PJ Wall – Doctoral Researcher 8 th November 2013
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Transcript of PJ Wall – Doctoral Researcher 8 th November 2013
Technology and Practice: Implementing ICT4D in low and middle income
countries - A sociotechnical approach
PJ Wall – Doctoral Researcher
8th November 2013
Trinity Development Research Week 2013
ICT4D Failure
Failure rates in ICT4D are very high
Becoming increasingly evident just how difficult it is to sustain mHealth projects beyond pilot
implementation [1-3]
ICT4D Failure
The technology, by and large, “works”
So, it must be about something other than the technology ...
Community Health Workers
CHWs using the mobile phones in Mattru
– October 2013
Issues with the phones
Hardware & Software
• The mHealth hardware & software
• Power supply and charging the phones
• Mobile signal
Community Health Workers
Community Health Workers
Mobile phone “charging station” in Mattru
– October 2013
Community Health Workers
Cell towers in Mattru
– October 2013
Other issues with the phones
Other issues
• Society, culture, power, politics
• Illiterate users
• Local capacity
• Creation of networks of stakeholders
• Business models for scaling and sustainability
A Socio-technical View
All technology is embedded in a social and cultural context, making the transfer of just the technology
problematic
The assumption that technology will simply fit into any environment and be easily adopted by the user has
been described “fallacy” [4]
A Socio-technical View
Implementers are likely to have to negotiate a multiplicity of
interacting socio-technical factors that are both within and
outside their control [5]
Socio-technical Theory
Many people have written about socio-technical theory:
• Albert Cherns [6] • Chris Clegg [7]• Enid Mumford [8-9]
A Socio-technical View
Joint optimization of “technical” and “social” subsystems
• People given the opportunity to participate in the design process• Design is an extended social process and is socially shaped [7]• “Multifunctional” workforce [6], and “multidisciplinary” education [7]• The “need to be able to learn on the job and to go on learning” [6]• System capable of self-modification, of adapting to change and of
making the most use of the creative capacities of the individual [6]• The means of undertaking tasks should be flexibly specified [7]• Iterative processes and “incompletion” [6]
Initial Findings?
What are the initial findings from the Sierra Leone mHealth initiative?
• People given limited opportunity to participate in the design process• Training was provided in operating the phone, but not as yet in
anything beyond this• Additional training planned• MoU on use of the phone• Problems with solar chargers means that CHWs may have to use
charging stations to charge the phones• Some evidence of iterative processes
A final thought …
Maybe ICT4D implementation, scaling, and sustainability is about more than just socio-
technical theory
We may need new ways of understanding ICT4D ...
References1. Anderson, R., and N. Perin. Case studies from the Vital Wave mHealth Report 2009. Available from
http://homes.cs.washington.edu/~anderson/docs/2009/mHealthAnalysis_v1.pdf.2. Curioso, W. H., and P. N. Mechael. 2010a. "Enhancing 'M-health' with south-to-south collaborations." Health Aff (Millwood) no. 29
(2):264-7. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2009.1057. 3. Curioso, W.H., and P.N. Mechael. 2010b. "Enhancing 'M-Health' with South-to-South Collaborations." Health Affairs no. 29 (2):pp.
264-267. 4. Shozi, N.A., D. Pottas, and N. Mostert-Phipps. 2012. "A Socio-technical Perspective on the Use of Mobile Phones for Remote Data
Collection in Home Community Based Care in Developing Countries." In e-Infrastructure and e- Services for Developing Countries, edited by R. Popescu-Zeletin, K. Jonas, I. Rai, R. Glitho and A. Villafiorita, 135-145. Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
5. Manda, Tiwonge Davis, and Terje Aksel Sanner. 2012. Bootstrapping Information Technology Innovations Across Organisational and Geographical Boundaries: Lessons from an mHealth Implementation in Malawi. Paper read at IRIS. No. 35. Tapir Akademisk Forlag.
6. Cherns, A., 1976. The Principles of Sociotechnical Design. Human Relations, 29(8), pp.783– 792. 7. Clegg, C.W., 2000. Sociotechnical Principles for System Design. Applied Ergonomics, 31, pp.463 – 477. 8. Mumford, E., (1995), Effective Systems Design and Requirements Analysis: The ETHICS Approach, London, Macmillan9. Mumford, E., (2003), Redesigning Human Systems, Hershey, IRM Press