Postgraduate Course: ICT for Development (PGSP11293)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course will offer an empirical perspective, providing students with a number of cases to address questions concerning information systems design and implementation in national and international development. The course will also address the issue whether and how existing geographical information systems, digital archives, databases and information infrastructures more in general can be designed taking into account the need of local users when the involvement of traditionally marginalized communities is at stake. Illustrations will be provided from projects attempting to bridge the digital divide and the consequent social inequalities in terms of access to eHealth and eGovernment services at a national and international level. Students will address information system development techniques in the context of development, including participatory design and post-colonial computing.
Design methodologies: participatory design, post-colonial computing, artful integration.
Types of technologies discussed: eHealth and eGovernment information infrastructures and their mobile and desktop applications; geographic information systems; digital archives; information infrastructures, ICT standards.
Types of theoretical concerns: artefacts & politics, how values are inscribed in technologies, engineering mentality, difference between micro- and macro- levels of analysis of technology.
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| Course description |
Indicative Weekly Themes
Week 1. General Introduction to the course themes
Lecture session theme:
Social aspects of ICT projects for International Development
Key reading:
- Sahay, S. (1998), Implementing GIS technology in India: some issues of time and space. In Accounting, Management and Information Technology 8, 147-188.
- Miscione, G. (2007) Telemedicine in the Upper Amazon: Interplay with Local Health Care Practices. In MIS Quarterly Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 403-425.
Seminar session theme:
During the first week students will be also required to write down a paragraph expressing their expectations about the course in connection with their previous knowledge and, if any, with their previous experience of designers/users/citizens/witnesses with respect to ICT projects in less-developed regions of the world as well as peripheral areas of more developed countries (e.g. areas eligible under the EU convergence Objective: Scottish Highlands and Islands, Wales¿). The written paragraph is not a component of the assessment.
Week 2. Cases: ICT for Development, or ICT in Developing Countries? A focus on Africa (Thomas Molony)
Lecture session theme:
This session considers the hype of ICT in developing countries, and uses examples of the everyday use of ICT in Africa to ask what the reality of 'ICT for Development' is for many people on the continent. Among the case studies are the use of mobile phones in business and in the political arena.
Key readings:
Donner, J. 2008a. Research Approaches to Mobile Use in the Developing World: A review of the literature. The Information Society, 24 (3). pp.140-59
Donner, J. 2008b. The Rules of Beeping: Exchanging messages via intentional "missed calls" on mobile phones. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13 (1). pp.1-22
Molony, T.S.J. 2008. Non-developmental uses of mobile communication in Tanzania. In The Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies, ed. Katz, JE, pp. 339-52. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Seminar session theme:
During the second week the lecturer will discuss Week 1 written paragraphs on students expectations.
Week 3. Cases: A socio-technical perspective on the use of ICT in telehealth, Examples from Latin America, Scotland and the UK (Jenny Ure)
Lecture session theme:
This session draws on current qualitative research programmes on the impact of ICT on the redevelopment and the reconfiguration of roles, risks and resources in healthcare. It will discuss the recurring socio-technical barriers to implementation and provides an overview of emerging models in developing countries. Discussion will draw particularly on the growing use of mobile and open source implementations in these regions, and the impact of this on other aspecs of social and economic life. Finally, opportunities for joint research with students in other regions will be provided.
Key readings:
Hepsø, V., Monteiro, E. and Rolland, K., Ecologies of eInfrastructures, Journal of the AIS, JAIS, vol. 10, no. 5, 2009, pp. 430-446
Seminar session theme:
Students are split in groups of 4-5 members to start preparation of showcases.
Week 4. Information Technology standardisation between China and Europe (Shen Xiaobai)
Lecture session theme:
The People's Republic of China has become increasingly active in information technology standards. This activity raises important issues for China about standardisation processes and technology promotion policy, with significant consequences for the European economy and global ICT market. This session will concern an ongoing project for the comparative examination of ICT standardisation processes and policies between EU and China.
Key readings:
- Jorn Braa, Ole Hanseth, Woinshet Mohammed, Arthur Heywood, Vincent Shaw. Developing Health Information Systems in Developing Countries. The flexible Standards Strategy. MISQ Vol. 31, No. 2, July 2007, (pp. 381-402).
Seminar session:
Ideas about how to develop a showcase of ICT for development will start to emerge. Groups will discuss them in the final part of the seminar.
Week 5. The ethnography of the infrastructure: can technology incorporate social inequality?
Lecture session theme:
The ethnography of the infrastructure: can technology incorporate social inequality?
Key readings:
- Leigh Star, S. (1999), The Ethnography of Infrastructure. In American Behavioural Scientist, 43, 377-391.
- Winner, L. (1980), Do Artefacts have Politics? In Daedalus, 109, p. 121-136.
- Joerges, B. (1999), Do Politics Have Artefacts?, Social Studies of Science, 29/3, pp. 411-31.
Seminar session theme:
Ideas about how to develop a showcase of ICT for development based on students direct experience will be further discussed in the light of the content of today lecture.
Week 6. Local knowledge vs. ICT expertise: the issue of participation
Lecture session theme:
Local knowledge vs. ICT expertise: the issue of participation
Key readings:
- Heike Winschiers-Theophilus, Shilumbe Chivuno-Kuria, Gereon Koch Kapuire, Nicola J. Bidwell, Edwin Blake (2010), Being participated: a community approach. PDC '10: Proceedings of the 11th Biennial Participatory Design Conference.
- Scott, James C. 1999. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. (chapter 6)
Seminar session:
Ideas about how to develop a showcase of ICT for development based on students direct experience will be further discussed in the light of the content of today lecture.
Week 7. Towards an analytical framework for ICT for Development
Lecture session theme:
Towards an analytical framework for ICT for Development
Key readings:
- Thompson, M., Walsham, G. (2010). ICT Research in Africa: Need for a Strategic Developmental Focus. Information Technology for Development, 16(2), pp. 112-127.
- Sen, M. K., Harindranath, G. (2004), Conceptualizing the ICT Artifact: Toward Understanding the Role of ICT in National Development. In The Information Society, 20: 15-24.
Seminar session:
Question time for next weeks students presentation.
Week 8. Students presentations
Week 9. Students presentations
Week 10. Comments on the presentations: summary and new perspectives in research for ICT for development
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- By the end of the course students will:
- develop an advanced knowledge and understanding of the principal theories, principles and concepts in the field of ICT for Development;
- be able to offer their own analyses of cases of ICT for Development using these theories principles and concepts;
- gain experience in dealing with primary and secondary source materials and learn to critically review and assess these materials;
- develop the ability to use these materials and methods to critically examine the role of ICT in development. - Aims and Objectives
Essential deepening of students' knowledge of:
- main theoretical debates on the way technology can create/remove socio-economic inequalities;
- the leading scholarly contributions on ICT for development;
- specificities of understanding ICT for national and international development;
- concepts such as participation and user involvement in context of higher socio-cultural differences.
Providing students with a clear understanding of:
- the challenges of the Information Society in less-developed regions of the world as well as peripheral areas of more developed countries.
- the interdisciplinary nature of ICT for development project.
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Reading List
Key Readings
- Heike Winschiers-Theophilus, Shilumbe Chivuno-Kuria, Gereon Koch Kapuire, Nicola J. Bidwell, Edwin Blake (2010), Being participated: a community approach. PDC '10: Proceedings of the 11th Biennial Participatory Design Conference.
- Leigh Star, S. (1999), The Ethnography of Infrastructure. In American Behavioural Scientist, 43, 377-391.
- Sahay, S. (1998), Implementing GIS technology in India: some issues of time and space. Accounting, Management and Information Technology 8, 147-188.
- Sen, M. K., Harindranath, G. (2004), Conceptualizing the ICT Artifact: Toward Understanding the Role of ICT in National Development. The Information Society, 20: 15-24.
- Scott, James C. 1999. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
- Thompson, M., Walsham, G. (2010). ICT Research in Africa: Need for a Strategic Developmental Focus. Information Technology for Development, 16(2), pp. 112-127. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | ICT for Development,Participatory Design,post-colonial computing,artful integration |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Gian Campagnolo
Tel: (0131 6)51 4273
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Kate Ferguson
Tel: (0131 6)51 5122
Email: |
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