Technology and Sustainable Economic Development

1. Technology and Sustainable Economic Development Nov 15, 2002

2. Outline • Introductions • Motivation + Objectives • Format • Themes + Topics • Living laboratory • Today’s 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?

7. 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)

8. 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)

9. 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)

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

11. 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)

12. 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”

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

14. Any questions before we proceed with presentation of today’s readings? • What works?What doesn’t? • We’ll collectively review the reading group’s organization in last session of Fall ’02 (Dec 13)

15. Today’s 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 (today’s focus) • Written by government bureaucrats. • Focused on information technology (IT). • Just a starting point for discussion...

16. 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.

17. 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...

18. 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.

19. 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)

20. Wijkman & Afifi (4) • Questions: - Is “information” really separate from physical work and systems? Isn’t 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.

21. Wijkman & Afifi (5) More questions: - Isn’t 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?