DISCOVERING NEW ICT-ENABLED MODELS: THE CASE OF GRASSROOTS DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNET ACCESS IN BELARUS

Previous research on information and communication technologies (ICT) in developing countries has documented multiple variations in technology acceptance, use and work practices. While these variations are mainly seen as culturally, historically and contextually based, recent research suggests that these can also occur because because new actors, different from the state, market and international organizations traditionally providing access to the technology, appear. Richard Heeks introduced the notion of grassroots development. Here organizations spring up from within poor communities as a result of ICT-enabled empowerment and appropriation of technology. These grassroots organizations can transform the processes and structures of the digital economy by transforming (frequently through improvisation) those not previously having access to technologies from victims through to consumers innovators. However, there is a lack of solid research in this area. This study aims to answer this challenge through the 15-year history of grassroots development in Minsk, Belarus. Based on interviews and other sources, we focus on work practices underlining how grassroots models were created and developed by people lacking significant financial and organizational resources and in conditions apparently unfavorable for innovation creation

When Environment Matters: Inter-Organizational Effects on Sociomaterial Imbrications and Change

Previous research on sociomateriality, a recently developed perspective arguing that social and material aspects acquire their properties in the process of their mutual imbrications, has mainly focused on an intra-organizational level of analysis. In this paper we investigate how the inter-organizational relations influence within-organizational processes of sociomaterial imbrications. We conducted case-study of communities of social computing developing their routines and technologies over a 16-year period in the market of Internet access providers. Our findings indicate that inter-organizational influence is an important factor shaping the processes of change in organizational routines and technologies and only partly supports the recent findings of Paul Leonardi about the perception-based nature of these changes as we evidence that this is not applicable in certain types of environments. Based on our findings we develop a process model of inter-organizational influence on sociomaterial imbrications and change and discuss its implications for theory and practice

Digital Bricolage: Creating a Digital Transformation from Nothing

Current research offers limited knowledge on digital transformation of micro-enterprises, and even less so, micro-enterprises suffering systemic resource constraints. Addressing this gap, we examine how micro-enterprises use digital technologies to change and improve their businesses in the context of multiple resource constraints. Based on a large-scale qualitative study of micro-enterprises in Ghana and data from government and technology firms, we examine the question: how do micro-enterprises undergo a process of digital transformation by engaging in bricolage with digital technology? The preliminary findings show that digital transformation of micro-enterprises in resource-constrained environments emerges across three paths: (1) resource mobilization through the constitution of digital resources over time, (2) resource combination through digital / non-digital configurations, and (3) resource deployment through a specific way of using these resources. Based on the findings, we develop an initial process model of digital bricolage that advances understanding of digital transformation of micro-enterprises

Technologie et infrastructure co-création ascendante

Cette thèse est une investigation multi-perspective du phénomène des innovations crées par les utilisateurs finaux. Elle est focalisée sur les procès des innovations et de co-création des technologies venu du niveau des utilisateurs finaux, c’est-à-dire sur les procès qui sont appelé dans des publications anglophones ‘grassroots technologies’. Nous considérons comment ces développements se plongent dans le contexte des complications d’environnent et de ses interactions avec des acteurs déjà en jeu, i.e. institutes et des infrastructures déjà existants. Notre recherche est fondée sur le développement d’une infrastructure d’Internet, évoluant pendant 16 ans, dont est élaboré par des particuliers comme alternative à l’inaction du gouvernement et des fournisseurs d’Internet. Le phénomène a réuni millions des utilisateurs, création des innovations et des biens publics par des particuliers, ainsi que coopération fécond avec des organismes privés. La thèse comprend trois articles de recherche, chacun prenant une perspective différente du phénomène. Du point de vu de la méthodologie, ce travail est appuie sur l’approche avec les études qualitatives des cas et les raisonnements abductifs et inductifs. La thèse fournit contributions théoriques et pratiques pour compréhensions des conditions préalables, procès et conséquences des innovations par des utilisateurs finaux, la coévolution du sens et de la structure de la technologie, lien entre le niveau des innovations par des utilisateurs finaux et l’industrie, ainsi que le changement en routines et technologies quand ces dernières sont plongés dans l’ambiance de la dynamique institutionnelle et des complexités.This dissertation is a multi-perspective inquiry into the phenomenon of grassroots end-user innovation. It focuses on the processes of end-user innovation and technology co-creation and investigates how these developments are embedded in the context of environmental complexities and the interplay of existing actors, institutions and infrastructures. The research setting is based on the 16-year Internet infrastructure development by residential citizens as an alternative to the government and private providers’ inaction. The phenomenon included millions of users, innovations and public value creation from the grassroots, and successful cooperation with private organizations. The dissertation mainly comprises three research papers each taking a separate perspective on the phenomenon. Methodologically, the dissertation builds on the qualitative case-study approach and abductive and inductive reasonings. The dissertation provides theoretical and practical contributions to the understanding prerequisites, process and consequences of end-user innovation, co-evolution of the technology meaning and structure, grassroots links with industry, as well as organizational change in routines and technologies as embedded in larger institutional dynamics and complexities

Building Broadband Infrastructure from the Grassroots: the Case of Home LANs in Belarus

This paper describes the development of residential Internet infrastructure by communities of citizens in Minsk, Belarus, in Eastern Europe. Sharing resources and technologies these communities created infrastructures from the grassroots that became an alternative to an undeveloped and hardly affordable provision of Internet-access provided by Internet companies. This grassroots network became the main source of residential broadband Internet access. During the 16 years of their development (1994-2010), home LANs grew to connect a million users, created a number of important Ethernet innovations and established mutually profitable cooperative relationships with private providers and municipal organizations. This paper focuses on the innovative aspects of home LANs and describes this solution to the development of the local grassroots Internet infrastructure. The case study provides an example of user-driven innovations for the ‘First Mile’ that can address aspects of the digital divide and social exclusion, despite a variety of resource-based limitations

Retired IT-connected: How Older Persons Adopt and Use Technology for Political Crisis Solving

Information technology (IT) enables access to up-to-date information and provides a basis for collective self-organizing and problem solving which are critical for addressing crises. However, less is known how specific and vulnerable groups of populations, such as older people, use IT for addressing and solving crisis. This paper investigate how older people adopt IT to become active in solving a political crisis in Belarus in late 2020, where the country has experienced peaceful mass protests, widespread violation of human rights, and repressions. Our findings highlight key processes underlying IT adoption and engagement in crisis solving by older person and illustrate that IT adoption and engagement in crisis management are interrelated

Getting close to technology in practice

International audienc

Digital bricolage: creating a digital transformation from nothing

Current research offers limited knowledge on digital transformation of micro-enterprises, and even less so, micro-enterprises suffering systemic resource constraints. Addressing this gap, we examine how micro-enterprises use digital technologies to change and improve their businesses in the context of multiple resource constraints. Based on a large-scale qualitative study of micro-enterprises in Ghana and data from government and technology firms, we examine the question: how do micro-enterprises undergo a process of digital transformation by engaging in bricolage with digital technology? The preliminary findings show that digital transformation of micro-enterprises in resource-constrained environments emerges across three paths: (1) resource mobilization through the constitution of digital resources over time, (2) resource combination through digital / non- digital configurations, and (3) resource deployment through a specific way of using these resources. Based on the findings, we develop an initial process model of digital bricolage that advances understanding of digital transformation of micro-enterprise