Informatics Research Institute (IRIS) June 2001 newsletter

Welcome to the first edition of the Information Systems Institute's Research Newsletter. This Newsletter will be published four times a year (March, June, September and December), and will be published on the ISI research web page. The aim of the Newsletter is to facilitate the exchange of information related to research activities in ISI. Submissions are welcome from staff and research students

Critical theory for women empowerment through ICT studies

Abstract: Information and communication technology (ICT) is a powerful tool and an enabler of economic growth in under-developed areas. ICTs have played an important role in women’s development and provided opportunities for empowerment. ICTs have the potential to exchange information and empower marginalised communities. The purpose of this paper is to cover Habermasbased critical theory to understand the politics of women’s empowerment through the use of ICTs. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines the role of ICTs in developing marginalised women from the coastal areas of southern India. The paper is based on a qualitative study and presents a set of questionnaires developed specifically to assess women’s development through the use of ICTs

Emancipation Research in Information Systems: Integrating Agency, Dialogue, Inclusion, and Rationality Research

Emancipation is a key concept in critical theories. Prior work suggests that emancipation is a complex and multi-faceted concept. Many conceptualizations of emancipation exist, and emancipation is defined in different ways. Existing empirical studies mainly focus on one or few components of emancipation. To have an integrated understanding of emancipation, we review the literature on emancipation in information systems (IS), with a view toward developing a typology of components of emancipation in the IS field. The typology of emancipation components consists of four components: freedom to act, freedom to express, freedom to belong and freedom to think. These components relate to the concepts of agency, dialogue, inclusion, and rationality, respectively

Towards Self-Emancipation in ICT for Development Research: Narratives about Respect, Traditional Leadership and Building Networks of Friendships in Rural South Africa

In this paper, the author contends that if the outsider-researcher involved in Information and Communication Technology for Development really wants to make a difference and honestly address the emancipatory interests of the developing community, social transformation will have to occur on both sides of the “development divide.” This statement implies both an understanding of the researcher’s own ethnocentrism, prejudice, assumptions and inabilities as well as local concerns, needs, expectations and realities. Using critical social theory as a position of inquiry and learning from the enculturation phases of critical ethnographic fieldwork in a deep rural part of South Africa, the paper presents three confessional narratives where the author reflects on how he confronted his own need for emancipation. Research results include lessons learned on building networks of friendships, traditional leadership and respect and the typical people-orientatedness of deep rural South African communities

The Collision between International ICT Policy and a Deep Rural Community in South Africa: Interpretation, Implementation and Reality

The purpose of this paper is to understand and learn from the collisions between the underlying assumptions embedded in UNESCO’s ICT Competency Standards for Teachers policy framework and the realities that face a deep rural Afrocentric community in South Africa. A critical theoretical underpinning is put forward which also constitutes the departing values and thinking pursued by a team of academics who, in collaboration with local community visionaries, facilitates ongoing ICT initiatives in the community. The author aims to contribute to ongoing ICT for development discourses by representing an African voice for international ICT policy frameworks. Consequently, compelling issues for further research scrutiny are highlighted, including several examples and practical guidelines for international ICT policy formulation and implementation in deep rural Afrocentric context

Demonstrating Critically Reflexive ICT4D Project Conduct and ICT Training in Rural South Africa

The problem with many ICT4D projects and policy designed for African developmental contexts is that there is a tendency towards deterministic assumptions in that arguments and implementation guidelines are often presented a-contextually. The reality is, however, that ICT4D discourses and practice in the African context often imply cross-cultural working and worldview collisions. Therefore, simply adopting Western values and advice wholesale without deep and adequate reflection, may lead to a design reality gap, disruptive and oppressive ICT transfer, and ultimately failure. In addition, identifying, understanding, and representing cultural context and local development realities may present challenges, because it is interwoven with the assumptions and prejudices of those identifying and representing context or distorted with ethnocentric assumptions about ICT and its developmental role. This paper contributes by offering a case of how a particular ICT4D implementation framework with a developmental agenda was appropriated respectfully and ethically for the development realities of a traditional Afrocentric community in South Africa. The author reflects on a number of issues related to cross-cultural dynamics and power relations as it evolved during a particular case of ICT training and project introduction. Narrative examples, representing both method and phenomena, are used to demonstrate a number of interrelated reflexive themes for ICT4D project conduct and context understanding

The emancipation of the researcher as part of information and communication technology for development work in deep rural South Africa

In this paper the authors contend that if the outsider-researcher involved in Information and Communication Technology for Development research really wants to make a difference and honestly address the emancipatory interests of the developing community, emancipation has to take place on both sides of the “development divide”. Emancipatory research and practice need to be accompanied by an understanding of the researcher-practitioner’s own assumptions, preconceptions, and limitations as well as local concerns, needs, and realities. Using a critical theoretical underpinning, the paper demonstrates how the outsider researcher and practitioner may recquire emancipation in order to ensure more appropriate Information and Communication Technology for Development. Through confessional writing and demonstrating critical reflexivity, the authors reflect on particular instances of selfemancipation as they present three narratives from the community entry phases of an ongoing community engagement project in a deep rural part of South Africa. Lessons learned include, the value of cultural interpreters as research partners, tactics for community entry, and a selfreflective approach to doing fieldwork.http://www.ejisdc.orgam201

Design ethnography: methodological considerations for rebalancing socio-technical phenomena in CMS performativity

As a practitioner, I had been part of two Content Management System (CMS) Projects in a particular setting that did not deliver on the expected outcomes. The expected outcomes of the projects included streamlined processes, better access to information, functionalities to drive engagement, reduced time searching for information, and improved reusability of content. As I began to reflect on the projects, a certain discomfort developed when the social aspect was ignored in favour of the technological. I sought a better understanding, but I was unaware of the fact at first. The techno-centricity as a concept found in literature and my experience as content management (CM) practitioner – together informed my interest in rebalancing the social and the technological. Thus, I focused on conduct in performing of tasks and emphasised attention on the practices of experts who gave insight into context of CM and use. The research participants are communication practitioners who have the responsibility to communicate internally and externally on behalf of a publicly-funded university in South Africa. Guided by the abductive argument and literature, the key themes for the research focused on technology, individuals and the organisation. The focus on technology (CMS as a subfield of Information Systems) began with my involvement in two CMS Projects. What came to the fore was that the practitioner perspective, and thus their experiential knowledge are neglected in research and that it may be an over-emphasis on techno-centrism in CMS research. I sought to better balance the social and technological aspects. The second focus on individuals (communication practitioners) was to value the stakeholder who was considered representative of the worldviews of the community. I sought to support corporate communication practices in the task of relationship building with stakeholders. The findings showed that the culture of informatio sharing was low at the University. The third focus on the organisation (the University) was to prioritise the success of the communication undertaken by the University. I interrogated the role of power. I demonstrated how the role of power could be seen as productive and positive in the context of HE, the social reality of CUT, and this IS research itself. I positioned the research as interpretivistic. I used hermeneutics as a mode of analysis because as researcher-practitioner, I am part of the social reality of the research. A safeguard against my subjectivity was the use of Phronesis as an orientation to knowledge. An organisation with a shared understanding of ethics and values will balance instrumental rationality (scientific and technical reasoning) with value-rationality (moral reasoning about right and wrong actions). Phronesis is the virtue that should ensure ethical behaviour in actions, yet over time, social science research, in a quest to mimic the natural sciences, centred on episteme and techne. I constructed the lens by particularising the four value-rational questions of Flyvbjerg’s contemporary Phronesis to the performative perspective of the research. My interest in social reality, as well as socio-technical aspects, have led to design-ethnography (D-E) to emerge as the most suitable and most appropriate approach to the research. D-E asked the prescriptive ‘How’ and descriptive ‘What’ questions, whilst the Flyvbjergian Phronesis lens brought focus on the ‘Why’ question. D-E emphasised the betterment of the interaction and synergy between research conducted and practice. My status as an immersed researcher needed careful consideration, and D-E accepted that a certain level of immersion is necessary, D-E has short interventional fieldwork, and D-E has future-oriented engagement. The contemporary Phronesis used in the research is to enact D-E and not an all-encompassing guide for doing Phronesis research The key contributions to the research are predominantly methodological. The claims draw on evidence focused on the three themes technology, individuals and organisation, and the phenomena of interest which are to rebalance the social and the technological in CM practices. The first claim is that immersion in the context is possible and supported by the specific particularised approaches to the research. The second claim suggests a way to rebalance the socio-technical nature of Information Systems (IS). The third claim suggests that there is a viewpoint for power that is not focused on power’s oppressive nature which could see a diverging focus on power in IS research in future. In this viewpoint, the status quo of social reality is not questioned, nor are their emancipatory ambitions. The fourth and final claim suggests that Phronesis as a lens could enact D-E, which in turn is a method that assists in valuing the experience of the practitioner and the support of collaborative work. The research is recommended for IT/IS practitioners who prefer to value participants’ views in design. The approaches used could be of value for researchers who consider the context of their research to be of higher importance than the generalisation of outcomes. Researchers who find themselves in the position of being immersed in the context but question the correctness of active engagement in the field may discover some value from the research approaches and my experience. Also, researchers or practitioners who have an interest in the balance between social and the technological aspects of IS projects. Researchers or practitioners interested in Phronesis, and perhaps the viewpoint of a lens may also find value in this research