ICT, Intermediaries, and the Transformation of Gendered Power Structures

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are believed to hold much potential to empower women, both socially and economically, in low-income and rural communities. In this paper, we focus on rural women who mediate ICT use as telecenter operators in India and as helpers and enablers for family members in rural China. We explore under what circumstances they may be able to renegotiate existing gendered power structures. We argue that acts of reconciling or confronting these different spaces they inhabit can allow intermediaries to remake their own identities and positions in their community. This process, rather than the potential associated with ICTs, is where spaces for empowerment often lie

Cashlessness in India: Vision, policy and practices

Over the past few years, an increasing convergence can be observed between international and Indian initiatives towards cashlessness, often involving a broad range of actors and influences. Despite this convergence, it is also clear that the conceptualization and implementation, or goals and outcomes of cashlessness can vary considerably, which indicates the need for a closer look at the Indian case. In this introductory note to the special issue on cashlessness in India, we outline the variety of institutions, stakeholders (regulatory, financial and technological actors), technologies and policies involved. As we have observed, digital payments and financial inclusion are two significant planks of cashlessness in India. Perhaps as a result, digital payments have been intentionally defined in a broad manner in India – ranging from anti-cash to less-cash and now contactless payments in the aftermath of Covid-19. Considering the variety of legal, economic, social and technological concerns involved, this special issue adopts 2 complementary foci to study cashlessness in India: technological visions and the systems undergirding it, and practices of end users. The special issue includes four papers. The first paper argues that the Digital India programme may lead to the commercialization of bias. The second paper historicizes the Indian demonetization of 2016 and examines its stated and unstated goals. The next paper provides a conceptual model on technology adoption in the context of digital payments. The final paper argues that users strategically switch between multiple payments media based on the context in which the transaction is taking place

The Digital and Its Discontents

Curatorial note from Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities: This course Web site by Janaki Srinivasan examines digital spaces and their influence on social, economic, political, and cultural inequalities, with particular focus on so-called developing countries. The course, taught at a South Asian university, looks at digital divides through the lens of development, looking especially at parts of Asia, South America, and Africa. The course assignments work in a sequence, asking students to choose a country that the World Bank lists as low or middle income. Through a series of essay assignments, the students explore the background of the country they selected, ultimately discussing a World Bank Information and Communication Technologies project underway in the country. The syllabus on the site offers an innovative way to teach and discuss technology projects of the “developing” world and how these projects may redefine ideas about digital divides

Re-embedding Market Information Systems: Thoughts on Design

Market Information Systems (MIS) developed for farmers in the Global South with the goal of providing them with different types of agricultural information are failing to be widely adopted. We argue that this is because they are designed on the basis of a universalistic idea of how markets (should) work, and how abstract information circulates (or does not). Drawing from our study of information practices in rural Indian and Chinese agricultural communities, we suggest three dimensions that need to be considered in order to design MIS that are more aligned with the actual needs of their targeted users, and the micro and macro contexts in which they live. The first is the range of roles and policies at play in the functioning of a market; followed by the identity of the actors in these roles; and finally by existing information-sharing practices and media (radio and television) involved in the working of the market.ye

Actor-networks and “practices” of development: impact of a weather information system in West Bengal

The urgent need for inclusive and sustainable agriculture has seen transition towards holistic, situated and participatory approaches to agricultural development such as agroecology. In this paper we use observations drawn from an ethnographic action research project to examine the implications of such approaches on ICT design and implementation strategy. We suggest that ICTs designed for sustainable agriculture need to shift their emphasis from packaging and transmitting information towards facilitating communication and sharing of practice, incorporating diverse knowledge paradigms and collective, social and situated forms of knowing and learning

Beyond Information Determinism to Information Orders: A New Framework for Policy

The mythology of information determinism – that access to the “right” information will precipitate desired actions – is common in policy arenas and develop. We identify information determinism in three programs in international development, education, and disaster response, describing their information deterministic framing and the implications of the mythology of information in action. As an alternative, we propose the framework of “information orders” to provide a more grounded framework for understanding the production and circulation of information in policy or development projects.ye

Beyond Information Determinism to Information Orders: A New Framework for Policy

The mythology of information determinism – that access to the “right” information will precipitate desired actions – is common in policy arenas and develop. We identify information determinism in three programs in international development, education, and disaster response, describing their information deterministic framing and the implications of the mythology of information in action. As an alternative, we propose the framework of “information orders” to provide a more grounded framework for understanding the production and circulation of information in policy or development projects.ye

Characterization of the Myocardial Inflammatory Response in Acute Stress-Induced (Takotsubo) Cardiomyopathy

This work was supported by grants from NHS Grampian Endowments and British Heart Foundation Project Grant no. PG/15/108/31928 The authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose.Peer reviewedPublisher PD