Social Change Communication: Need of the Hour for the Prevention of HIV/AIDS

For the last three decades or so, we all have been living with the pandemic of HIV and AIDS. Human behaviour is complex; widespread behaviour changes are challenging to achieve. Understanding the dynamics of HIV transmission can not be separated from an understanding of the broader context of poverty, inequality and social exclusion which create conditions where unsafe behaviour flourishes. HIV/AIDS is not a mere health issue: its occurrence is influenced by a number of socio-economic, cultural and ecological determinants. Social change communication is an inclusive way of responding to HIV/AIDS issues. Social change communication can tackle structural drivers of the HIV epidemic, with a particular focus on the drivers of gender inequality, stigma and discrimination, and human rights violations. Social change communication is bound to emerge as the vaccine and panacea for HIV and AIDS

ADOPTION OF WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES AMONG KNOWLEDGE WORKERS: A THEORETICAL INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND SEEKING FACTORS

Web 2.0 applications have attracted considerable attention among knowledge workers as a means via which they can connect to peers for knowledge sharing. Web 2.0 use has potential to facilitate knowledge transfer in a much more improved way compared to previous communication tools. Despite of its benefits, there is limited research on adoption behaviour of these technologies. We propose a model linking knowledge sharing and seeking factors to web 2.0 acceptance among knowledge workers. Proposed research model is based on the extended attitude-behaviour framework. The model shows that attitudes towards sharing and seeking, determined by their salient belief sets, could have an impact on web 2.0 use. This study will make important contribution to IS area as it attempts to investigate the influnce of drivers from two motivational domain i.e. knowledge sharing and seeking on technology acceptance based on an integrated theoretical framework

National Digital Infrastructure and India’s Healthcare Sector: Physician’s Perspectives

Patient-centric digital infrastructure can potentially enhance the efficiency of healthcare systems. However, even in developed nations, evidence suggests low adoption rates for such infrastructure and lack of support from clinicians is considered as one of the most critical hindering factors. In this study, we examine physicians\u27 perceptions of the proposed large-scale information technology initiative in India that aims to transform the health sector and provide universal health coverage to all residents of India. We employed the information ecology lens to understand the broader changes in the healthcare system that could result from the initiative. We use focus group discussion and in-depth interviews to comprehend the perceptions of doctors about the initiative. Drawing upon Foucault’s conceptualization of power, we find that physicians, the key stakeholders in this initiative, are skeptical about the changes in the locus of power in the new ecosystem. Specifically, they perceive that knowledge power has shifted from a historical “expert knowledge power” to power related to “data management.” The physicians believe that changes are expected to manifest through monitoring, controlling, and managing the data rather than providing knowledge-based services. We present recommendations to engage physicians\u27 perspectives in implementing large-scale patient-centric digital infrastructure

Orchestrating ‘Institutional Network’ for the Sustainability of IS Program: Evidence from Indian Public Healthcare

Sustaining an IS program in healthcare encounters the complexities of the dynamic and loosely connected network of institutionally powerful actors. We apply ‘orchestration’ framework to examine the orchestration of public healthcare by a low power stakeholder for sustaining an IS program. We study the case of a hospital information systems running across 20+ hospitals in Himachal Pradesh, India, for more than a decade. Analysis informs that institutional network orchestration goes through multiple interconnected stages, each presenting unique dilemmas. The orchestrator takes different roles to perform various relation and material institutional work across these stages and often leverages on unanticipated events, just by being physically and temporally present. We identify four orchestration stages—promoting member engagement, building distributed ownership, managing partnership, and managing coherence. Initial stage institutional work helps orchestrator accumulate ‘symbolic power’, which proves critical in later stage orchestration. Findings contribute to orchestration framework and inform IS in healthcare literature

Machine Learning and Grounded Theory: New Opportunities for Mixed-Design Research

In this emerging research forum paper, we propose a novel framework for mixed-design research by integrating machine learning (ML) with grounded theory (GT). Contrary to existing belief that ML can only be used for prediction and not for explaining a phenomenon, in this paper, we illustrate that ML and GT complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses and can be integrated through mixed design research for theory building. We also propose a framework and guidelines to integrate ML in GT, with an example from an ongoing research project. This paper not only attempts to addresses the call for methodologies to employ ML techniques in social sciences research but also provides clear guidelines for executing such empirical researc

Analyzing multimedia data : exploring the dimensions of context in ICT for development research

It is argued that ICT-for-development interventions should be seen as a dynamic and hybrid network of actors, artefacts, communities, and institutions embedded within the context. Comprehensive understanding of contextual nuances in ICT4D research is thus, an important determinant of quality of research. Scholars have emphasized that qualitative research is opportune in uncovering unique insights and comprehension in a poorly understood and hitherto unexplored arena such as ICT4D interventions in developing countries. While ‘data’ in most of the qualitative research refers to ‘words or textual data’, the advancements in the mobile technology, especially incorporation of compact cameras in the mobile phones, and increasing penetration of mobile phones allow researchers to easily capture multimedia data in their field study. We posit that multimedia data, having multiple dimensions as compared to textual data, enhance the capability of the researchers to understand and explore a specific dimension of qualitative research, namely the contextual dimension, enabling the researcher to undertake a more valid or rigorous investigation of the phenomenon as embedded in the context. By explicating the process of analysis of multimedia data- video recordings of doctor-patient interaction over telemedicine, the authors emphasize that multimedia data analysis can considerably enhance the quality of research in the ICTD domain. In doing so, this paper addresses two important issues related to the methodological issues in qualitative analysis of multimedia data: (1) when and why should the researcher consider collecting multimedia data as opposed to textual data and (2) how should the researcher proceed in analyzing the multimedia data