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WG 9.4: Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries
13th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries
Track 8: Critical Reflections on Information Systems for
Community Development
Chairs: Izak van Zyl (Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa)
Marilla Palmen(University of Eastern Finland, South Africa)
This track will invite papers that critically address the dynamic underpinnings of community informatics as a pracademic discipline,
in the effort to uncover the series of mediating operations (temporal, spatial, socio-political and other) that govern technology
interaction. This enterprise builds towards revealing new (or hybrid) social logics that reframe how informaticians think about, create
and interact with digital technologies. In its anthropological reframing, Community Informatics may benefit from a rupture in the
analytic border zone, which collapses boundaries between users, systems, and techno artefacts (Sassen, 2006). It is hoped that this
study will contribute to the mutualistic relations between Information Systems research, social science, and the humanities.
The contemporary application of CI is evolving, in both its research considerations and the practical integration of technologies. In a
study uncovering important trends in technology for development, Gomez, Baron, and Fiore-Silfvast (2012) found unprecedented
growth in the quantity and diversity of research publications and contributions to knowledge in the field. According to the authors, the
published literature exhibits a dynamic tension between a focus on business and economic development, and a focus on empowerment
and collective development. These remain the two most salient domains of work in the field (ibid.). Moreover, surveyed literature indicates
a decreasing interest in information systems, a sustained interest in telecentres and public access venues, and a growing interest in the
use of mobile phones for development (which has since spawned the sub-discipline known as M4D) (Gomez et al., 2013; Gallivan &
Tao, 2013).
Considering these perspectives, and in keeping with Ginsburg’s fundamental assertion (2008), the hegemonic order of the Digital Age
tends to comb over (disregard, veil, underrepresent) experiential nuances. Against this background, this track identifies the need for
critical attention to dynamic experiential issues in the practice and study of technology in emerging contexts.
This track will invite contributions that remain “agnostic and pragmatic as to the open policy/practice prescriptions; the focus is on what
works for community development, rather than pushing a particular model or policy” (Smith, 2011). To connect openness to development,
these models need to be studied and understood in both their particular instances in different domains (e.g., health, education,
government), as well as in the collective development context in which they are situated (ibid.). This track invites contributions that
critically reflect on how, and under what conditions, such models are both sustainable and transformational for community
informatics.
Exemplar topics and types of contributions looked-for: ICT4D/community informatics with a focus on the social and cultural aspects of
technology engagement; The notion of open development in relation to the community informatics enterprise; Participatory/user-centred
design with a critical examination of the nuances of ‘participation’ and open development; Community-based ‘capability’ interventions
that address health, education, and environmental priorities; Informal learning and learning networks, especially concerning communities
of practice; and Social network phenomena and emerging online communities.
For more information, please contact izak.vzyl[at]gmail.com.
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Track 8: Critical Reflections on Information Systems for Community Development
