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Oct 15, 2011

"In our sheer preoccupation with technology, we do not realize the inherent artistic choices when creating technology ... and the questioning and reflection that the process of creating art implies." --Tapan Parikh

Technology is Not the Answer

"Technology is not the answer. That's the conclusion I came to after five years in India trying to find ways to apply electronic technologies to international development. I was the co-founder and assistant director of Microsoft Research India, a Bangalore computer-science lab, where one of our objectives was to research ways in which information and communication technologies could support the socio-economic development of poor communities, both rural and urban. [...] In several projects to design educational technology for schools, we found that teacher and administrator attitudes were the real keys to success. Then, when we connected low-income slum residents with potential employers, limited education and training posed critical barriers. And again, when we used gadgets for microfinance operations, a capable institutional ally was indispensable. Our successes were due more to effective partners, and less to our technology." Kentaro Toyama shares further.