Why is there a need to integrate new and traditional technologies for community development?

The reason for this focus on the integration of technologies is a straightforward one: only when the Internet and NICTs are combined with “traditional” community radio, can all members of a community – irrespective of languages spoken or level of education – be fully included in the process of accessing, identifying, producing and exchanging information relevant to their needs. Radio is far from being solely a vehicle for reaching out to audiences with information gathered from Internet: it is also a vehicle for creating contents, for gathering and shaping information which can then be disseminated through new technologies.

The individual user model of access to NICTs in Western consumer societies is clearly unsuitable for poor communities in the developing world. Even collective community ownership, management and use of these technologies is costly. Their integration with radio enables that relatively high investment to reap maximum returns by reaching the entire community and not only those who would make individual use of NICTs.