A report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on "e readiness," published in 2001, outlines many problems that limit the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development in Laos. These include limited infrastructure and a lack of ICT knowledge. A project on building digital links, supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), is helping to build capacity within the government and at the community level to meet Laos' ICT needs.

As an archipelago of 7000 islands, the Philippines faces major communication challenges. The country also has pressing development needs. The government has introduced several policies to broaden people's access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) as a way to meet these needs. But Erwin Alamapy found that even though people are close to ICTs, they don't always use them. His research project set out to find out why, and what could be done to encourage the use of new technologies.

For Indonesian information technology (IT) expert Dr Onno Purbo, a self-financed, bottom-up Internet infrastructure is the key to achieving a knowledge-based society in developing countries. A former professor, Purbo has bypassed the government and telecommunications companies to help the Indonesian people acquire low-cost, build-it-yourself neighbourhood networks to deliver Internet and telephone services. Sharing knowledge is his mission: most of his writings, 40 books and hundreds of articles, are available on the Web, free of charge.

A award winning project to provide high-speed wireless telephone and Internet access to villagers in southern India has also wrought social change in the past five years. Self-help and microfinance groups, for instance, have been formed to share the information garnered on the Internet. Farmers and other producers stay informed about market prices. And the information flows back to the cities, improving government services. Key is the villagers ability to adapt the technologies and the information it brings to their own purposes. As the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation is discovering, new information can change lives.