The research framework that I have begun to flesh out here is concerned with transnational approaches to social change and transformation leading to human well-being in knowledge societies. It aspires to be holistic in the sense of inclusivity without privileging specific social science disciplines or methodologies. It is intended to be flexibly applied at the micro and macro levels of analysis and to encourage both context specific and comparative research. The goal is to promote understanding of knowledge societies as being distinct, but also, as being systemically interrelated. As an alternative research framework to that which achieves visibility within the mainstream of ICT-related research, it is intended to encourage a strong commitment to critical assessments of standpoints that reflect only partially on the conditions and potentials for achieving well-being in knowledge societies as they are developing in specific places. The results of research conducted within this alternative framework are likely to yield counterintuitive insights which, in turn, may influence ICT policy decisions and actions in new ways and have a greater chance of contributing to sustainable development goals. The second question I emphasised at the outset of this presentation was "what evidence is there of effective learning on the part of different stakeholders?" My overall assessment based on my own engagement with a considerable number of macro and micro level initiatives with respect to ICT policy and strategy, and with respect to bottom-up ICT implementations in low-income countries - in this case largely through the research of my PhD students - is that there is a continuing tendency to favour a search for universal models, to foster market-led values, and to privilege technologies over human aspirations and needs. However, more optimistically, there are signs of learning augmented increasingly by attention to the causes of inequality in society and to how those causes filter into specific ICT initiatives. Perhaps, awareness of power relationships is the first step on the part of stakeholders, including the research community, towards the shift in research priorities and towards the more context sensitive and enabling approach that I am advocating in this presentation. A further step, of course, is the active engagement of the research community with those whose everyday lives are preoccupied by the material conditions of people's lives and their specific engagement with ICTs.
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