Digital identity for development: The quest for justice and a research agenda

ABSTRACT

We pursue three main objectives in this editorial for the Special Issue on Identification in a Digital Age: Implications for Development. After outlining the motivations that led us to launch this Special Issue call, we first propose a framework to map the theoretical link between digital identity and human development, articulated in three dimensions linking digital identity to expected development outcomes. Secondly, we present the seven papers in this collection in terms of how they problematise such a link, observing how each of them uses empirical data to increase existing knowledge on this connection and question it. Thirdly, we leverage insights from these contributions to put forward a research agenda on digital identity and human development, suggesting possible avenues to engage with this topic and ultimately, framing digital identity as an object of ICT4D research.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital identity
• development
• ICT4D
• data justice
• digital age

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Sajda Qureshi, Annika Andersson, Mathias Hatakka, and Shirin Madon for their extremely valuable feedback on earlier versions of this editorial. Our gratitude goes to all the Authors and Reviewers of this Special Issue, whose contributions made it possible to advance the debate on digital identification and development through the papers in this collection.

Notes on contributors

Silvia Masiero is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at the Department of Informatics, University of Oslo. Her research operates within the area of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D), with a focus on the role of digital platforms in socio-economic development processes. She has conducted extensive work on the computerisation of India’s main food security programme, the Public Distribution System (PDS), and on the adoption of ICTs in core aspects of the Indian public sphere including elections, rural employment guarantees and programmes of social protection. Silvia is Secretary of the International Federation for Information Processing IFIP 9.4 Working Group on Implications of Information and Digital Technologies for Development, a member of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), and a member of the Editorial Board at Information Technology for Development.

Savita Bailur is an Adjunct Associate Professor in digital development at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, and a Research Director at Caribou Digital, an ethical digital economies consultancy working in emerging markets. She has been working in ICTD for around 15 years, more recently in digital identity, platform economies and gender. She is experienced in qualitative research and narrative research, has worked for organisations including Gates Foundation, Microsoft Research India, UN Women and World Wide Web Foundation, published several peer reviewed papers and books and currently working on a textbook for Routledge on social media and development for 2021. She is a member of the Editorial Board at Information Technology for Development, a member of EPIC (ethnographic praxis in industry) and contributes frequently to webinars, podcasts and panels on the user focus of development in a digital age.