Day 1 - 26 May 2009
“Discourses on Innovation and Development in Information Systems in Developing Countries Research”
Professor Chrisanthi Avgerou, London School of Economics and Political Science

Information Systems in Developing Countries (ISDC) research extended the IS research domain to consider the broader socio-economic context of the organizations hosting new technologies. Referring to this object of study of ISDC research as ‘IS innovation’ conveys the notion of novelty of experiences of IS implementation and the associated changes within the hosting organization and beyond it. The rationale is that, even if the technologies implemented in an IS project are already common elsewhere and widespread, the local experience of technology implementation and socio-organizational change constitutes an innovation for the organization concerned and may well constitute innovation for its socio-economic context. ISDC research is premised on the potential of ICT to contribute to the improvement of socio-economic conditions in developing countries. It aspires to the realization of perceptions of desirable world orders, such as Sen’s theory of capabilities or the United Nations’ Millennium Goal vision of eradicating poverty. It is also guided by conceptual models of transformations happening in the contemporary world that necessitate ICT infrastructures, such as Castells’ ideas of society and economy as networks. But beyond these very generalpremises and aspirations, every ISDC study makes also assumptions about the way ISinnovation happens in the context of developing countries and about the notion and process of ‘development’ towards which IS innovation is intended to contribute.
The session will explore the different underlying perspectives regarding IS innovationwithin the broader socio-economic context of developing countries.  The combination of assumptions regarding the nature of IS innovation effort and development as the aim for IS innovation gives rise to different discourses in ISDC research.
 

About Chrisanthi Avgerou
Chrisanthi is Professor of Information Systems at the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK). She is chairperson of the IFIP technical committee 9 on ‘Computers and Society’ and she chaired the IFIP WG 9.4 on ‘Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries’ from 1996-2003. She teaches postgraduate courseson Information Systems and Information Society Policy. Her research is concerned with the study of the dual process of the utilisation of information technology and organisational change within different socio-organisational contexts. Among her recentpublications are Information Systems and Global Diversity (2002), The Social Study ofInformation and Communication Technology, and the Oxford Handbook of Informationand Communication Technologies, all published by Oxford University Press.
 

Day 2 - 27 May 2009

“The Prosumer”

Distinguished Professor George Ritzer, University of Maryland

The prosumer-one who both produces and consumes, often simultaneously-has beenwith us since early in human existence, but the prosumer has assumed great importancein recent years as a result of a series of social changes, most notably the Internet in general and Web 2.0 in particular. While past epochs have been labeled pre-industrial,industrial, and consumer societies (among others), the current era can be labeled prosumer society. In the past social thinkers have erroneously focused on eitherproduction or consumption, but it is now clear what there error was and how it needs to be corrected. In thinking about the PROSUMER we need to think in terms of a continuum with the “conducer” lying more toward the consumption end and the “prosumer” more toward the production end. This talk will explore not only manyexamples of the prosumer on Web 2.0, but many other non-Internet related examples.Web 2.0 and the associated prosumer will be discussed from the point of view of avariety of theoretical perspectives. First, Michel Foucault’s idea of the panopticon (the few watching the many) will be supplemented by other models, especially the“omniopticon” (the many watching the many). Second, the efficiency of Web 1.0 will be contrasted to the effectiveness of Web 2.0. Third, the cult of the professional on Web
1.0 will be contrasted to the cult of the amateur on Web 2.0. Fourth, the rationality ofWeb 1.0 will be contrasted to the hyperrationality of Web 2.0. Fifth, and in contrast toother social changes, Web 2.0 will be seen as undergoing a process of “deMcDonaldization”. Finally, Web 1.0 will be viewed as being dominated by “nothing” while Web 2.0 is more characterized by something. In sum, the closely related rise ofthe prosumer and Web 2.0 represent monumentally important social changes.

About George Ritzer

Among his long list of books in metatheory are Sociology: A Multiple Paradigm Science (1975/1980) and Metatheorzing in Sociology (1991). In the application of social theoryto the social world, his books include The McDonaldization of Society (5th ed., 2008), Enchanting a Disenchanted World (2nd ed. 2005), and The Globalization of Nothing (2nded., 2007). He is currently working on The Outsourcing of Everything (with Craig Lair,Oxford, forthcoming). Sage has published two volumes of his collected works, one in theory and the other in the application of theory to the social world, especiallyconsumption. In the latter area, he is founding editor of the Journal of ConsumerCulture. He has edited the Blackwell Companion to Major Social Theorists (2000) and co-edited the Handbook of Social Theory (2001). He has also edited the eleven-volumeEncyclopedia of Sociology (2007) and the two-volume Encyclopedia of Social Theory(2005). In the area of globalization Blackwell has published his The Blackwell Companionto Globalization (2008) and will publish Globalization: A Basic Text (2010). His books have been translated into over twenty languages, with over a dozen translations of The McDonaldization of Society alone.
 

Day 3 - 28 May 2009
“Development, Access and Social Inclusion: Perspectiveson the Millennium Development Goals”
Victor Pineda, Visiting Scholar, Dubai School of Government

Leaders from every country agreed on a vision for the future – a world with less poverty,hunger and disease, greater survival prospects for mothers and their infants, bettereducated children, equal opportunities for women, and a healthier environment; a world in which developed and developing countries worked in partnership for the betterment of all. Unless disabled people are brought into the development mainstream, it will be impossible to cut poverty in half by 2015 or to give every girl and boy the chance to achieve a primary education. The presentation shares perspectives on the role of ICT in expanding capabilities, and underscores the need for researchers to support a socially inclusive approach to ICT, access and development.

About Victor Pineda
Victor is an expert in disability policy, planning and regional development. He has advised international agencies such as the World Bank and United Nations, as well as state and federal governments, in the development and implementation of programs and policies that include people with disabilities. In 2009 he joined the Dubai School of Government as a Visiting Scholar to study the implementation of the UAE Disability Actof 2006 across three sectors: education, employment, and transportation. Mr. Pineda has presented his work to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Aid and worked as anassociate with the US Treasury. Mr. Pineda studied at the University of California,Berkeley, where he obtained degrees in Political Economy, Business Administration, and a master’s in City and Regional Planning. He is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University ofCalifornia Los Angeles’ School for Public Affairs, and a Fulbright-Hays Fellow at the Dubai School for Government.