Fifteenth Annual SIG – ICT and Global Development Workshop
Hyderabad, India
Sunday, December 10, 2023
Theme: Reflecting on ICT4D achievements
The AIS Special Interest Group for ICT and Global Development (SIG – GlobDev) is proud to sponsor its 15th Annual Workshop. Our theme this year is “Reflecting on ICT4D achievements”.
Over the years, research on information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) has demonstrated the positive impact digital technology has on different dimensions of life – e.g., agriculture practices (Karanasios & Slavova, 2019), cultural identity restoration (Young, 2017), financial inclusion (Joia & dos Santos, 2019), innovation and entrepreneurship (Jiménez & Zheng, 2019), social inclusion (Díaz Andrade & Doolin, 2016). It is time to reflect on how these achievements might result in unintended consequences that affect those who are supposed to benefit from digital technology. The progression of ICT necessitates ongoing training and skill improvement in information systems, fostering human capital and economic growth development, wherein organizational human capital incorporates employees' attributes, and its development is vital within a knowledge-based economy (Kowal & Paliwoda-Pękosz, 2017).
Although disparity in access to digital technology remain an issue in certain pockets of the world, most of today’s population enjoy access to technology – even in the form a rudimentary device. This widespread access to digital technology is creating new challenges that the information systems community should not ignore. These challenges can manifest in different ways. Zheng & Walsham (2008) put forward the notion of ‘unfavorable inclusion’ to describe the situation in which access to technology does not necessarily translate into an expansion of individual capabilities. Díaz Andrade & Techatassanasoontorn (2021) discuss the mechanisms of dispossession individuals suffer when the options to conduct transactions or access services face-to-face are reduced or removed altogether, leaving them with no option other than unwillingly operate in an online (probably unfamiliar) environment or simply being excluded – i.e., ‘digital enforcement’. Heeks (2022) scrutinizes how the growing engagement with digital technology in the Global South exacerbates pre-existing economic, social, and political inequalities, which result in what he labels as an ‘adverse digital incorporation’ situation. Global efforts are essential to address inequalities in less-developed countries for promoting sustainability, emphasizing digital innovations' potential in different crisis-time sustainable development and aiding effective interventions to address the different crisis impact by policymakers and practitioners (Kowal et al., 2022).
In this workshop, we invite researchers and practitioners to reflect on the consequences of the ever-increasing digitalization phenomenon. The workshop will be the platform to discuss how this phenomenon, characterized by the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence and the growing number of digital transformation initiatives (in the private and public sectors), among other manifestations, impact human development in contemporary societies, which are recovering from a devasting pandemic.
References:
Díaz Andrade, A. & Doolin, B. (2016). Information and communication technology and the social inclusion of refugees. MIS Quarterly, 40(2), 405-416.
Díaz Andrade, A., & Techatassanasoontorn, A. A. (2021). Digital enforcement: Rethinking the pursuit of a digitally‐enabled society. Information Systems Journal, 31(1), 184-197.
Heeks, R. (2022). Digital inequality beyond the digital divide: Conceptualizing adverse digital incorporation in the global South. Information Technology for Development, 28(4), 688-704.
Jiménez, A. & Zheng, Y. (2021). Unpacking the multiple spaces of innovation hubs. The Information Society, 37(3), 163-176.
Kowal, J., Duda, E., Dunaj, K., Klebaniuk, J., Mäkiö, J., Pańka, E. & Soja, P. (2022). Digital innovations for sustainable development in the time of crisis. International Journal of Pedagogy, Innovation & New Technologies, 9(2), 2-20.
Kowal, J. & Paliwoda-Pękosz, G. (2017). ICT for global competitiveness and economic growth in emerging economies: Economic, cultural, and social innovations for human capital in transition economies. Information Systems Management, 34(4), 304-307.
Joia, L. A. & dos Santos, R. A. (2019). ICT‐equipped bank boat and the financial inclusion of the riverine population of Marajó Island in the Brazilian Amazon. Information Systems Journal, 29(4), 842-887.
Karanasios, S. & Slavova, M. (2019). How do development actors do “ICT for development”? A strategy‐as‐practice perspective on emerging practices in Ghanaian agriculture. Information Systems Journal, 29(4), 888-913.
Young, A. G. (2018). Using ICT for social good: Cultural identity restoration through emancipatory pedagogy. Information Systems Journal, 28(2), 340-358.
Zheng, Y. & Walsham, G. (2008). Inequality of what? Social exclusion in the e-society as capability deprivation. Information Technology & People, 21(3), 222-243.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Decolonizing information systems research
- Digital innovations in healthcare
- Digital technology and human capital development
- E-democracy, e-participation, e-governance
- Impact of digital technologies on work and identity
- New technologies and sustainability
- Social media’s role in government transparency
- Transformative digital technology in education
- Unintended consequences of digital inclusion
We accept three types of submissions:
- Completed research papers (10 pages, including abstract, figures, tables, and references)
- Research-in-progress papers (5 pages, including abstract, figures, tables, and references)
- Panel proposals (5 pages, including abstract, figures, tables, and references)
You can submit your work through https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=2023sigglobdev. Please note that all submissions to the workshop must be original and not previously published in journals or conference proceedings. Please use the provided submission template.
Authors of accepted submissions should address reviewers’ comments and submit the final version by the set deadline. Accepted paper authors and panel members must register for the workshop and be ready to present their ideas in person. Accepted papers will be included in e-proceedings accessible via the AIS eLibrary.
The workshop will have a single track to maximize interaction and participation. Workshop participants will be charged a nominal registration fee (details will be announced later).
Important dates:
- Manuscript submission deadline: 29/Sep (for all submission types)
- Notifications to authors: 20/Oct (accept, accept with revisions or reject)
- Final decision: 10/Nov (for accept and accept with revisions)
- GlobDev Workshop: 10/Dec
For further details, contact the workshop chairs:
- Antonio Díaz Andrade, University of Agder, Norway – antonio.diaz@uia.no
- Jolanta Kowal, University of Wrocław, Poland – jolanta.kowal@uwr.edu.pl