Lessons from ICTD -- Information & Communication Tech
in
Workshop: Machine Learning for the Developing World (ML4D): Challenges and Risks
Abstract
Since the turn of the millennium, the interdisciplinary field of information & communication technologies and development (ICTD) has explored how digital technologies could contribute to international socio-economic development. The associated research community includes both techno-utopians who imagine that just about any problem can be solved with the right application of technology, as well as extreme skeptics wary of any attempts at intervention. Debates continue, but in this talk, I will attempt to summarize some of the expressed consensus in ICTD -- things that not everyone necessarily believes, but will at least pay lip service to. I will also discuss what I call technology's "Law of Amplification," which reconciles some of the differing opinions in ICTD and also offers guidance for how machine learning can have real-world impact.