<incom> two publications on ICT in India

[Geert Lovink]

IDPAD support for publications on ICT in India
20 April 2008

While much has been written on the growth of information technology 
(IT) and IT-enabled services in India, little is known about the people 
who work in these industries, about the nature of the work itself, and 
about its wider social and cultural ramifications. The Indo-Dutch 
Programme on Alternatives in Development (IDPAD) supported two 
publications on this subject: In an Outpost of the Global Economy and 
ICTs and Indian Social Change.

IN AN OUTPOST OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
Work and Workers in India's Information Technology
By Carol Upadhya, A.R. Vasavi (editors)
This volume is one of the first studies of work and workers in the IT 
and ITES industries in India. Each essay drawn on original field 
research conducted in India, and contextualises its observartions 
within current theoretical debates on globalisation, the information 
economy, and the transformation of work in the post-industrial era.

ICTs AND INDIAN SOCIAL CHANGE
Diffusion, Poverty, Governance
By Ashwani Saith M.Vijayabaskar V. Gayathri
ICTs and Indian Social Change: Diffusion, Poverty, Governance is the 
first book of its kind that puts together the optimistic voices of 
techno-idealists, critical social science perspectives on technology 
and a range of empirical material on the impact of Information and 
Communication Technologies (ICTs) on the lives of people. The book 
traces these processes across urban and rural spaces of work, 
consumption, e-governance, and highlights the new kinds of social 
identities they are fostering in India. It opens up an arena for 
dialogue between activists, technologists, policy makers and academia 
on using ICTs for development.