TATuP on Digitalization in the Global South

Information and communications technology (ICT) creates new opportunities, but also poses risks. The TATuP special topic in issue 2/2019 addresses specific challenges in the Global South and places TA of digitalization in a global context.

TATuP 2/2019 "Digitalization in the Global South"

Great hopes are pinned on the increasing digitalization on the African continent as ICT should lead to democratization, equality, and, last but not least, growing opportunities on the world markets. However, unequal power relations, neocolonialism, (digital) illiteracy, barriers to access, and the gender digital divide are, as elsewhere in the Global South, downsides of technological progress.

This issue’s special topic “Digitalization in the Global South” illuminates these aspects through interdisciplinary approaches and also from the perspective of the actors involved. The authors thus make an important contribution to technology assessment (TA) of digitalization in the global context. Guest editors of this TATuP special topic are Jessica Heesen, Laura Schelenz, Kerstin Schopp, and Maria Pawelec from the International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities of the University of Tübingen.

In the TATuP interview, Klaus Töpfer talks about global environmental policy. The former Federal Minister for the Environment and current co-chair of the National Support Body for the selection of a repository site for high-level radioactive waste comments, among other things, on the importance of democracy for long-term environmental policy and emphasizes the great responsibility of TA.

Also in the summer issue of TATuP: two research papers on assistive technology in health care, a plea for developing the openTA portal into an international platform, as well as reviews, conference reports, and news from the community. (17.07.2019)

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