A Digital Shift: Youth and ICT for Development

With the advent of the World Wide Web, mass communication was transformed right down to its defining principles. Here was a tool that was both powered and propelled by individuals, creating an exchange of ideas in multiple directions. The World Wide Web became a connector of thoughts, ideas and motivations. The effect of this outburst of human thought exchange, followed by its organization into online communities, has created a second-generation of web development and users who actively collaborate in sharing information. In addition to the Internet, and all that it encompasses, these users also tap in to the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to increase and strengthen their social network. This second generation, Web 2.0, is converting digital connectivity and solution building through online social networks like TakingITGlobal.org into the power to implement social change through ICT. By using the collective store of knowledge available online, young people, especially, have drafted innovative methods to deal with some of the world’s most pressing issues including poverty, women’s rights and global climate change, examples of which can be seen in this publication.