Digital Transformation for Development: A Multilevel Conceptual Framework

This article aims to address the underlying challenges and opportunities associated with digital transformation for development. One intends to identify the main impacts of digital technologies in developing countries and how it is possible to extend their benefits to mitigate the digital divide and enable development. As such, based on a review, interpretation, and synthesis of both digital transformation and ICT4D1 literature and through a structured narrative literature review, this study proposes a Digital Transformation for Development (DT4D) conceptual model. Grounded on a critical interpretive approach, this model pinpoints how digital transformation scholarship has focused on organizations and overlooked the potential of existing digital technologies to enable development at a societal level. That way, the main objective of the model developed is to investigate the role and impact of digital transformation in supporting development at a societal level and propose avenues for future research

Future directions for context in ICT4D: A systematic literature review

The digital divide between the Global South and North has been a major concern for researchers from various fields in the past two decades. This divide has led to an increased focus on research related to information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) and other relevant disciplines. Given the prevalence of dominant paradigms that often lead to aggregated and context-free observations, this paper emphasizes the role of context in ICT4D while advocating for more nuanced, context-specific approaches in research and policy formulation. Through a systematic literature review, it proposes a conceptual framework that captures the psycho-social and the structural dimensions of context in ICT4D as well as their impact on success of related projects. The paper highlights the need for tailored theories addressing often overlooked elements such as language, ethnicity, religion, government change, political instability, and legal frameworks in the context of ICT4D. The proposed framework offers a roadmap for researchers to navigate the complex context of ICT4D, especially in the realm of emerging technologies

Promoting Entrepreneurship amid Youth in Windhoek’s Informal Settlements: A Namibian Case

Considering the high unemployment rate among Namibian youth and a lack of job opportunities, the promotion of entrepreneurship has gained wider attention in the country. A number of initiatives have been started such as entrepreneurship trainings and workshops, business idea competitions, etc. All these aim to inspire young people to think of alternative income sources. As part of a two-year funded community outreach research and development (R&D) project, we have investigated participatory approaches to engage marginalized youth into conceptualizing their own context, imparting skills, and deriving new career paths. This article reports and reflects on one of the interventions we have recently concluded with a group of youth in Havana, an informal settlement in the outskirts of Windhoek. We conducted what we entitled “The Havana Entrepreneur”, a series of interactions inspired upon the model of the American reality game show “The Apprentice”. Over a number of weeks two youth groups were given challenges to tackle by means of competing against one another. After completion of each challenge, groups were rated by a number of judges on skills demonstrated such as marketing, presentation, reflection and creativity among others. We observed an increase in, and improvement of skills revealed along tasks’ completion, besides an openly expressed self-realization and discovery of abilities by participants. Moreover, the youth are currently engaged in the continuation of activities beyond the initial entrepreneurial interactions. Thus we suggest replicating “The Havana Entrepreneur”, including the recording on camera of it by the youth themselves as a new mode to instigating a wider entrepreneurial spirit in informal settlements

Towards a People's Social Epidemiology: Envisioning a More Inclusive and Equitable Future for Social Epi Research and Practice in the 21st Century.

Social epidemiology has made critical contributions to understanding population health. However, translation of social epidemiology science into action remains a challenge, raising concerns about the impacts of the field beyond academia. With so much focus on issues related to social position, discrimination, racism, power, and privilege, there has been surprisingly little deliberation about the extent and value of social inclusion and equity within the field itself. Indeed, the challenge of translation/action might be more readily met through re-envisioning the role of the people within the research/practice enterprise-reimagining what "social" could, or even should, mean for the future of the field. A potential path forward rests at the nexus of social epidemiology, community-based participatory research (CBPR), and information and communication technology (ICT). Here, we draw from social epidemiology, CBPR, and ICT literatures to introduce A People's Social Epi-a multi-tiered framework for guiding social epidemiology in becoming more inclusive, equitable, and actionable for 21st century practice. In presenting this framework, we suggest the value of taking participatory, collaborative approaches anchored in CBPR and ICT principles and technological affordances-especially within the context of place-based and environmental research. We believe that such approaches present opportunities to create a social epidemiology that is of, with, and by the people-not simply about them. In this spirit, we suggest 10 ICT tools to "socialize" social epidemiology and outline 10 ways to move towards A People's Social Epi in practice

ICT4D Research in Developing Countries: A Call for Pragmatism Approach

Today, Information Systems research and in particular in the area of ICT4D in developing nations is dominated by positivism and interpretivism paradigms.  Information systems contributions are influenced by historical, cultural, and political contexts in which it is done. Researchers in this area question the appropriateness of positivism and interpretivism philosophical foundations to conduct ICT4D research.  This paper explores the use of pragmatism as an alternative research paradigm to that can be employed to understand the state of the ICT4D research. Research drawing explicitly on pragmatism is still relatively rare. The paper reviews the pragmatism in terms of its ontology, epistemology, axiology and methodology and its value in the ICT4D research discipline. As a new paradigm, pragmatism disrupts the assumptions of older approaches based on the philosophy of knowledge, while providing promising new directions for conducting and understanding the nature of research in the area of ICT4D in developing countries. It is anticipated the readers of the article to make a more informed choice for themselves on whether or not to pursue the path ofpragmatism their own research. KeywordAxiology, epistemology, ICT4D, methodology, ontology, pragmatism, research paradigm

Collaboration Towards a More Inclusive Society: The Case of South African ICT4D Researchers

In this study, research collaboration in the context of South African Information and Communication for Development (ICT4D) researchers was investigated using a mixed methods approach. South Africa, a country with stark development challenges and on the other hand a well-established ICT infrastructure, provides an appropriate context for ICT4D research. Firstly, a quantitative analysis of South African research collaboration between 2003 and 2016 was conducted to determine the existing research collaboration patterns of South African ICT4D researchers. This is based on the publications in three top ICT4D journals namely the Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC), Information Technologies & International Development (ITID), and Information Technology for Development (ITD). The results show that most co-authored papers were intra-institutional collaborations, with limited inter-institutional collaboration between South African authors or between South African and other African authors. Secondly, interviews were conducted with South African researchers who emerged as inter- and intra-institutional collaborators to gain insight into the technology, drivers and barriers affecting South African research collaboration. We report our findings and discuss the implications for employing research collaboration as a mechanism for addressing inequality and supporting inclusion.School of Computin

Empowerment in their hands: use of WhatsApp by women in Nigeria

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are reported to hold a lot of promise for sustainable development, poverty reduction and the empowerment of marginalized groups, such as women and minorities in developing countries. This paper discusses the relationship between women’s empowerment and ICTs, by investigating the promise of empowerment associated with the use of WhatsApp by women in Nigeria. It draws upon Sen’s Capability Approach (CA) to explore some implications of the use of WhatsApp mobile application on human development. We employed Sen's five instrumental freedoms to evaluate how WhatsApp has empowered women by concentrating on the opportunities provided for expanding their freedom to participate in social, economic and political activities. Our analysis shows that WhatsApp can contribute to the empowerment of women by enabling their freedoms to participate in developmental activities; however some contextual factors impede the ability of the women to take full advantage of these developmental opportunities that WhatsApp offers. The paper concludes with some implications for policymakers advancing an agenda for "ICTs for Development”

Moving beyond rhetoric - a study of (under-) representation in ICT4D research

While decolonialization of knowledge production is not a new concern, the debate in ICT4D has gained traction following a growing attention to the issue in ICT4D journals and conferences. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by analyzing underrepresentation of Global South - based scholars in ICT4D research output. The study aspires to provide a foundation for critical self-examination of our research practices. The study is a literature review of papers published in the top three ICT4D journals and ICT4D papers published in the top IS journals over 10 years (2011-2020). The findings show that most of the papers are published from authors in countries ranked as very high- or high development with a significant lower representation of authors from countries ranked as low development. Moreover, there is, despite the field’s acknowledgement of the concern, no substantial improvement over the studied time period. While we do not argue that we have a solution for the continuation of historical patterns of underrepresentation of colleagues based in the Global South, we end the paper with offering some suggestions on how to move forward

Are we making a Better World with Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) Research? Findings from the Field and Theory Building

As Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) continue to penetrate people’s lives the world over, there is a sense that understanding the role of ICTs in the context of development needs to be conceptualized theoretically while making empirical contributions that add to what we know (Avgerou, 2008; Davison, 2012; Sein and Harindranath, 2004; Sahay and Walsham, 1995). Other scholars have pointed to the importance of this research for the field of Information Systems (ISs) in offering broader contributions. Avgerou (2008) suggests that in the era of globalization such research offers contributions in ISs beyond “organizational organizational and national boundaries and support global economic and political activities” (p. 134). If the concept of development can be used to conduct research and offer contributions that lead to improvements in people’s lives globally, then it follows that we should be, at some level, making a better world. The purpose of this editorial is to understand the challenges faced by scholars hoping to make contributions to this field and explore the ways in which they may continue to create a better world