Internet as freedom – does the internet enhance the freedoms people enjoy?
Yael Valerie Perez, Yahel Ben-David · Information Technology for Development · 2012
This study evaluates the capacity of the Internet to enhance development in emerging regions through Sen's freedom perspective. The paper begins with a qualitative evaluation of the Internet's potential as a freedom enhancer through examples and literature study. It then presents a quantitative evaluation based on web access logs obtained from the AirJaldi network in rural India. We categorize the data based on Sen's freedoms to contribute an information and communication technology-freedom taxonomy and note the challenges in doing so. The usage logs indicate that indeed users may have experienced enhancement in all of Sen's freedom categories; yet our qualitative evaluation suggests there is much unexploited potential. We conclude that it is important to look at the Internet-based Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD) projects through Sen's freedom lens and call for such projects to be evaluated based on these broad freedom goals rather than on focused development goals.