Role of Digitalization in Election Voting Through Industry 4.0 Enabling Technologies

The election voting system is one of the essential pillars of democracy to elect the representative for ruling the country. In the election voting system, there are multiple areas such as detection of fake voters, illegal activities for fake voting, booth capturing, ballot monitoring, etc., in which Industry 4.0 can be adopted for the application of real-time monitoring, intelligent detection, enhancing security and transparency of voting and other data during the voting. According to previous research, there are no studies that have presented the significance of industry 4.0 technologies for improving the electronic voting system from a sustainability standpoint. To overcome the research gap, this study aims to present literature about Industry 4.0 technologies on the election voting system. We examined individual industry enabling technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT) that have the potential to strengthen the infrastructure of the election voting system. Based upon the analysis, the study has discussed and recommended suggestions for the future scope such as: IoT and cloud computing-based automatic systems for the detection of fake voters and updating voter attendance after the verification of the voter identity; AI-based illegal, and fake voting activities detection through vision node; blockchain-inspired system for the data integrity in between voter and election commission and robotic assistance system for guiding the voter and also for detecting disputes in the premises of election booth

Datafication, Surveillance and Inclusion: A critical analysis of digital platforms and their role in India.

Inclusion within information systems and ICT4D research is primarily invoked as a positive benefit on the human actors involved. Set in this context, this thesis conceptualises inclusion under the growing presence of digital platforms as complex newfound participation afforded to socioeconomically marginalised individuals. The thesis employs two overlapping theoretical lenses of ‘liquid surveillance’ (Bauman & Lyon 2013) and ‘abnormal justice’ (Fraser 2008). Firstly, the metaphor of liquidity in this thesis deconstructs surveillance as a mesh of multiple visibilities within digital platforms. Secondly, a social justice framing positions the impact of the surveillant visibilities on marginalised individuals as an intersectional outcome of inclusion performed across cultural, economic and political dimensions.The empirical context involves studying India's governmentally mandated digital identity platform (Aadhaar), situated within the constellation of digital ‘gig-work’ platforms that are becoming prevalent sites of employment. The data presented forms a qualitative case study of the experience of three groups of gig-workers, namely domestic workers, cab-drivers and food-delivery workers, forming a total of 60 interviews. This is supported by ethnographic field observations and auto-ethnographic research, working as gig-worker in south India. The thesis is in an ‘alternative format’ with three constituent papers presenting interrelated perspectives of digital platforms and their wider ecosystem. The first paper studies the use of Aadhaar by domestic workers and cab-drivers (Krishna 2021) and operationalises ‘abnormal justice’ as a framework to theorise cultural, economic and political dimensions of justice as being synergistic with elements of surveillance and datafication inherent to digital identification. The second paper details the practices of datafication and surveillance within the food-delivery platform (Krishna 2020). It finds that in the performance of gig-work, (in)justice is experienced spatiotemporally by workers within their daily work practices. The third paper (Krishna n.d.) uses a lens of ‘liquid surveillance’ to conceptualise the concomitant roles of platforms in enacting surveillance and enabling inclusion. Within platform ecosystems, a ‘liquid inclusion’ is exposed to be dictated by episodic tasks of self-surveillance rather than being an absolute positive benefit of participating in the digital economy. The thesis bridges a gap in literature within information systems and ICT4D by juxtaposing surveillance and inclusion. It adds to the emerging literature on ‘data justice‘ in operationalising justice under platform ecosystems and specific practices of gig-work environments.Research PapersThere are two published papers within this thesis, with the third paper being finalised for submission. Krishna, S. (2020). Spatiotemporal (In) justice in Digital Platforms: An Analysis of Food-Delivery Platforms in South India. Proceedings of IFIP Joint Working Conference on the Future of Digital Work: The Challenge of Inequality (pp. 132-147). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-64697-4_11 Krishna, S. (2021). Digital identity, datafication and social justice: understanding Aadhaar use among informal workers in south India. Information Technology for Development, 27(1), 67-90. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02681102.2020.1818544 Krishna, S. (n.d.). Liquid Inclusion: The dynamics of inclusion under datafication and surveillance. In Preparation

The Brave New World of Big Data

Note from the editor The Brave New World of Big Data by Akos Rona-Tas Aadhaar: Uniquely Indian Dystopia? by Reetika Khera Biometric IDs and the remaking of the Indian (welfare) state by Ursula Rao Multiple social credit systems in China by Chuncheng Liu Credit Scoring in the United States by Barbara Kiviat Bringing Context back into privacy regulation and beyond. About limitation on purpose as an (old) response to (new) data challenges by Karoline Krenn OpEd by Jenny Andersson Book review

Privacy-aware Biometric Blockchain based e-Passport System for Automatic Border Control

In the middle of 1990s, World Wide Web technology initially steps into our life. Now, 30 years after that, widespread internet access and established computing technology bring embodied real life into Metaverse by digital twin. Internet is not only blurring the concept of physical distance, but also blurring the edge between the real and virtual world. Another breakthrough in computing is the blockchain, which shifts the root of trust attached to a system administrator to the computational power of the system. Furthermore, its favourable properties such as immutable time-stamped transaction history and atomic smart contracts trigger the development of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Combining above two, this thesis presents a privacy-aware biometric Blockchain based e-passport system for automatic border control(ABC), which aims for improving the efficiency of existing ABC system. Specifically, through constructing a border control Metaverse DAO, border control workload can be autonomously self-executed by atomic smart contracts as transaction and then immutably recorded on Blockchain. What is more, to digitize border crossing documentation, biometric Blockchain based e-passport system(BBCVID) is created to generate an immutable real-world identity digital twin in the border control Metaverse DAO through Blockchain and biometric identity authentication. That is to say, by digitizing border crossing documentation and automatizing both biometric identity authentication and border crossing documentation verification, our proposal is able to significantly improve existing border control efficiency. Through system simulation and performance evaluation by Hyperledger Caliper, the proposed system turns out to be able to improve existing border control efficiency by 3.5 times more on average, which is remarkable. What is more, the dynamic digital twin constructed by BBCVID enables computing techniques such as machine learning and big data analysis applicable to real-world entity, which has a huge potential to create more value by constructing smarter ABC systems

IoT Applications Computing

The evolution of emerging and innovative technologies based on Industry 4.0 concepts are transforming society and industry into a fully digitized and networked globe. Sensing, communications, and computing embedded with ambient intelligence are at the heart of the Internet of Things (IoT), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and Industry 4.0 technologies with expanding applications in manufacturing, transportation, health, building automation, agriculture, and the environment. It is expected that the emerging technology clusters of ambient intelligence computing will not only transform modern industry but also advance societal health and wellness, as well as and make the environment more sustainable. This book uses an interdisciplinary approach to explain the complex issue of scientific and technological innovations largely based on intelligent computing

E-Governance: Strategy for Mitigating Non-Inclusion of Citizens in Policy Making in Nigeria

The Nigerian federation that currently has 36 states structure adopted the Weberian Public Administrative system before now as an ideal way of running government, which was characterized with the traditional way of doing things without recourse to the deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Today e-governance is seen as a paradigm shift from the previous way of governance. Research has shown that, the adoption and implementation of e-governance is more likely to bring about effective service delivery, mitigate corruption and ultimately enhance citizens’ participation in governmental affairs. However, it has been argued that infrastructure such as regular electricity power and access to the Internet, in addition to a society with high rate of literacy level are required to effectively implement and realize the potentials of e-governance for improved delivery of services. Due to the difficulties currently experienced, developing nations need to adequately prepare for the implementation of e-governance on the platform of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Hence, this study seeks to examine whether the adoption and implementation of e-governance in the context of Nigeria would mitigate the hitherto non-inclusion of citizens in the formulation and implementation of government policies aimed at enhanced development. To achieve the objective of the study, data were sourced and analyzed majorly by examining government websites of 20 states in the Nigerian federation to ascertain if there are venues for citizens to interact with government in the area of policy making and feedback on government actions, as a way of promoting participatory governance. The study revealed that the adoption and implementation of e-governance in the country is yet to fully take place. This is due to lack of infrastructure, low level of literacy rate and government inability to provide the necessary infrastructure for e-governance to materialize. The paper therefore, recommends among others the need for the Federal Government to involve a sound and clear policy on how to go about the adoption and implementation of egovernance through deliberate effort at increasing budgetary allocation towards infrastructural development and mass education of citizens

The Impact of e-Democracy in Political Stability of Nigeria

The history of the Nigerian electoral process has been hitherto characterized by violence stemming from disputes in election outcomes. For instance, violence erupted across some states in Northern Nigeria when results indicated that a candidate who was popular in that part of the country was losing the election leading to avoidable loss of lives. Beside, this dispute in election outcome lingers for a long time in litigation at the electoral tribunals which distracts effective governance. However, the increasing penetrating use of ICTs in Nigeria is evident in the electoral processes with consequent shift in the behavior of actors in the democratic processes, thus changing the ways Nigerians react to election outcomes. This paper examines the trend in the use ICT in the Nigerian political system and its impact on the stability of the polity. It assesses the role of ICT in recent electoral processes and compares its impact on the outcome of the process in lieu of previous experiences in the Nigeria. Furthermore, the paper also examines the challenges and risks of implementing e-Democracy in Nigeria and its relationship to the economy in the light of the socio-economic situation of the country. The paper adopted qualitative approach in data gathering and analysis. From the findings, the paper observed that e-democracy is largely dependent on the level of ICT adoption, which is still at its lowest ebb in the country. It recognizes the challenges in the provision of ICT infrastructure and argues that appropriate low-cost infrastructure applicable to the Nigerian condition can be made available to implement e-democracy and thus arouse the interest of the populace in governance, increase the number of voters, and enhance transparency, probity and accountability, and participation in governance as well as help stabilize the nascent democrac

Introduction to development engineering: a framework with applications from the field

This open access textbook introduces the emerging field of Development Engineering and its constituent theories, methods, and applications. It is both a teaching text for students and a resource for researchers and practitioners engaged in the design and scaling of technologies for low-resource communities. The scope is broad, ranging from the development of mobile applications for low-literacy users to hardware and software solutions for providing electricity and water in remote settings. It is also highly interdisciplinary, drawing on methods and theory from the social sciences as well as engineering and the natural sciences. The opening section reviews the history of “technology-for-development” research, and presents a framework that formalizes this body of work and begins its transformation into an academic discipline. It identifies common challenges in development and explains the book’s iterative approach of “innovation, implementation, evaluation, adaptation.” Each of the next six thematic sections focuses on a different sector: energy and environment; market performance; education and labor; water, sanitation and health; digital governance; and connectivity. These thematic sections contain case studies from landmark research that directly integrates engineering innovation with technically rigorous methods from the social sciences. Each case study describes the design, evaluation, and/or scaling of a technology in the field and follows a single form, with common elements and discussion questions, to create continuity and pedagogical consistency. Together, they highlight successful solutions to development challenges, while also analyzing the rarely discussed failures. The book concludes by reiterating the core principles of development engineering illustrated in the case studies, highlighting common challenges that engineers and scientists will face in designing technology interventions that sustainably accelerate economic development. Development Engineering provides, for the first time, a coherent intellectual framework for attacking the challenges of poverty and global climate change through the design of better technologies. It offers the rigorous discipline needed to channel the energy of a new generation of scientists and engineers toward advancing social justice and improved living conditions in low-resource communities around the world

Introduction to Development Engineering

This open access textbook introduces the emerging field of Development Engineering and its constituent theories, methods, and applications. It is both a teaching text for students and a resource for researchers and practitioners engaged in the design and scaling of technologies for low-resource communities. The scope is broad, ranging from the development of mobile applications for low-literacy users to hardware and software solutions for providing electricity and water in remote settings. It is also highly interdisciplinary, drawing on methods and theory from the social sciences as well as engineering and the natural sciences. The opening section reviews the history of “technology-for-development” research, and presents a framework that formalizes this body of work and begins its transformation into an academic discipline. It identifies common challenges in development and explains the book’s iterative approach of “innovation, implementation, evaluation, adaptation.” Each of the next six thematic sections focuses on a different sector: energy and environment; market performance; education and labor; water, sanitation and health; digital governance; and connectivity. These thematic sections contain case studies from landmark research that directly integrates engineering innovation with technically rigorous methods from the social sciences. Each case study describes the design, evaluation, and/or scaling of a technology in the field and follows a single form, with common elements and discussion questions, to create continuity and pedagogical consistency. Together, they highlight successful solutions to development challenges, while also analyzing the rarely discussed failures. The book concludes by reiterating the core principles of development engineering illustrated in the case studies, highlighting common challenges that engineers and scientists will face in designing technology interventions that sustainably accelerate economic development. Development Engineering provides, for the first time, a coherent intellectual framework for attacking the challenges of poverty and global climate change through the design of better technologies. It offers the rigorous discipline needed to channel the energy of a new generation of scientists and engineers toward advancing social justice and improved living conditions in low-resource communities around the world