Human and social aspects of ICT (Feb. 8)

This Tuesday, we talked about  two different (but related) aspects of ICT development and use. Firstly, by focusing on Armour's "The Spiritual Life of Projects" we consider the human dimension that should be part of ICT (specifically software) development. Armour calls for a critical revision of the way in which we carry out software projects, in order to consider a more complete understanding of the people that make the software. This stems from how the Jesuits understand the dimensions of a human being. According to Armour, these are the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions, but a more complete account would also include the ethical, communicative, aesthetic and socio-political dimensions as well. Regardless of the number of dimensions or their terminology, the point is obvious: humans are not just their body, nor their thoughts. What separates us from machines, according to Armour, is the spirit (expressed, for example, as courage, tolerance, compassion, honesty).

This brought us to a discussion of identity, which was defined by some on Tuesday as what makes us unique or separates us from the rest - sadly, in Colombia we also tend to think about our national identity number as our identity and we are asked for this number even when we are buying toothpaste or a t-shirt, supposedly for taxation reasons, but obviously as a result of what still is mostly a society of distrust and, to a lesser extent, bureaucracy. Identity, however, need not imply difference or uniqueness, it can also mean relationship and belonging. Am I my name, my body, my job, my age, my religion, my gender, my nationality, my sport, my hobby, my family role? I am all those things and all those things link me to a group, actually to many different groups. It is precisely a limited understanding of identity (focusing on race or religion, for instance) which has created monstrous ideologies throughout history, including the still buoyant idea of the Clash of Civilizations or the so-called failure of multicultural societies (as if a mono-cultural society were possible / desirable). It is not about us vs. them, because there is no them once you consider a multidimensional identity as Amartya Sen (Identity and Violence, 2006) or Herbert Marcuse (One-Dimensional Man, 1964) have argued. Schizofrenia, for example is not really about having multiple personalities, it is about not being able to integrate those multifaceted features of personality into a coherent whole. This coherence is what creates a logical unity which becomes our identity, but it is merely a mental image of ourselves made up of our multiple dimensions and associations to groups. What does this have to do with developing software or ICT? It means that in order for a project to be succesful, it needs to ask more than just how to cut costs or increase efficiency or productivity; it also requires clarity in terms of norms of conduct, higher purpose, morale, mutual support, leadership, solidarity, etc.

Moving on from the human to the social dimension, Walsham's paper on development and global futures asks not how to consider the human-aspect of an ICT project but the social impact of ICT once implemented. As with identity, Walsham claims that a simplistic notion of development guided by ignorance and self-interest can also lead to a one-dimensional view in which "development" is a feature possessed by a group or country. Actually, he argues, development (again, as identity) is a complex and mutli-level concept. Thus, the recognition that there are multiple possibilities in terms of "global futures" enables us to rethink the role of ICT as a source of development, focusing on its impact against the digital divide, against ethnocentrism and against gender bias (meaning, male dominance). Let's join Walsham (and Armour, and Sen, and Marcuse) in celebrating diversity, not a source of conflict, but as a source of richness conducing to an increase in the likelihood of success of ICT development projects and to an increased likelihood of the positive effects of ICT. In other words, let's embrace this diversity so that ICT (technology in general) can be put to use for what it is meant, improving the lives of people and the future of the world.

Now, in order to join this program, we will focus on one specific case in which to apply these notions, together with the rest of the concepts, models and methods offered in the course. This will constitute the course project in two phases: (1) identifying problems or opportunities (for example to reduce the digital divide or gender bias) in the specific context of the case; and (2) designing a specific artifact or set of artifacts that can contribute to solving the problem. The cases are: WikiLeaks, the Colombian national ICT policy, our faculty's own social program, ICT offshoring and call centers, free software, and the role of ICT-enabled social networks in the ongoing socio-political crisis in Egypt. A full description of the cases and the project can be found on BlackBoard (UVirtual). It is expected that each group comment on this entry indicating which case they will use and why they consider it as a potentially rich setting for studying the human and social dimensions of ICT development and use.