Dorothea Kleine

Technological Revolution, Evolution and New Dependencies: what's new about ict4d?

Abstract This paper provides an overview of recent developments in the use of information and communication technologies for development, and argues that, while they do indeed offer new potential for resolving some of the classic dilemmas of development policy and practice, insufficient attention has yet been paid to the lessons that can be learnt from previous information and communication initiatives.

The capability approach and the `medium of choice': steps towards conceptualising information and communication technologies for development

Amartya Sen’s capability approach has become increasingly popular in development studies. This paper identifies controllability and operationalisability as two key stumbling blocks which prevent the capability approach from being used even more widely in development practice. It discusses the origins and application of the Choice Framework, a conceptual tool designed to help operationalise the approach. The framework can be used to deconstruct embedded ideologies and analyse the appropriateness of development goals, to map development as a systemic process, and to plan interventions which can result in increased freedom of choice for people. Three examples of the application of the Choice Framework in the field of information and communication for development (ICT4D) are given. The three technologies which are examined, telecentres (Infocentros), Chilecompra and Fair Tracing, can be placed at different places of a determinism continuum, some reducing the spectrum of choices a user has. The paper argues that while frameworks such as the Choice Framework can be developed further to increase the operationalisability of the capability approach, it is up to development funders to accept the fact that people’s choices are never fully predictable and thus Sen’s ‘development as freedom’ will inevitably be a dynamic and open-ended process.

Health Advice from Internet Discussion Forums: How Bad Is Dangerous?

Background Concerns over online health information–seeking behavior point to the potential harm incorrect, incomplete, or biased information may cause. However, systematic reviews of health information have found few examples of documented harm that can be directly attributed to poor quality information found online. Objective The aim of this study was to improve our understanding of the quality and quality characteristics of information found in online discussion forum websites so that their likely value as a peer-to-peer health information–sharing platform could be assessed. Methods A total of 25 health discussion threads were selected across 3 websites (Reddit, Mumsnet, and Patient) covering 3 health conditions (human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], diabetes, and chickenpox). Assessors were asked to rate information found in the discussion threads according to 5 criteria: accuracy, completeness, how sensible the replies were, how they thought the questioner would act, and how useful they thought the questioner would find the replies. Results In all, 78 fully completed assessments were returned by 17 individuals (8 were qualified medical doctors, 9 were not). When the ratings awarded in the assessments were analyzed, 25 of the assessments placed the discussion threads in the highest possible score band rating them between 5 and 10 overall, 38 rated them between 11 and 15, 12 rated them between 16 and 20, and 3 placed the discussion thread they assessed in the lowest rating band (21-25). This suggests that health threads on Internet discussion forum websites are more likely than not (by a factor of 4:1) to contain information of high or reasonably high quality. Extremely poor information is rare; the lowest available assessment rating was awarded only 11 times out of a possible 353, whereas the highest was awarded 54 times. Only 3 of 78 fully completed assessments rated a discussion thread in the lowest possible overall band of 21 to 25, whereas 25 of 78 rated it in the highest of 5 to 10. Quality assessments differed depending on the health condition (chickenpox appeared 17 times in the 20 lowest-rated threads, HIV twice, and diabetes once). Although assessors tended to agree on which discussion threads contained good quality information, what constituted poor quality information appeared to be more subjective. Conclusions Most of the information assessed in this study was considered by qualified medical doctors and nonmedically qualified respondents to be of reasonably good quality. Although a small amount of information was assessed as poor, not all respondents agreed that the original questioner would have been led to act inappropriately based on the information presented. This suggests that discussion forum websites may be a useful platform through which people can ask health-related questions and receive answers of acceptable quality.

ICT4What? - using the Choice Framework to operationalise the capability approach to development

Identifying the specific contribution of the use of ICTs to specific development goals has proven to be extremely difficult. This paper argues that instead of trying to make ICTs fit with a linear conceptualisation of impacts and an often economistic view of development, ICT4D should be used as a prime example of a development process which has to be analysed in a systemic and holistic way. Amartya Sens capability approach offers a way of thinking about development not as economic growth, but as individual freedom. The Choice Framework is presented as a way of operationalising this approach and visualising the elements of a systemic conceptualisation of the development process. An individual case study, related to telecentres in rural Chile, is used to demonstrate the way the Choice Framework can be applied as a guide to a systemic and holistic analysis.

Signifiers of the life we value? – considering human development, technologies and Fair Trade from the perspective of the capabilities approach

This paper argues that the capabilities approach challenges us to co-design technologies with users in a way that expands the freedom of the user to live the life they themselves value. The aim is to show, with the help of a concrete example, our attempt at applying the capabilities approach to an information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) action research project. The objective of the Fair Tracing project was to support both producers and consumers in their decision-making in Fair Trade value chains by using information and communication technologies to provide them with information. Based on survey data, formal and informal interviews, group meetings, accompanied shopping and a design workshop with potential users, the project applied the bottom-up, participatory approach to technology design that the capabilities approach demands. Key challenges that were encountered included the competing capabilities of making informed buying decisions and of having more time. Action research and participatory design create important and challenging test settings for introducing the capabilities approach in ICT4D work. Annika Andersson, Åke Grönlund and Gudrun Wicander are the accepting Guest Editors for this article.

Performing Charlotte: A Technique to Bridge Cultures in Participatory Design

This article describes the use of a performed persona as a device in cross-cultural design activities. The device serves to elicit knowledge and manage expectations in the context of participatory design workshops to explore the purpose and function of a tool for tracing the supply chain of ethical goods from producer to consumer. The use of the method with the staff of a wine producer in Chile is analyzed and the benefits and challenges identified in using the form live in workshops. The authors conclude that the device offers potential but also requires some confidence and skill to invoke.

Beyond the “deficit discourse”: Mapping ethical consumption discourses in Chile and Brazil

This article challenges the longstanding trend of much empirical material on ethical consumption originating from the global North, offering instead rich data on ethical consumption and practices in Chile and Brazil. Drawing on data generated from 32 in-depth focus groups (179 participants in total) in both countries, the article identifies similarities and differences between these two countries and with the global North. We identify how ethical consumption in Chile and Brazil is conceptualized mainly at two different scales, namely first, the everyday ethics of consumption at household scale and, second, a more global scale of discourse on environmental problems and the negative effects of globalisation. At the household scale, narrative themes include those of prudence, of avoiding overconsumption, family health, and focus on quality. At a more national and international scale, respondents from all classes in both countries discussed labour conditions associated with Chinese imports. Further, particularly university-educated and well-travelled respondents had adopted international environmentalist discourses. Employing a relational geography to discourses, the article calls for research to both include and transcend cross-country comparisons, and binaries of global North and South.

The value of social theories for global computing

Conceptual toolkits for projects that work.