Digital Review of Asia Pacific 2007-2008. Felix Librero and Patricia B. Arinto, eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2008. 382 pp.
The third edition of the biennial Digital Review of Asia Pacific, edited by Felix Librero and Patricia B. Arinto, makes a strong contribution to the scant literature available on information technology for development (ICT4D) in Asia. As the lead editor of Cyberpath to Development in Asia: Issues and Challenges (2002), I am aware that there continues to be a great need to make more information available on the subject of new media in Asia.
In keeping with the focus on empowerment and using technology for social development, Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Laureate and founder of the Grameen Bank that changed the lives of thousands of people with its innovative micro lending program, has written the foreword for this book. Yunus sees information and communication technologies (ICT)—which include mobile phones, the Internet, and other new media—as a means to uplift the lives of the poor, and he established Grameen Phone. Through this program, poor village women receive loans to buy mobile phones that they use to sell phone services to those living in their area. “The Grameen Phone is the largest phone company in Bangladesh and serves more than 12 million subscribers,” as Yunus notes. He challenges leaders to enable social ICT businesses to thrive.
Felix Librero, a professor of development communication at the University of the Philippines and the chief editor of the book, notes in his introduction that the Millennium Declaration adopted by the United Nations in 2002 includes a commitment to make the benefits of ICTs reach everyone. The goals of the book are to provide “descriptive, analytical and reflective analysis of current initiatives and issues” pertaining to ICTs and human welfare in the diverse regions of Asia Pacific. His co-editor, Patricia Arinto, also teaches at the University of the Philippines and has edited previous editions of the Digital Review.
This edition of the review brings together seventy-three authors and is divided into three segments. The first deals with the region’s technology issues, such as the role of the government, security, regulation, language, and policy matters. An important issue examined in this section is crisis communication. In a chapter titled “The Role of ICTs in Risk Communication in Asia Pacific,” authors Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, Chanuka Wattegama, and Frederick John Abo examine the role of ICTs in risk management within the context of the varying levels of technology availability in Asian countries. Their recommendations include a suggestion that during a crisis, traditional and new media work together rather than competing with each other, and that telecommunication regulation may be one of the answers toward effectively managing crisis situations.
The second section is a review of the various countries in the Asia Pacific region, including information on the background, growth, regulation, digital content initiatives, policies, and challenges. It has been duly noted that there exists a digital divide within the region, with some Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and China being in the forefront of global technological progress, while others have a long way to go. George Sciadas in his chapter, “State and Evolution of ICTs: A Tale of Two Asias,” illustrates this gap with a quantitative analysis based on International Tele-communication Union’s ICT Opportunity Index.
The third section deals with a review of two important sub-regional associations: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). ASEAN aims to reduce the development disparity within the region and recognizes the important role of ICTs in achieving this goal. The information ministers of SAARC member countries have been taking various steps to enhance regional cooperation in the diffusion and growth of ICTs.
The context of ICT diffusion and growth in Asia is complex and varied. Government policies, gross national product, per capita income, social and political issues, and literacy level, among other factors, either help or hinder the use of ICTs. A review section of thirty-one national economies in the region explores the challenges faced by each country—such as the low level of socioeconomic development, illiteracy, high cost of infrastructure, and lack of adequate government support.
Each country chapter also illustrates various digital content management strategies that are being used. For example, Lao PDR has established a National Data Center for e-governance, with cooperation from India. Many countries have come up with local language content, and there are many examples of innovative projects involving ICTs and rural development.
A valuable contribution of this Digital Review is that it covers several countries—such as Southeast Asian nations—that are normally left out in discussions of technology progress in Asia. Books or, more appropriately, reports like these are useful classroom tools as reference books to understand the background and to learn the history and growth of the field. Although in 2010 much of the statistics and many of the technologies mentioned in the report have changed, the principles behind the use of technologies and the emerging models of development communication continue to be relevant and significant. Reports on the countries as well as regional associations, including the reports in the 2009-2010, are posted at http://www.digital-review.org. “The bi-ennial Digital Review of Asia Pacific is an independent commentary on the ICT4D state-of affairs and trends and a macro-level time series narrative tool that assesses how the region is performing over time,” the Web site states. This effort is laudable.
SANDHYA RAO
Texas State University-San Marcos