Responding to Crisis: A Sociotechnical tale of Kathmandu Living Labs (KLL)

Abstract: Kathmandu Living Labs (KLL) emerged as a focal actor in the Nepal earthquake event because of its active use of digital technologies. The technologies were used to map and cluster the earthquake effected zones and communities that supported disaster management (DM) activities, such as responding to the crisis. Without these technologies it was quite difficult to get the real time location of the victims, and to do the measurement of the hazards.  KLL is hailed for its action across the world and gain academic attraction as well. However, it gives rise to the question: was it just interplay of various digital tools or something beyond that. Our preliminary understandings based on existing literature indicate that crisis response is not just interplay of digital tools but mobilization of human and technical actors that translates collective intention into action. However, how does this mobilization take place, and how does interaction of social and technical actors translate their intention into action, particularly in responding to the crisis is a matter of further enquiry. To enhance understanding in this regard, we present an interpretive case study of Kathmandu Living Lab (KLL). The study employs Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to explore the answers of the questions that are raised earlier.

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Theories informing ICT4D research and practice

Whenever we talk about ICT4D, the question arises ‘what is development’ and ‘how does ICT leads to some sort of development?’. The first question somehow has been addressed by referring to Amartya Sen’s capability approach where development is conceptualized as ‘freedom of choice’. Put simply, to make conducive arrangements so that individuals can live a life that they value and have a reason to value.  But, the question of ‘how does ICT leads to …‘ is still a topic of further research. In this regard, the first question that comes into our mind is why someone would or wouldn’t use particular technology. One theoretical lens to understand this question is affordances, which means ‘material properties that provide some action possibilities to a goal directed actor’. We can argue, the usage of particular technology lies on the affordances that an individual perceive in the technology. But, it leads to another question: how does an individual perceive the affordances, if he/she has no capability to do so. One theoretical answer is – through mediator. The mediator can be a social activist, political leader, or someone else. To understand the various roles that the mediator plays in translating the concept of technology as affordances can be analyzed through actor-network theory perspective. So far, we said the reason why people use certain technology: it is because they perceive affordances (directly or through mediators), but, especially in the ICT4D context, just perceiving affordances doesn’t work. The subject needs to actualize those perceived affordances. And, for actualizing those affordances, the subject needs to work collectively, in other words we can say they need ‘collective action’.  To promote ‘collective action’ we need to have some sort of social norms that bind them, they need trust among the group members and social network. All these concepts such as norms, trust, network can be tied to the theory of social capital. At this point, we can rephrase the answer to the question: how does ICT leads to development (capability enhancement). We stated, ICT provide affordances, but it needs to be perceived by actors or mediators, then to actualize this perceived affordances, we need collective action, and the source to collective action is social capital. Furthermore, if the collective action is taken and the affordances are actualized then it can enhance individual/collective capabilities. The only question that still remains to answer is: what about sustainability? To answer this we can use the concept of ecosystem. The ecosystem argues, it’s not enough to have a system of mutual influence and interrelationships, but we need to also look into the diversity, coevolution, keystone species, and locality. Therefore, by integrating the theoretical lenses of affordances, actor-network theory, social capital, collective action, capability approach, and ecosystem, we can demystify the link between ICT and development.

N.B. This is one of the many ways of exploring the link, similarly capability approach is also one of the many ways of conceptualizing development.  Be a bit careful when we say affordances,  the technology can impose constraints as well.

Participation in ICT Development Interventions: WHO and HOW?

The aim of participatory development (PD) in the context of using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for development (ICT4D) is to empower underprivileged communities and disadvantaged segments of the stakeholders. The literature on ICT4D is replete with empirical evidence showing ICT interventions often fail because they are initiated from without, with no involvement from the affected (Heeks, 2002). Clearly, the principles and concepts of PD are relevant to ICT4D. However, we should not consider PD a panacea but must understand the caveats and processes by which PD happens. Questions we must ask ourselves include the following: What are the various challenges in PD; who are the relevant stakeholders; why and how do actors enroll in the project; and how do we create sustainable ICT4D projects through PD? To understand these research questions, we present a case analysis of a project in Nepal called the Nepal Wireless Networking Project (NWNP). Drawing on our findings and the specific initiatives that they enabled–telemedicine, education and jobs–we propose that the key participants in the NWNP were activist actors and the affected and that activists drew upon existing social capital to enroll the affected through a process explained by Actor Network Theory (ANT). In the process, they built other forms of social capital, which in turn extended the benefits of PD to several mountain villages.

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Exploring the Link between ICT and Development in the Context of Developing Countries: A Literature Review

Abstract

The article contributes to the ongoing discussion on relating information and communication technology (ICT) to development (D). The quest to relate ICT to D is a topic of open deliberation and critical scrutiny in ICT4D research communities. To enhance the understanding in this regard, we conducted a literature review. The review examines 80 articles to identify various development theories and the role of technologies in the development process. While scanning the articles, Sen’s capability approach (CA) emerged as a suitable framework with which to explore the link between ICT and D. To show the relevance of the link, we used the CA as a guiding framework, and reanalyzed ten empirical case studies focusing on projects in remote and rural areas. Furthermore, the article suggests six gaps in the current research, and, accordingly, six areas for future research.

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Building educational capabilities through information technology in developing countries: it takes a village

There is one aspect of globalization of IT work that appears only in fleeting glimpses in the mainstream IS literature and is sidelined in the discourse in general. If global IT work is painted mainly as outsourcing IT-infused work from developed countries to poorer countries (euphemistically referred to as "low income countries"), shouldn't the development of capabilities in these very same less-developed countries be a vital cog? Simply put, if these countries do not have a capable workforce, IT work, or any other work for that matter, cannot be outsourced to these countries. The question then is how can capabilities be developed in developing countries? In this research-in-progress paper, we address this question by examining a case of an activist-led initiative in Nepal called "Open Learning Exchange" (OLE in short) that used the capabilities of ICTs to deliver quality education to remote mountainous regions of Nepal. We collected data through interviews and group sessions as well as observations and document analyses. We are currently analyzing the data at both the micro and macro levels. At the micro level, we are using models from the IS training literature to gain an understanding of how training concepts developed in the West can explain the success of the initiative. Then we move to the macro level by shifting our interpretive gaze to the concept of "eco-system" in order to understand the role of the society and the surroundings in the implementation of capability building initiatives in developing countries and sustaining them.

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