TechPlus+ — Page 2 of 9 — Technology and Development Redux

AI Nationalism?

1 April 20211 December 2021

Globalization seemingly inexorable world conquest, kick-started during the last quarter of the 20th Century, found an unexpected ally in the unpredictable fall of the Berlin Wall. While pundits sitting in the right-side section of the human theater saw the latter Read more

Vaccine Inequality

21 March 20213 April 2021

Economics, Governance, Human Development

Already under siege in many quarters, Globalization has now added the seemingly unstoppable spread of the Corona Virus to its already dubious credentials. As expected, not one single country has been spared, rich and poor suddenly standing on the same Read more

AI and Development Policies

28 February 202114 December 2022

Artificial Intelligence, Governance, Human Development, ICTD

Strongly supported by behemoth tech companies, the “ethical and responsible” AI discourse has almost completely overshadowed the relevant conversation on the potential socio-economic impact the resurgent technology might have in developing countries. While such discourse’s subtle agenda, apparently now failing, Read more

Bitcoin Inequality Revisited

13 February 202129 March 2021

The Bitcoin bulls are back in full strength, driving the price of the cryptocurrency to unprecedented heights. The digital currency is now approaching 50k. Nevertheless, pundits and fundamentalist supporters still see the sky as the only possible limit. Go figure. Read more

Greater “AI for Good”

22 January 202114 December 2022

Artificial Intelligence, Governance, ICTD, Inequality

The proliferation of top, best, fails and prediction posts on almost any topic is now a staple of the annual transition from one year to the next. As the new year starts seeing the light of day, we seem compelled Read more

A Few Reflections on ICTD

19 January 20211 December 2021

As a multi-disciplinary field, ICTD research hosts a wide variety of knowledge and expertise initially developed in other academic areas, ranging from specialized information theory to broad economic development. That should not be a surprise as ICTs emerged from the Read more

Better “AI for Good”

12 January 202115 January 2021

Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Human Development, ICTD

While the dystopian camp perceives digital technologies as a formidable, perhaps even unsurmountable threat to society, those on the other, much more optimistic side do not seem to get tired of repeating its almost countless benefits. The latter camp apparently Read more

Best Films – 2020

31 December 20208 January 2021

Bellocchio’s The Traitor was the last film I saw in a theatre. The film was only playing once a day at 1pm, so an early lunch was required. The calendar said it was the last day of February. The very Read more

Ethics in Ethical AI

16 November 202017 December 2022

Garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) is one of the oldest computer programming commandments. It was first coined in the same decade as AI, the 1950s, thus suggesting the connection between the two goes back to their birth dates. GIGO is Read more

A Glimpse at Development Economics

1 November 202026 April 2022

ICT for Development (ICTD) has been around for over three decades. A multidisciplinary field involving researchers and practitioners from many different areas and backgrounds, ICTD has one clear objective: to deploy new ICTs in society to foster development. The first Read more

Digital Government in Jamaica

18 October 20201 April 2021

e-governance, Human Development, ICTD

The last time I visited Jamaica was in the early 2000s. A few years before, we had launched the national node of the old and now defunct Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP). It was labeled JSDNP and did quite a Read more

Evolving COVID-19

16 September 202014 December 2020

Human Development, Inequality

Over six months after its official birth, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to expand globally, as expected. Long-term lockdowns and other complementary measures have impacted, especially in industrialized countries that, back in June, were leading in cases and deaths. Not that Read more

Digital Government Governance Models

1 September 20201 April 2021

e-governance, Governance, ICTD

Governments should fully understand the scope and reach of the various Digital Government (DG) institutional functions described in my previous post and their proper sequencing before they embark on comprehensive digital transformation processes. The policy units’ actual institutional location leading Read more

Digital Government Revisited – III

10 August 20201 April 2021

e-governance, Governance, Human Development, ICTD, Open Government

Institutions matter, more so for the development and implementation of Digital Government (DG), whose core target is public institutions’ transformation. On the one hand, public institutions should have an array of capacities to ensure public investments in digital technologies are Read more

Digital Government Revisited – II

15 July 20201 April 2021

e-governance, Human Development, ICTD, Inequality

Since the early 1980s, Governments have taken a bad rap. Menacing fingerpointing from most quarters ended up on a consensus that loudly declared them personas non-gratas. The 2009 Global Financial Crisis started to turn the tide. At the time, governments Read more

Digital Government Revisited

1 July 20201 April 2021

e-governance, Human Development, ICTD

Overview Running on the coattails of electronic commerce, Digital Government (DG) first saw the light of day over 20 years ago. Initially christen as electronic government or e-government, it has since experienced multiple name changes, ranging from e-governance and transformational Read more

Contentious Politics in the AI Age

15 June 20207 August 2020

Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Governance, Human Development, ICTD, Inequality

Initially touted as revolutionary and progressive in the 1990s, the lightening evolution of digital technologies, running on the coattails of continuous innovation, has been accompanied by the rise of both extreme socio-economic inequalities and loud and widespread populism, nationalism and Read more

Covid19: A “Swedish” Model?

25 May 202031 May 2020

Economics, Human Development, Open Data

Having been trashed for the last forty years or so, Governments have unexpectedly taken back center stage thanks to the Covid19 pandemic. The virus does not need a passport to travel around the world, nor any tough immigration legislation has Read more

Deadly COVID19

26 April 20205 May 2020

Human Development, MyTake

Over a week ago, a mainstream media news outlet published an article (behind a paywall) suggesting that the disease caused by the SARS–CoV-2 virus, COVID19, was not as deadly as initially thought. The article cited the results of a non-peer Read more

Innovation in the Public Sector

5 April 202015 October 2021

e-governance, Governance, Human Development, ICTD, Inequality, Social Innovation

I. Introduction For the last 30 years, relentless technological innovation has seemingly conquered most, if not all, corners of the world. While the focus was on infrastructure and social networks in its early stages, the latest phase has set its Read more

Natural Disasters and Carbon Concentration

15 March 20204 April 2020

Climate Change, Economics, Human Development

In 1988, the Brussels-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) launched the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) with the idea of promoting national and international humanitarian support to countries and regions affected by such events. Having a structured Read more

AI and Development

2 March 202031 May 2020

The current long wave of digital innovation has finally broken the last bastion of socio-economic resistance. While early advances transformed communications infrastructure and enhanced consumer interactions, the resurgence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and all its relatives, alongside new technologies such Read more

Carbon Removal Policies for the U.S?

28 February 20205 March 2020

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Innovation

Founded almost 40 years ago with the financial support of the MacArthur Foundation, the World Resources Institute (WRI) is one of the U.S most prominent research organizations working on environmental issues since its inception. The entity centers its efforts on Read more

Technology and Earth Hacking

10 February 20203 March 2020

Climate Change, Governance, Inequality, Innovation

Hacking the Sky Low, angry gray clouds, seemingly non-stop light rain and damp breathing air were hometown weather traits that most bothered me when I was growing up. Like most other children, I had a fascination with airplanes and could Read more

Deep Learning and Breast Cancer: Improving Detection?

15 January 20204 February 2020

Artificial Intelligence, ICTD

A recent paper published under the auspices of Google Health makes a case for using deep learning algorithms to improve breast cancer detection. The research has been positively received by most and widely publicized as yet another victory of smart Read more

Blockchains in the Public Sector

8 January 202011 January 2020

My paper on blockchains for the public sector in developing countries has been published by Frontiers, one of the leading open-access and community-driven academic publishers. The paper develops an analytical framework that combines sustainable development, state capacity and digital technologies. Read more

Best Films – 2019

31 December 20196 January 2021

I have a distinct impression that, in my book, 2019 was not a stellar year for high-quality films. I actually saw a few fewer films this year and lack of time was not really the issue. The latest by Bi Read more

Yet Another Global AI Index

10 December 201930 December 2019

Artificial Intelligence, Human Development, ICTD

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) seemingly continues to permeate all interstices of society, measuring its undaunted progress in the age of data is more than a priority. In a previous post, I share some insights on the Global AI Readiness Index Read more

The Development Onion

30 November 201917 December 2019

Human Development, ICTD

Governments in developing countries are just one of the many players involved in promoting sustainable development – in many cases, with direct support from bilateral and multilateral donor organizations. However, governments are, in principle, bound by the overall development commitments Read more

More CO2: Consumption-based Emissions

10 November 201922 December 2019

Climate Change, Human Development

In a previous post, I explored the relationship between C02 emissions, country income levels and population looking at production data only. Here, emissions are assigned to the country where goods or services are produced or generated, disregarding final consumption. In Read more

Barefoot, like Abebe Bikila

25 October 201930 December 2019

The age of reason. No, not the Enlightenment but rather the age when children supposedly start thinking “rationally.” For some irrational reason, I remember my parents and their adult friends having conversations on the topic in front of us, children, Read more

A Glance at Carbon Dioxide Emissions Data

1 October 20196 December 2019

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Social Innovation

Lack of data is certainly not one of the issues at the table when discussing energy production and carbon emissions. Well-known sources for the former include the UN Statistics Division, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the U.S. Energy Information Administration Read more

Blockchains and Food Safety

10 September 201915 February 2021

Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Climate Change, Human Development, Innovation

Trade is one of the main trademarks of the globalization process. Nowadays, most countries exchange products and services regularly and use local comparative advantages to specialize in specific trade sectors and/or commodities. Food and agricultural products are important components of Read more

Measuring Artificial Intelligence Development

3 August 201920 October 2019

Artificial Intelligence, e-governance, ICTD, Innovation

In the last decade, Artificial Intelligence (AI), including siblings machine learning and deep learning, has been growing by leaps and bounds. More importantly, the technology has been deployed effectively in a wide range of traditional sectors bringing real transformational change Read more

Blockchains and Digital ID, II

10 July 201915 February 2021

Blockchain, e-governance, Governance, Innovation

The Evolution of Digital identity The emergence of digital technologies provided the ground to shift from traditional systems based on physical identity. In the past, both foundational and functional identity mechanisms were centralized, with individuals getting a physical document containing Read more

Blockchains and Digital ID, I

20 June 201915 February 2021

Blockchain, e-governance, Governance, ICTD, Innovation

Overview Like previous technologies, such as the Internet, blockchains have been driven by a high degree of techno-optimism not yet backed up by on the ground impact or reliable evidence. Undoubtedly, the technology, which is still rapidly evolving, has enormous Read more

E-government Development II

30 May 201914 July 2019

e-governance, Governance, Human Development, Open Government

In this sequel post, I will look at the various components of the UNDESA e-government index and then introduce the EIU democracy index to explore potential interlinks between the two, Components The e-government development index (EGDI) comprises three distinct components Read more

E-government Development I

10 May 201910 July 2019

e-governance, ICTD, Innovation, Open Government

Birth Running on the coattails of the now infamous dot-com bubble, e-government first saw the light of day before the end of the last Millennium. At that time, where hype overtook the tech scene yet again, adding ‘e’ (as in Read more

On Blockchains Research

21 April 201915 February 2021

Blockchain, ICTD

Blockchain technology development has been accompanied by a substantial increase in related research. The latter usually trails new technology innovations, but it does tend to catch up in the short-term. Ten years after the emergence of blockchains, there is plenty Read more

Powering the Internet

15 March 20198 April 2019

Infrastructure development has been one of the main concerns of Internet promoters. It is usually posited as one of the key obstacles impeding universal access to the global network. Digital divide concerns and calls to connect the next billion are Read more

Biased Artificial Intelligence

6 February 201914 December 2022

Artificial Intelligence, Governance, Innovation

A recent piece in MIT’s Technology Review nicely summarizes the issue of bias in AI/ML (AI) algorithms used in production to make decisions or predictions. The usual suspects make a cameo appearance, including data, design and implicit fairness assumptions. But Read more

The Global Centralization of (Dis)Intermediation

15 January 201916 February 2019

Governance, ICTD, Inequality

Merchants are perhaps the most famous image of an intermediary, the not-so-loved “middleman” that buys cheap, sells dear, and becomes rich doing little work. Even in the supposedly dark Middle Ages, merchants were able to openly operate creating in the process Read more

Best Films – 2018

31 December 201830 April 2019

While I managed to watch a film every 2.5 days on average, online sources were instrumental in making this a reality. The astounding public library system of the US county where I happen to live at the moment also played Read more

Algorithms and Algocracy – II

10 December 201814 December 2022

Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Governance

In the previous post, I provided a simple definition of an algorithm to then explore its use in the digital world. While algorithms live from the inputs they are feed, digital programs such as mobile apps and web platforms are Read more

Algorithms and Algocracy – I

30 November 201814 December 2022

Artificial Intelligence, Governance, Robotics

While the concept of algorithms has been around for centuries, the same cannot be said about algocracy. The latter has recently gained notoriety thanks partly to the renaissance of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) and is frequently used to Read more

Smart contracts are not that smart

15 November 201816 February 2021

Blockchain, Governance, Innovation

Smart contracts are perhaps one of the most touted features of blockchain technology. While the idea itself dates from the end of the last century, blockchains provided the platform for actual implementation in the Internet era. Undoubtedly, Ethereum was the Read more

Waste no time waiting for e-Waste data

31 October 20185 January 2019

Blockchain, Climate Change, Human Development, Social Innovation

The town where I currently reside is planning to change its e-Waste collection policy starting next year. As it is today, town people can go downtown once a month and drop their old computers, laptops, monitors and the rest. This Read more

ICOs: Endangered Species

12 October 201816 February 2021

Blockchain, Economics, Innovation

As expected, ICOs are finally cooling down. There are several reasons for this. First, ICO oversight by regulators in many countries has substantially increased. Regulators are poking not so much into new ICOs. Instead, they are doing deep dives into Read more

Uncertainty and Artificial Intelligence

20 September 201814 December 2022

Artificial Intelligence, Book review, Economics, Inequality, Innovation

In a world where perfect information supposedly rules across the board, uncertainty certainly challenges mainstream economists. While some of the tenets of such assumption have already been addressed – via the theory of information asymmetries and the development of the Read more

Nein Uber in Berlin

10 September 201829 September 2018

Arriving in Berlin from Africa via Frankfurt proved to be a nightmare this time around. While the flight and connections were almost perfect, the same cannot be said about my luggage. I checked in one bag at the point of Read more

Visa on Arrival

29 August 201824 September 2018

Innovation, On-mission

My passport seems to profess a deep love for visa stamps. Every time the possibility of travel to another country arises, I can hear its excitement of filling yet another passport page with a brand new and (maybe) shiny visa Read more

Learning about Machine Learning

15 August 201814 December 2022

Artificial Intelligence, Innovation

A few months ago, as I was finishing a paper on blockchain technology, I received an unexpected comment on Artificial Intelligence (AI from here on in) from one of the peer reviewers. While addressing the overall topic of innovation in Read more

The Scale of the Blockchain Scalability Constraints

30 July 201815 February 2021

Blockchain, Economics

According to the latest estimates, global Internet penetration was close to 54 percent by the end of 2017. That is roughly 4 billion people. Figures for the number of unique cell phone users show that 5 billion people have access Read more

Have You Ever Seen a Blockchain?

15 July 201815 February 2021

Blockchain, Human Development, Innovation

A silent but intense competition seems to be taking place when it comes to defining blockchain technology. A Google search for the question “What is blockchain” yields over 120 million possible results. This number includes thousands of guides, videos, FAQs Read more

Bitcoin Inequality

23 June 201811 February 2021

Blockchain, Economics, Inequality

In the short and medium-term, technology and inequality seemed to be positively correlated. In the long term, however, things are not as clear-cut. With the right policies and democratic institutions in place, technology could become a catalyst to reduce income Read more

Blockchain Mining Costs and Revenues

15 June 201815 February 2021

Blockchain, Economics, Innovation

In a previous post, I pushed the idea that mining is part of the blockchain economy’s real sector. Unlike financial speculation, mining requires investment in hardware, electricity, space, human resources, etc. This also applies to small miners who will undoubtedly Read more

Checking ICOs, Again

6 June 201819 June 2018

Blockchain, Economics, Innovation

It has already been three months since I last checked the ICO scene. At the time, I suggested ICOs were probably slowing down. New data seems to confirm this but all points to other trends not detected before. Figure 1 Read more

The Real Sector of the Blockchain Economy

31 May 201815 February 2021

Blockchain, Economics

Most cryptocurrencies are now over 60% down from their December 2017 peak. While prices are still quite volatile, the trend for the last five months is decidedly downwards. While some still expect a recovery to the glorious days of last Read more

Blockchain Mining Revisited

21 May 201815 February 2021

Blockchain, Economics, Inequality

Blockchain mining cannot catch a break when it comes to environmental sustainability. This is especially true for Bitcoin mining that seemingly has an insatiable appetite for electricity. A recent paper suggests that by 2020 Bitcoin mining will consume as much Read more

Case Study: WFP Building Blocks Jordan Refugee Pilot

30 April 201819 July 2022

Blockchain, Governance, Human Development, ICTD

[I wrote this edited draft case study for a larger blockchain research project led by The GovLab. The final project report included a shorter version of my draft.] 1. Overview Launched in January 2017, the World Food Program Building Blocks Read more