Creating Opportunity amid Geographic Constraint on Digital Innovation Discourses

The discourses essential to effective information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) are subject to constraints. Using a critical discourse lens, we ask (1) how geography constrains digital innovation discourses on a digital platform and (2) how these constraints can be alleviated. Informed by the ICT4D and digital innovation literatures, we analyzed 3.3 million tweets from 1,476 accounts from 54 countries. Using text mining, we surfaced distinct digital innovation discourses and subjected ten of them to in-depth analysis. The network structures of these discourses show geographic constraints on authoring, citing, and tie formation, answering our first research question. Further analysis revealed that complex and novel discourses enjoy more diversity in authoring and citing, and more freedom in tie formation, answering our second question. We conclude that digital innovation discourses are geographically constrained; however, entrepreneurial actors advance complex and novel discourses, creating opportunities for emancipation of marginalized countries