A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE ON QUANTIFICATION OF DEVELOPMENT IN ICT4D

Many donor-funded ICT4D interventions are implemented to quantitatively measure, monitor, and evaluate results of development projects and programs in the global South. We focus on how quantification processes aren’t neutral and in the temptation of evidence-based efficiency, can potentially form new inequalities. Current studies within this field overlook the role of ICTs in the quantification process and how IT-enabled quantification systems potentially contribute in bringing institutional change with ethical and social implications for development. In this paper, using institutional logics, affordances, and the concept of IS artifact, we take a first step towards theorizing this problematic side of ICT4D and quantification. We further outline our plan to empirically illustrate this framework through an ongoing interpretive case study in Nepal. The case study explores a donor-funded public sector ICT4D intervention, implemented for assisting local governments to self-evaluate their institutional capacity through ICT-enabled quantification system. Finally, we contribute to the IS literature by providing a critical theoretical lens to scrutinize ICT4D interventions

Understanding ICT in ICT4D: An Affordance Perspective

Understanding the role of ICT for development is at the core of ICT4D research. However, prevailing research in this field most often focuses on access or readiness of a technology, or on the outcomes of the technology use. Less attention has been paid to understand the mechanism of the technology use that leads to the outcomes. The question of why ICT in a development context sometimes work and sometimes does not work still remains a subject of enquiry. To enhance our understanding in this regard, we propose to use the concept of affordances to unfold the “black boxed” nature of ICT. We revisited a case from Kenya to illustrate the application of affordances in a ICT4D context. The findings show that the benefits of ICT can be harnessed only if the users in the underprivileged communities can perceive and actualize the affordances of the ICT. However, what is ICT affordances, and how people perceive and actualize the affordances in the context of developing countries are the issues that we delve in this paper

Introduction to ICT4D: ICTs and Sustainable Development Minitrack

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Introduction to Government and Disaster Resilience Minitrack

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Equipment-as-Experience: A Heidegger-Based Position of Information Security

Information security (InfoSec) has ontologically been characterised as an order machine. The order machine connects with other machines through interrupting mechanisms. This way of portraying InfoSec focuses on the correct placement of machine entities to protect information assets. However, what is missing in this view is that for the InfoSec we experience in everyday practice, we are not just observers of the InfoSec phenomena but also active agents of it. To contribute to the quest, we draw on Heidegger’s (1962) notion of equipment and propose the concept of equipment-as-experience to understand the ontological position of InfoSec in everyday practice. In this paper we show how equipment-as-experience provides a richer picture of InfoSec as being a fundamental sociotechnical phenomena. We further contend using an example case to illustrate that InfoSec equipment should not be understood merely by its properties (present-at-hand mode), but rather in ready-to-hand mode when put into practice

ICT, SOCIAL CAPITAL AND DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF A MOUNTAIN REGION IN NEPAL

While the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in fostering socioeconomic development is generally accepted, the process through which this may happen remain unclear. In this paper, we take a social capital perspective and propose that ICT helps to create or strengthen social capital of communities which in turn leads to development. To illustrate our proposition, we conducted a qualitative case study in the Myagdi district in the mountain region of Nepal. We studied the Nepal Wireless Networking Project (NWNP) and examined its role in building social capital, and the consequences of extended social capital on socio-economic development process. Our findings indicate that the project is enabling the villagers to create, maintain, and extend their bonding, bridging, and linking social capital. Subsequently, this social capital assists them in developing and improving their education, healthcare, communication, and generating economic activities. We also identified several challenges such as, over dependency on single actor, high illiteracy rate, poor physical infrastructure, language, and lack of participation that may impede the social capital building process

Social Capital in enabling quality healthcare: The case of a telemedicine project in Nepal

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can play a crucial role in meeting multifaceted developmental challenges such as providing access to quality healthcare in developing countries. Initiatives such as telemedicine have been vital in bringing healthcare to marginalized groups in remote areas of such countries. While the implementation and effects of telemedicine projects have been studied in the literature, the actual mechanisms and conditions that facilitate the process has seldom been addressed. In this paper, we present an interpretive case study of a telemedicine project in a remote mountainous region of Nepal. Our findings indicate that it was the action of a group of focal actors who leveraged a supportive social capital that resulted in successfully bringing in quality healthcare to marginalized groups in these remote villages. Our findings reveal social capital as a facilitating condition through which ICT can play a crucial role in meeting developmental challenges such as quality health care

Exploring the link between ICT intervention and human development through a social capital lens : The case study of a wireless project in the mountain region of Nepal

While it is generally accepted that information and communication technology (ICT) can lead to development, the process through which this may happen remains unclear. At the core of this debate is the very definition of the term ‘development’. In this thesis, I adopted Amartya Sen’s definition. According to Sen (1999), human development is built upon a particular capability approach. He inferred that human development is the enhancement of human capabilities (freedom of choice) in order that people can live a life which they value and have reasons to value. The capability approach has, however, been criticized for its individualistic stance. In responding to this criticism, this thesis integrated the societal level by adding collective capabilities to conceptualize development. Such capabilities, which are not simple aggregates of individual capabilities, are built on collective action that can be fostered through social capital. Social capital is characterized as shared norms or values that promote social cooperation within and between communities. It can be further categorized into three forms: bonding, bridging, and linking social capital. Bonding refers to networks between homogeneous groups of people, bridging refers to networks between socially heterogeneous groups, and linking refers to vertical ties between different hierarchies of power and social status

Mutual Informing Between IS Academia and Practice: Insights from KIWISR-5

The relationship between Information Systems (IS) scholars and IS practitioners has been debated since the birth of the IS discipline. How are academics interacting with practice, and how should we? In this article we propose that academia-practice collaboration, namely “mutual informing,” is an existential aspect of the Information Systems field. This article is based on presentations, discussions, group work, and a debate that took place during the Fifth Kristiansand International Workshop on Information Systems Research (KIWISR), held at University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway. The theme of KIWISR-5 was “For Whom Do We Toil? Mutual Informing Between Academia and Practice.” As a synthesis of the workshop, we propose that mutual informing consists of, at least, topics such as choice of publication outlets, facilitation of collaboration, roles in research process, and delivery of teaching. Further, we suggest that mutual informing is concerned with transferring and transforming knowledge between the realms of design and development, use, and management of Information Systems. The biggest challenges to mutual informing are the different knowledge interests and timeframes between the realms of academia and practice