Technology and Sustainable Economic Development

1
Technology and Sustainable Economic Development

• Nov 15, 2002

2
Outline

• Introductions
• Motivation Objectives
• Format
• Themes Topics
• Living laboratory
• Todays presentation proper

3
Introducing Ourselves

• Alastair Iles
• Postdoctoral research fellow at Society
  Environment Energy and Resources Group, UCB
• Ph.D in environmental policy, Harvard, 00
• Research interests in policy, science, politics
• Matthew Kam
• 2nd-yr Ph.D. student in EECS with primary
  interest in Human-Centered Computing
• B.A. Economics, B.S. EECS, UCB 01
• B.A. thesis was his first shot at development
  microeconomics

4
Motivation

• Have not encountered similar opportunity at UCB
  for cross-disciplinary engagement on this topic
• Technical design often isolated from social
  factors

5
Motivation

• But new research suggests
• Successful use of technology depends on tacit
  work practices developed for specific contexts
• Decentralized technology may be more effective
  than centralized ones
• Others?

6
Objectives

• Dual-track initiative
• Technology track How do we design technology
  for sustainable development?
• Social track What are the broader social,
  business and political contexts influencing the
  success of these designs?

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Objectives

• Forum for interested UCB students to
• Get acquainted
• Keep up with related developments
• Incubate alternative visions to advance
  sustainable development in both developing and
  developed countries using technology
• Others? (do a poll here)

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Intended Participants

• All interested folks are welcome!
• Not restricted to Ph.D. students(we also have an
  undergraduate, exchange student, recent UCB
  graduates, and postdoc)
• Not restricted to EECS, ERG or SIMS(would
  benefit from MBA, public policy, public health,
  other science/engineering and social sciences
  inputs)

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Tentative Format

• Weekly 1-hour meetings
• Format
• Presentation by volunteer (15 min)
• Break-out discussions (15 min)
• Combined discussion (20 min)
• Format to be reviewed by everyone in last session
  of Fall 02 (Dec 13)

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Broad Themes

• Technology
• Participatory design
• Decentralized systems
• Sustainable development
• Economic, sociopolitical viability
• Distributive effects of technology deployment
• To review collectively after Fall 02

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Specific Topics

• Rotate among participants areas of interest /
  specialization
• Topics
• EECS (albeit with SIMS / HCI / STS flavor)
• Green technology
• Economics
• Others? (do a poll here)
• Tentative plan Fix topics for each session in
  advance, students (or volunteer presenter) in
  respective areas agree on reading(s)

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Living Laboratory

• Intimate, long-term exposure to the design, use
  and evolution of technology promotes deeper
  appreciation and understanding
• To observe CHSP regulations
• Findings to be shared (and debated) among
  participants
• Collectively work towards an interpretation, i.e.
  the lessons learnt

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Living Laboratory

• First shot Livenotes
• Collaborative note-taking application
• Handheld wireless tablets
• E.g. of a decentralized, interactive technology
• Call for volunteers (approx. 3)

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• Any questions before we proceed with presentation
  of todays readings?
• What works?What doesnt?
• Well collectively review the reading groups
  organization in last session of Fall 02 (Dec
  13)

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Todays readings

• Two chapters from the Worldwide Wildlife Fund
  report on IT/sustainability, July 2002
• - Zambrano intergovernmental funding and
  strategies for promoting technology
• - Wijkman Afifi what technology can do
  (todays focus)
• Written by government bureaucrats.
• Focused on information technology (IT).
• Just a starting point for discussion...

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Beginning Caveats...

• What does technology cover? IT is just one of
  the technologies that could support sustainable
  development technology designed for other
  purposes may be applied to environmental
  purposes.
• What does sustainable development mean?The
  readings take it for granted that we know what SD
  is.

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Wijkman Afifi (1)

• Argues
• - IT will transform society without physical
  work or materials
• - IT can help developing countries leapfrog
  over pollution and reduce energy intensity
• - UNDP Report 2001 shows that IT can help
  promote economic growth
• - however there is a digital divide that
  exacerbates poverty, unemployment,
  underdevelopment...

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Wijkman Afifi (2)

• Argues
• - the equity of the IT changes depends on human
  capital
• - Those best placed to identify their tech.
  needs are the different stakeholders themselves.
  
• - deliberate policy-making by governments is
  central.
• - the international community/market has been
  very slow to invest in IT in developing
  countries the UN is disappointing.

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Wijkman Afifi (3)

• Examples of IT Uses
• - farmers using the web or cell phones to check
  going prices for their produce
• - Village Knowledge Centers (South India)
• - Grameen Bank Pay Phones (Bangladesh)
• - Reproductive Health On-line (Uganda)
• - cyber kiosks run by village entrepreneurs
  (India)

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Wijkman Afifi (4)

• Questions
• - Is information really separate from physical
  work and systems? Isnt human capital needed to
  adapt IT to local social settings?
• - To what degree are leapfrogging and
  climbing ladders really effective?
• - Is there an excessive focus on web-based
  approaches, as contrasted to other IT
  technologies? The put-everything-online
  syndrome.

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Wijkman Afifi (5)

• More questions
• - Isnt this approach like e-government and
  not participatory or grassroots?
• - Where are the communities whose needs are
  supposedly being addressed?
• - There is no mention of the energy needed to
  support the IT how will this energy be provided?