Social Exclusion: Societal and Organisational Implications for Information Systems

Social Inclusion: Societal & Organizational Implications for Information Systems
Limerick , Ireland
July 12-15, 2006

Changes in society resulting from the pervasiveness of information technology have produced positive and negative, intended and unintended consequences. Key among them is the exclusion of individuals – who lack access to technological resources – from various societal processes and services. The theme of this conference -- social inclusion – will explore the many dimensions of this exclusion. This issue has been the focus of much debate within the social sciences, yet has largely been under-researched in the IS field, despite our concerns with the social and organizational aspects of technology. To the extent that contemporary debates have identified access to information as a key component of poverty, digital exclusion is seen as the problem. Thus, ICTs are portrayed as either exacerbating exclusion or are presented as the solution to greater inclusion. This conference will provide us with the opportunity to build upon our strong tradition of studying technology design and use in organizations, and expand our field of enquiry to consider the processes that engender social exclusion and the issues that derive from it.

This theme invites consideration of social and organizational constraints that result in the under-representation of certain groups and, by implication, certain issues. Likewise, it invites consideration of emerging technologies that have the potential to alter social, political and economic relations. Much is being written about the ubiquitous nature of ICTs to change society. And open source software has recently emerged as a concept with implications far beyond the technology domain. These examples suggest that the role of ICTs in addressing social exclusion are far more complex than often thought. For this reason it is timely to expand our focus and progress the study of IS beyond the organizational level of analysis so that we may consider wider concerns affecting all citizens.

This conference will consider the use of information technology to reproduce exclusion as well as the consequences of social inclusion in the broadest sense to include: geographic, demographic, disciplinary, philosophical, linguistic, economic and informational. In doing so, this conference hopes to facilitate a lively debate that will suggest some alternative paths that researchers may like to consider.

Table of Contents

These papers appear in Social Inclusion: Societal and Organizational Implications for Information Systems, edited by Eileen M. Trauth, Debra Howcroft, Tom Butler, Brian Fitzgerald and Janice I. DeGross, Springer, Boston, 2006

Part 1: Introduction

1. Social Inclusion and the Information Systems Field: Why Now?
Eileen M. Trauth and Debra Howcroft

Part 2: Economic Development and Geography

2 Information Systems Practice for Development in Africa: Results from INDEHELA
Mikko Korpela, Anja Mursu, H. Abimbola Soriyan, Retha de la Harpe, and Esselina Macome

3 A Comparison of Factors Impacting ICT Growth Rates in Developing and Industrialized Countries
Kallol Bagchi, Peeter Kirs, and Godwin Udo

4 American Discourses of the Digital Divide and Economic Development: A Sisyphean Order to Catch Up?
Leslie Tu and Lynette Kvasny

5 Digital Inclusion Projects in Developing Countries: Value, Sustainability, and Scalability
Shirin Madon, Nicolau Reinhard, Dewald Roode, and Geoff Walsham

Part 3: Political Participation

6 Right on Time: Understanding eGovernment in Developing Countries
Åke Grönlund, Annika Andersson, and Karin Hedström

7 Internet Voting: A Conceptual Challenge to Democracy
Wolter Pieters

8 Engaging Youths via E-Participation Initiatives: An Investigation into the Context of Online Policy Discussion Forums
Chee Wei Phang and Atreyi Kankanhalli

9 Cybersolidarity: Internet-Based Campaigning and Trade Union Internationalism
Bruce Robinson

10 ICT Policies as a Means to Inhibit Social Exclusion: The South African Case
Edgar A. Maldonado, Nicolai A. Pogrebnyakov, and Annemijn F. van Gorp

Part 4: Demographic Disparities

11 Inclusion Through the Ages? Gender, ICT Workplaces, and Life Stage Experiences in England
Marie Griffiths, Claire Keogh, Karenza Moore, Helen J. Richardson, and Angela Tattersall

12 Space Invaders–Time Raiders: Gendered Technologies in Gendered UK Households
Helen J. Richardson

13 Women and ICT Training: Inclusion or Segregation in the New Economy?
Hazel Gillard and Nathalie Mitev

14 Social Inclusion and the Shifting Role of Technology: Is Age the New Gender in Mobile Access?
Carl Adams and Tineke Fitch

15 Web Accessibility: A Digital Divide for Disabled People?
Alison Adam and David Kreps

Part 5: Ethical Issues

16 Responsible Management of Digital Divides: An Oxymoronic Endeavor?
Bernd Carsten Stahl

17 Privacy, Security, and Transparency: ICT-Related Ethical Perspectives and Contrasts in Contemporary Firms
Antonino Vaccaro

Part 6: Technology and its Consequences

18 Developing Open Source Software: A Community-Based Analysis of Research
Joseph Feller, Patrick Finnegan, David Kelly, and Maurice MacNamara

19 Understanding Meaning and Bridging Divides: The Use of an African Metaphor for the South African Open Source Center
Elaine Byrne, Bob Jolliffe, and Nhlanhla Mabaso

20 Weblogging: Implementing Communities of Practice
Leiser Silva, Elham Mousavidin, and Lakshmi Goel

21 Taking People Out of the Network: A Deconstruction of “ Your Next IT Strategy”
Elizabeth Davidson, Mike Chiasson, and Sachin Ruikar

22 Institutions, Community, and People: An Evaluation of a Longitudinal Digital Divide Experience
Barbara J. Crump

23 How (Can) Nonusers Engage with Technology: Bringing in the Digitally Excluded
Mike Cushman and Ela Klecun

Part 7: The Information Systems Profession

24 To Vanquish the Social Monster: The Struggle for Social Inclusion among Peers in the Field of Systems Development
Thomas Elisberg and Richard Baskerville

25 Viewing Information Technology Outsourcing Organizations Through a Postcolonial Lens
Ravishankar Mayasandra, Shan L. Pan, and Michael D. Myers

26 Methods as Theories: Evidence and Arguments for Theorizing on Software Development
Steve Sawyer and Hala Annabi

27 The Corporate Digital Divide Between Smaller and Larger Firms
Nava Pliskin, Margi Levy, Tsipi Heart, Brian O’Flaherty, and Paul O’Dea