[AISWorld] Information Technology for Development Minitrack at HICSS

[Sajda Qureshi]

Information Technology for Development
Call for papers

Information Technology for Development (ITD) research focuses on the use of information technology infrastructures to bring about economic, social, and human development. In essence, the ITD research provides insight for policy makers to facilitate the achievement of socio-economic development goals by increasing financial investments¸ enriching the knowledge of organizations and citizens, and stimulating business activities in their regions. Contributions of research in ITD over twenty years have been to the management of economies through the implementation of information technology (IT) infrastructures to stimulate national development. Examples include the use of indicators such as gross domestic product and human development indices to assess the effect of IT technologies, knowledge bases, and infrastructures on national development. IT access and use issues by individuals and/or businesses in under privileged regions are other research topics under this domain. In addition, ITD research provides guidelines for businesses looking to implement and use IT infrastructures to support their business strategies. This mini-track aims to address these issues and make a contribution to how IT can be used to bring about economic, social, and human development.

While current research suggests that the digital divides are decreasing, initiatives in this area remain a challenge. International agencies work with governments to implement policies and conduct studies on the nature of the gap between regions that are connected to and use IT extensively and those that do not.  At the same time, many national and institutional-scale ITD initiatives target the small group of developing economies and fail to consider the developing regions in lesser developed economies. Commercial interests in developed countries have only recently begun to view the vast under-privileged majority of inhabitants of lesser developed countries or these developing regions as constituting a viable market. It is these populations that are using technology in innovative ways to achieve growth and greater success in their businesses, governments, and economies. This has opened up new areas and questions requiring research into what are the ways in which technology can be adopted to bring about growth?  Why is it that some organizations and countries respond positively to technology implementations while others are not as successful?

This mini-track opens up this discussion to a broader community of scholars that are involved in investigating these questions.  The rapid growth of the Internet has opened up new opportunities for organizations in the developed world to work with developing countries and developing regions in their own economies. Such areas include: 1) sourcing strategies enabling access to skill and expertise, 2) provision of critical services such as Healthcare and 3) better management of natural resources such as land. These topics are addressed using the ITD knowledge within countries and regions that stand to benefit from IT driven economic development. The challenge facing researchers, practitioners and policy makers is how to achieve measurable improvements in people's lives through deployment of IT and measure this impact. This mini-track seeks to address these issues and make a contribution to how IT can be used to bring about economic, social and human development. In addition, it  will provide a forum for discussion of practical experience and research related to the

diffusion and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in developing regions of the world.

Submissions are invited that are theoretically and empirically sound. Topics include but are not limited to:

1.         Social, political and legal frameworks for fostering ICT diffusion in developing regions
2.         Networks and computer applications for eGovernment and eBusiness
3.         Community Health Informatics, infrastructures and applications for healthcare in underserved communities.
4.         Using ICT to develop capabilities for increasing opportunities for individuals and communities.
5.         Innovative applications and uses of ICTs to support underserved communities in all parts of the world.
6.         Methods for measuring the benefits and costs of projects involving the adoption of ICT
7.         The role of human and social capital in effective access and use of ICTs
8.         Critical and theoretical perspectives on the digital divide and social inclusion
9.         Scalable and economic ICT infrastructures
10.       Educational systems; content provision and delivery; developing ICT skills
11.       Policies related to intellectual capital; open access and the intellectual commons
12.       ICT to support Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)
13.       Technological entrepreneurship as a path to prosperity
14.       Economic impact of ICT initiatives in developing, emerging and transition economies
15.       Differences in ICT adoption, success, and impacts among the cities, states, or provinces of developing economies.
16.       ICT  initiatives and  global competiveness of  firms  in  developing, emerging and transition economies
17.       Technology  and  knowledge  transfer  in  developing,  emerging  and  transition economies

Both conceptual and empirical papers are welcome. Conceptual papers include theory development, frameworks and models for studying and applying IT.  For empirical papers, field studies, case studies, action research, innovative online data collection methods, and appropriate quantitative techniques are strongly recommended. Papers submitted should explicitly state their research methods.

Outstanding papers accepted in the mini-track can be fast-tracked for review consideration by and possible publication in the Information Technology for Development Journal (ITD)

Minitrack Chairs:

Mehruz Kamal (Primary Contact) Department of Computer Science The College at Brockport
State University of New York
350 New Campus Drive
Brockport, NY 14420, USA
Phone: +1 (585) 395-2179, Fax: +1 (585) 395-2304
Email: mkam<mailto:mkamal at brockport.edu>al at brockport.edu<mailto:al at brockport.edu>

Sajda Qureshi

Professor
University of Nebraska-Omaha
Department of Information Systems & Quantitative Analysis, College of Information Science & Technology
6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68182-0116, USA Phone: +1 (402) 554-2837, Fax: +1 (402) 554-3400
Email: squreshi at mail.unomaha.edu<mailto:squreshi at mail.unomaha.edu>

James Pick
Professor
School of Business, University of Redlands
1200 East Colton Avenue
Redlands, CA 92373-0999 USA
Phone +1 (909) 748-8781, Fax + 1 (909) 335-5125

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