IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2016 - 43

be introduced in a typical "Technology and Society"
course, and re-emphasized in post-graduate research
methods training. While the case studies in this article
can serve as initial examples, the ICTD literature has
numerous case studies where varying degrees of bungee research can be discerned. For orientation, the digital artwork "http://whitesave.me" may stimulate some
critical reflection.
Actors in the broader field of ICTD implementation
(i.e., action by NGOs, aid agencies, and other organizations innovating and applying technology to development challenges) should examine how resources are
used and how decisions are taken so that systemic and
sustainable capacity building is prioritized.
In our work (and the work of some, but sadly too few,
ICTD research groups) we have found that models
emphasizing long-term partnership and continuous
engagement are more likely to lead to sustainable outcomes both in the research setting and through transfer
of knowledge to other situations. Such models move us
and our beneficiaries beyond bungee research, and
enable our joint work to be situated, or at least situation
aware - enabling benefits from the sustained interactions when the bungee researchers leave.

Acknowledgment
The authors thank Revi Sterling for early discussions
on this paper, and Nic Bidwell for inspiration with ethnographic methods. We also thank Telkom, Cisco,
Aria Technologies, and the Technology and Human
Resources for Industry Partnership (THRIP) in South
Africa for the financial support of both community
engagement projects presented herein, via the Telkom
Centre of Excellence (CoE) programme (NRF reference
number (UID) 75191). The rural community network
project is also supported by the CONFINE Integrated
Project FIRE #288535. We thank the anonymous
reviewers of this paper for their consistently constructive input.

Author Information
Andy Dearden is with the Cultural, Communication
& Computing Research Institute, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, S1 1WB, U.K. Email: a.m.dearden@shu.ac.uk.
William D. Tucker is with the Department of Computer Science, University of the Western Cape, Bellville,
South Africa. Email: btucker@uwc.ac.za.

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september 2016

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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

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http://www.Telecoms.com http://http:// http://www.telecoms.com/52241/sms-and-beyond-the-20-year-evolution-to-ip http://www.whitesave.me" http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2016
