Adopting Modern Information Technology in the South Pacific: A Process of Development, Preservation or Underdevelopment of the Culture?

This study aims at investigating the extent to which Information Technology (IT) has affected the cultures of small nations, taking the South Pacific region as a study point. Against the background that the educational systems of the Pacific nations have not produced an efficient and effective curriculum with which to cope with the challenges of highly sophisticated technological applications, the study also examines the cultural challenges of adopting IT in the South Pacific to see if and how IT can be integrated into the cultures of the region for maximum benefits of the two entities. The study finds that culture and information technology would appear to be competing for the position of importance and/or power in human consideration, and this judgement reflects our attitudes towards each of them. Overall, culture and technology in the South Pacific, as in the rest of the world, need to function together, and should be prepared to accept one another as partners‐in‐progress.