At the intersection of China’s growing global presence and growing digital power lies its digital expansion in the low- and middle-income countries of the global South. Worth billions of US$ annually in trade and investment, and having a... more
At the intersection of China’s growing global presence and growing digital power lies its digital expansion in the low- and middle-income countries of the global South. Worth billions of US$ annually in trade and investment, and having a significant impact on these countries’ social and economic development, this phenomenon has been relatively ignored by research to date. However, it has nonetheless now been sufficiently studied to warrant a systematic literature review, the results of which are reported in this paper. The paper has two aims: to identify what is already known about China’s digital expansion in the global South and, from this, to outline a future research agenda.
After characterising the features, research design and perspectives within current literature, the paper overviews China’s digital expansion. It outlines this expansion’s synergies, tensions, strategies, design and implementation approaches, and evidence about development impact on global South countries. The paper explores two domain-specific issues arising in the literature: whether China is exporting “digital authoritarianism”, and the implications of China’s growing digital presence for digital governance at both global and national levels. The paper ends by laying out a six-part research agenda for future investigation of China’s digital expansion in the global South: more Southern voices, updating the scope of research, moving beyond the “Team China” monolith, steering between Chinese exceptionalism and identicalism, evaluating development impact, and local agency in a “digital Cold War”.
After characterising the features, research design and perspectives within current literature, the paper overviews China’s digital expansion. It outlines this expansion’s synergies, tensions, strategies, design and implementation approaches, and evidence about development impact on global South countries. The paper explores two domain-specific issues arising in the literature: whether China is exporting “digital authoritarianism”, and the implications of China’s growing digital presence for digital governance at both global and national levels. The paper ends by laying out a six-part research agenda for future investigation of China’s digital expansion in the global South: more Southern voices, updating the scope of research, moving beyond the “Team China” monolith, steering between Chinese exceptionalism and identicalism, evaluating development impact, and local agency in a “digital Cold War”.
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Report on case studies of ICT-enterprise ???Kudumbashree??? incubators in Kerala, India, including handbooks and best practice guidelines for support agencies.
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What has changed in the decade or so since the ideas of a new “ICT4D 2.0” phase were first mooted? This paper reviews those changes, based on a new framework model. At a foundational level, it looks at recent and current trends in digital... more
What has changed in the decade or so since the ideas of a new “ICT4D 2.0” phase were first mooted? This paper reviews those changes, based on a new framework model. At a foundational level, it looks at recent and current trends in digital technologies, data, processes and the implications these have for the user demographics and network structures that underpin the role of digital ICTs in international development. It then summarises some of the new building blocks of development: digital roles, digital products and digital business models. We could call what is emerging “ICT4D 3.0.” However, this paper argues that the changes are such that we could talk of a paradigmatic shift and suggests that the elements could be collated as a new “digital‐for‐development” paradigm. Part 2 of this paper explores the patterns of change in the economy and in politics that may be associated with this paradigm.
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Since the year 2000, there has been a significant growth in the ICT4D component of South Korea's aid programme. Given Korea's ICT capabilities and demands for ICT4D support from developing nations, this may make good sense. In... more
Since the year 2000, there has been a significant growth in the ICT4D component of South Korea's aid programme. Given Korea's ICT capabilities and demands for ICT4D support from developing nations, this may make good sense. In this paper, though, we analyse a little deeper, starting to ask some initial questions about underlying perspectives and actual performance. We provide an overview of ICT4D expenditure levels, programmes, and key actors. We then reflect field data to date, which suggests some question marks over Korea's telecentre projects, some potential inequity in impacts, and a focus on Korean production of ICT goods and services. We analyse Korean ICT4D in terms of some basic concepts to find it associated with technological‐determinism and techno‐optimism, with the modernisation paradigm, with tied aid, and with the potential for creating dependency. However, Korea may not be unique among ICT4D actors in this and, in some ways, its techno‐optimism may be a us...
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This paper looks at the intersection of two growing trends in international development – use of justice in development theory, and use of data in development practice – and asks what data-justice-for-development would mean. The rationale... more
This paper looks at the intersection of two growing trends in international development – use of justice in development theory, and use of data in development practice – and asks what data-justice-for-development would mean. The rationale for this can be the presence of current data injustices in developing countries, and different framings for data injustice point to three different mainstream perspectives on data justice: instrumental, procedural, and distributive/rights-based. These three perspectives are explained but they are also subject to small data, sustainability, Senian, and structural critiques. A full understanding of the mainstream perspectives and conceptualisation of the critiques is largely the task of a future research agenda. However, the paper does particularly argue that a structural approach should be the foundation for understanding data justice in a development context. It offers three potential ways to conceptualise structural data justice – through the idea...
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It was written by a team from Manchester, England, who–between them–have more than fifty years' experience of working in ICTs and development. The handbook was written from data collected in a research project on women's... more
It was written by a team from Manchester, England, who–between them–have more than fifty years' experience of working in ICTs and development. The handbook was written from data collected in a research project on women's ICT-based enterprises funded by the UK Department for International Development: views expressed here are those of the authors and not those of DFID. Data has been drawn from a variety of developing countries, particularly via the project's dGroup workspace, and from an international workshop held ...
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Creative Commons Licence You are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit this work); and to adapt this work under the following conditions: Attribution: you must attribute the work by identifying both the sponsor/licensor... more
Creative Commons Licence You are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit this work); and to adapt this work under the following conditions: Attribution: you must attribute the work by identifying both the sponsor/licensor (IDRC) and authors (but not in any way that ...
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The positive deviance approach in international development scales practices and strategies of positively-deviant individuals and groups: those who are able to achieve significantly better development outcomes than their peers despite... more
The positive deviance approach in international development scales practices and strategies of positively-deviant individuals and groups: those who are able to achieve significantly better development outcomes than their peers despite having similar resources and challenges. This approach relies mainly on traditional data sources (e.g. surveys and interviews) for identifying those positive deviants and for discovering their successful solutions. The growing availability of non-traditional digital data (e.g. from remote sensing and mobile phones) relating to individuals, communities and spaces enables data innovation opportunities for positive deviance. Such datasets can identify deviance at geographic and temporal scales that were not possible before. But guidance is needed on how this new data can be employed in the positive deviance approach, and how it can be combined with more traditional data to gain deeper, more meaningful, and context-aware insights. This paper presents such guidance through a data-powered method that combines both traditional and non-traditional data to identify and understand positive deviance in new ways and domains. This method has been developed iteratively through six development projects covering five different domains – sustainable cattle ranching, agricultural productivity, rangeland management, research performance, crime control – with global and local development partners in six countries. The projects combine different types of non-traditional data with official statistics, administrative data and interviews. Here, we describe a structured method for data-powered positive deviance developed from the experience of these projects, and we reflect on lessons learned. We hope to encourage and guide greater use of this new method; enabling development practitioners to make more effective use of the non-traditional digital datasets that are increasingly available.
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The gig economy – a market system using digital platforms that matches workers and customers for short-term work opportunities – has spread rapidly worldwide, including in the global South. Despite significant research on this phenomenon... more
The gig economy – a market system using digital platforms that matches workers and customers for short-term work opportunities – has spread rapidly worldwide, including in the global South. Despite significant research on this phenomenon across multiple disciplines, relatively little work has been undertaken from the perspective of development studies and using core development theories.
This paper analyses the development impact of the gig economy using Sen’s capability approach, operationalised through a framework of five freedoms: economic, political, social, informational and security. These freedoms were developed into a set of core capabilities deemed important for gig workers. Using this set as a framework, we gathered data from gig workers working for Uber and Zomato in India, and from secondary sources on gig work in India.
Some workers were able to realise capabilities such as decent income, freedom from ill-health and exclusion, and skill development. However, others were not, and there were general constraints on achievement of capabilities such as flexible working, freedom of association, information accessibility, social protection, and freedom from harm. On this basis we recommend ways to improve the development of freedoms through gig work.
The contribution here is not so much in exposing unknown features of gig work in the global South. Instead, we show how applying this development theory can enable a direct connection from gig work to development discourse; we develop a systematic and customisable framework for application of capability theory to gig work; and we show the new perspectives on gig work that a capability approach offers in terms of the role of context and choice, the differential value attributed to different freedoms, and the way in which those freedoms are interconnected.
This paper analyses the development impact of the gig economy using Sen’s capability approach, operationalised through a framework of five freedoms: economic, political, social, informational and security. These freedoms were developed into a set of core capabilities deemed important for gig workers. Using this set as a framework, we gathered data from gig workers working for Uber and Zomato in India, and from secondary sources on gig work in India.
Some workers were able to realise capabilities such as decent income, freedom from ill-health and exclusion, and skill development. However, others were not, and there were general constraints on achievement of capabilities such as flexible working, freedom of association, information accessibility, social protection, and freedom from harm. On this basis we recommend ways to improve the development of freedoms through gig work.
The contribution here is not so much in exposing unknown features of gig work in the global South. Instead, we show how applying this development theory can enable a direct connection from gig work to development discourse; we develop a systematic and customisable framework for application of capability theory to gig work; and we show the new perspectives on gig work that a capability approach offers in terms of the role of context and choice, the differential value attributed to different freedoms, and the way in which those freedoms are interconnected.
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Given the growing salience of digital transformation within international development, this paper presents the results of a systematic literature review on “digital-transformation-for-development” (DX4D). Using a variety of different... more
Given the growing salience of digital transformation within international development, this paper presents the results of a systematic literature review on “digital-transformation-for-development” (DX4D). Using a variety of different search terms, a corpus of 75 papers was analysed.
This paper presents general features of the literature and the research designs used. The main analysis consists of 13 principles that can be used as a starting point to guide a better understanding and operationalisation of digital-transformation-for-development research and consulting. The paper ends with a brief outline of future DX4D research priorities.
This paper presents general features of the literature and the research designs used. The main analysis consists of 13 principles that can be used as a starting point to guide a better understanding and operationalisation of digital-transformation-for-development research and consulting. The paper ends with a brief outline of future DX4D research priorities.
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The body of research on gig workers, their lived experiences and their strategies to adapt to gig work has grown steadily in the past decade. However, few studies provide depth and detail on ways in which the social, cultural, political,... more
The body of research on gig workers, their lived experiences and their strategies to adapt to gig work has grown steadily in the past decade. However, few studies provide depth and detail on ways in which the social, cultural, political, and economic context within which gig platforms operate impacts the experiences, perceptions and reactions of workers, with particular lacunae around experiences of workers in the global South. We take an exploratory and analytical approach to examine the lived experiences of workers and the role of such contextual factors in India’s ride-hailing sector. Deriving an initial conceptual framework from existing literature, we draw upon both primary and secondary data to refine it further through the identification of additional constructs and overarching factors that shape driver experiences.
We find that an extended ecosystem view of the gig economy and socio-economic parameters such as the Indian labour market are crucial overarching contextual factors that influence management processes as well as worker experiences. In addition, driver tenure and socio-economic background as well as evolution of their psychological contract with the platform organisation over time are some of the constructs that have a profound impact on their lived experiences. We use our results and analysis to provide a future research agenda for those studying the gig economy with the aim of promoting rich, multi-perspective, cross-cutting studies that can account for the heterogeneous socio-economic and cultural environment within which gig economies operate. Our findings are also essential for policymakers, regulatory bodies, governments, and the gig organisations themselves to ensure that they collaboratively make the right choices for the growth of a sustainable gig economy that provides value for communities, workers, clients, and users along with the platform organizations.
We find that an extended ecosystem view of the gig economy and socio-economic parameters such as the Indian labour market are crucial overarching contextual factors that influence management processes as well as worker experiences. In addition, driver tenure and socio-economic background as well as evolution of their psychological contract with the platform organisation over time are some of the constructs that have a profound impact on their lived experiences. We use our results and analysis to provide a future research agenda for those studying the gig economy with the aim of promoting rich, multi-perspective, cross-cutting studies that can account for the heterogeneous socio-economic and cultural environment within which gig economies operate. Our findings are also essential for policymakers, regulatory bodies, governments, and the gig organisations themselves to ensure that they collaboratively make the right choices for the growth of a sustainable gig economy that provides value for communities, workers, clients, and users along with the platform organizations.
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The positive deviance approach in international development scales practices and strategies of positively-deviant individuals and groups: those who are able to achieve significantly better development outcomes than their peers despite... more
The positive deviance approach in international development scales practices and strategies of positively-deviant individuals and groups: those who are able to achieve significantly better development outcomes than their peers despite having similar resources and challenges. This approach relies mainly on traditional data sources (e.g. surveys and interviews) for identifying those positive deviants and for discovering their successful solutions. The growing availability of non-traditional digital data (e.g. from remote sensing and mobile phones) relating to individuals, communities and spaces enables data innovation opportunities for positive deviance. Such datasets can identify deviance at geographic and temporal scales that were not possible before. But guidance is needed on how this new data can be employed in the positive deviance approach, and how it can be combined with more traditional data to gain deeper, more meaningful, and context-aware insights.
This paper presents such guidance through a data-powered method that combines both traditional and non-traditional data to identify and understand positive deviance in new ways and domains. This method has been developed iteratively through six development projects covering five different domains – sustainable cattle ranching, agricultural productivity, rangeland management, research performance, crime control – with global and local development partners in six countries. The projects combine different types of non-traditional data with official statistics, administrative data and interviews. Here, we describe a structured method for data-powered positive deviance developed from the experience of these projects, and we reflect on lessons learned. We hope to encourage and guide greater use of this new method; enabling development practitioners to make more effective use of the non-traditional digital datasets that are increasingly available.
This paper presents such guidance through a data-powered method that combines both traditional and non-traditional data to identify and understand positive deviance in new ways and domains. This method has been developed iteratively through six development projects covering five different domains – sustainable cattle ranching, agricultural productivity, rangeland management, research performance, crime control – with global and local development partners in six countries. The projects combine different types of non-traditional data with official statistics, administrative data and interviews. Here, we describe a structured method for data-powered positive deviance developed from the experience of these projects, and we reflect on lessons learned. We hope to encourage and guide greater use of this new method; enabling development practitioners to make more effective use of the non-traditional digital datasets that are increasingly available.
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Research and development are central to economic growth, and a key challenge for countries of the global South is that their research performance lags behind that of the global North. Yet, among Southern researchers, a few significantly... more
Research and development are central to economic growth, and a key challenge for countries of the global South is that their research performance lags behind that of the global North. Yet, among Southern researchers, a few significantly outperform their peers and can be styled research “positive deviants” (PDs). In this paper we ask: who are those PDs, what are their characteristics and how are they able to overcome some of the challenges facing researchers in the global South? We examined a sample of 203 information systems researchers in Egypt who were classified into PDs and non-PDs (NPDs) through an analysis of their publication and citation data. Based on six citation metrics, we were able to identify and group 26 PDs. We then analysed their attributes, attitudes, practices, and publications using a mixed-methods approach involving interviews, a survey and analysis of publication-related datasets. Two predictive models were developed using partial least squares regression; the ...
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Enabled by ICTs and digital fabrication tools such as 3D printing, and facilitated by shared workspaces such as makerspaces and FabLabs, digital innovation and fabrication networks (DIFNs) are emerging globally. To open the debate on this... more
Enabled by ICTs and digital fabrication tools such as 3D printing, and facilitated by shared workspaces such as makerspaces and FabLabs, digital innovation and fabrication networks (DIFNs) are emerging globally. To open the debate on this nascent phenomenon in the global South, this paper examines the current state of knowledge and offers future research directions. Through a systematic scoping review of 70 articles, it identifies a need for more empirical and more conceptualised research, particularly on under-researched regions including Latin America, Africa and most of Asia. Three research topic areas are identified for immediate attention: the nature of production processes within DIFNs; the relationship between DIFNs and the wider innovation systems within which they sit; and the tension between the open and closed worldviews manifest in DIFNs.
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Gold farming is the production of virtual goods and services for players of online games. It consists of real-world sales of in-game currency and associated items, including “high-level” game characters. These are created by... more
Gold farming is the production of virtual goods and services for players of online games. It consists of real-world sales of in-game currency and associated items, including “high-level” game characters. These are created by “playborers”—workers employed to play in-game—whose output is sold for real money through various Web sites in so-called “real-money trading.”
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Many of our readers are busy managers who want a clear, concise overview of computing topics. Recognising this, the Commonwealth Secretariat has commissioned two" Five-Minute Guides" that provide just such an... more
Many of our readers are busy managers who want a clear, concise overview of computing topics. Recognising this, the Commonwealth Secretariat has commissioned two" Five-Minute Guides" that provide just such an overview. The guide on" Information Systems Strategy" is included below. The second guide-on" Computerising Management Information Systems"-will appear in the next issue of the journal.