[Reader-list] Interacting with the State via Information and Communication Technologies - the case of Nemmadi Kendras in Karnataka

[Zainab Bawa]

Dear all,

Here is a link to the journal paper which Bhuvaneswari Raman and I
co-authored based on our research on the Nemmadi kiosks which have been set
up across Karnataka state to deliver land records and rural digital services
-
http://writerruns.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/media-asia-b-raman-and-z-bawa.pdf


The paper appeared in Media Asia journal [Vol. 38 (1)] in April this year.

Here is a summary of the paper:

This article explains how the introduction of information and communication
technologies (ICTs) influences citizens’ engagement with the state by
analysing *Nemmadi* *Kendras* (NKs), which are computerised kiosks
established in rural areas of Karnataka to provide revenue services and land
records to citizens under a public-private partnership. The government
argued that the introduction of digital technology as an interface between
the State and citizens would contribute towards good governance by enhancing
efficiency, transparency and accountability.

Drawing on the social shaping of technology perspectives, the findings
suggest that a thorough analysis of the impact of information technologies
in governance necessitates paying attention to the larger political and
social processes within which the technology is introduced and embedded. The
article further argues that the introduction of information technologies in
a fraught and contested context adds more layers (in terms of bureaucracy
and middlemen), which rural citizens have to navigate before they can
actually attain services. Concerns related to costs, scale and political
dynamics in the design of databases are also discussed here. The article
concludes by advocating the ‘embedded’ approach for studying the role of
ICTs in governance.

Please feel free to circulate the paper.

Best,

Zainab

-- 
Zainab Bawa
Ph.D. Student and Independent Researcher

http://writerruns.wordpress.com/
... ambling along roads and courses, not knowing whether I am running
towards a destination or whether the act of running is destination in itself