This week the 3rd International Conference on Information and Communications Technologies and Development (ICTD 2009) was held at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. According to the organizers, ICTD 2009 was supposed to be “the premiere conference for innovating technology accessible and relevant to developing economies. It is a multidisciplinary forum for academic researchers and practitioners designing, deploying and evaluating computing technology solutions. The conference presents state-of-the-art research by technologists and social scientists, with original, peer-reviewed papers, a poster and demo session, and keynote addresses by leaders in the field.”
Yippeee! Sounds grand doesn’t it? Unfortunately, few really know how it sounded, because whatever was presented at the conference has mostly stayed within the walls of the conference hall.
“ICTD is all about using the power of high-tech computing and communications to help the people in the neediest parts of the world build better lives,” said Chuck Thorpe, dean, Carnegie Mellon Qatar. “Hosting this conference at Carnegie Mellon gives us a chance to show the world all that Qatar brings to this area: the technology of a rapidly-developing knowledge based society, combined with the heart to reach out to less fortunate people.”
Reach out? The Internet is a common way to reach out to people around the world, but the organizers of ICTD 2009 didn’t use it much. The day after Bill Gates gave his keynote address at the conference there were exactly four news articles about it online. The conference website (http://ictd2009.org) claimed that the Gates keynote would be streamed live – but that didn’t happen. The secondary keynote by Carlos Primo Braga, director, Economic Policy and Debt in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network (PREM) at The World Bank was supposed to be streamed live as well – but it wasn’t. There is one garbled video about the conference on YouTube.com. Microsoft has the best press release about the conference at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/Apr09/04-17MSRIndia.mspx.
There are no photos of the event at the official website www.ictd2009.org. None of the conference presentations are there either – PowerPoints, videos and summaries are all missing. Nothing of any use is at the site except the conference agenda. It’s actually pitiful when one notes that Carnegie Mellon University claims that its “core values of innovation, creativity, problem solving and collaborative teamwork provide the foundation for everything (they) do.” Even worse is that Carnegie Mellon is consistently ranked in the top ten US universities in the field of computer engineering. The university certainly knows how to use technology resources to foster collaboration, innovation, creativity and problem solving, but somehow for this conference, which was to be of benefit to the developing world, those resources were withheld.
Carnegie Mellon University Professor of Computer Science Randy Pausch showed how powerful the Internet could be as a tool for inspiration and collaboration. In 2007, his last lecture, “Really achieving your childhood dreams,” was delivered to a packed auditorium at Carnegie Mellon and then through Internet resources was watched by tens of millions. Even after his death, the university still dedicates resources to ensuring that Pausch’s legacy continues — www.cmu.edu/homepage/beyond/2008/summer/an-enduring-legacy.shtm.
The research presented at ICTD 2009 has the potential to improve the lives of hundreds of millions of the most downtrodden on our planet. Most likely that won’t happen. Poverty thrives in the darkness of ignorance. The organizers of ICTD 2009 have done little to highlight the conference proceedings to a global audience in order to empower collaborative change.
