Most of the population does not have access to the facilities that enable peer-production (personal computers, the Internet and high bandwidth). However, the cultures seem well disposed towards collaborative knowledge production.
“Developing” countries typically include “developed” areas functioning as part of the global knowledge economy.
Conversely, some “developed” countries face challenges normally associated with “developing” countries (such as poverty, health issues, unemployment, unequal access to education and public services, etc.) - though the scales may be vastly different.
Developing countries are generally not entrenched in set ways of using ICT in education. This is an opportunity to develop, adopt and adapt new and contextually appropriate approaches, and to build innovative supporting software infrastructures to address local/regional needs. FLOSS, free/open content, open standards, and free file formats 1 permit this freedom to innovate 2.
By addressing the issues where they can be addressed, we will be better prepared to service new areas and people when they become connected (for example, if software and learning resources are already localised)
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