ICTD in the popular press
Preeti Mudliar, Joyojeet Pal · 2013
The quest for the low-cost computer has been among the primal motivations of innovation and practice in the ICTD world from its very beginnings. We discuss continuing developments in case of the low-cost Indian tablet, Aakash, publicized as the world's cheapest computer, and situate these within a history of India's quest for development through technology in the past two decades. We analyze 212 articles on Aakash and find four dominant themes in the way the device has been discussed in the popular media. These include the cult of a technocratic leadership, the discourse of indigenous technology, the recreation of the Silicon Valley dream, and the face of the marginal user. We argue that Aakash has gone beyond being a technology artifact to a device that represents Indian aspirations at several levels -- as a forward thinking state, an ingenious entrepreneurial class, and an energetic population that needs nothing but access to technology to succeed.