[Reader-list] inde fellowship - first posting

[Punam Zutshi]

Thanks for your first posting which sounds extremely interesting.

I have a number of questions a sociologist of knowledge:

What readings /scholars from Science and Technology studies and Development
Studies have you been looking at?

What was the outcome of attempt to understand deforestation, which I imagine
was undertaken as a professional geographer   for a project?

Depending on the hypotheses you are working with from STS and Dev Studies,
it would be interesting to know if GIS acts to displace the local knowledge
of farmers.Does the planning-friendly nature of the technologies of GIS
necessarily involve   the NGOs as disseminators of this knowledge to
farmers? Or are these questions outside the scope of what you are engaging
with?

What aspects of the hype around GIS disturbed/bothered you?

In my extremely limited view, I imagine it is a technique that arises out of
the emergence of satellite technologies.Could we non geographers be educated
about the history of the technology and its use in India?

Punam Zutshi



----- Original Message -----
From: <muthatha at u.washington.edu>
To: <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 9:00 PM
Subject: [Reader-list] inde fellowship - first posting


> Hello,
>
> I am a geographer currently working towards a Ph.D. Research that I will
be undertaking in the next 6 months is part of my dissertation fieldwork.
>
> I am using the twin lens of science and technology studies and development
studies to understand the increasing use of spatial technologies (remote
sensing and geographic information systems) in natural resource management
based rural development. How is this emerging paradigm altering the nature
and content of planning?
>
> These technologies are thought to be useful planning tools because they
provide a spatial perspective of land resources, large data storage
capabilities, repeated coverage for monitoring purposes, and allow automated
spatial analysis that gets at the inter relationships between various
planning variables.
>
> Motivation for this project came from prior work experience in the spatial
technology sector in Bangalore. I sat in front of a computer for three years
gazing at satellite images and maps of the Karnataka western ghats in an
attempt to contribute to understandings of deforestation. Frustrations with
the hype about GIS and the shallow manner in which the technology is
understood, talked about, and employed (both by proponents and critics)
pushed me to step back from using the technology to research it as a process
of knowledge production.
>
> I am based in Karnataka and my work is in Bangalore and the districts of
Kolar and Raichur. The case study that I am focusing on in the next 6 months
is an NGOÂ's use of these technologies for the construction of soil and
water conservation, and agricultural action plans in some villages. A key
feature of my research is that I will be engaging with the technical details
as opposed to studying the technology from the outside.
> I am undertaking an ethnography of this technical process Â- participant
observations and interviews with the NGO technical staff during all phases
of planning such as ground data collection, ordering and representing
information in the databases, undertaking spatial analysis, churning out
plans and models using GIS software. I also look forward to understanding
what I think is an underexamined space Â- the technical team in an NGO.
>
> This is my first round of dissertation fieldwork. I look forward to
sharing the story with you all as it evolves.
>
> Adios for now from inside the black box!
>
> Muthatha
>
>
>
>
>
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