Exploring capability and accountability outcomes of open development for the poor and marginalized: An analysis of select literature

Open development concerns the application of digitally-enabled openness to radically change human capability and governance contexts (Davies & Edwards, 2012; Smith & Reilly, 2013; Smith, Elder, & Emdon, 2011). However, what openness means, and how it contributes to development outcomes is contested (Buskens, 2013; Singh & Gurumurthy, 2013). Furthermore, the potential of open development to support positive social transformation has not yet materialized, particularly for marginalized populations (Bentley & Chib, 2016), partly because relatively little is known regarding how transformation is enacted in the field. Likewise, two promising outcomes – the expansion of human capabilities and accountability – have not been explored in detail. This research interrogates the influence of digitally-enabled openness on transformation processes and outcomes. A purposeful sample of literature was taken to evaluate outcomes and transformation processes according to our theoretical framework, which defines seven cross-cutting dimensions essential to incorporate. We argue that these dimensions explain links between structures, processes and outcomes of open development. These links are essential to understand in the area of Community Informatics as they enable researchers and practitioners to support effective use of openness by and for poor and marginalized communities to pursue their own objectives.

[1]  Michael Gurstein.  Two Worlds of Open Government Data: Getting the Lowdown on Public Toilets in Chennai and Other Matters , 2012, J. Community Informatics.

[2]  Jeffrey Pomerantz,et al.  Fifty shades of open , 2016, First Monday.

[3]  Sumandro Chattapadhyay.  Access and use of government data by research and advocacy organisations in India: a survey of (potential) open data ecosystem , 2014, ICEGOV.

[4]  I. Oosterlaken,et al.  Inserting Technology in the Relational Ontology of Sen's Capability Approach , 2011 .

[5]  Simon Bates,et al.  Closing the feedback loop for clicker questions , 2010 .

[6]  Jacqueline M. Klopp,et al.  Toward Open Source Kenya: Creating and Sharing a GIS Database of Nairobi , 2014 .

[7]  aul van der Boora,et al.  sers as innovators in developing countries : The global sources of nnovation and diffusion in mobile banking services , 2014 .

[8]  Hind Benbya,et al.  Toward a complexity theory of information systems development , 2006, Inf. Technol. People.

[9]  Inclusive rigour for complexity , 2015 .

[10]  H. Foerster.  Understanding Understanding , 2002, Springer New York.

[11]  M. Nussbaum,et al.  Book reviews , 2002 .

[12]  Bernd Carsten Stahl,et al.  Information Systems: Critical Perspectives , 2008 .

[13]  Björn Sören Gigler.  Development as Freedom in a Digital Age: Experiences from the Rural Poor in Bolivia , 2015 .

[14]  Justine Johnstone,et al.  Technology as empowerment: a capability approach to computer ethics , 2007, Ethics and Information Technology.

[15]  Nimmi Rangaswamy,et al.  The PC in an Indian urban slum: enterprise and entrepreneurship in ICT4D 2.0 , 2012, Inf. Technol. Dev..

[16]  E. Hagen.  Mapping Change: Community Information Empowerment in Kibera (Innovations Case Narrative: Map Kibera) , 2011, Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization.

[17]  Nagy K. Hanna.  e-Transformation: Enabling New Development Strategies , 2009 .

[18]  Bill McKelvey,et al.  Using Complexity Science to effect a paradigm shift in Information Systems for the 21st century , 2006, J. Inf. Technol..

[19]  J. Bendell.  Debating NGO accountability , 2006 .

[20]  C. H. Ward,et al.  Sustainable development : the challenge of transition , 2000 .

[21]  R. Scapens,et al.  Accounting systems and systems of accountability — understanding accounting practices in their organisational contexts , 1985 .

[22]  Christopher Zegras,et al.  Applying the General Transit Feed Specification to the Global South , 2014 .

[23]  J. Pearce,et al.  Civil Society & Development: A Critical Exploration , 2001 .

[24]  Chrisanthi Avgerou,et al.  The significance of context in information systems and organizational change , 2001, Inf. Syst. J..

[25]  B. Stahl,et al.  Technology, capabilities and critical perspectives: what can critical theory contribute to Sen’s capability approach? , 2011, Ethics and Information Technology.

[26]  Jerry Fishenden,et al.  Digitizing government: understanding and implementing new digital business models , 2014 .

[27]  E. Berdou.  Mediating voices and communicating realities. Using information crowdsourcing tools, open data initiatives and digital media to support and protect the vulnerable and marginalised. Final project report. , 2011 .

[28]  F. Shuaib,et al.  Innovative Technological Approach to Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak Response in Nigeria Using the Open Data Kit and Form Hub Technology , 2015, PloS one.

[29]  Michael Parmisano Canares.  Opening the local: full disclosure policy and its impact on local governments in the Philippines , 2014, ICEGOV.

[30]  Simeon Vidolov,et al.  Collaborative Re-orderings in Humanitarian Aid Networks , 2014, ISCRAM-med.

[31]  Michelle Willmers,et al.  Viscous Open Data: The Roles of Intermediaries in an Open Data Ecosystem , 2016, Inf. Technol. Dev..

[32]  Un Desa.  Transforming our world : The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , 2016 .

[33]  S. Rihani.  Implications of adopting a complexity framework for development , 2002 .

[34]  Matthew L. Smith,et al.  Open Development: Networked Innovations in International Development , 2014 .

[35]  Ben Ramalingam,et al.  Aid on the Edge of Chaos: Rethinking International Cooperation in a Complex World , 2013 .

[36]  Md. Rakibul Hoque,et al.  ICT Based e‐Government Services for Rural Development: A Study of Union Information and Service Center (UISC) in Bangladesh , 2015, Electron. J. Inf. Syst. Dev. Ctries..

[37]  L. Brown.  Global Accountabilities: Multiparty social action and mutual accountability , 2007 .

[38]  James B. Burnham,et al.  The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good , 2007 .

[39]  Michael Gurstein,et al.  Open data: Empowering the empowered or effective data use for everyone? , 2011, First Monday.

[40]  Arul Chib,et al.  The Impact of Open Development Initiatives in Lower‐ and Middle Income Countries: A Review of the Literature , 2016 .

[41]  Nithya V. Raman,et al.  Collecting data in Chennai City and the limits of openness , 2012, J. Community Informatics.

[42]  Laura Czerniewicz,et al.  365 days of openness: The emergence of OER at the University of Cape Town , 2013 .

[43]  D. Kleine.  ICT4WHAT?—Using the choice framework to operationalise the capability approach to development , 2010 .

[44]  Martin J. Murillo.  Evaluating the role of online data availability: The case of economic and institutional transparency in sixteen Latin American nations , 2015 .

[45]  Tony Roberts,et al.  Critical agency and development: applying Freire and Sen to ICT4D in Zambia and Brazil , 2018, Inf. Technol. Dev..

[46]  B. Cooke,et al.  Participation: the New Tyranny? , 2001 .

[47]  Tim Davies,et al.  Emerging implications of open and linked data for knowledge sharing in development , 2012 .

[48]  Frank L. K. Ohemeng,et al.  One way traffic: The open data initiative project and the need for an effective demand side initiative in Ghana , 2015, Gov. Inf. Q..

[49]  Wolfgang Hofkirchner,et al.  Twenty Questions about a Unified Theory of Information: A Short Exploration Into Information from a Complex Systems View , 2010 .

[50]  Armchair Arguments Against Emergentism , 1997 .

[51]  Matthew Longshore Smith,et al.  Openness as social praxis , 2017, First Monday.

[52]  Yingqin Zheng,et al.  Inequality of what? Social exclusion in the e-society as capability deprivation , 2008, Inf. Technol. People.

[53]  Satyarupa Shekhar,et al.  (Re)Prioritizing Citizens in Smart Cities Governance: Examples of Smart Citizenship from Urban India , 2014, J. Community Informatics.

[54]  Julian Warner,et al.  The Social Study of Information and Communication Technology: Innovation, Actors, and Contexts , 2006, J. Documentation.

[55]  Ji Eun Park,et al.  The Use of Technology for Large-scale Education Planning and Decision-making , 2016, Inf. Technol. Dev..

[56]  I. Robeyns.  The Capability Approach: An Interdisciplinary Introduction , 2003 .

[57]  Paul M. Leonardi,et al.  Materiality and Change: Challenges to Building Better Theory about Technology and Organizing , 2008, Inf. Organ..

[58]  D. Korten.  Getting to the 21st century: Voluntary action and the global agenda , 1990 .

[59]  Kellyton dos Santos Brito,et al.  Brazilian government open data: implementation, challenges, and potential opportunities , 2014, dg.o '14.

[60]  Ineke Buskens.  The Importance of Intent: Reflecting on Open Development for Women’s Empowerment , 2011 .

[61]  R. Eyben.  Hiding Relations: The Irony of ‘Effective Aid’ , 2010 .

[62]  M. Smith,et al.  Open ICT ecosystems transforming the developing world , 2010 .

[63]  Peter van der Windt,et al.  From Crowdsourcing to Crowdseeding: The Cutting Edge of Empowerment? , 2014 .

[64]  Jenny Lagsten,et al.  The capability approach as a tool for development evaluation – analyzing students’ use of internet resources , 2012, Inf. Technol. Dev..

[65]  M. Thompson.  Ict and development studies: Towards development 2.0 , 2008 .

[66]  Savita Bailur,et al.  Closing the Feedback Loop: Can Technology Amplify Citizen Voices? , 2014 .

[67]  Caitlin M. Bentley,et al.  An Analysis of Accountability Concepts for Open Development , 2017, ICT4D.

[68]  John Roberts.  The possibilities of accountability , 1991 .

[69]  Johnny Saldaña,et al.  The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers , 2009 .

[70]  Tim Davies,et al.  Researching the emerging impacts of open data: revisiting the ODDC conceptual framework , 2016, J. Community Informatics.

[71]  Jonathan G. S. Koppell.  Pathologies of Accountability: ICANN and the Challenge of “Multiple Accountabilities Disorder” , 2005 .

[72]  Chelsea Young,et al.  HarassMap: Using Crowdsourced Data to Map Sexual Harassment in Egypt , 2014 .

[73]  I. Oosterlaken.  Technologies of Choice? ICTs, Development and the Capabilities Approach , 2014 .

[74]  R. Eyben.  International Aid and the Making of a Better World: Reflexive Practice , 2014 .

[75]  T. Unwin.  No end to poverty , 2007 .

[76]  Bartel Van de Walle,et al.  Increasing Efficiency of Humanitarian Organizations with Volunteer Driven Information Products , 2014, 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[77]  Gregory Michener,et al.  Policy Evaluation via Composite Indexes: Qualitative Lessons from International Transparency Policy Indexes , 2015 .

[78]  A. Roberts.  Critical agency in ICT4D : a case study of Zambian women's use of participatory video technology to challenge gender inequality , 2016 .

[79]  A. Bryman.  Social Research Methods , 2001 .

[80]  J. Clapp,et al.  Development as freedom , 1999 .

[81]  J. Pánek,et al.  Community Mapping in Urban Informal Settlements: Examples from Nairobi, Kenya , 2015, Electron. J. Inf. Syst. Dev. Ctries..

[82]  P. Kovačič,et al.  Mapping Kibera. Empowering Slum Residents by ICT , 2014 .

[83]  I. Robeyns.  Please Scroll down for Article Journal of Human Development the Capability Approach: a Theoretical Survey the Capability Approach: a Theoretical Survey , 2022 .

[84]  ชวิตรา ตันติมาลา.  Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis , 2017 .

[85]  G. Walsham.  Critical Engagement: Why, What and How? , 2005 .

[86]  W. Neuman,et al.  Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches , 2002 .

[87]  Mark Bovens,et al.  The Quest for Responsibility: Accountability and Citizenship in Complex Organisations , 1998 .

[88]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions , 1991, Inf. Syst. Res..

[89]  Heloise Emdon,et al.  Open Development: A New Theory for ICT4D , 2011 .

[90]  A. V. Rooy.  Civil Society and the Aid Industry , 1998 .

[91]  Bhuvaneswari Raman.  The Rhetoric of Transparency and its Reality: Transparent Territories, Opaque Power and Empowerment , 2012, J. Community Informatics.

[92]  Nihan Yildirim,et al.  Benefiting innovative capabilities of software developer/user communities in developing countries , 2010, PICMET 2010 TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT FOR GLOBAL ECONOMIC GROWTH.

[93]  W. Orlikowski.  Sociomaterial Practices: Exploring Technology at Work , 2007 .

[94]  Cliff Lampe,et al.  Defining, Understanding, and Supporting Open Collaboration , 2013 .