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SIG - Technology for Social Science Research (TSSR)

The Special Interest Group on Technology for Social Science Research (TSSR) will be a SIG under the umbrella of Computer Society of India. TSSR will be convened with an objective to bring together likeminded professionals from diverse streams and create the opportunities to take the benefits of IT to the larger section of our society.

The TSSR will become a common platform for Social Scientists, IT professionals, Policy Makers, Researchers and other stakeholders to release its mission. The focused area of the TSSR will be the following-

  • Using of IT tools in Social Research
  • IT assistance to NGOs and other civil society institutions.
  • Enhancement of the coverage and implementation of Government Social Policies through IT.
  • Using the IT tools for Social Audit
  • Creating a database for unorganized sectors workers.

The endeavor to take advantage of the developments in technology is a constant journey and social sector has to take leverage of these technological enhancements, TSSR will not only create a link between technology and social sector but also will be driven towards construction of the society. TSSR will provide a unique opportunity for the technologists to deliver and the social sector to leverage from the technological advancements at the same time.

Social Research is a vast and complicated subject due to the dynamic nature of society.
The contemporary approach of the social scientists necessitates the use of IT. Social researchers use various IT tools and software for creation and organising of data as well as data interpretation and analysis. The use of IT in social research has not only proven to make studies easier but also plays a major role in confirming the veracity of the researches.

Recognizing the significance of IT in social research as well as the existing gaps in its utilization, TSI will take initiatives to provide assistance to the social researchers and facilitate the sharing of knowledge in IT tools and software.

In the era of globalization, the importance if IT has prevailed in all walks of life and has been reinforced by the governments, NGOs and other civil society organizations. A major credit goes to the enhancement in IT for providing momentum to the various social welfare programmes such as poverty alleviation, National literacy mission and health programme. IT has a potential to address various issues in the existing government programmes. For example IT has a substantial role to play in social audits of NREGA which is fraught with numerous challenges.

With 93% workforce in India being in the informal sector, the lack of database aggravates the vulnerability of 370 million workers. The lack of database also inhibits the policymakers from implementing the beneficiary polices for them. TSSR under the umbrella of CSI will work towards making a database of informal workers in India with the help of IT tools.
TSI will thus create an opportunity for the IT professionals to directly contribute to the society thereby creating a win-win situation for both the IT professionals as well as the Social Scientists.

Activities

In order to achieve the objectives of TSSR various activities will be follow linked to our vision-

1) Making a bridge among the  IT professionals, policy makers, social scientist, and the representatives of the civil society
2) To promote research in this field
3) Organize seminars , conferences and workshops for  the benefits of various stakeholders of TSSR
4) Creating awareness through publishing article related to the group.
5) Examining   availability of  Open source Software for this sector and make available information as Knowledge base
6) With the help of  vendors and solution providers  Research scholars  carry out pilot to  assess the benefits of these technologies
 

Convener- Prof. Bino Paul
Mumbai 
E-mail ID- binopaul@gmail.com