In our investigation about South America writings on social and solidarity economy, social innovation and Information Communication Technology (ICT) we found a vast and rich literature describing, analyzing and theorizing... [ view full abstract ]
In our investigation about South America writings on social and solidarity economy, social innovation and Information Communication Technology (ICT) we found a vast and rich literature describing, analyzing and theorizing grassroots social innovations. It underlies the arrangements among people, artifacts and practices that bring an interesting view to the relationship between technology and society: The social technology (tecnologia social) literature. The term tecnologia social is applied to refer to those sociomaterial arrangements or assemblages which goal is to promote social transformation. There are initiatives linked to social and solidarity economy movement developed as political processes by which practices and tools are mobilized by social groups with the intent of addressing local social demands or problems. The core features of a social technology are: it embodies local knowledge and local community interaction, the local knowledge could be combined to expert knowledge, it requires low economic investment and benefit from local skills and expertise (decrease disruption in the natural, social and cultural environment, it looks at using local resources and capabilities (human and energetic), and it opens many possibilities of re-application. Using this notion as framework, our research seeks to give some clues about how a new signification of a social innovation is built: which are the process and the mechanisms mobilized.
Theoretical framework and methodology
We use an analytical framework built on social constructivism and structuration theory (Pozzebon, 2004; Pozzebon et al., 2009). It seems particularly useful for research involving complex and multilevel interactions between individuals, groups, organizations and networks at the community/societal level. Using this framework, we applied an in-depth single case study (Stake, 2000) to analyze this subject. The selected case is the Sierra Nevada project. It was created in 1997 in Tlalmanalco, a municipality of 45,000 people in Central Mexico, from of a fruitful partnership between a Mexican university and 12 municipalities. Its objective was to support local initiatives by applying academic research and inclusive techniques so as to transform the Sierra Nevada region into a green belt of micro-projects that would contain the encroaching city and halt environmental destruction of the region.
Results
Our results bring out process by which social innovations (in form of ICT) are “re-signified” by a local community from a developing region. Sierra Nevada is an example of a process in which ICT become part of a socio-material arrangement (a social technology) involving people, methods and tools. In addition, it represents an illustration of synergy between available expert knowledge or technologies and local/indigenous perspective, a process driven by local skills.
References
Pozzebon,M., 2004. Conducting and evaluating critical interpretive research: Examining criteria as a key component in building a research tradition. In: Kaplan, B. (Ed.). Information Systems Research: Relevant Theory and Informed Practice. London: Kluwer,275‐292.
Pozzebon, M., Diniz, E., Jayo, M., 2009. Adapting the structurationist view of technology for studies at the community societal levels. In: Dwivedi, Y. D, Lal, B., Williams, M., Schneberger, S. and Wade, M. (Eds.) Handbook of research on contemporary theoretical models in IS (pp.18-33).Hershey: Information Science Reference.
Stake, R. E.,2000. Case Studies In: Denzin N. and Lincoln, Y. (Ed.). Handbook of qualitative research (pp.435-455). Sage Publications: California.
