EMPOWERMENT

TECHNOLOGY
Development of ICT Project for Social
Change
QUARTER 2 -Module 4
 What’s In?

LESSON
Developing an ICT Project for Social Change

From the previous module, the effectiveness of ICT played a major role
in the success of events and movements of different groups to participate in
different advocacies. Through social media and ICT, everyone is instantly
involved in issues and social events that can greatly affect society and
governance.
The previous module discussed the participation of people because of
information dissemination through different technological facilities. The key
factors for the effectiveness and efficiency of these ICT facilities are the
features that are carefully planned to proficiently fit in the application.
To achieve the said harmony among the components, a method was devised
in systematically creating applications. The creation of ICT content and
applications is divided into categories in different phases of the creation
phase. To ensure systematic and fast development of ICT content, the
essential steps in creating ICT content, as well as the sequence and
chronological arrangement of content, are presented in this module.
With your newfound knowledge and skills—together with the emergence
of a wide variety of technologies, you can certainly create an ICT project that
focuses on social change should you choose to. Creating one is really a
challenging part and involves diverse procedures to come up with a
purposeful project.

What I Need to Know?

Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, the learners should be able to:

1. Identify a local or regional cause or issue for social change related to
specific professional tracks that can be addressed or tackled using
an ICT project for social change;
2. Analyze how target or intended users and audiences are expected to
respond to the proposed ICT Project for Social Change on the basis of
content, value, and user experience;
3. Integrate rich multimedia content in design and development to best
enhance the user experience and deliver content of an ICT Project for
Social Change; and
4. Develop a working prototype of an ICT Project for Social Change.
 What I Know?
Multiple Choice.

Direction: Choose the best answer for each question. Write the letter of your
answer on your activity notebook.
1. It is an online petition platform that allows the online community to
create or sign petitions.
a. Facebook.com c. Change.org
b. Yahoo.com d. Google.com
2. 2. Which radio station did Cardinal Sin use to call on the Filipino
people to support the rally against President Marcos?
a. Bombo Radyo c. DZMM
b. Brigada News FM d. Radio Veritas
3. This a multimedia content mainly hosted by YouTube.
a. multimedia c. videos
b. pictures d. music
4. Episodic series of audio or text files streamed online.
a. Vodcast c. Videos
b. Podcasts d. Pictures
5. Integration of still and moving images, text, and sounds by means of
computer technology.
a. Multimedia c. Picture
b. Video d. Podcasts

What’s New?

From your previous experience of organizing an activity, such

as a birthday party or an outing, what do you prioritize most?
List down the things you consider during planning an event.
 What is it?

ICT Project Creation Process

An ICT Project for Social Change is only a small part of a scheme of an

organization with a common interest. The main purpose of an ICT project in
the bigger picture is to offer a facility for easy dissemination of information,
a platform for volunteers and the leaders of the organization. Establishing the
ICT project is a collaborative effort. It is not only for technical members
involved, but also for the management and leaders of the organization that
will facilitate the appropriateness of the output in the overall purpose of the
project. Because of this, the ICT development team should ensure perfect
harmony by considering all stakeholders’ requirements and including them
in the outcome of the project.
The group should devise a careful and specific plan that will address the
objective or goal of the project so that everything needed is included in the
project. The complexity of elements to be included should be minimized while
keeping in mind the logical arrangement and completeness of functions of
the product.
In order to create an ICT project, one must have the knowledge about
the process involved in generating the so-called project. The process that an
ICT project goes through include the following:
 1. Planning Phase – From the word itself, this phase involves
conceptualizing the project, determining the goals, and analyzing the
information available.
2. Analysis and Requirement Definition Phase – This phase focuses on
analyzing the function, project requirements, target users, and impact
of proposed project.
3. Design Phase – describes the architectural phase of an ICT project. The
desired features and operation in detail, process diagrams, and
documentation are contained within this stage.
4. Testing Phase – This phase involves testing the results or the
performance of every phase before it.
5. Release and Promotion Phase – encompasses the actual roll out and
release of the project to be used by the users.
6. Maintenance Phase – This phase comprises the correction,
modification, and updating for improvement of the project. Responding
to user feedback is also a part of this maintenance.

What Should Be Included in the Plan?

There are a variety of ways to plan and start your ICT project. Given
here are the needs that should be considered as preferences or must-haves
of an ICT project.

▪ Define key individuals and point people in different categories in the

project. This group should include individuals who are involved in
decision-making and those that provide direction to the group.
▪ Summarize the general goals and direction of the organization and lay
out the vision that the group should fulfill. By doing this, the group can
have its attention fixed on the purpose of the actions and the goals that
the ICT project should accomplish.
▪ Have a summary of the existing ICT facility. The strengths and
weaknesses of the current facility will be reviewed in this summary.
Problems and deficiencies of the current system will arise and can be
used as the bases for improvement in the upcoming project.
▪ List the concerns and issues on the current situation of the organization
that can be remedied by the upcoming project. This can serve as a guide
for the ICT group to include certain functions that will address the said
issues.
▪ Include the capability of the plan to be useful in the near future. To do
this, state the purpose of the ICT project in the next few years. This will
enable designers to cater to the needs and introduce functions that will
still be useful in the future.
▪ Classify the type of ICT service that the group will develop. The form of
application that will be designed should be conceptualized to ensure
efficient use of resources. The form may take various types of ICT
applications such as social media, Web sites, and blogs. The quality of
 service will be ensured when the specific direction and the clarity of
output are stated.
▪ Determine the resources needed before starting the project. The plan
will be executed properly using different resources. Before starting the
project, essential resources must be defined. This will ensure that when
the specific resources are needed, they are already available and that
people will take less time to prepare them. Some of these resources
include hardware, software, network facilities, money, and manpower.
▪ Include the training and support needed by the development tam in the
plan. After defining the type of application that will be developed, the
development team should visit the capabilities of each member. When a
skill or knowledge of a development tool is insufficient, the team must
undergo enhancement trainings to address this insufficiency.
▪ Prepare procurement documents and lists. The project may require
materials or different kinds of equipment for operation or development.
The team can prepare a list to plan what items should be purchased.
Moreover, suppliers and processes involved can be reviewed or
considered.
▪ 11 Consider the proposed budget and Gantt chart. The project is greatly
constrained by time and monetary resources. By preparing the timeline
of the project, developers can schedule development activities to ensure
the completion of the project in time. Another consideration is monetary
aspect of the project. Developers should prepare a budget of the project,
dedicating specific amounts to different aspects of the project. This will
greatly help the completion of the project while maintaining compliance
within the allocated funds.
▪ Prepare a summary of all initiatives. This contains a ―lookup table‖ of
all the activities that should be done. Some groups call this the to-do
list. The activities are stated in a list format chronologically. This list
dictates the activities that are already done and the activities that
should be done next.
▪ Prepare a summary of activity schedules and budget. Similar to the
summary of initiatives, this list should summarize all the activities in a
list together with their schedules. Furthermore, the monetary amount
dedicated to the said activity is indicated.
▪ Identify the risks associated with the activities and the contingencies
that can be done. With every activity, there are associated problems that
may arise. By understanding and knowing the possibilities that may
happen, the team can prepare different solutions before these things
happen.
▪ Have a general integration plan. This contains the schedule and
processes of combining different parts of the project that are developed
in parallel with one another. This is done to save time and expedite the
realization of the project. The final part is to integrate all the parts into
one application.
Demographics
Demographics is described as factual information that is gathered from
users of the ICT application. The information can be categorized into different
labels such as age, gender, income, religion, and profession. Demographics
is used to learn the characteristics of the target audience and the key features
that the designer or publisher of the application can capitalize on to effectively
design the application.
Here is one example of a scenario to illustrate the relationship between
the key features of an application and the target audience. A student most
probably will have no salary; thus, mobile phone companies will offer a
cheaper mobile phone to them. People who work for different companies, on
the other hand, get a monthly salary, and can thus afford more powerful and
expensive mobile phones. Mobile phone companies will then be interested in
the demographic information of income.

Psychographics
Psychographic information is described as noncountable information
from people such as interests, opinions, and insights. Furthermore,
psychographics can describe and capitalize on the interest of the subject by
observing certain information. For example, a student is more interested in
applications that offer information related to different school subjects. A
businessman would likely be interested in applications that are associated
with foreign currency exchange rates or stock market prices.
To determine the psychographics of the target group, various activities
can be done. First, the behavior of the target community can be observed,
such as the topics that they discuss and the images or the posts they share.
Another is by conducting interviews. Different questions can be formulated,
which may lead to the information that you seek. The feedback of the
interviewee can dictate the psychographics of the group. Another method is
by using written surveys. Similar to oral surveys, written surveys used
organized questions wherein the answers of the respondents are written on
paper. However, using written surveys can protect the identity of the
respondent; thus, the percentage of the sincerity of the answers is high. Last,
focused discussion can be done to solicit the psychographics of a certain
group. In a focused discussion, insights and opinions are delivered in a
manner that is similar to brainstorming.

Writing a Project Proposal

Part of project planning is writing a project proposal which is a detailed
description of the series of activities involved in the project. The following
are the essential parts of a project proposal:
1. Project Information / Description – This section is meant to provide
an overall picture of the project that can be seen at glance as well as
convey important project details. It may include the following:
a. Project Title: (PROJECT TITLE);
b. Type of Project: (education-training/ health-medical mission/ art
exhibit, etc.);
c. Project Proponent/s: (Name of organization/ name of the people
involves);
d. Project Beneficiaries: (Urban poor, women, youth, etc.);
e. Date of Implementation/ Duration: (Start date/ number of
implementation days);
f. Budget Requirement: (overall amount of budget requirement);
g. Project Contacts: (List of individuals involved with the project.)
2. Project Background – explains what needs/ problems you are trying
to solve, and why these needs/ problems are worth solving. The
project’s brief history, references, and other supporting documentation
may also be provided here.
3. Project Objectives – The goals of the project should already be set
from the beginning.
4. Desired Impact and Outcome of the Project – describes the long-
term effect of the project and specific measures to sustain it.
5. Risk Management Plan – it includes the risks and factors that may
hamper or hinder the successful implementation of the project
activities and the achievement of project outputs. This also includes
measures to mitigate the effects of project risks encountered.
6. Project organization and Staffing – describes the people involved and
their responsibilities in the project. The following table may be used as
a template for this part:

Office/Staff
Responsibilities Contact Person Contact Details
Designated

7. Work Plan - a detailed project schedule. It is a list of tasks that will be

performed for the project. The work plan is a means to expose the
project’s risks which could be used to make reasonable estimates of
the man hours required to complete it. A milestone chart can also be
used in this section to monitor work progress at any given time.
 Phases
Person
of the Output/ Resources
Activities Indicators in Cost
Project Target Needed
Charge
(Date)

8. Budget Requirement – A detailed, line item budget that includes the

cost needed for every part of the project. The following table may be
used to repeat budget requirement.

Budget Line Description Amount Needed Proposed

Item Source/s

9. Other Relevant Information – includes any information that will

support a request for funding such as brief enumeration of
stakeholders’ pledge and lined-up projects to complement the current.

10. Conclusion – a short summary that explains the potential value of the
project.

11. Appendix – refers to additional charts, graphs, reports, etc. that we

recited in the proposal, but were not appropriate to be placed in the
main body of the document.

Designing and Copywriting for ICT Projects

Upon the creation of content in an ICT application, there are various
process that must be done before it is published or uploaded. The most
important process in post-development is quality check and error checking.
The process of checking ICT content for errors is called copywriting. To do
copywriting and produce error-free outputs, be guided by these tips and
pointers.
▪ Split paragraphs into shorter and fewer sentence. The text content
should be concise and direct to the point. This will help ensure that
the text will be read by the audience. The purpose of short paragraphs
for copywriting is the users’ ease in reviewing and reading. For the
developer, using fewer words means smaller chances of committing an
error.
▪ Split complex sentences into simpler ones. Similar to having shorter
paragraphs and fewer sentences, avoiding complex compound
 sentences will make the text more readable. Shorter sentences can
easily be understood by the readers. For copywriting processes, simple
sentences are easier to check for errors.
▪ Highlight keywords. This can greatly help the audience in browsing
and skimming your ICT application. If key words are easily identified,
users can save time in finding information that they seek. In
copywriting, key words set in bold font can direct the copyreader to the
essence of the sentence or paragraph.
▪ Use subheadings to identify subsections of the application or Web site.
Users can easily identify and search for information by skimming
subsections and subheadings. For copywriting, the arrangement of
ideas can easily be identified by following the subheadings.

Designing and Copywriting for ICT Projects

A number of humanitarian and social applications have been
developed in different aspects of social development. Here are some
examples of using ICT for social change:
Philippines Say NO to Drugs – This is a nonprofit organization and
an arm of the Dangerous Drugs Board under the Office of the
President of the Republic of the Philippines. ICT application was used
by his organization primarily by setting up information sources under
the Web site of the Dangerous Drugs Board. Aside from its Web site,
the organization uses social media applications to deliver information
to the public. The following campaigns and programs were publicized
by this:
o Barkada Kontra Droga (Peer Group against Drugs)
o National Youth Congress on Drug Abuse Prevention and Control
o Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Program
o Kids Against Drugs Program
o Drug Abuse Prevention Program for the Transport Groups
o Nationwide Caravan of Youth Against Drugs
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) – This is a
United Nations (UN) member organization dedicated to the issues
brought upon by drug trafficking and drug abuse. This organization
uses ICT by devising a Web site to fulfill its goals and purpose.
Campaigns launched by this agency are the following:
o World Drug Campaign – This is the campaign done to save the
youth from drug abuse and help them say no to drugs.
o International Anti-Corruption Campaign – This is one of the
campaigns of UNODC in collaboration with the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) to fight corruption and power abuse
around the world.
o Blue Heart Campaign Against Human Trafficking – This is a
campaign that aims to involve everyone to condemn human
trafficking around the world. Furthermore, the campaign
encourages everyone to help victims of human trafficking.
 National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) – This
is an election watchdog organization formed to ensure peaceful and
truthful elections. This agency conducts its own count of votes. In the
national election in 2010, NAMFREL was not credited to conduct
campaign ―Bantay ng Bayan‖. ICT was used by NAMFREL through
SMS and social media, calling out volunteers to help in guarding the
credibility of the election results.
Philippines Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) – This is a nonprofit
organization dedicated to protecting the welfare of animals. PAWS
believes that peace in society starts with avoiding cruelty to animals.
Furthermore, the Web site of PAWS is used as a facility to disseminate
on taking care of pets, as well as the laws that protect the welfare of
animals.

What’s More
The Two Faces of Social Platform

Answer the following questions.

1. What are the advantages of knowing demographics over psychographics
and vice versa?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. What do you think are the problems that you might encounter in
planning an ICT project?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

What I Have Learned

Directions: Read and answer each question carefully. Do this in your

activity notebook.

1. Why is it important to follow the steps in the ICT project process?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
 2. Give one specific local or regional issue that you think can be solved
using ICT.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

What Can I Do

Identify one specific local or regional issue that you think can be solved using
ICT. Create a project proposal to address this concern. Be guided with the
topic under Writing a Project Proposal on page 12 for your format.

Assessment

1. Arrange the following ICT project creation process in order

using the numbers 1-7.
_______Analysis and Requirement Definition Phase
_______Design Phase
_______Development Phase
_______Maintenance Phase
_______Planning Phase
_______Release and Promotion Phase
_______Testing Phase

2. Enumerate the data/information that should be written in

project description
a. _______________________________________________________
b. _______________________________________________________
c. _______________________________________________________
d. _______________________________________________________
e. _______________________________________________________
f. _______________________________________________________
g. _______________________________________________________
 REFERENCES

Callo, E. R. (2018). Imaging and Design for the Online Environment. In

Empowerment Technologies (pp. 35-40). Quezon City, Philippines: Sibs
Publishing House.
Tarun, I. M. (2016). Empowerment Technologies. Plaridel, Bulacan: St.
Andres Publishing House.