Yanuar Nugroho

A study of the use of mobile phones by older persons

This paper reports on issues related to the use of mobile phones by older people. This study uses triangulation, a mixed method of qualitative (focus group discussions) and quantitative (online questionnaire) approaches. Usage patterns, problems, perceived benefits and desired and unwanted features were covered in this study.

An innovation perspective of knowledge management in a multinational subsidiary

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore the implementation of knowledge management in a telecommunication multinational subsidiary and to investigate factors that affect the performance as well as the impacts.Design/methodology/approach – Innovation perspective informs the identification of the ways in which KM strategies are devised and put into action. Using in‐depth interviews and direct observation, the paper maps some problems associated with the strategy and implementation of KM.Findings – The case shows that the lack of organisation‐wide integrated systems, which is typical across different organisations, does contribute to this problem. However, the main predicament lies with the fact that a KM‐enabling scheme is never explicitly prioritised in the organisations information systems strategy.Practical implications – KM implementation should take into account both technological innovation and organisational innovation. Neglecting one aspect poses apparent danger that the implementation is unlikely to...

Network Dynamics in the Transition to Democracy: Mapping Global Networks of Contemporary Indonesian Civil Society

This paper seeks to make transparent the mutually reinforcing relationships between global civil society, democracy and network society, which are often implicit in extant theories. The concept of a ‘global civil society’ cannot be separated from the promotion of democracy. Global civil society itself is one of the most explicit instances of the emergence of network society in the modern age and democracy lies at the very heart of what constitutes a network society. However, very little has been said about how these apparent mutually reinforcing relationships arise. Focusing on the case of Indonesia during the fraught regime change from authoritarianism to democracy, we investigate the role of transnational and national civil society organisation during the periods of pre-reform, reform and post-reform. Using multi-methods, including social network analysis and interviews with civil society activists and networkers, we discover a less encouraging picture of these relationships and conclude that the forging of this virtuous circle has some obvious gaps. We attempt to account for these apparent gaps in this mutually reinforcing relationship in terms of different modes of political participation. We suggest that some forms of ‘chequebook activism’ characterised the global civil society role during an abrupt and bloody regime change.

Social Media for Development: Outlining Debates, Theory and Praxis

A commonly used definition of social media derived from the business and management litera- ture refers to a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technologi- cal foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010 ). Today there is an extensive literature on the broad social media topic that crosses several disciplines. The literature on business and management has focused on how practitioners may embrace social media technology for knowledge management, forming close bonds with customers and for marketing purposes (e.g. Culnan, McHugh, & Zubillaga, 2010 ). Focused special issues of journals in information systems have improved our understanding of the relationship between social media networks and business transform- ation (Aral, Dellarocas, & Godes, 2013 ; Kane, Alavi, Labianca, & Borgatti, 2014 ). There are also several journals with ongoing discourses on the cultural and political dimensions of social media (see e.g. Information Society, Media Culture and Society and Information Com- munication and Society ). However, to date there has been limited attention specifically to the theoretical and empirical linkage between social media and development. We intend to contrib- ute to the emerging field of social media for development not only by identifying the knowledge gap in this area, but also by offering new avenues which may lead to new conceptual frameworks on social media for development through empirical cases. We also have practical ambitions, that is, addressing business, policy-makers and NGOs, as well as raising the interest of academic col- leagues in the field of ICT for development.

Beyond the Triple Helix: Framing STS in the Developmental Context.

For the past three decades or so, the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) has shed light on the interrelationship between modern science and technology, on one side, and contemporary society, on the other. A majority of this knowledge and insights are situated in the context of Western societies, or more precisely, in economically and technologically advanced societies in Western Europe and North America. However, STS has much to offer to the discourse of science and technology in the Global South, a territory characterized by developmental processes. Insights from different schools of thoughts in STS are arguably not only relevant but also applicable to unveil the root cause of problems that many developing societies are facing today. To make this possible, an STS-informed framework is developed to replace the Triple Helix model, which is currently a dominant perspective that prompts how science, technology, and innovation are structurally organized in the developing world. Two steps are taken in this agenda. First, limitations of the Triple Helix are exposed, and second, a new approach drawing on STS concepts is offered as an alternative model that takes into account structural, cultural, and epistemological features of technoscience.

Spreading the word, broadening perspectives: Internet, NGOs and globalisation discourse in Indonesia

Globalisation is ambivalent. On the one hand, it brings prosperity, comfort and convenience in the form of economic growth, technological advancement, more open and democratic governance, and so forth. On the other hand, there are vast amounts of casualties from its progress, which only benefits some groups or countries. Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in Indonesia have established themselves in pivotal positions in the social, economic and political landscape across the country, and their growth has often been linked with globalisation. But there has been little study to understand how NGOs in Indonesia engage with the issue of globalisation itself. Globalisation has actually just started to become widely discussed among civil society activists in the late 1990s. An empirical study was conducted recently to see how some Indonesian NGOs, in their endeavour to respond to globalisation issues and phenomena, and broadening the discourse on globalisation, utilise Internet technology. The study draws on several case studies to build a detailed story about how different organisations with different concerns deploy strategies to deal with the issue. In addition, the study also tried to portray the big picture of the dynamics of Indonesian NGOs in engaging with Internet technology through an exploratory survey involving some 268 organisations. It was confirmed that although currently there are a number of Indonesian NGOs embracing particular issues and concerns in globalisation, this trend is quite recent. Despite the fact that the globalisation issue is relatively difficult to comprehend at large, Indonesian NGOs seem to be able to incorporate the issues and put it into a wider, more contextual and possibly more relevant perspective. It is argued however, that this situation cannot be just taken for granted for it is in fact another consequence of the organisations adopting information technologies.

Rethinking Strategy and Implementation of Knowledge Management from Innovation Perspective: A Lesson Learned from a Multinational Subsidiary in Indonesia

Facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities ahead in the knowledge economy, managing knowledge has been a priority for many organisations. Knowledge Management (KM) emerges and has quickly gained weight in research both from information systems perspective and management sciences. An amply documented dilemma is the absence of specific implementation guide due to different organisation’s characteristics and strategies. At times, endeavours to integrate KM into the organisation’s strategy and to customise it to meet organisation’s characteristics instead create undesired problems because of its prioritisation. We explore the implementation of KM in a telecommunication multinational subsidiary in Indonesia and investigate factors that affect the performance as well as the impacts. Benefiting from innovation perspective we identify the way KM strategies are devised and put into action. Using in-depth interviews and direct observation, we map some problems associated with the strategy and implementation of KM. We learn in our case that the lack of organisation-wide integrated systems, which is typical across different organisations, does contribute to this problem. However the main predicament lies on the fact that KM enabling scheme is never explicitly prioritised in the organisation’s information systems strategy.

Adoption of the Internet in Rural NGOs in Indonesia - A Study on Internet Appropriation for Rural Sector Reform

Today rural sector reform is a paramount issue in Indonesian development. Yet, different social actors have different perspectives and stances towards it. Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in Indonesia have established themselves in pivotal positions in the social, economic and political landscape across the country, and a large number of their works has often been connected with development in rural sector. But, little has been studied to understand how NGOs in Indonesia, particularly rural NGOs, engage with the issue of rural development itself. With the rural development being one of the oldest issues widely discussed among activists since the early days of the Indonesian NGOs, it is interesting to see how they understand the rural sector reform issue today. An empirical study was conducted recently to see how some Indonesian NGOs, in their endeavour to respond and broaden the discourse, utilise Internet technology. The study employs combination of quantitative and qualitative approach to build a detailed story about how different organisations working in the rural sector reform issue deploy strategies to deal with the issue. By so doing, it aspires to contribute to the advancement of theory relating to the efficacy of Internet as a tool for social reform and development. Two related issues are at stakes. First, amidst everything else, for most NGOs working in rural sector reform, technology is not seen as a compelling issue. Second, the study finds that there is a real need for a further thinking and reflection focusing on what can actually be done with the strategic implementation of the Internet within organisations working in rural issues generally.

Why Does Innovation Matter for Inclusive Development?: Some Evidence from Contemporary Indonesia

Innovation for Inclusive Development (IID) has emerged as a growing interest, bringing together innovation studies and development research. Its basic premise is that innovation can and should play a central role in making development more inclusive. Using the secondary data of 250 initiatives reported by academia, civil society, businesses, and government in Indonesia, along with few selected case studies, this paper aspires to understand the characteristics of IID. We gather a plethora of practices across sectors and actors, geographical contexts, and development agendas. We found that at the core of IID is the attempt to widen people’s access to developmental resources, and to deepen their participation in decision-making and improving their livelihood. Arguing that different perspectives are needed when examining initiatives and their implications at different levels, the paper offers an insight into what makes the IID initiative more likely to succeed or otherwise, and calls for further research in this field.

Seeing the Invisible and Making Sense of It. Scanning, Networks and Scenario Analysis

Yanuar Nugroho - Research Fellow, Institute of Innovation Research, University of Manchester (UK). E-mail: Yanuar.Nugroho@manchester.ac.uk Address: The University of Manchester, Booth Street West, Manchester, M15 6PB, UKOzcan Saritas - Research Fellow, Institute of Innovation Research, University of Manchester (UK). E-mail: Ozcan.Saritas@manchester.ac.uk Address: The University of Manchester, Booth Street West, Manchester, M15 6PB, UKIn parallel with the increasing complexity and uncertainty of social, technological, economic, environmental, political, and value systems (STEEPV), there is a growing need for a systemic approach in Foresight. This paper proposes a methodological approach to demonstrate how the ideas of systems thinking can be applied in Foresight practice. The methodology is based on the joint use of horizon scanning, network analysis, and scenario methods. Horizon Scanning uncovers emerging issues and identifies future surprises and shocks. Network Analysis is a powerful approach to analyzing both the whole system of relations and parts of the system at the same time and hence it reveals the otherwise hidden structural properties of the systems. Network Analysis data allow for the elaboration of a series of Evolutionary Scenarios that not only are capable of giving a snapshot of a particular future, but also explaining the emerging transformation pathways of events and situations from the present into the future as systemic narratives.The main emphasis is given to network analysis as a tool for strengthening systemic foresight base. The authors propose two ways to incorporate Network Analysis in Foresight - by its straightforward inclusion as a methodological tool to analyze foresight data as well as by integrating network perspective into the entire Foresight process. In particular, it is noted that applying Network Analysis allows for better mapping of the issues under scrutiny of the Foresight exercise as well as stakeholders to be involved. During the action phase, network perspective can contribute to set up more effective collaboration and interdisciplinary actions.The application of the described approach is illustrated by the case of «Big Picture Survey» which is aimed at gaining more insights into prospective crucial issues, trends, drivers of change, weak signals, wild cards, and discontinuities, thus informing further ad hoc Foresight studies.