GIS for district-level administration in India: Problems and opportunities.By Geoff Walsham and Sundeep Sahay

The research study

• As stated in the abstract chapter of the paper, it describes a research study, carried out over the period of 1993 to 1995, of the efforts made in India to develop and use GIS to aid district-level administration.

Objectives of the study

The authors wished to study theinitiation, development, and implementation of GIS.

by examining in detail theActions and perceptions of human actors.Context within which these actions took place and

perceptions formed.

Key research questions

1. Has GIS been implemented successfully for real applications in district-level administration in India?

2. If not, why is this the case?

3. What can be done about it in the future?

The generation of theory

• field notes• summary of visits and themes• discussions between the researchers• dicussions between the researchers and the

other GIS participants in the fieldsites and in central gov’t offices in Delhi.

Use of theory

• It was shown how actor-network theory (ANT) can be used as a theoretical basis to examine the context for IS implementation.

• ANT was used to study and describe the process of network building in the GIS study.

Use of theory cont.

• actor-network theory was also used to;

– explain why GIS has not been used successfully and

– to give recommendations on future action.