Date of Award

1-1-2010

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Information Science

Content Description

1 online resource (xii, 218 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Theresa Pardo

Committee Members

Deborah Andersen, Senem Guney, Hemalata Iyer

Keywords

Developing Nations, Disadvantaged Women, Information and Communication Technologies, Information Behavior, Mobile Technologies, Socio-economic Opportunities, Mobile communication systems, Cell phones, Poor women, Women, Information technology

Subject Categories

Library and Information Science

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been championed by the United Nations and others as one of the key media to open up socio-economic opportunities for disadvantaged populations. Studies lead us to believe that after being introduced to ICTs, users' information behavior changes, enabling them to benefit from socio-economic opportunities. Using Wilson's (1997) Revised General Model of Information Behavior (Model), the dissertation explored the role of cell phones - the fastest spreading information and communication technology (ICT) - in shaping the information behavior of disadvantaged population, with its implications on socio-economic opportunities.

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