the challenges of finding an analytical approach which will effectively support decision-makers in using ICT in the service of sustainable development.

Our world's resources, and even the planet itself, are rapidly decaying faster than we can imagine. While many people debate the causes the effects are obvious to all: climate change, problem in the animal world, health problems and rising concern about sustainability. The question now is to what extent Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has impacted our world. In fact, what solutions has ICT provided to the prevailing problems in our world which we may refer to as development and at the same time what problems has ICT created in effect. Thus, it becomes imperative to ask: What are the environmental implications of the rapidly growing development and use of ICT with respect to sustainable development now and in the future? What policies should be implemented in the production of ICT infrastructures and use of IT for sustainable development? What implications or threat do the advanced ICT countries like United States, China and Japan present to developing countries especially in Africa, and India in terms of e-waste? These questions define the focus of this paper. The paper also contributes to awareness building in form of recommendations needed so that producers, marketers and consumers will consider environmental issues when producing, buying and finally disposing ICT components and resources.

The use of ICT to drive sustainable development is a constant debate. Whereas one group staunchly defends emp loying ICT for guiding and implementing sustainable development, others fight vigorously to highlight its many negatives. One should readily agree that, as with most things in this world, apply ing ICT to propel any development will have its benefits and pitfalls. Its measurement must therefore be focused on whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I will argue that driving sustainable development through ICT initiat ives bring much greater benefits than negative consequence. One is also acknowledging that like all good projects, protocols and methods are impo rtant to success. Therefore, when advancing sustainable development with ICT as the driv ing force, it is essential to have proper planning, analysis, implementation, and mon itoring if one anticipates favorable outcomes. I will build upon this argument in more details in the ensuing sections.

Information Development, 2013

Among the many issues facing sustainable technological development, dispersed and un-coordinated research, as well as poor communication and collaboration of technological knowledge to those that need it, play a major role in many failed and delayed projects. However, the Internet and its multifaceted platforms provide a potential solution to these problems. This paper examines the ways in which the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) can improve critical shortcomings to sustainable development efforts. Specifically, the strategies of open source appropriate technology (OSAT) and innovation through collaboration are reviewed. The methods are examined by which OSAT is i) accelerating innovation by building and sharing knowledge, ii) improving collaboration and iii) increasing both the efficiency and effectiveness of many programs and projects. Four OSAT case studies are presented for organizations at the forefront of open collaborative technologies for sustainable development: i) Practical Action, ii) Kopernik, iii) Engineering for Change, and iv) The Appropedia Foundation. The key features, models and the approaches employed by these organizations are discussed and conclusions are drawn from these case studies to contribute insight and better guide the development of this new innovation strategy.

2002

Although there are many definitions of sustainable development, the most commonly quoted comes from the Brundtland Commis-sion's 1987 report, " Our Common Future ". Here, sustainable development is defined as " development which meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs ". 1 This chapter defines sustainable development as: A dynamic process which enables all people to realise their potential and improve their quality of life in ways that simultaneously protect and enhance the Earth's life-support systems. 2 Implicit here is that economic, social and environmental dimensions are equally vital and interconnected: – Economic sustainability means economic growth without making undue demands on social or natural resources. – Environmental sustainability means not only minimising impacts on the environment, but building natural resources and safeguarding them for the future. – Social sustainabil...

ICT Innovations for Sustainability, 2015

This introductory chapter provides definitions of sustainability, sustainable development, decoupling, and related terms; gives an overview of existing interdisciplinary research fields related to ICT for Sustainability, including Environmental Informatics, Computational Sustainability, Sustainable HCI, and Green ICT; introduces a conceptual framework to structure the effects of ICT on sustainability; and provides an overview of this book.