Evaluating ICT for Education in Africa - Royal Holloway, University of ...

merely another context within which this is pursued. Once again, effectivemonitoring, evaluation and impact assessment of ICT for educationprogrammes within Africa is acutely dependent upon recognising thepervasive nature of this agenda. This highlights the necessity for promotingalternative uses for technology in education, demonstrating the liberalbenefits from increased access to knowledge and thereby providing a critiqueof the inevitability of the current hegemony.8.5.3 The dream of technology as progressAspiration for technology cannot be attributed solely to the influence of theprivate sector. The societal aspiration for technology is wider than simply themarket and so in considering the issue of wider influences I begin byhighlighting a disconnection between theory and practice.There is considerable emphasis in the literature concerning the incomegeneration potential from the rapid proliferation of mobile phones acrossregions of the developing world (Brewer 2005, Heeks 2008). However,despite a proliferation of anecdotes, it is conveniently ignored that, for themajority, use of technology is primarily provoked and driven by the desire forsocial connection and symbolic demonstration of an aspirational lifestylerather than for catalysing micro-enterprise and economic growth. This is notinherently negative, but it should be acknowledged that the most significantimpact of ICTs often relates to a desire for status symbols and the ability toconnect (Parkinson 2005) rather than the economic catalyst that proponentswould suggest. This demonstrates a disconnection between the analysts whoassume that technology is a catalyst for local economic development, incontrast to the owners of the technology for whom its value is social andsymbolic. Related outworking of this can be seen in any number of differentcontexts: street boys in Nairobi with headphones in their ears, not connectedto any device which plays music but providing status through the appearanceof technology; farmers in rural Malawi with mobile phones proudly displayedon a cord around their neck, rarely having credit to make a phone call butfeeling that the symbol joins them to the modern world.353