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This exploratory paper examines the various challenges that women working in information and communications technology (ICT) in England face in relation to their age, their life stage, and their career stage, with these three aspects being at least partially related. We first examine the literature currently available in relation to women, age and ICT work, arguing that age tends to be the forgotten variable in research on women in ICT. Using eight case studies of individual female ICT professionals in their twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties, we explore the nuances of experience these women have in relation to their career and their caring responsibilities. We consider the possibility that women in ICT may have heterogeneous experiences of working in what are often “masculinized” environments related to, but not determined by, their age. Based on our interpretations of our empirical data, we adapt Super’s career-stage theory to better frame our subsequent theoretical assertions. To conclude, we suggest that exploring age, life stage, and/or career stage in relation to female ICT professionals’ circumstances and experiences means that we can better theorize gender in the field of information systems, and hence develop more relevant gender inclusion strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social exclusion is a multi dimensional phenomenon that manifests itself in the exclusion of an individual from one or more of the four following activities: production of goods and services, consumption, civil engagement, and social interaction. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been argued to have the potential to reduce these forms of social exclusion. However, the extent to which they deal with these different forms of social exclusion remains unknown. Therefore, in this study we examine how ICT policies in South Africa are being employed to reduce social exclusion. In particular, we analyze which dimensions of social exclusion are targeted in telecommunication laws and one of the ICT initiatives of the South African government, Multi-Purpose Community Centers (MPCCs). Using a framework that portrays the four forms of social exclusion within the discourses used in phenomenon debates (redistributionist, moral underclass, and social integrationist) for analysis, we find that ICT policies in South Africa address two of the four forms of social exclusion: production of goods and services and civil engagement, spanning both the redistributionist and social integrationist discourses of social exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have offered governments new opportunities to enhance citizen participation in democratic processes. The participation opportunities afforded by ICT may be particularly pertinent for youths, who are more likely to be ICT-savvy and yet are reported to show declining participation in politics. The currently increasing exclusion of youths from democratic processes has been attributed to their apathy toward politics and a lack of participation channels for them. ICT as a familiar tool for this specific age group may present an opportunity to elicit youths’ participation in democratic processes. In this study we examine an e-participation initiative targeted at youths and seek to investigate the factors contributing to their participation in an online discussion forum employed for policy deliberation. We build upon theoretical bases from the political science and information systems literature to construct a research model of participation in online policy discussion forums. As an initial study of youths’ e-participation, our survey indicates that collective and selective incentives may positively impact youths ’participation intention. In addition, civic skills and political efficacy of individuals may also contribute to their participation. Connectivity with an online policy discussion forum can enhance youths ’ perceptions of selective process incentives while communality negatively impacts their intention to participate. Overall, our study aims to inform theory by showing that existing participation theories may be applicable to youth’s participation in the electronic context. Further, ICT features (connectivity and communality) are found to have both positive and negative effects on participation. The findings may provide insights to practitioners for promoting inclusion of youths in democratic processes via e-participation initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-mail campaigns are one form of cyber solidarity—action at a distance mediated by use of the Internet in support of trade unions or groups of workers. This paper, taking the example of a campaign in support of imprisoned Eritrean trade unionists, examines the social organization and information flows underlying such campaigns. These are discussed in the light of the effectiveness of such actions, their capacity to overcome the global digital divide, current debates on the role of the Internet in the remaking of trade unionism, and labor’s capacity to remake the spatial relations of capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss the implications for social inclusion of the advent of Internet voting. Although the issue of social exclusion or social inclusion with regard to technological developments in the voting process is often approached as a matter of either security or turnout, we will take a broader view. Using the philosophical concept of technological mediation, as developed by Don Ihde and Peter-Paul Verbeek, we claim that Internet voting may change our experience of democracy, and transform the way we act as citizens in the democratic system. We argue that the mediating role of voting technology requires reconstruction of concepts used in discussing democracy. Our approach of reconstruction departs from the political philosophy of John Dewey. Based on his work, we can describe the political process in a democracy in terms of intellectual reconstruction and institutional recon-struction. Combining the concept of technological mediation and Dewey’s political philosophy, we use the mediating role of online voting technology as input to the intellectual reconstruction of the discussion on voting and democracy. Based on the developments in the Netherlands, we present some challenges that the mediating role of online voting technology offers to existing concepts in democracy, and evaluate the benefits for social inclusion of reconstructing these concepts with respect to the new possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many, if not most, developing countries today engage in electronic government (eGovernment) projects. There are big hopes, not just for modernizing government and making it more effective and efficient; eGovernment is also expected to drive the general development toward the information society, both by examples of good practice and by major investment. However, many sources claim that the project failure rate is high. Reasons are found in many places, but it is reasonable to summarize them by saying that project goals are too ambitious given existing production capacity. Hence there is need to find ways of choosing and defining projects so that they meet the conditions in the country and sector where they are going to be implemented. To do so, this paper presents two tools, a checklist and a maturity model, for assessing the preconditions for eGovernment projects in developing countries. The under-lying data sources are threefold: eGovernment readiness indexes, project experiences, and assessments of social and political conditions. The checklist matches requirements for successful eGovernment against supply and demand side factors, hence providing a guide in choosing which projects to initiate and which to avoid. The maturity model supports mapping projects on a wider development agenda, hence helping avoiding dead ends such as investing in unused technology, or supporting dysfunctional processes with ICT (information and communication technology) instead of first redesigning them and then putting in ICT that support the new and better processes. In particular, the tools show the close relation between eGovernment and other development agendas, for example education, investment policies, or telecom (de)regulation. Without alignment with such programs, eGovernment is likely to fail. The two tools help make factors pertinent to success and failure more explicit and hence improve decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discourses about technology and its role in development have been constant themes within IFIP Working Group 8.2 (see the Barcelona proceedings—Wynn et al. 2002). In this paper, we examine how strands of discourse—institutionalized ways of thinking and speaking—shape debate about the digital divide and urban poverty in America. As research is widely esteemed as a wellspring of new ideas, we are especially interested in how discourses inform scholarly inquiry into urgent social problems. As information and communication technologies (ICTs) are increasingly hailed as drivers of industry and commerce, we believe that it will be instructive to examine economic development discourse, which strongly informs the case for bridging the digital divide. First, using Fairclough’s three-level framework for critical discourse analysis (CDA), we reveal that the discursive hegemony of economic development alarmingly constrains approaches to urban revitalization. Linking economic development to the digital divide, we show how the ongoing evolution of ICTs has become tightly linked to economic development. Both are discourses of equality in which those who lack money and technology are cast as needy problem sectors that will be left behind, failing to reap a host of benefits. Hence, there is an urgent call for these “have-nots” to catch up to models of prosperity embodied by the wealthy or technology savvy. We find fault with this discourse because it narrowly privileges money and technology, and raises alarm at their mere absence, while obscuring substantive needs—hunger, homelessness, ill health—of actual consequence. We propose that, in order truly to realize the potential of ICT, we must first reinvent discourse—discarding the mantra of catching up—and set in motion efforts to address self-determined needs, supported by ICT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we investigate the factors that impact ICT growth rates in developing countries and compare those with factors affecting industrialized countries. Four categories of factors, human development, social structure, institutional factors, and national infrastructure, were considered with respect to their impact on three ICTs: cell phones, PCs, and the Internet. ICT infrastructure influenced ICT growth rates in all nations, but the impacts of human development, institutional index, and urbanization varied between industrialized countries and developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we search for answers to the question: Can information systems development (ISD) in Africa by African IS practitioners contribute to human development in Africa? More specifically, we ask if everyday ISD practice in Nigeria can contribute to people’s health in Nigeria. We summarize the results of European-African research collaboration spanning more than 15 years. A spectrum of research methods was used from 1998 through 2001, including a survey on software industry (N = 103), a survey on IS education in universities (N = 26), five case studies in industry, and reflection on action in a university-based project. An industry profile of software companies and their ISD practice is presented and contrasted with the education available. Implications are drawn for ISD practitioners and methodological lessons identified for IS research in general. In the discussion, the view is expanded from Nigeria to other African and developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conference, with its theme of social inclusion, builds upon the debates that have taken place within the IFIP 8.2 community over the past several years. As information and communications technology, and the information systems based upon them, become ever more pervasive, the human impacts—both positive and negative—and the associated societal disparities will continue to arise. It is our hope that the topics discussed at this conference will be considered mainstream in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, complexity theory has been shown to throw light on a number of issues related to the management of organizations. Examples include the use of complexity notions to help understand situations such as mergers and acquisitions and assist in the successful facilitation of these events by suggesting appropriate enabling infrastructures (Mitleton-Kelly 2004). Complexity theory has similarly helped in an understanding of information systems failures and perhaps goes some way to explaining perennial problems such as the alignment problem: a problem near the top of serious issues reported by researchers into concerns expressed by CIOs and business managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]