Conference Theme: Taking Stock of E-Development São Paulo, Brazil:  28-30 May 2007

The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) invites you to the 9th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries. The conference will be held in the Paulista Plaza Hotel, São Paulo, Brazil on 28-30 May 2007 It is widely recognised that ICTs can both be part of a widening gulf between ‘information rich’ and ‘information poor’ countries or regions, and that they are a ‘potentially powerful tool’ with the capacity to meet development goals such as basic health care, poverty reduction and education.  Countries, it is argued, that can harness the potential of ICTs can expect accelerating economic growth, improving human welfare and the fostering of good governance practices. 

It is now seven years since a wave of expectation swept the world now referred to as the dot.com boom.  Much has happened since then, and a number of international and national programmes centred on ICTs and development have been running for several years.  Perhaps now it is opportune to take stock of e-development, and to evaluate and critically analyze initiatives and assumptions.
E-development covers a wide range of topics which includes but is not confined to e-learning, e-government, e-education, e-inclusion, and economic development centred on ICT technologies. 

We invite papers that describe, develop arguments, and draw conclusions from the multitude of development projects that have begun in the last seven years.  More general papers that take stock of aspects of e-development are very welcome as are those that look to the future in this area.  In addition to work in the information systems field which is a key focus of the conference, we wish to encourage contributions from other disciplines such as development studies, political science, political economy, social anthropology, sociology, to name but some, which illuminate themes and identify differences through a willingness to engage in dialogue within and between disciplines.

As this conference takes place in São Paulo, Brazil we would also like to stimulate debate that takes Latin America as its focus.  The contribution of Latin American studies to thought on development has been immense and it is not too presumptuous to say that some of the most interesting developments in ICTs are taking place there.  We strongly encourage those working in the areas discussed above to contribute to the on-going debate on Latin American development and the role of ICTs.
The following are a list of sub-themes. We propose them to stimulate ideas and not with the purpose of being restrictive or exhaustive. We would welcome cases and experiences on this respect grounded on theory.  Proposals for panels would be very welcome.

Sub-Themes
The role of e-government initiatives in education and health, what lessons can be learned?
What are the experiences of ICT enabled development stimulated by efforts to develop indigenous ICT industries?
The role of cybercrime and its effects on development initiatives
What influence has ICT initiatives on rural development?
What are the consequences of new organisational forms enabled by ICTs for developing countries?
ICTs and social inclusion: experiences and prospects
What have been the consequences of implementing open source initiatives in government and in the private sector?
What are the infrastructure and human resources factors that influence the implementation of e-development initiatives?
Evaluating the role of international agencies in the implementation of e-development initiatives. What can be learned? What can be improved?

Who Should Attend
The conference will bring together academics, practitioners, and policy advisors who are involved with ICT and human resource development in developing countries.
The Editor-in-chief of the journal Information & Organization has indicated that he would be keen to consider upgraded/developed papers from the 9.4 conference as submissions to I & O provided that they meet the aims and objectives of the journal.  Papers accepted and presented at the Brazil conference will be actively screened by the 9.4 programme co-chairs, and authors of suitable papers will be directly encouraged to submit their papers by this route after the conference.
Conference submissions should be made through this website: www.ifipwg94.org.br

Format for Paper Submissions
Documents must be written in English, in OpenOffice Writer or MS Word  .doc format, according to the following rules:

We suggest you to use the paper template that can be downloaded by clicking here. The paper template is needed for the final camera ready version. You may use it for the initial paper submission for review if you wish, but do not forget to remove the author’s names in the header.