Trust Development in Networked Environments: A Performative Account

We focus on trust development in dynamic, unstructured and non-commercial networked environments and conceptualize it as the process of producing a stable network ordering. We present a longitudinal, in-depth case study of the global humanitarian aid network, which is undergoing a disruptive transformation due to the emergence of digital volunteers who offer unique digital capacity for collecting and analyzing humanitarian aid data. Integrating this new actor-network into the existing global humanitarian network, comprised of formal organizations exhibits many problems that are concerned with trust. The ongoing inter-penetrating of these two networks is leading towards stabilizing into a new, qualitatively different network ordering that morphs the traditional and digital network models. We draw on sociology of translation, with its relational and performative sensibility, to analyze the network emerging and stabilizing as processes of trust development. We highlight the importance of four practices, performative of network trust: problematization, interessement, enrollment and mobilization

Design for Social Sustainability in Digital Fabrication for Development in the Global South

Context: The demand for humanitarian and development aid has risen to an unprecedented level. With an urgent need for new solutions, the aid sector has started turning to digital fabrication (3D printing, laser cutting and computer numerical control (CNC) milling). Collectively, these initiatives are referred to as Digital Fabrication for Development (DF4D). It is commonly believed that DF4D can support more low-cost, appropriate and localised forms of production in the Global South. Problem: Despite rhetoric about the transformative potential of DF4D, there is concern that technology projects in the aid sector have historically failed to create lasting impact. It is put forward that social sustainability is currently lacking and that this is limiting the success of DF4D. Despite recognition that social sustainability is the foundation for sustainable development, it is a challenging concept that is often neglected in mainstream sustainability research. In addition, the role of design in promoting social sustainability has not been well understood. Until this problem is addressed, it is believed that DF4D will not succeed in creating the social impact it desires. Research aim: To investigate how design can promote social sustainability in DF4D. Methodology: This thesis follows a pragmatic research paradigm. First, an exploratory study is conducted with fourteen case studies to validate that social sustainability is currently lacking in DF4D. Building on these findings, the main study is conducted with three case studies: a 3D printed otoscope in Nepal; a digitally fabricated prosthesis in India; and, a digital fabricated suction pump machine in Kenya. The main study diverges in two directions, with the first part focusing on an analytical approach and the second part taking a critical systems approach. In the analytical approach, thematic coding of case study data is used to identify the key principles of Design for Social Sustainability in DF4D. In the critical systems approach, Actor-Network Theory is used to investigate the networks of DF4D projects. Results: The analytical approach results in a normative framework to support Design for Social Sustainability in DF4D. It offers practical guidelines that are relevant in project planning and evaluation. The framework highlights the need for radical, systems-focused solutions. It reveals that design can trigger social sustainability at product, process and paradigm levels. The critical systems approach explores an interpretative version of Design for Social Sustainability. It supports the development of an initial toolkit that allows actors to collaboratively map their own networks during ongoing projects. Network analysis of the case studies clarifies the linkage between participation and Design for Social Sustainability. Reciprocity is highlighted as a key network metric that reveals (in)equitable relationships. The results of the analytical and critical systems approaches are compared to identify their complementary insights. It is put forward that Design for Social Sustainability in DF4D demands several shifts in practice from: products to capabilities; exogenous to endogenous development; passive to active actors; quick fixes to open-ended solutions; and, one-off projects to scalable interventions. It is argued that Design for Social Sustainability also has the potential to shape sustainability transitions beyond the project level. Theoretical implications: Synthesis of fragmented knowledge on Design for Social Sustainability and identification of its key principles in the DF4D context. Practical implications: The development of a practical framework and an initial toolkit that can support practitioners in DF4D to develop more socially sustainable solutions. Methodological implications: Explanation of how and why analytical and critical systems approaches can provide complementary insights for exploring complex phenomena.This research was supported by the EPSRC Doctoral Training Programme, grant number EP/L504920/

Shifting Sources of Humanitarian Aid: The Importance of Network Resiliency and Donor Diversification

As instances of forced displacement arise and become increasingly large and prolonged around the world, large influxes of humanitarian aid have become critical in assisting host countries with crisis response. The funding required to meet the immediate, emergency needs presented by a refugee situation is filled primarily by governmental humanitarian contributions, and more specifically, by the United States. Typically, the U.S. is integral to the structure of the networks of humanitarian aid being directed towards a humanitarian response as it is the largest donor, in most cases. However, what does this reliance on U.S. funding mean for the structural integrity of these networks? What happens when the U.S. cannot or will not provide relief to humanitarian crises? I address these questions by drawing on the theory of cascading failure in social network analysis by applying it to four prominent cases of forced migration requiring large influxes of emergency humanitarian assistance. These regional cases represent increasing degrees of reliance on U.S. contributions to humanitarian response for displaced Venezuelans, Syrians, and Rohingyas, as well as the mixed-migration into Europe. Drawing on the results of the network analysis from these cases, I conclude two things. Firstly, I find, largely, humanitarian aid networks which receive a majority of their funding from the U.S. are extremely prone to collapse in the unlikely circumstance that the U.S. significantly reduces or withdraws funding. Secondly, networks which have more diversified sources of funding are less prone to collapse if a major donor “fails,” or reduces/withdraws funding. Overall, this study speaks to a larger conversation about the importance of humanitarian aid networks becoming more resilient to catastrophic shocks to the system that may come as a result of shifting sources of governmental humanitarian assistance. As the global community, and especially the United States, progress through a period of uncertainty and instability, insights on how to maintain the critical flow of aid to humanitarian crises have become all the more important

Corroding consensus-building: how self-centered public diplomacy is damaging diplomacy and what can be done about it

Public diplomacy (PD) is an activity which has become central to the analysis of modern diplomacy. Yet while there are common definitions of PD widely used internationally, practice between states has come to diverge more and more. There is disagreement in the academic literature about what should be included in PD activities, the actors, and boundaries. But there is little analysis of the effects of PD on mainstream diplomacy. This paper, written by a diplomat and sometime practitioner of PD, argues that PD is losing its connection with wider diplomacy which is based on reciprocity and consensus-building. The digital revolution has enabled PD self-promotion which diminishes the necessity for diplomatic partnering. Global rivalries are played out daily for global publics with little room for quiet reflection and compromise. Such self-centered PD has immersed itself in the confusing and divisive nature of online engagement. While the Internet has brought massive benefits and opportunities to both diplomacy and PD, the consensus-building part of true diplomatic engagement is receding. The activities of ISIS and Russia were just the first major collective challenges to diplomacy through new PD techniques. In the past, diplomacy has responded to crises and conflicts and rebuilt its options. Now PD’s chaotic and troubling evolution needs a new response. This should include partners in the non-state sector and the owners of technology platforms. The article takes a practitioner’s perspective and proposes a forum where state and non-state experts could discuss appropriate collective responses by diplomacy so it can reassert options available for consensus-building.Accepted manuscrip

A Decentralised Digital Identity Architecture

Current architectures to validate, certify, and manage identity are based on centralised, top-down approaches that rely on trusted authorities and third-party operators. We approach the problem of digital identity starting from a human rights perspective, with a primary focus on identity systems in the developed world. We assert that individual persons must be allowed to manage their personal information in a multitude of different ways in different contexts and that to do so, each individual must be able to create multiple unrelated identities. Therefore, we first define a set of fundamental constraints that digital identity systems must satisfy to preserve and promote privacy as required for individual autonomy. With these constraints in mind, we then propose a decentralised, standards-based approach, using a combination of distributed ledger technology and thoughtful regulation, to facilitate many-to-many relationships among providers of key services. Our proposal for digital identity differs from others in its approach to trust in that we do not seek to bind credentials to each other or to a mutually trusted authority to achieve strong non-transferability. Because the system does not implicitly encourage its users to maintain a single aggregated identity that can potentially be constrained or reconstructed against their interests, individuals and organisations are free to embrace the system and share in its benefits.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, 3 table

Analyzing Crisis Response through Actor-network Theory: The Case of Kathmandu Living Labs

Crisis response is the most critical stage in crisis management during which actors make important decisions on mitigating a crisis. However, the decision making in such situations is a complex sociotechnical phenomenon. The literature specifies crisis response to include four steps (i.e., observation, interpretation, choice, and dissemination) and suggests a sociotechnical approach for analyzing them. However, we still lack theoretical guidelines for conducting sociotechnical analyses of the complexity involved in the crisis response activities. To help fill this knowledge gap, we present an interpretive case study on Kathmandu Living Labs’ (KLL) role in the response to the Nepal earthquake in 2015. We analyze the case using actor-network theory (ANT) and explore how a social entrepreneur from KLL enrolled different technical and human actors and mobilized them in the crisis response. We use ANT to explore the temporal and interdependent role of digital volunteers, local communities, and technologies in responding to the crisisWe demonstrate the usefulness of ANT’s translation process in understanding the complex sociotechnical process of crisis response in disaster events

Syrian Refugees and the Digital Passage to Europe: Smartphone Infrastructures and Affordances

This research examines the role of smartphones in refugees’ journeys. It traces the risks and possibilities afforded by smartphones for facilitating information, communication, and migration flows in the digital passage to Europe. For the Syrian and Iraqi refugee respondents in this France-based qualitative study, smartphones are lifelines, as important as water and food. They afford the planning, navigation, and documentation of journeys, enabling regular contact with family, friends, smugglers, and those who help them. However, refugees are simultaneously exposed to new forms of exploitation and surveillance with smartphones as migrations are financialised by smugglers and criminalized by European policies, and the digital passage is dependent on a contingent range of sociotechnical and material assemblages. Through an infrastructural lens, we capture the dialectical dynamics of opportunity and vulnerability, and the forms of resilience and solidarity, that arise as forced migration and digital connectivity coincide

Towards a Model for Building Information Awareness in Crisis Situations

In crisis situations access to information is key to reduce uncertainty and enable effective decision making. With the advent of modern information technologies there is an abundance of possibilities to obtain, process, and share information. The number of actors that can potentially provide information has grown concomitantly. The challenge therefore is no longer the availability of information but rather the ability to find and connect with actors providing information in a volatile and dynamic environment. This requires of organizations to be aware of the actors and their information potential, and actively build informational awareness. In this paper we propose a model for the development of the awareness of organizations of the information landscape during critical events. We validate this model using two case studies and extract key factors that contribute to the challenges and success of leveraging information potential of actors in a crisis

The Global Risks Report 2016, 11th Edition

Now in its 11th edition, The Global Risks Report 2016 draws attention to ways that global risks could evolve and interact in the next decade. The year 2016 marks a forceful departure from past findings, as the risks about which the Report has been warning over the past decade are starting to manifest themselves in new, sometimes unexpected ways and harm people, institutions and economies. Warming climate is likely to raise this year's temperature to 1° Celsius above the pre-industrial era, 60 million people, equivalent to the world's 24th largest country and largest number in recent history, are forcibly displaced, and crimes in cyberspace cost the global economy an estimated US$445 billion, higher than many economies' national incomes. In this context, the Reportcalls for action to build resilience – the "resilience imperative" – and identifies practical examples of how it could be done.The Report also steps back and explores how emerging global risks and major trends, such as climate change, the rise of cyber dependence and income and wealth disparity are impacting already-strained societies by highlighting three clusters of risks as Risks in Focus. As resilience building is helped by the ability to analyse global risks from the perspective of specific stakeholders, the Report also analyses the significance of global risks to the business community at a regional and country-level