Open Access#GoingEthno in the Indian Bureaucracy
Author(s) -
SOLANKI AAKASH,
TEWARI SARVESH
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
ethnographic praxis in industry conference proceedings
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1559-8918
pISSN - 1559-890X
DOI - 10.1111/1559-8918.2016.01107
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , framing (construction) , literacy , workload , ethnography , government (linguistics) , sustainability , digital literacy , information literacy , public relations , political science , sociology , engineering , pedagogy , management , civil engineering , economics , politics , law , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , anthropology , biology
Based on experience of working in the Department of School Education, Government of Haryana on a Management Information System being built to reduce administrative workload on teachers and bureaucrats, this case study describes how ethnography was used to understand and address the problem of technology adoption in a large bureaucracy. Ethnography helped the Department in framing the problem of adoption as one of lack of adequate Digital Literacy within the organization and in developing strategies to address it. Digital Literacy workshops were conducted to improve broader Digital Literacies in the Department, which improved literacy levels by 48%. For ensuring sustainability of this initiative, the Department instituted a continuous Digital Literacy program, which will support the adoption of multiple technology projects in the future.