Interesting discussion on our ICT4D Futures list, with regards to the origin of the term "ICT4D". I must admit I was curious and not quite sold on some of the suggestions so I started digging around. Part of the problem is that the term "ICT" itself isn't that old and seems to stem from the US (although I'd love to hear form those who'd know more about this), possibly from the educational field ( see for instance:
http://www.maximise-ict.co.uk/ICT-01.htm ) through a study by David Blunkett (UK education secretary as far as I can tell) that seems to have first coined the term. I can't seem to find the original report however, as that would help to pinpoint the date for the creation of the term "ICT" that would then help triangulate when we could start looking at the term "ICT4D".
More browsing led to the realisation that GK 97 was all about knowledge or information for development but never a mention of "ICT4D". Neither do early Acacia and Bellanet documents. My hunch however is that many mentioned "ICT for development" but maybe not the acronym "ICT4D". Was IDRC the first?
To be continued as I obssess over this
