ICT for Development Seminar Series

Gregory Asmolov suggests applying the notion of activity systems and zones of proximal development, as conceptualized in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), to the field of ICT4D. The presentation suggests applying the notion of activity systems and zones of proximal development, as conceptualized in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), to the field of ICT4D. Relying on the principles and analytical apparatus of CHAT (Vygotsky; Leontiev, 1978; Engeström, 1989) it discusses crowdsourcing platforms and online mapping applications as artifacts that mediate activity systems. Based on case studies from the field of crisis response, the presentation discusses various structures of activity systems that are mediated through information technologies. The talk also seeks to establish association between the structure of activity system and the degree of statehood in particular socio-political environment (Livingston & Walter-Drop, 2013). The presentation relies on a fieldwork conducted in Australia and Russia in 2013.

Richard Heeks explores new post-2015 development agenda and its implications for ICT4D (information and communication technologies for development) research priorities. With the Millennium Development Goals about to reach their sell-by date, the new post-2015 development agenda is currently being formulated. This talk explores that agenda and its implications for ICT4D (information and communication technologies for development) research priorities. The presentation begins with an overview of the post-2015 process and a cross-check that the new agenda is worth attending to. Arguing it will be the single most important shaper of future development priorities, the talk then analyses three aspects of the post-2015 framework compared to that inspired by the MDGs: elements of the agenda that are becoming less important; issues which continue; and new issues and ideas that are on the rise. With two years to go until the post-2015 framework is activated, now is a good time to consider the implications of this comparison for our future research priorities in the sub-discipline of ‘development informatics’, and the extent to which these might – or might not – cohere around a vision of “Development 2.0”.

Discussion of dominant approaches by intergovernmental agencies to information society policy and the prospects for introducing critical perspectives that acknowledge the power relations which inform information society strategies and actions.

A seminar exploring technology and regulation in the Somali territories of the Horn of Africa. Despite weak or non-existent government institutions, innovation has flourished with local solutions to local challenges. This seminar explores technology and regulation in the Somali territories of the Horn of Africa. Despite weak or non-existent government institutions, innovation has flourished with local solutions to local challenges. Money transfer companies have been leading the expansion and investments in ICT development. Mobile banking, inexpensive Internet connection, and dozens of media outlets are an unexpected reality in this war-torn region. The seminar explores how ICTs are regulated and the role of the private sector in ICT development.

An assessment of the optimism surrounding the opportunities that social media offer for humanitarian action, drawing on analysis of the phenomenally popular and controversial Kony 2012 campaign. In early March 2012 the Kony 2012 viral video took the world by storm. Attracting over 70 million views in less than a week from its release it was equally criticized and admired as an example of the power of social media. In this talk Madianou assesses the optimism surrounding the opportunities that social media offer for humanitarian action. Drawing on the analysis of the phenomenally popular and controversial Kony 2012 campaign she observes that the architectures of social networking sites orientate action at a communitarian level which heightens their post-humanitarian style (Chouliaraki, 2012). However, an emerging new genre of reporting and commenting, which she has termed 'polymedia events' can potentially extend beyond the limitations of SNS communication by opening up the space for reflexivity and dialogical imagination.

In a development context, the ways in which new media objects (eg ICTs) are defined in relation to other objects, people and institutions map out new figurations of power and connection, that revalue and recombine political agency. Drawing on case study material, this paper focuses on ways in which definitions of 'media' and other technical objects act to promote or prevent 'connection'. In a development context, the ways in which new media objects such as ICTs are defined in relation to other objects, people and institutions map out new figurations of power and connection, or new 'technological zones' (Barry), that revalue and recombine political agency. Consideration of the politics of technology needs to be moved away from seeing ICTs as neutral tools to be enabled or as problematic interventions to be contained; rather, we need to be able to make visible and negotiable the possible communicative assemblages that might be produced.

Dr Thompson addresses some of the opportunities and contradictions presented by ICT4D and considers some emerging ways in which ICT4D researchers may contribute to the field. The discipline of ICT4D has never appeared more, or less, relevant. On the one hand, technology has become unprecedentedly pervasive, plastic, mobile, and cheap; increasingly based on open standards, emerging, platform-based architectures beckon towards an empowered era of development hubs, mashups, and commercial and social enterprise that increasingly offer those in emerging economies an independent, 'continuous beta' of thought and activity. On the other, it might be said that such positive developments challenge those working in ICT4D, and even 'development' itself, to engage in a new way with people who are increasingly 'doing it for themselves'. In this talk, Thompson addresses some of the opportunities and contradictions presented by this tension, and considers some emerging ways in which ICT4D researchers may contribute to the field.