Work

Whose Participation Counts? Towards Technology-Mediated Equitable Futures of Development Work

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Participatory approaches may empower community members toward their development; however, structural and identity-based factors may impede participation. It becomes imperative to critically examine the politics, dynamics, and rhetoric of participation in development contexts. We deconstruct the meaning, means, and need for participation by situating our study in the Indian government's growing efforts to digitalize a nationwide scheme implemented to support rural farmers' participation in natural resource management (NRM) to achieve secure employment and build climate change resilience. Capturing the situated essence through field studies that include observations, interviews, and focus groups, we systematically analyze challenges to participation in NRM and uncover the technological gaps affecting its workflow digitalization. We discuss sociotechnical considerations to meaningfully design and integrate digital technologies toward supporting equitable participation in achieving sustainable development.

Source: Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

DOI: 10.1145/3686979

Authors: Vishal Sharma, Shivani A. Mehta, Neha Kumar, Aaditeshwar Seth

Institutions: Georgia Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Language: English

Topic: ICT in Developing Communities

Subfield: Information Systems

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

OpenAlex ID: W4404173532

FWCI: 4.941

Cites: 121

Cited by: 13

Related to: 10