Global Discourse and Local Practice: A Study of the Roleof Open Source Software in SchoolNet Namibia

摘要

This paper reports from a research study of SchoolNet, an initiative for spreading computer literacy and Open SourcernSoftware (OSS) in Namibia, West Africa. The organization uses refurbished hardware together with OSS to bring computersrnand Internet to Namibian schools. The purpose of the paper is to critically examine the arguments about the potential successrnfor OSS in developing countries put forward in western OSS developmental discourse, which is part of a larger ICTrndevelopmental discourse, by comparing it to actual experiences from the work of SchoolNet from the Namibian perspective.rnIn the paper these arguments are related to the Namibian local context. The results show that advantages associated with OSSrnis only partly applicable in the Namibian school context due to, among other things, differences in economic circumstances,rnknowledge infrastructures and the local software market.