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Amit Prakash

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Professor and Head of the Department of Digital Humanities and Societal Systems (DHSS)

amitprakash@iiitb.ac.in

Education : FPM (IIM Bangalore)

Amit Prakash is a Professor at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB). He serves as the Convenor of IIITB’s Centre for Accessibility in the Global South (CAGS); he has also been involved in establishing and managing the Institute's Centre for IT and Public Policy (CITAPP) and E-Health Research Centre (EHRC). His interests lie in Information Systems and Public Policy, particularly as they intersect with development sectors such as public health & nutrition, education & skill development, and food & livelihood security. The focus of his research and consulting efforts has been equity and inclusion in matters related to technology designs and policy choices.

Prior to joining academia, Amit worked for over fifteen years on advisory assignments involving IT and Governance policies and Digital Technology designs - at Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). He has chaired and served on national, international and regional committees and working groups tasked with formulating digital governance and development policies and has anchored the design and development of large award winning e-Governance projects.

Amit serves as a resource person for the United Nations Asia-Pacific Centre for ICT and Development (UN-APCICT) and has developed training content and conducted capacity enhancement sessions for senior government executives and political representatives across countries in the Asia-Pacific region. He is a Co-Founder and Trustee of Vision Empower (http://www.visionempowertrust.org/), a not-for-profit trust working on accessible education for visually impaired and a Co-Founder and Director at Vembi Technologies (https://vembi.in/).

Amit has a doctoral degree in Information Systems from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore and a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee.

ICT and Development (ICTD), Digital Governance, Information Systems, Public Policy, Accessibility and Inclusion, Technology and Ethics

Journals/Book Chapters

  • ‘Experiences from Running a Voice-Based Education Platform for Children and Teachers with Visual Impairments’ (with Roshni Poddar, Tarini Naik, Manikanteswar Punnam, Kavyansh Chourasia, Pradyumna Yalandur Muralidhar, Rajeswari Pandurangan, Rajesh S Paali, Nagarathna R Bhat, Bhagyashree Biradar, Venkatesh Deshpande, Devidatta Ghosh, Sudipta Ray Chaudhuri, Dipanjan Chakraborty, Manohar Swaminathan), ACM Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies (forthcoming)
  • ‘Governing Smart City IoT interventions: A Complex Adaptive Systems perspective’ (with Vinay Reddy Venumuddala and Bidisha Chaudhuri), Digital Government: Research and Practice (forthcoming), Online 23 April 2024, https://doi.org/10.1145/3660644
  • ‘Seeing data like a state: A case of Open Government Data in India's livelihoods program’ (with Rajesh Hanbal and Janaki Srinivasan), Information Polity, 28 (2023), 259–275. https://content.iospress.com/articles/information-polity/ip220060
  • ‘Imagined Technologists?  The evolution of the IT Engineer as an occupational category in India’ (with Balaji Parthasarathy and Supriya Dey), in Gadea, Charles & Lardinois, Roland (Ed.), Les Mondes de l’ingénieur en Inde ( XIX -XXI siècle), Classiques Garnier, Paris. April 2022. DOI: 10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-12658-4.p.0245
  • ‘Inclusive Digital Governance: Reflecting on Public Value in a Food Security Programme’ (with Apoorva Bhalla and Swati Ganeshan). In V. Sridhar (Ed.) Data Centric Living: Algorithms, Digitization and Regulation. Routledge. November 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003093442
  • Digital Literacy among Children in Elementary Schools of Indonesia (with Hario Kuntarto), Diakom : Jurnal Media Dan Komunikasi, 3(2), 157-170, December 2020. https://doi.org/10.17933/diakom.v3i2.92
  • ‘ICT in Social Protection Schemes: Deinstitutionalising Subsidy-based Welfare Programmes’ (with Silvia Masiero), Information Technology & People, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 1255-1280, June 2020. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-02-2018-0086
  • “ICT and Interactivity in the Classroom: A Case Study of an ICT Intervention in Indian Rural Public Schools” (with Pradyumna Taduri & Srravya Chandhiramowuli) In: Junio D., Koopman C. (Ed) Evolving Perspectives on ICTs in Global Souths. IDIA 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1236. Springer, Cham (2020). https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-52014-4_2
  • ‘What Do Citizens Value in E-Governance? Reflections from a Property Registration Computerization Project in India’ (with Anjali Mohan and Bidisha Chaudhuri), Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 54 Issue 10, 09 March 2019. https://www.epw.in/journal/2019/10/special-articles/what-do-citizens-value-e-governance.html
  • ‘E-Governance and Public Service Delivery at the Grassroots: a Study of ICT Use in Health and Nutrition Programmes in India’, Information Technology and Development, Vol. 22 Issue 2, pp. 306-319, April 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2015.1034639
  • ‘Does Computerization Reduce PDS Leakage? A Case Study of Karnataka’ (with Silvia Masiero), Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. L No. 50, December 12, 2015. https://www.epw.in/journal/2015/50/notes/does-computerisation-reduce-pds-leakage.html
  • ‘Towards a Theory of ICTs for Poverty Reduction: Researching Computerization of the Indian Public Distribution System’ (with Silvia Masiero). iSCHANNEL. 9(2), pp.35–38, February 2015. Available at https://ischannel.lse.ac.uk/articles/abstract/111/
  • ‘Importance of Development Context in ICT4D Projects: A Study of Computerization of Land Records in India’ (with Rahul De’), Information Technology & People, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 262-281, September 2007. https://doi.org/10.1108/09593840710822868
  • ‘Installing Digital Nervous System in Maharashtra PWD’ (with A. B. Pawar and A. J. Jagtap), Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, Paper No. 480, Vol. 62 No. 3, pp. 453-471, 2001.

 

Conference Proceedings

  • ‘Scaffolding Digital Literacy through Digital Skills Training for Disabled People in the Global South’ (with Laxmi Gunupudi, Maryam Bandukda, Giulia Barbareschi, Tigmanshu Bhatnagar, Aanchal, Satish Mishra & Catherine Holloway), 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024), 28-30 October 2024, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
  • ‘Mapping Accountability in Human-AI Partnerships in Healthcare: Towards a Patient-Centric Approach’ (with Deepa Austin, Shruchi Singh, Vinay Reddy Venumuddala & Swati Ganeshan), IEEE R10 Humanitarian Technology Conference 2024, 1-3 October 2024, Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia
  • ‘Complexity of Last Mile Networks and Ethics of Smart City Interventions: A Case of Solid Waste Management Intervention in Karnataka’ (with Rashmi Pavagada Subbanarasimha, Vinay Reddy Venumuddala & Bidisha Chaudhuri), IFIP WG8.6 Working Conference, 15-16 December 2023, IIM Nagpur, India
  • ‘Agritech Startups and Inclusion of Small-scale Producers: Evidence from High-value Chains in Karnataka, India’ (with Ashwini Baje), IFIP WG8.6 Working Conference, 15-16 December 2023, IIM Nagpur, India
  • ‘Dwelling on Wickedness in Societal Systems: A Case of ICTD Intervention in Indian Agriculture Markets’ (with Sanjay V.P.), IFIP WG8.6 Working Conference, 15-16 December 2023, IIM Nagpur, India
  • ‘Use of Locally Valued Non-state ICTs by Market Actors: A Case of Transforming Agriculture Marketing in Karnataka, India’ (with Sanjay V.P.), Joint Working Conference of IFIP WG8.2 and IFIP WG9.4, 7-8 December 2023, Hyderabad, India
  • ‘Empowering for Education: Lessons from designing a Remotely administered Digital Literacy Curriculum for Children who are Blind and Visually Impaired in India’ (with O. Aishwarya, Nibin Mathew, Nikita Nagaraj & Supriya Dey), 6th EMPOWER Assistive Technology Conference (EMPOWER 2023), 5-7 October 2023, IIT Madras Research Park, Chennai, India
  • ‘ICT-enabled agriculture e-Markets: reflecting on local level resistance to a large-scale state-sponsored technology intervention’ (with Sanjay V.P.), 16th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV 2023), 26-29 September 2023, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
  • ‘Digital Identity and Biometric based Authentication Systems: Reflecting on the Indian Experience of Rights based Entitlement Provisioning’ (with Nikita Nagaraj), Trustworthy Digital Identity International Conference 2023, 14-15 September 2023, Bangalore, India
  • ‘Mobilizing Digital Volunteers to support Underserved Communities in India during COVID-19 Lockdowns’ (with Devansh Mehta, Vishnu Prasad, Tarun Chitta, Srinivas Naik & Aditya Vashistha), COMPASS '22: ACM SIGCAS Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies, Seattle, USA, June 29 – July 1, 2022.
  • ‘Complexity demands agility: Operationalizing agile principles to address complex public health challenge of malnutrition management’ (with Deepa Austin and Suprgya Bhushan). 12th International Conference on Information & Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD 2022), University of Washington, Seattle, USA, June 26-28, 2022.
  • ‘Digital biometric authentication and citizens’ right to food: Neglect of the ‘local’ in India’s Aadhaar-enabled Public Distribution System’ (with Nikita Nagaraj). In 14th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV 2021), October 06–08, 2021, Athens, Greece. ACM, New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3494193.3494239
  • ‘Connecting the Dots in Nutritional Rehabilitation: a Qualitative Study on ICT and Community-based Care’ (with Deepa Austin), Proceedings of the IFIP 9.4 Virtual Conference on Implications of Information and Digital Technologies for Development, pp. 322-334, 26-28 May 2021.
  • ‘Who Drives Data in Data-Driven Governance? the Politics of Data Production in India's Livelihood Program’ (with Rajesh Dinesh Hanbal and Janaki Srinivasan), 13th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV 2020), 23-25 September 2020, Athens, Greece.
  • ‘Creating an Accessible Technology Ecosystem for Learning Science and Math: A Case of Visually Impaired Children in Indian Schools’ (with Supriya Dey, Vidhya Y, Mounika Neerukonda, Suprgya Bhushan), MCHV-INAIS Workshop on "Being (more) human in a digitised world", IIM Calcutta, 1-2 February 2019.
  • ‘A Rights-based Approach to Open Government Data’ (with Rajesh Hanbal), 10th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD 2019), ACM, 2019. Ahmedabad, India, 4-7 January 2019 (short-paper).
  • ‘Relevance of Participatory Approaches in Creating ICT Systems for Public Health Programmes’ (with Priyanka Ivatury and Angel Jeena), 10th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV2017), New Delhi, March 2017 (nominated for the best research paper award)
  • ‘The Politics of Anti-Poverty Artefacts: Lessons from Computerization of the Food Security System in Karnataka’ (with Silvia Masiero), 7th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD 2015), Singapore, May 2015.
  • ‘Infomediating the Digital Divide: A Case Study of Sujala Watershed Development Project in Karnataka’ (with Kavitha Narayanan), 10th International Conference on Public Policy and Management, IIM Bangalore, August 2015.
  • ‘Enactment of Technology Structures in ICT4D Projects: A Study of Computerization of Land Records in India’ (with Rahul De’), Proceedings of the 11th Pacific-Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2007), Auckland, New Zealand, July 2007
  • ‘Use of Information and Communication Technologies for Encouraging Participative Development: A Critique of the Indian Experiment’ (with Rahul De’), Proceedings of the IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communications Technologies and Development (ICTD 2006), Berkeley, California, USA, May 2006

 

Op-Eds/Articles in the Press

 

DT 314: An Introduction to Accessibility in the Global South (jointly)

This introductory course seeks to bring in a Global South perspective on accessibility covering broad aspects of development theory and disability studies, organizational design and performance, and design principles and approaches for assistive technology (AT). The course can be taken by senior undergraduate and post-graduate students from any discipline interested to gain a basic understanding of accessibility and designing inclusive assistive technologies and workplaces. It will also be useful for working professionals seeking to contribute to their organization's Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) practice/department.

DT 313: Technology Ethics and Artificial Intelligence (jointly)

Modern technologies - from the atomic bomb to automobiles, from genetic engineering to artificial intelligence- have come under serious public and academic scrutiny for their desirability and their actual implications for human society. Issues of human autonomy, environmental sustainability, equity and justice etc. have come to demand ethical evaluations of current and future technologies. In this course, we take an interdisciplinary approach to ethics and draw on concepts and frameworks available in many disciplines, including Philosophy, Anthropology, Sociology, and Political Science to make students familiar with different notions of ethics and apply them in the context of designing technological solutions, specifically those involving artificial intelligence.

DT 308: Quantitative Data Analysis for Public Policy (jointly)

As data from various facets of life ranging from individuals, communities, societies, industry and government become ubiquitous and available, careful analysis of such data Is becoming relevant. At the same time, regulators and policy makers are also using data from various sources to make informed decisions on important regulatory and policy issues. It is in this context that this course lays the foundation of data analysis for public policy. The course covers various techniques and methodologies in data life cycle including capturing and collecting data, transforming data for public consumption, and analyzing data. Further the course will also involve tools and methodologies on using data for public policy decisions in the area of Information and Communication Technologies.

DT 204: Social Complexity and Systems Thinking

This is a core course for the first year students of M.Sc. (Digital Society). It seeks to introduce to the students relevant concepts drawn from systems theory for a better appreciation of complexity in large digital systems. This is then used to provide insights into a few relevant methodologies considered useful to model and manage such systems. An earlier variant of this course was offered as DT 201 Engineering and Management of Large Digital Systems.

GEN 505: IT Project and Product Management (jointly)

This course offers a comprehensive overview of the essentials of project and product management and delves into details of innovation, design thinking and entrepreneurship and ICT platform businesses. It is being offered as an elective to final year students of the MTech programme. It is a slightly modified version of the earlier core course - Business Management for IT Engineers - which we taught during 2015-16.​

​HSS 104B: E-Governance Application Design

This course seeks to overlay the introduction of good principles in designing ICT solutions with an understanding of the context of development, governance and public policy within which e-Governance solutions are embedded. It is being offered to fourth year students of the Integrated MTech programme.

Ongoing Projects

  • A research study to better understand the use of Android phones as assistive technology by persons with visual impairment and persons with hearing impairment, in partnership with the Global Disability Innovation (GDI) Hub at University College London (UCL)
  • Accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities in educational systems and organizational workplaces; supportive assistive technology ecosystem to address content accessibility concerns of visually-impaired school going children,  through the Centre for Accessibility in the Global South (CAGS) established in partneship with Microsoft Research and Vision Empower 
  • Policy frameworks concerning ethical aspects of AI and IoT technologies, through the Centre for Internet of Ethical Things (CIET) established in partnership with Government of Karnataka and World Economic Forum
  • Participatory design of information systems: (i) Indian public health and nutrition programmes (though the E-Health Research Centre; in partnership with Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute) (ii) Smallholder agriculture - with a focus on electronic/virtual marketplaces and farmer producer companies (FPOs)/cooperatives, (iii) Local governance: with a focus on data and applications of releance for panchayats and community based organiaztions; both (ii) and (iii) through the Centre for IT and Public Policy (CITAPP)

 

Completed Projects (selected)

  • Impact of algorithmic management on work organization, job quality and industrial relations in the logistics and healthcare sectors in India, funded by the International Labour Organization, ILO (2022-23)
  • Computational thinking curriculum for visually impaired persons, funded by Microsoft Research India Pvt. Ltd. and Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. (2019-22); the project was awarded a Jury Commedation Certificate by FICCI during its CSR Award Function in 2022
  • Digital identity systems and public service provision – with a focus on India’s Public Distribution Systems (PDS), with funding from the MOSIP project (2020-22)
  • Knowledge partner for the Kerala Looks Ahead international conference, funded by State Planning Board, Government of Kerala (2020-21)
  • Drafting of a new training module on Digital Government and Transformation, funded by United Nations Asia-Pacific Training Centre for ICT and Development, UN-APCICT (2020-21)
  • Drafting of a brief on ICT trends for policy makers and government officials in the Asia-Pacific region: funded by United Nations Asia-Pacific Training Centre for ICT and Development, UN-APCICT (2017-18)
  • IT-BT Vision for Nava Karnataka 2025, Government of Karnataka (2017-18)
  • Detailed project report for setting up a National e-Governance Academy as an institute of national importance, funded by Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India (2013-14)
  • Consultancy for preparation of the report of the working group on National Information Infrastructure (NII) 2.0 set up by the Government of India, funded by Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India (2013-14)
  • Detailed sector papers for the 12th Five-Year Plan of the Indian province of Karnataka (including education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure and other key sectors), funded by Planning, Programme Monitoring & Statistics Department, Government of Karnataka (2012)
  • Technical assistance for Bihar Governance and Administrative Reforms Project (including a study on strengthening monitoring systems in elementary schools), funded by Department for International Development (DFID), United Kingdom (2011-12)
  • Advisory services for developing technical education policy for the state of Punjab, funded by Department of Technical Education & Industrial Training, Government of Punjab (2011)
  • Advisory services for developing a national employment policy for Bhutan, funded by Ministry of Labour and Human Resources, Royal Government of Bhutan (2011)
  • Technical assistance to Government of Bihar and the World Bank for piloting Alternate Implementation Models in key schemes of Rural Development Department – Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) in the state of Bihar, India (2010)
  • Capacity building for reforming the Khadi and Village Industry (KVI) subsector in India, funded by the Asian Development Bank (2010)
  • Research study on building a knowledge society in Karnataka, India, funded by the Karnataka Knowledge Commission, Government of Karnataka (2010)
  • Evaluation of Mid-day Meal programme in Karnataka, funded by Department of Public Instruction, Government of Karnataka (2008-09)
  • System design and country-wide implementation of an online management and monitoring application (http://omms.nic.in/) for India’s rural roads programme - Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), funded by Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India (2000-03); the project was awarded Computer Society of India-Wipro national e-Governance award (runners-up) for best packaged application developed in 2002
  • Design and state-wide implementation of a comprehensive computerization programme for Maharashtra Public Works Department, India (1997-2003); the project was awarded Nihilent-Computer Society of India national e-Governance award for best website in 2000

Academic Administration and Professional Service (at IIITB)

  • Convenor, Centre for Accessibility in the Global South (CAGS, http://cagsiiitb.org/), IIIT  Bangalore: August 2020 till date
  • Co-Convenor, E-Health Research Centre (EHRC, https://ehrc.iiitb.ac.in/), IIIT Bangalore: September 2015 till date
  • Convenor, Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy (CITAPP, http://citapp.iiitb.ac.in/), IIIT Bangalore: June 2014 – October 2020
  • Coordinator (Student Affairs), IIIT Bangalore: November 2020 - July 2023
  • Programme Coordinator, MSc (Digital Society), IIIT Bangalore: July 2015 – October 2020
  • Member, Broadband Commission Working Group on Data for Learning, 2022-23 (https://www.broadbandcommission.org/data-for-learning/)
  • Program Chair, 3rd Assistive Technology Conference (EMPOWER 2021, https://empower2021.iiitb.ac.in/), 28-30 October 2021
  • Co-Chair, IIMB-IIITB-INAIS Paper Writing Workshop, 30th March 2020
  • Program Committee Member/Track Chair for conferences like ICIS, ICTD, ICEGOV, EMPOWER, IIMB CPP etc.and Reviewer for IS journals like ISJ, ITP, ITD etc.