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In this editorial, I advance the point that a design justice perspective constitutes an important addition to the conceptual armory of ICT for Development (ICT4D) research. This perspective illuminates how injustice, rather than arising as an unintended consequence of inclusion into digital systems, can be directly embedded in the design of sociotechnical artifacts. At the same time, it enables us to imagine routes to infuse justice into artifacts' architecture, as illustrated by recent works in and beyond the ICT4D discipline. I first illustrate a design justice perspective and its potential for ICT4D, then introduce the seven papers published in this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial introduces the core message and contributions of the Special Issue on Feminist and Queer Approaches to ICT4D. We contextualize our Call for Papers and the published works against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and the #MeToo and women's marches movements. We also place this Special Issue in the context of adverse digital incorporation, which characterizes present-day ICT4D research and further highlights the importance of a feminist and queer lens within its landscape. We develop a conceptual apparatus to articulate such a lens, integrating feminist and queer theory with views of data justice, algorithmic resistance, decolonial theorization, and the digital technologies in solidarity-making. Using this framework, we present the seven papers from this Special Issue, highlighting their synergies, but also their unique contributions to a feminist and queer view of ICT4D. We conclude with potential future research paths inspired by this Special Issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial advances the point that a dialectic of oppression and liberation, implicit in a multiplicity of objects of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) research, qualifies as a distinctive feature of the present and future of the ICT4D field. This point builds on Qureshi's argument that the notion of 'digital transformation for development' plays a twofold role, at the intersection between enhancement of human capital and intensification of oppression over structurally silenced groups. First I illuminate the traits of a dialectic of oppression and liberation, as they are reflected in research debates that the ICT4D field has recently engaged. I then reflect on how the papers in this issue portray this dialectic, at the same time joining long-standing themes of ICT4D research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the "dark side" of information technology (IT) is becoming diffused in the information systems (IS) field. Focused on the negative consequences of IT on individuals, organizations and the society, such a literature has, however, neglected the contribution of ICT4D research to the debate. This paper draws on two streams of research—respectively, on digital identity systems for social protection and biometric humanitarianism—to highlight the limits of the notion of a "dark side" of IT. Using a design justice lens, it illuminates how adverse features can be purposefully designed into technology, directly producing the detrimental outcomes that cause harm on its users. Through this perspective, the notion of a "dark side" of IT is contrasted with that of a "dark matter" pointing to the substantial, rather than accidental, nature of harm generated through IT. Implications are drawn for IS research, highlighting how existing works from the ICT4D field support the "dark matter" thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With this research opinion article, we aim to contribute to the ongoing conversation concerning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the IS community. Following Windeler et al.'s (2020) research on perceptions of DEI among members of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), we focus on how conferences should be convened in the post‐COVID‐19 era to maximise inclusivity. What are the benefits, challenges and implications of holding online and hybrid conferences? Informed by feedback from a survey involving IS scholars in the Global South and from a wide array of AIS senior scholars and conference leaders, we identify several challenges and opportunities of online and hybrid conferences (or, more generally, conferences allowing remote access) for the IS community. We weigh these tradeoffs and implications for DEI and provide reflections to generate constructive discussion on the future of AIS conferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories used in the Information Systems (IS) field come in large majority from authors based in Western countries, a bias that holds for critical theories as well. Such a bias is made more problematic by the mandate of critical theory, which is meant exactly to illuminate the oppressive conditions of the status quo. Against this backdrop, this paper explores the subalternity theory approach – developed by the Subaltern Studies collective from the early 1980s – as an indigenous theory that, proposing a socially and geographically connotated narration of 'history from below', can play a major role in the effort to decolonise critical IS research. By positioning subaltern theory in the IS field, the paper offers an alternative to the Western hegemony of critical theories, exploring the potential of such an alternative to voice systematically silenced and marginalised perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital identity systems are usually viewed as datafiers of existing populations. Yet a platform view finds limited space in the digital identity discourse, with the result that the platform features of digital identity systems are not seen in relation to their surveillance outcomes. In this commentary I illuminate how the core platform properties of digital identity systems afford the undue surveillance of vulnerable groups, leading users into the binary condition of either registering and being profiled, or giving up essential benefits from providers of development programmes. By doing so I contest the "dark side" narrative often applied to digital identity, arguing that, rather than just a side, it is the very inner matter of digital identity platforms that enables surveillance outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of knowledge in Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) research has been characterized by an ongoing shift from dominantly Western-based to Indigenous theory formulations. This editorial puts forward core concepts in the decolonization of ICT4D, arguing that these are fundamental to the creation, reading, and interpretation of ICT4D knowledge. Drawing on a decolonial read of the articles published in Vol. 28.3, we advance the argument that decolonizing ICT4D, rather than simply a means to read and analyze data, is an emancipatory practice to be adopted in an open challenge to Western-centric modes of doing ICT4D research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patching Development' is a theory of change, and more specifically a theory of what leads to change in anti-poverty schemes whose enactment conditions the lives of millions of people. A software-inspired terminology, a contribution to literatures that go from public policy to information and communication technology for development (ICT4D), but first of all a concept that constructs a new theory of change: this is Veeraraghavan's book, and these are just some of the many theoretical facets that the reader encounters. With many identities combined in one, laboriously-built ethnographic text, the reader turns the final page having gained a theoretical account positioned to shape the history of social protection in development studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Globally, it is estimated that half of all people with diabetes are undiagnosed. Because of the well-documented bidirectional link between diabetes and periodontitis, dentists and dental hygienists may have the possibility to screen a targeted population for diabetes during routine dental visits. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of one device for diagnosis of diabetes/prediabetes used in one private dental practice and investigate the correlation between the levels of HbA1c and periodontal parameters. Methods. Periodontal patients that were never diagnosed with diabetes were asked to fill a risk assessment questionnaire for type 2 diabetes mellitus. PD, CAL, FMBS%, FMPS%, and HbA1c through a prick-finger test were measured before and after periodontal therapy or only once in patients following supportive periodontal therapy. Results. A total of 98 subjects were screened, and among them, one had diabetes and 30 had prediabetes. The mean value of HbA1c was 5.62% for patients with untreated periodontitis and 5.42% for periodontally treated patients. The diagnosis of diabetes resulted to be correlated to FMBS% and FMPS%, while HbA1c levels were correlated to FMBS%, FMPS%, and periodontitis grade. Conclusion. The present chairside diabetes-screening protocol allowed a consistent proportion of patients to become aware of their pathological or prepathological condition and to seek proper and timely medical care. Thus, dentists and dental hygienists could provide health promotion services and preventive measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to compare two minimally invasive surgical techniques (MISTs) for the treatment of periodontal defects: (1) guided tissue regeneration (GTR) using resorbable minimembrane and particulate xenograft (DBBM); and (2) inductive periodontal regeneration (IPR) using enamel matrix derivatives and DBBM. A sample of 20 infrabony periodontal defects in 20 patients were randomly assigned to either the GTR or the IPR group. A followup was performed at 12 months postoperative. Significant improvement in clinical parameters was observed in both groups, although no intergroup differences were found. MIST with GTR or IPR demonstrated very good outcomes 1 year after surgery, with no differences between treatment groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital identity platforms are widely regarded as important means to improve social protection systems. Yet these platforms have been implicated in the production of a range of unintended outcomes for development beneficiaries. To clarify how digital identity platforms enable the production of one such outcome that we call degenerative, because it causes target systems to deteriorate, we conduct a case study of the incorporation of Aadhaar, the world's largest digital identity platform, in India's primary food security scheme. Based on the data from two South Indian states, we show how the incorporation produced degenerative effects in the access, monitoring, and policy layers of the social protection system. These effects lead us to theorise how Aadhaar enabled the degenerative outcome via exclusion, distortion, and redirection, making public distribution of subsidised goods displaceable in favour of cash transfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voicing systematically marginalised communities is a problem historically posed in the media and communications field, in terms of de-Westernisation and, more radically, cosmopolitanism. Such a problem has been magnified in the COVID-19 pandemic, with narratives from systematically devoiced communities - ranging from migrants to informal workers, ethnic minorities, economically poor people, and survivors of domestic violence - remaining untold. Recognising the need for a conceptual apparatus to voice the silenced narratives of the pandemic, this paper conducts two tasks: first, it crafts a theoretical apparatus of three devices (data at the margins; data poverty; and the datafication of anti-poverty programmes) to conceptualise COVID-19 stories from the margins. Second, it applies such a theoretical apparatus to a map of five problems (counting in the pandemic; new inequalities and vulnerabilities; datafied social protection; data injustices; solidarity and resistance from below) opened by discussion on COVID-19 from the margins. By doing so it offers a conceptual lens responding to the call for cosmopolitanism in media and communications, applying it to the study of COVID-19 narrations from the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We pursue three main objectives in this editorial for the Special Issue on Identification in a Digital Age: Implications for Development. After outlining the motivations that led us to launch this Special Issue call, we first propose a framework to map the theoretical link between digital identity and human development, articulated in three dimensions linking digital identity to expected development outcomes. Secondly, we present the seven papers in this collection in terms of how they problematise such a link, observing how each of them uses empirical data to increase existing knowledge on this connection and question it. Thirdly, we leverage insights from these contributions to put forward a research agenda on digital identity and human development, suggesting possible avenues to engage with this topic and ultimately, framing digital identity as an object of ICT4D research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this consecutive series, 14 patients with severe intrabony defects and pathologic tooth migration were treated with guided tissue regeneration (GTR) and subsequent orthodontic therapy in an attempt to evaluate the validity of this multidisciplinary approach. Probing pocket depths (PPD), clinical attachment levels (CAL), and gingival recessions were assessed at baseline, 1 year after GTR, and at the end of orthodontic therapy. Radiographs were obtained at all time points. Esthetic parameters were recorded with the papilla presence index (PPI). Statistical analyses were carried out to compare the data at each time point. From baseline to 1 year after GTR, the mean PPD reduction was 5.57 mm, with a residual mean PPD of 2.71 mm; mean CAL gain was 5.86 mm. Both differences were statistically significant. There were no statistically significant differences between 1 year after GTR and the end of orthodontic therapy (mean PPD reduction 0.07 mm; mean CAL gain 0.43 mm). The reduction in PPI reflected the enhancement of papilla height that was observed in 9 of the 14 patients. Within the limits of this research, this study affirms the possibility of a combined orthodontic-periodontal approach that prevents damaging the regenerated periodontal apparatus and produces esthetic improvements as a result of realignments and enhancement of papilla height. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to illuminate the significance of datafication for anti-poverty programmes, meaning social protection schemes designed specifically for poor people. The conversion of beneficiary populations into machine-readable data enables two core functions of social protection, those of recognising entitled beneficiaries and assigning entitlements connected to each anti-poverty scheme. Drawing on the incorporation of Aadhaar, India's biometric population database, in the national agenda for social protection, we unpack a techno-rational perspective that crafts datafication as a means to enhance the effectiveness of anti-poverty schemes. Nevertheless, narratives collected in the field show multiple forms of data injustice on recipients, underpinned by Aadhaar's functionality for a shift of the social protection agenda from in-kind subsidies to cash transfers. Based on such narratives the paper introduces a politically embedded view of data, framing datafication as a transformative force that contributes to reforming existing anti-poverty schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does decentralisation promote clientelism? If yes, through which mechanisms? We answer these questions through an analysis of India's (and the world's) largest workfare programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), in two Indian states: Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh (AP). The two states adopted radically different implementation models: Rajasthan's decentralised one stands in contrast with Andhra Pradesh's centralised and bureaucracy-led model. Using a mixed method approach, we find that in both states local implementers have incentives to distribute MGNREGA work in a clientelistic fashion. However, in Rajasthan, these incentives are stronger, because of the decentralised implementation model. Accordingly, our quantitative evidence shows that clientelism is more serious a problem in Rajasthan than in AP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for formulation of solid explanatory theories is heightened in information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) by the high incidence of failure, which involves substantial costs for the countries affected. A core argument of this paper is that a critical realist ontology offers intellectual tools that can ground the formulation of causal theory in ICT4D. The paper illustrates such potential through the case study of India's Unique Identity Project (Aadhaar), which Indian states are increasingly using within their anti‐poverty programmes. Following a critical realist retroductive methodology, the paper seeks to explain the incorporation of Aadhaar into India's main food security system, the Public Distribution System; an incorporation somewhat paradoxical given the mistrust often associated with biometric infrastructures in social protection. Critical realism allows construction of a theory of trust‐building in Aadhaar, based on mechanisms of institutionalisation (state governments framing Aadhaar as a core institutional means to receive benefits) and image formation (authorities systemically associating Aadhaar with an image of effective pro‐poor reform). Based on primary and secondary data collected over the course of six years, this paper contributes a theoretical explanation of an important phenomenon in Indian development, and illustrates how a critical realist philosophy is instrumental in building the type of causal theory that is needed in ICT4D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between e-governance and accountability of state administrations for service provision has been problematized in the literature to date. However, little is known about its application to anti-poverty programmes, of which public workfare schemes are an increasingly important subset. In this paper, we fill the gap with a study of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), India’s largest workfare scheme, as it is being computerized in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. A state-level information system was devised to ensure transparency of transactions, and hence combat the illicit diversion of the programme’s funds to non-entitled recipients. But while doing so, the system carries a policy of centralization, which concentrates decision-making power in the hands of a limited set of actors rather than distributing it across the programme’s stakeholders. In particular the Field Assistants, appointed officials responsible for the village-level management of the scheme, have direct control on the information inputted in the system, which reinforces their position of authority rather than challenging it in favour of greater empowerment of wageseekers. Furthermore, wage payments are traced by the information system till they reach the disbursement agencies, but are prone to capture in the ‘last mile’ where workers collect their salaries, which results in greater vulnerability for them. As a result, MGNREGA workers are constructed by the new information system as sheerbeneficiariesrather than activeparticipantsin the programme, which concurs to crystallizing existing power structures rather than resulting in wageseekers’ empowerment. Lessons are drawn for other states currently computerizing their social safety nets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction to the Special Section sets out the rationale for our focus on gender, mobile, and mobile Internet. We explain our aims in planning a dedicated section and introduce each of the four selected articles across different country contexts. We examine how these articles juxtapose the theory and practice of empowerment. Finally, we raise issues with the way that empowerment is used and applied in ICTD work and we draw on Cornwall's framework to support our view that access for women (an often-used variable) is not always accompanied by changes in law, policy, or men's and women's consciousness or practices; therefore, access does not de facto lead to empowerment. It is this space that we believe needs further exploration. A focus on access and digital literacy for women, while important, is not in itself a sufªciently meaningful criterion for empowerment through mobiles and mobile Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On a global scale, programmes of social protection for the poor are becoming increasingly computerised, and architectures of biometric recognition are being widely used in this respect. I research how these architectures, adopted in anti-poverty systems, structure ways to ‘see the state’ for citizens living in poverty. To do so I study India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) in Kerala, which is augmenting its main food security scheme with the computerised recognition of its users. In the government’s narrative, biometric technology is depicted as an optimal solution to the illicit diversion of PDS goods on the market. Nevertheless, according to the multiple narratives collected across the state, beneficiaries dispute this view in different ways because of the mixed effects of the new technology on their entitlements under the PDS. The government’s capability to reconstruct its image through digital innovation is thus found to be constrained by citizens’ perceptions derived from their encounters with the new technology of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The theory of design-reality gaps is an extant framework to explain failure of information systems in developing nations. This paper problematizes the nature of failure, with a particular focus on situations in which well-implemented systems, apparently corresponding to users' views of reality, still fail to meet the expectations of their key stakeholders. To extend existing theory on this phenomenon, I advance a diagnostic model to identify the root causes of design-reality gaps. The model is illustrated through a case study of the Ration Card Management System in Kerala, South India: by capturing the causal chains underlying design-reality gaps, the model sets to trace the origins of failure, and the processes through which it is ultimately determined. The model I propose is both explanatory and normative, as it elicits causes of failure and serves as a basis to combat them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of e-governance for poverty reduction has become a central theme in the area of ICTs for development (ICT4D). Yet, the intertwining between technology design and the political agendas behind it still needs to be theorized more explicitly, from both an analytical and a normative perspective. To this end, we study the dynamics underlying computerization of the Public Distribution System (the largest food security programme in India) in the state of Karnataka, and the ways in which ICTs mediate access of beneficiaries to the scheme. Preliminary findings suggest that technology, rather than simply pursuing more effective programme delivery, is designed to advance specific political agendas, which embody clear assumptions on the roots of food insecurity, and on the ideal ways in which these should be tackled. This commentary, based on research in progress, outlines our preliminary considerations towards a theory of technology for poverty reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The critical role of the information intermediary in supporting community participation in telecenters and community multimedia centers [CMCs] has been recognized for some time. However, the literature has largely taken a neutral/ positive perspective (that the center manager/staff are necessary social connectors and should ensure equitable access) or a negative one (that they may replicate hierarchies, be unwilling to help, or direct users toward "undesirable" information). Drawing on how identities are embedded within and formed by networks, this article takes a third perspective: Telecenter and CMC information intermediaries are in the complex positions of brokers and translators, and their roles are constantly negotiated and performed within multiple, dynamic, and constructed networks. This interpretive, narrative analysis of interviews with the center manager and staff at Voices CMC in India illustrates that intermediaries can be in an ontologically insecure position, bridging these multiple networks, but can also navigate their roles and create their "spaces of development" within these same networks. Therefore, the article argues that it should not be taken for granted that these intermediaries are simply executing policy; instead, further research into how they interpret and perform it in vernacular terms is necessary because this, in turn, can shape user perception of CMCs and telecenters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, we will problematize the situated view of technology that, we argue, is very much diffused in ICT for development (ICT4D), the domain in which our research is inscribed. Our problematization focuses on the idea of empowerment, that in development is regarded, we argue, entirely in terms of participation and content - without, in effect, any real attention for the role of the technology in this process. Hence, drawing on the literature on technology as a social regulator, we will propose a reframed idea of empowerment, which gives the right attention to the technological side of it, in terms of the actual balance of power between technology and its users. E-Krishi, an Internet platform implemented by the government of Kerala, a state in southern India, is proposed here as a case study to see technology-related empowerment in action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]