[PDF] from academia.edu Creating an Information Society in Developing Countries: Lessons Learned from the Case of Palestine

This paper presents the results of tracing and evaluating the process of building of an ICT strategy initiative that was meant to orchestrate the Palestinian efforts in harnessing ICT into an effective tool for socio-economic development. It describes the process, the pillars, and the pitfalls in the efforts led by the governments in making a long term plan for ICT. The paper presents the outcomes of the research efforts that were carried out by a group of researchers who investigated the formation process of the strategy. The researchers traced the building endeavors through utilizing various methods and techniques ranging from focus group meetings, to individual interviews with stakeholders, and semi-structured interviews with all stakeholders, in addition to questionnaires, surveys, and observations of on-going activities. The investigation has revealed that the creation of an information society in developing countries is a sophisticated and long term process that entails the involvement of all major players, under the direction of a resourceful government. The building process of the society should follow an indigenous bottom-up approach that has its agenda revolving around society development. The study has additionally revealed that the leading team should seek out the right formula in addition to the implementation apparatus that are capable of materializing the preset goals in the way to make these technologies successful development drivers.