PhD student in Information Systems and Innovation
Research Interests
Thesis: 'The complexities of community participation in rural information systems'
This research explores the concept of community participation in the context of rural IS initiatives. Community participation is frequently called for in order to make initiatives such as telecentres, kiosks, or community radio more successful, contextual, and relevant; thereby, bridging the digital divide. However this raises many questions: who is the community; what is meant by participation; is participation a substitute when actual ownership is not possible; and is participation a top-down concept?
This research looks at five rural information systems projects based at one "community-managed resource centre" in rural south India. These include: community radio played through cable radio and loudspeakers, V-SAT, narrowcasting through tape recorders, IT classes and a touch-screen project. All are donor-funded and managed by an NGO partnership.
Initial findings show that participation is very much a rhetorical concept - all parties (donors, NGOs, intended beneficiaries) agree it is important but in practice. and for many reasons, it is difficult to instil participation in an information-related project. This research uses postcolonial theory to analyze these findings.
Supervisor