Beyond the Buzz : Participatory, sustainable, convergent and high quality public e-services - developing methods and practices in India and Sweden

Can buzzwords be methodically exploited to develop more self-reflective and participatory research methods and practices within the ICT area? Research policies as well as research funding agencies rely heavily on buzzwords, yet tend to grow uncomfortable when these are deliberately highlighted and concatenated in research applications. This paper presents a multi-disciplinary R&D project in which we are exploring emerging methods and practices of participatory design of public e-services in India and Sweden. Using buzzwords as boundary objects, comparing methods and practices, with specific e-government projects we are involved in as examples, we attempt to address blind angles inherent in different cultural and disciplinary perspectives.

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