The PhD defence will be partially digital, in Kristen Nygaards sal (5370), Ole-Johan Dahls hus and streamed directly using Zoom. The host of the session will moderate the technicalities while the chair of the defence will moderate the disputation.
Ex auditorio questions: the chair of the defence will invite the attending audience at Kristen Nygaards sal to ask ex auditorio questions.
- Join the disputation
- Download Zoom
- Request a digital copy of the thesis
Trial lecture
"How do development paradigms shape ICT4D research and practice?"
Time and place: August 21, 2023 11:15 AM, Kristen Nygaards sal (5370), Ole-Johan Dahls hus/ZOOM
Main research findings
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Can ICTs make the world more peaceful? Introduction and Background: A more peaceful world represents conditions of dignity, equity, civility, and tolerance of diversity that have become elusive due to intractable ethnic conflicts in LMICs. Thousands have been displaced, Lost lives, livelihoods, and social fabrics. The question is how are the bourgeoning and pervasive ICTs contributing to more peaceful conditions? In this thesis, I demonstrate that the flexibility of ICTs enables them to contribute to making the world more peaceful by being embedded in social structures where they draw on social resources for building counter networks to violence-causing systems. The thesis demonstrates how social capital can be interwoven with SMS platforms in mitigating ethnic violence. Main Results: the thesis provides a four-step process for building an ICT-enabled peace network with the capability of countering violence endorsing networks like gunrunning, livestock theft, gender-based violence, and exclusionary cartelism. The process includes building content, enrolling stakeholders, integrating ICTs, and evolving the network. The thesis provides a framework for measuring the peace outcomes like justice, equity, and business liberty, that can be applied in designing peace programs. The dissertation also offers the principles and dimensions of program scaling. Wider Implications: I believe that the results presented in the thesis will be of interest to the broad ICT4D community, especially Information systems Researchers and Peacebuilding practitioners. The methodology presented will also appeal to the general theoretical IS community.
Adjudication committee:
- Professor Håvard Hegre, Uppsala University and Peace Research Institute, Sweden
- Associate Professor Shirin Madon, London School of Economic and Political Science, UK
- Associate Professor Alexander Moltubakk Kempton, University of Oslo, Department of informatics Norway
Supervisors
- Professor Sundeep Sahay, Department of Informatics, UIO, Norway
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Professor Petter Nielsen, Department of Informatics, UIO, Norway
Chair of defence:
Professor Ole Hanseth
Candidate contact information
Contact information at Department: Mozhdeh Sheibani Harat