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Report to members presented at the Kathmandu conference, May 2011

Chris Westrup and Julian Bass

The 9.4 group was constituted in 1988 and has had four objectives: making the experiences of developing countries more widely available; developing interest in this area; seeking to improve practice in the design and implementation of information systems; and creating greater interest in the area through joint activities with other technical committees. This report briefly outlines what activities have occurred recently and what are planned before a discussion of future directions.

The 9.4 group has organised around a biennial conference and regional or specialist workshops. In May 2009 the biennial conference was held in the Dubai School of Government. Details of the conference and its papers are found at http://ifip.dsg.ae/ - the link is also on the 9.4 websites. 37 papers were presented and the conference was attended by some 70 delegates. Fadi Salem was the host organiser and Brian Nicholson and Elaine Byrne were the programme chairs. Two special issues have been produced - Information Technologies and International Development, Vol. 6, Issue 3, Fall 2010 and in Information Technology for Development Vol. 17, Issue 1, 2011.

Three workshops were held in 2010. In March, Makerere University in Uganda hosted a workshop on ICT and Development: Research Voices from Africa. A workshop was held in May at the London School of Economics on Theorising Development and Technological Change. On 28th September a workshop on Health Information Systems was held at the London School of Economics. The organisers of the workshops are seeking to produce academic publications to develop these themes. Details of the workshops and papers are found at http://www.ifipwg94.org/.

This current biennial conference has been held in Kathmandu form 22nd to 25th May 2011. The call for papers for this conference was launched in August 2010 and closed on 15^th November. The theme is Partners for Development: ICT Actors and Action. The conference received 81 submissions, of which 48 papers and 5 demo/posters were accepted. The accepted submissions include authors from 22 countries. We are grateful to Conference Chair Prof. Maung K. Sein, University of Agder, Norway along with Programme Co-Chairs Dr G. Harindranath, Royal Holloway, University of London and Dr Bjørn Furuholt, also of University of Agder, Norway. The keynote speakers were Mr Mahabir Pun, Nepal Wireless Network Project and Professor Geoff Walsham, University of Cambridge, who has had a long and distinguished association with the Working Group. We are very grateful to the local organizing co-chair Dr. Devinder Thapa, Administrator Unni S. Holbrook, and Conference on-site co-ordinator Oyvind Hellang, all from University of Agder, Norway.

In 2009 the Working Group chair, Dr. Abi Bada and the secretary, Savita Bailur, both stepped down and a new chair, Dr. Chris Westrup and a new secretary, Dr. Julian Bass, were appointed. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Abi and Savita for their contribution and work for 9.4. New officers remain to be appointed for different regions. The 9.4 group has a successful and active newsletter edited by Prof. Subhash Bhatnagar (http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/current.htm for details)

A new 9.4 website began in 2010 (http://www.ifipwg94.org/). We would like to thank the LSE and Mike Cushman for their hosting of the previous 9.4 website over many years. The new website enables users to maintain their own contact details and supports automated mailing list management. The mailing list feature has been used sparingly. Over 100 users have chosen to register at the site. Editorial control is exerted over site registration requests and automated infiltration attempts are received approximately weekly. Several users have initiated, but not completed, the registration process; which requires response to an automated confirmation email.

Looking forward, it is clear that 9.4 has already achieved aims that in 1988 were ambitious. The role and importance of information systems in development is well known and has become a major theme in academic research and debate. The ethos of the 9.4 group is to welcome and to stimulate debate in this area and to continue to hold conferences and workshops on issues seen as important to its members and development more generally.

The key issue is how should the 9.4 group develop? Some plans will be presented at the business meeting in Kathmandu.

In conclusion, we would like to thank the members of 9.4 who have helped organise or participated in 9.4 events, or contributed to publications, and the 9.4 group.

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