Laurence Brooks
email: laurence.brooks@dmu.ac.uk

Shahanoor Muhammad
email: shahanoor79@gmail.com

Alam

Muhammad Shahanoor Alam

Affordance and Habitus: Understanding Land Records E-services in Bangladesh

Keywords: Affordance, habitus, land records management, Bangladesh 1

des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Introduction

Information Technology (IT) is seen as important in land records service because it provides insights into significant opportunities for public service through reducing cost and time of service delivery, enabling citizens' easy access to these services and ensuring transparency and accountability [START_REF] Thomas | Bhoomi, Gyan Ganga, e-governance and the right to information: ICTs and development in India[END_REF]. Since the late 1980s, development partners and governments in developing countries (DC) have been experimenting with a number of projects on IT in land records service delivery [START_REF] Orlikowski | The duality of technology: rethinking the concept of technology in organizations[END_REF]. However, a significant number of projects and initiatives on IT in land related services have drastically failed in both developed and developing countries [START_REF] Orlikowski | Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions[END_REF]. Thus, until now using IT in land records services remains a complex field for both practitioners and academics [START_REF] Holstein | Review of Bank Experience with Land Titling and Registration[END_REF]. The land records service in Bangladesh has been identified as a problematic, outdated, corrupted and litigated matter by the government itself, the development partners, practitioners and the civil society [START_REF] Imran | Vested Interests Obstructing Information Systems Use: Land Administration in a Least Developed Country[END_REF]. Rampant corruption in this sector is seen as a barrier to economic growth of such an agrarian country. Further, the World Bank finds that most of the crimes and corruption involved with land records matters in Bangladesh. There are four core components of land records service delivery in Bangladesh: registering deeds of land ownership transfer known as land registration; updating records for changing ownership known as mutation; updating the cadaster (or survey) and receiving officially attested exact duplicate copies of land ownership records (Records of Rights). An attested copy of land records is widely used and it is the basis of all other land related services and a requisite for many public and private services in the country. This service is known locally as: Khatiyan, Nokol, Porcha, Soi Muhuri Nokol etc. This study uses the common term 'land records service'. On average, per day 20 to 30 thousand applications are received from citizens for this service in Bangladesh. There is no other public service that receives this volume of applications from citizens. Consequently, the government has designed electronic or 'E-services' for the land records service. Two main concepts are involved in this study: 'attested copy of land ownership records' and 'service delivery of attested copy of land ownership records'. They will be referred to as 'land records' and 'land records service' respectively. Land records and land records service are inextricably connected with the life and livelihoods of people in Bangladesh. Land records is the key document for receiving loans from banks and financial institutions; buying, selling and donating of land; determining ownership and size of land; managing land litigations and civil suits of land; applying for basic services including electricity, gas, water; receiving subsidized rate of fertilizers, pesticides, fuels and other agricultural services [START_REF] Thomas | Bhoomi, Gyan Ganga, e-governance and the right to information: ICTs and development in India[END_REF]. Aiming to ensure citizens' easy access, the government and development partners across of the world have taken a number of initiatives. However, few projects have succeeded, and the key question here is why? Orlikowski and Baroudi [START_REF] Orlikowski | Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions[END_REF] argue that interpretive studies assume that people create and associate their own subjective and inter-subjective meanings according to their interaction with participants. Thus, interpretive researchers aim to understand phenomena through meanings constructed by participants. Consequently, it provides a deeper insight to analyze the complex world from experience and interaction of its living being [START_REF] Schwandt | Constructivist, interpretivist approaches to human inquiry[END_REF].

Affordance and Habitus

Development of human society and technology is mutually dependent. However, there is lack of agreement on how technology and organizations interact with one another [START_REF] Orlikowski | The duality of technology: rethinking the concept of technology in organizations[END_REF]. Previous studies have shown that there are ambiguous and conflicting relations between organizations and technology [START_REF] Barley | The Alignment of Technology and Structure through Roles and Networks[END_REF]. A socio-technical view on technology shows it is both rooted in organizational processes, and organizations are seen as integral to the technology [START_REF] Davis | Technology, organisation and job structure[END_REF][START_REF] Barua | Creating, Capturing and Measuring Value From IT Investments: Could We Do Better[END_REF][START_REF] Wanyama | Organizational culture and information systems implementation: A Structuration Theory perspective[END_REF]. Orlikowski and Iacono [START_REF] Orlikowski | Research Commentary: Desperately Seeking the "IT" in IT Research-A Call to Theorizing the IT Artifact[END_REF], conceptualize technology as an ensemble artifact that includes software and hardware and activities and interactions performed in a specific social and cultural context. Thus, IS research has identified that mutual interaction in organizational contexts and technological processes plays a pivotal role in enhancing service delivery. Technology cannot be seen as a discrete entity beyond organizations, either by domain or logic; rather, it is interwoven with human work and organizational contexts [START_REF] Kling | The institutional character of computerized information systems[END_REF]. Evidently, dynamic relations in technology and organization develop intended and unintended consequences [START_REF] Markus | Special Issue on Intensive Research in Information Systems: using Qualitative, Interpretive, and Case Methods to Study Information Technology --Second Installment[END_REF].

Technology can be seen as affordance [START_REF] Gibson | Lâm DP Sociomaterial entanglement in virtual spaces: knowledge creation practice in online platforms[END_REF] that refers to possibilities of an object to perform an action and these possibilities belong to the varied context in which they sit [16]. For example, a rock can be used as a shelter for a lizard but it also can be used as a weapon by a human. Technology is neither an independent actor nor capable of determining human actions [16]. Further, Zammuto et al., [START_REF] Zammuto | Information Technology and the Changing Fabric of Organization[END_REF] assert that af-fordance is the result of intertwined relations between technology, organizational contexts and intents of human actors. With this notion, Barley [18] sees technology as a social object with its meaning defined by social context; as such, technology is always interpreted by human beings in this social context [START_REF] Fulk | Social Construction of Communication Technology[END_REF]. It can also be interpreted and reshaped by the need of situated agents [START_REF] Kallinikos | Farewell to Constructivism: Technology and Context-embedded Action[END_REF]. If it fails to meet the expectation of its agents, it can be ignored, resisted or reshaped to achieve the goals of its users and agents [START_REF] Kallinikos | Farewell to Constructivism: Technology and Context-embedded Action[END_REF]. Consequently, it can be seen as complex interdependent systems that rely on social, technical and organizational aspects [START_REF] Kallinikos | Farewell to Constructivism: Technology and Context-embedded Action[END_REF]. This concept of affordance has begun to be used more commonly in IS research, as a way to better understand technology and individuals conjointly, mirroring the tight relationship of the material and social worlds in which they sit (see also Ciborro's ideas on imbrication [START_REF] Ciborra | Imbrication of representations: Risk and digital technologies[END_REF]). Fayard and Weeks [START_REF] Fayard | Affordances for Practice[END_REF] conceptualize affordance as a dualistic concept, "affordance is both dispositional and relational, which we believe is a more difficult, yet potentially more useful interpretation". This allows for insights into how contexts might shape practices and use of technology by people, but the physical and social aspects of the context do not completely determine those practices. Affordances are 'dispositional', which is they are visible and physical, and linked to practice, as in what can be done with an artifact (and often what is expected of it). However, affordances are also 'relational', linked to a person's objectives (what they want to achieve), the technologies' material properties and also the organisational context, as a situation for use. Fayard and Weeks [START_REF] Fayard | Photocopiers and Water-coolers: The Affordances of Informal Interactions[END_REF] use the example of informal interactions in photocopier rooms in three different organisations, identifying that these were shaped by "what was physically possible and socially appropriate". By accepting that there is a social meaning of space which constrains what might happen there, the physical environment is shown to be more than just a passive container.

There is also room for a third complimentary concept, that of 'social' affordance, which can be seen as "how the social construction of a technology impacts the practices afforded by that environment" [START_REF] Fayard | Affordances for Practice[END_REF]. The concept of 'habitus' [START_REF] Bourdieu | Outline of a theory of practice[END_REF][START_REF] Bourdieu | The logic of practice[END_REF] can be seen as complimentary to affordance here, as it shows how practice is influenced by social structures, but without reifying those structures. Habitus, unlike affordance, is seen as something which is acquired by individuals over time, through lived experience and the conditions of their existence. While two people, living in the same environments and experiencing the same things, are very similar they are never actually the same. The result is that for a full understanding of practice, we need analysis of the affordances of the environment as well as social and cultural factors, plus insights from the habitus, the social significance of the space and what is acceptable (the norms) for what might happen there for any given group of people.

Methodology

This paper is derived from a two year interventional and longitudinal study of land records E-service in Bangladesh. One of the authors is a former practitioner who served in a similar organization for about five years and has gathered empirical evidence of the context where the study has been conducted. The study applied a number of methods, tools and techniques for data collection and analysis. They are mainly participant observation, interviews, focus group discussions, open ended discussions, workshops and organizational process and documents analysis. For the last two years, the E-service of land records has been observed in a district namely Khulna by the researchers and they intervened in designing and redesigning of this E-service delivery process with the collaboration of the organizational managers. This study has been conducted in a public sector organization -the District Record Room (DRR)involved in delivering E-service of land records with the help of technological networks and telecentres. A total of 20 interviews were conducted among service recipients, service providers, middlemen and telecentre operators. Two focus group discussions were conducted; one with telecentre operators and the other with middlemen.

One consultation workshop and open ended discussion were made with organizational managers, staff, telecentre operators and citizens, the service delivery recipients.

In addition, the initial findings have been presented and discussed with the practitioners at a national level workshop. Further, the research findings have been gathered and presented in five monthly review meetings and also five consultative and evaluative workshops with organizational staff. Data has been gathered and analysed thematically with a combination of top down and bottom up approaches. Although the theoretical lens provides themes, field findings generated themes in different ways than theoretical themes. Thus, thematic codes are derived both from top down and bottom up levels. The following sections present the findings from the study, followed by a discussion of how these can be interpreted in the context of affordances.

4

Using IT in the Land Records Service

A Cross Cultural Scenario

IS research in developing countries focuses on development, implementation and usage of IT artefacts. It also traces underlying political, economic and cultural and behaviour contexts and processes that are obstacles in IT implementation [START_REF] Avgerou | Framing IS studies: Understanding the Social Context of IS Innovation[END_REF][START_REF] Avgerou | Information Technology in Context: Studies from the perspective of developing countries[END_REF][28]. IT in service delivery in developing country is challenging due to the complex interrelationships with socioeconomic factors. Moreover, land records services are strongly influenced by social, cultural and bureaucratic processes. Thus, ignoring existing practices, capacity and socio-cultural contexts resulted in the failure of IT in land records services [29]. Sahay and Avgerou [START_REF] Sahay | Introducing the Special Issue on Information and Communication Technologies in Developing Countries[END_REF] identified that domination of existing organizational networks hindered IT in land records services in developing countries. Consequently, IT in land records service is challenging due to various forms of interests, networks and actors involved in land records service. Thus, the success of IT in land records service rests on organizational contexts, designing and redesigning of the IT alongside the organizational context. Heeks [START_REF] Heeks | Information System in Developing Countries: Failure, Success and Local Improvisations[END_REF] asserts that IT in public sector organizations needs to be aligned with data resources, economic resources, social resources and action resources [START_REF] Heeks | Information System in Developing Countries: Failure, Success and Local Improvisations[END_REF]. Consequently, successful integration of IT in organizational contexts relies on data capturing, storing, updating, manipulating, mining, analysing and displaying [START_REF] Heeks | Information System in Developing Countries: Failure, Success and Local Improvisations[END_REF]. Thus, IT in public sector organizations are intermediated, interconnected, indigenized intelligently with organizational contexts in-stead of technical ones [START_REF] Heeks | Information System in Developing Countries: Failure, Success and Local Improvisations[END_REF]. Nowadays, governments, no matter how big or small, are embarking on IT leveraging to improve their performance. Evidently, there is significant investment in IT in land information systems to enhance citizens' easy access, reduce cost and improve process of service delivery, reduce corruption and achieve good governance. However, while about 85% of IT projects have been failed in developing countries [START_REF] Heeks | Most E-government for Development Project Fail: how can risk be reduced?[END_REF], surprisingly, most of the IT projects failed due to technology driven designs [START_REF] Mcgrath | The role of institutions in ICT innovation: learning from interventions in a Nigerian e-government initiative[END_REF].

Current State of IT in Bangladesh

Since 1996, Bangladesh has connected with Internet Service through VSAT ]. However, the rate of internet penetration is very low i.e., 0.35%. Even lower than the neighbouring countries, such as: Bhutan (5.8%), Maldives (18.1%), India (7.0%), Sri Lanka (5.4%), and Pakistan (10.6%) [START_REF] Bourdieu | Outline of a theory of practice[END_REF]. Bangladesh has been striving to implement IT in public sector organizations to enhance the capacity of the government and to ensure better service delivery since its independence in 1971. Along the line, in 2009 the government launched the manifesto 'Vision 2021 -Digital Bangladesh'.

Problems in the Land Records System in Bangladesh

Land records are popularly known as 'Porcha' which clearly indicates the description of a piece of land, easily understandable to land owners. However, from the legal perspective, land records in Bangladesh is known as Record of Rights (RoR), and contains geographic, legal and revenue information for every plot of land. Thus, it includes the name and details of land owner(s) along with ratio of ownership in the case of multiple owners, plot(s) size and total number of plots, type of land, taxes and geographic boundary of land plot(s) and the name of the jurisdiction where land plots are located. Thereafter, land plots information is aggregated into a holding according to family based ownership. In addition, for every plot there are three to four versions of the land record. Consistent with these, the researcher and the managers of the organization have identified three main problems in the land record system: problems with complex land information, problems with multiple versions of land records and problems with aggregated land holding systems. Each of these are now discussed.

Complex Land Information Systems

Although the cadastral survey system collects land information through a plot to plot survey; the Bangladeshi land records system follows a top down and complex process. The country is divided into 64 districts. Every district, an administrative unit, is again divided into a number of cadastral survey blocks called jurisdictions. The jurisdiction has a certain geographic and cadastral survey boundary. Each jurisdiction has a name and ID number called Jurisdiction List number (J.L. No). For example, the district under study, Khulna, comprises a total of 796 jurisdictions. A jurisdiction comprises of many thousands of land holdings (land records) or RoR. A land record comprises information about several of land plots within a jurisdiction. In order to trace the land record for a land plot requires knowing its plot ID numbers, holding ID number or RoR number, J.L. number (name) or name of the owner and name of the district.

Land plots owned by family members within a jurisdiction are recorded in a land holding. So, a land record comprises land information of several plots of land in a jurisdiction and land records are prepared as a family based aggregated land holding system. In order to access the land record of a plot requires information on its jurisdiction number or name, holding number and plot number. Thus, if someone needs a land record for a plot only; s/he needs to apply for the whole holding because the attested copy of the land record is issued as a whole holding. Further, within a holding there are a number of owners and the ratio of ownership also varies from plot to plot of the holding. Consequently, it is difficult for the citizens to understand both the land records system and its service delivery too.

Problems with the Different Versions of Land Records

Bangladesh was governed under British India (1757-1947), Pakistan and gained independence as Bangladesh in 1971. With these three political regimes, three distinct versions of land records have evolved in the country. Surprisingly, all the three versions of land records are treated as active records. The first version, known as the Cadaster Survey Record (CS) was developed by the British Colonial government during 1888-1920. The second version, called the State Acquisition survey (in short SA) was prepared in 1955. The final version, called Bangladesh Revised Survey record (BRS or RS) was started in 1972 and is ongoing. Therefore, every plot of land has two to three versions of land records. In some cases, there were four versions land records for a plot of land. The multiple versions of active land record have made the system more complex. Since all versions of land records are active, citizens need attested copies of land records for all versions, for example, for purchase or sale. Equally, every plot has three to four ID numbers for a land plot and holding (record) numbers. Thus, it is difficult to remember and maintain three types of holding ID numbers and plot ID numbers by the land owners who are mostly illiterate people. Consequently, citizens need to rely on middlemen to collect accurate land holding IDs and land plot IDs for filing applications for land record services. In addition, many citizens do not know jurisdiction list (J.L.) numbers or name too. Evidently, three different versions of land records along with three types of land plots and holding ID numbers have become a confusing matter and vexatious problem for citizens to access the land records E-service. To avoid these complications citizens rely on the middlemen to access this service. Consequently, the E-service hardly made any difference to citizens' access to this service.

Family Based Aggregated Land Record System

As discussed above, the land record system follows an aggregated top down method. Several land plots in a jurisdiction are grouped into a holding called a land record or Record of Rights (RoR). Thus, a RoR comprises a number of plots owned by family or clan members. A cadastral jurisdiction consists of approximately 2000 to 5000 family based land plots and on the basis of family based ownership, land plots are grouped into a land record and a jurisdiction contains approximately 200 to 500 land records. An average land record contains 10-50 land plots. Since a land record is an aggregated system, it contains name(s) of land owners against each of the land plots along with different ratio of ownership. So, land owners need to know ID numbers of their land records and plots along with versions of land records. As a result, if any citizen needs an attested copy of a land record for a land plot from a holding which contains 30 plots and names of many owners, it is not possible to issue an attested copy of land record for the particular plot of land, instead an attested copy of the whole land record (holding) is needed. Due to this aggregated system, over time, various middleman networks have been developed for mediating this service to the citizens. Citizens would rarely have the full information to submit an application for their land records. Thus, the complicated land record system is an obstacle to citizens' access to this E-service and pushed the citizens towards the middlemen. Consequently, even after the introduction of the E-service, citizens' continued to access to this service through middlemen who submit applications and mediate this service efficiently.

Citizen Complicated Application Forms

Availability and Fill in Application Forms

Difficulties in Calculating Fees

Middlemen DRR Fig. 1. Problems in Application Submission for Land Records Service

Problems in the Application Submission Process

Access to land record service requires submission of an application to the DRR. However, the forms and the application process remained complicated. The prescribed paper based application forms as well as fees and folios were full of jargon and so tricky for citizens to understand. Further submission of an application required a complete set of documents: a completed application form or a written application paper with necessary information of required record, certain amount of stamps pasted on application as fees for this service and appropriate number of folio papers for copying land records. None of the elements were available to the DRR; rather they were available to the middlemen. So citizens requiring this service first needed to go to a middleman (see Fig. 2). Thus, various types of middlemen have evolved to mediate this service namely, Stamp Vendors, Lawyers' Assistants (Muhuri), Lawyers, Mobile Middlemen, staff of land related sections and offices and staff of other offices.

Problems in the E-service of Land Record in Bangladesh

With the inherent nature of an agro-based, post-colonial and developing country, Bangladesh's land record service is inextricably connected with organizational processes, structure, statutes, practice, staff, technology and intermediaries. Moreover, this service was complicated, centralized, middlemen oriented, vested interest driven and bribable. To address these problems, E-service of land record has been developed in 2011. The E-service network has been designed with three online access points for citizens' easy access to land record service. They are: Union Digital Center (UDC) -a telecentre at every rural union council; E-Service Center (ESC) a front desk in each district headquarters and a District Web Portal (DWP) -a website for each district. They are electronically connected to the DRR, the service provider of land records. This E-service of land records aimed to ensure citizens' easy and direct access to this service through the E-service networks (UDCs, DWP and ESC), and without middlemen networks. However, various forms of middlemen networks have been strongly rooted in this service over many years. Thus, after introducing the E-service of land records, the IT networks and the middlemen networks intra-act dynamically and continuously with organizational processes, staff and citizens.

Vested Interest of the Staff and Officers

The empirical data revealed that a range of officers had vested interest in land records services. They are: the RRDC -the section officer of the DRR, Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue (ADCR) -involved in overseeing the DRR staff and the RRDC, Additional Commissioner General (ADCG) -involved in posting and transfers of the DRR staff, the Deputy Commissioner -involved in overall management and control of the DRR and the Divisional Commissioner -involved in inspection of the DRR (see figure 3). The flow of the vested interest moved vertically from the DRR staff to the Divisional Commissioner in the organizational process. Since the DRR staff are involved in receiving vested interests from this service and it goes upper level officers; thus, either the officers discipline them or the staff pushed the officers to also receive benefits from the vested interests from this service. So, every staff of the Deputy Commissioner office has a keen desire to have a posting at the DRR.

As the organizational processes and actors continued with their vested interests; it was not possible to remove the flow of vested interest overnight from this service, ie. through setting-up some E-service access points. Better service delivery largely depends on the leadership and management capacity of a DC, because the DC approves the work distribution among the Additional Deputy Commissioners and the section officers. A senior official commented that a few DCs also have vested interests in this service. In the case of the district under study, during the research period, two DCs have been found. However, both of them have reputation for honesty. One was disinterested in executing or improving this service with a view to passing his tenure without any risks. This is another kind of vested interest. His preference was to keep things as stable as possible in order to have a quiet tenure there, even if some of his staff were acting corruptly.

Discussion

The E-service networks have been designed with a view to creating multiple access points for citizens' easy access to this service and to remove middlemen. However, the E-service networks have merely focused on the underlying contexts, processes and practices and their interactions. Consequently, the E-service has failed to remove the middlemen. Rather, the middlemen networks intra-act with the E-service access points through existing organizational processes and contexts. Thus, the middlemen networks entangled with this service to expedite citizens' service delivery. They provided 'speed money' to the DRR staff to expedite their clients' service quickly.

Where the DRR staff declined to receive speed money from citizens they received speed money from the middlemen instead. Consequently, applications submitted by middlemen through the ESC received quicker service delivery than the applications submitted by the UDCs and the DWP. In terms of the affordance concept (see Table 1), what can be seen is the complex interplay of dispositional (ie. linked to the norms and practices of how things are done using the existing pathways and blocking the citizens' direct access to the land records service), relational (achieving the best outcome for access to land records with the new technology still involved the middlemen and paying the 'speed money') and social/habitus (acceptance by most parties involved that middlemen and extra payments were legitimate, from the citizens perspective of getting things done, from the middlemen of subverting the avowed purpose of the computer-based technologies so that their role was still relevant and from the DRR staff that this extra income continued, especially as sometimes that was essential for their livelihood). What was not appreciated by most of the parties involved was that the overall effects of these 3 affordances were reinforcing the legitimacy of the revised functioning of the system, post-introduction of the computer-based technologies; but in so doing were preventing those same technologies from properly bedding in and being allowed to take shape and create the new norms that would enable greater citizen direct access to these services, ie. autonomy. In this way, the concept of affordance and habitus allows greater insight into the systems, and potentially offers suggestions for how they might be developed in the future, for example, what might happen if the middlemen were brought inside the system and made a legitimate part of it, but without the option for speed money/bribes.

While not yet seen as a failure, the IT systems in the land records e-service in Bangladesh do come close [START_REF] Avgerou | Framing IS studies: Understanding the Social Context of IS Innovation[END_REF]. Reflecting on the use of affordance in this type of context [16], the paper shows that it provides insights which may not be seen other ways, and the challenge for the future is to identify these habitus-grounded solutions and then to implement them.

Table 1 .

 1 Using affordances to analyse role of technology in land records e-servcies

	Name	Role	Dispositional	Relational	Social af-	Habitus
			affordance	affordance	fordance
	Citizen	End user	Option to use	Trying to	Technology	Resigned return
			technology	access land	becomes	to use of mid-
			blocked through	records, in as	another ob-	dlemen
			lack of	easy fashion	stacle to be
			knowledge	as possible	overcome
	Middlemen	Bridge be-	Knowledge of	Maintain	Subvert E-	Without funda-
		tween citi-	processes, and	usefulness	service Center	mental shift in
		zens and land	literacy enables	and value in	as best way to	citizens
		records	engagement	the process;	be re-	knowledge and
		officials	with technology	use of bribes	introduced	understanding,
				to speed up	into the	middlemen
				processes	process;	return to bridg-
				with DRR	provide extra	ing role
					income to
					DRR staff
	RRDC (Dis-	The section	Grudging en-	Concerns	Ensure mid-	Alternative
	trict Record	of the DRR	gagement with	over lack of	dlemen can	routes main-
	Room -DRR)		the technology	extra income	still access,	tained; regain
					but now	extra income
					through the
					technology;
	Deputy	Involved in	Little change to	Maintain	Try to avoid	Re-insertion of
	Commissioner	overall man-	practices	status quo	any impact of	the middlemen,
	(DC)	agement and			the technolo-	keeping things
		control of the			gy	as before
		DRR


Suzana Brown
email: suzana.brown@sunykorea.ac.kr

Information Ecology as a Framework for South-South Cooperation: Case Studies of Rwanda and Bangladesh ICT-based Health Applications

Keywords: South-South cooperation, framework, community health

Information Ecology represents a system of people, values, and technologies in a specific local environment. What makes Information Ecology different is that the spotlight is not on the technology but on human activities that are served by technology. As such it could be a powerful lens for understanding, evaluating, and eventually guiding South-South cooperation. We use Information Ecology to critically analyze two ICT-infused community health services, one in Bangladesh and one in Rwanda; and propose improvements for each case. Based on that analysis we believe that this framework can facilitate theoretical basis for guiding South-South cooperation, transferring knowledge and technology, and implementing policy recommendations.

Introduction

In this note, we argue that Information Ecology is a powerful lens for understanding, evaluating, and guiding South-South cooperation. Information Ecology borrows its concept from biology with its complex dynamic interactions, diverse species and coevolution of the system. Information Ecology's main contribution is that the role of technology should not be isolated but interpreted as a part of the system [START_REF] Nardi | Information ecologies[END_REF]. South-South cooperation is led by the developing countries with positive signs of development. Countries like India, Brazil, and China are the leaders in disseminating their expertise and building new types of relationship with the other emerging countries, the relationship of exchange and economic cooperation. We analyze Rwanda and Bangladesh because of their prominent place in the emerging economies of Africa and South Asia. In addition, both countries have identified ICT as an enabler for coming out of poverty, so we critically analyze two specific ICT-infused community health services, using Information Ecology. Valuable field research experience in the above countries is allowing us firsthand knowledge about local and regional conditions.

Related work

South-South collaboration is a new area of research, with studies on scientific and technical collaborations [START_REF] Centellas | Cameroon is Just like Bolivia: Southern Expertise and the Construction of Equivalency in South-South Scientific Collaborations[END_REF], as well as economic and social collaboration [START_REF] Izuchukw | Why South-South FDI is Booming: Case Study of China FDI in Nigeria[END_REF]. However, with no studies on collaboration and sharing in community healthcare design. In addition, comparing lessons from development projects from multiple countries, has always been a struggle mostly because there is no common framework. In attempt to bridge that gap, we turn to Information Ecology. Information Ecology is a new concept in ICT for development but already used as a theoretical framework to explore technology-focused initiatives that attempt to narrow the digital divide in education [START_REF] Thapa | Information Ecology as a holistic lens to understand ICTD initiatives: A case study of OLPC deployment in Nepal[END_REF], and disaster management [START_REF] Sakurai | Exploring Effective Ecosystems in Disaster Management: Case studies of Japan and Nepal[END_REF]. To our knowledge, Information Ecology had not been applied to the knowledge transfer in the health field.

Rwanda bases its health system on Community Health Workers (CHWs) who connect population to a scarce medical personal. CHWs, frequently the backbone of preventative and curative care [START_REF] Hermann | Community health workers for ART in sub-Saharan Africa: learning from experience -capitalizing on new opportunities[END_REF], often work as volunteers. A review of literature [START_REF] Braun | Community Health Workers and Mobile Technology: A Systematic Review of the Literature[END_REF] on CHWs and mobile technology finds that CHWs have used mobile tools for maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, and reproductive health. CHWs often use mobile technology to collect field based health data, receive alerts and reminders, and facilitate health education sessions.

In Bangladesh, there is a multitude of electronic health applications [START_REF] Arifeen | Community-based approaches and partnerships: innovations in health-service delivery in Bangladesh[END_REF] but we focus on Info Ladies because of their unique position as entrepreneurs who connect population to electronic health and other information. Despite the rapid popularity of mobile phone, researchers identified the need for a human interface alongside the last mile of ICT solutions for information access in Bangladesh. A local NGO, D.Net, explored this synergy between mobile telephony and local women, and establish the Info Lady network [START_REF]Dnet web site[END_REF].

Information ecology as a framework

Information Ecology represents a complex ecosystem of parts and relationships [START_REF] Nardi | Information ecologies[END_REF]. It is a system of people, values, and technologies in a specific local environment. What makes information ecology different is that the spotlight is not on technology itself but on human activities that are served by technology [START_REF] Nardi | Information ecologies[END_REF]. The ecosystem exhibits diversity and continual evolution. Different parts of ecology coevolve, changing together their relationships in the system. Several keystone species are necessary for the survival of the ecosystem. Finally, information ecologies have a sense of locality. Next, we apply Information Ecology lens to analyze two community health case studies.

Bangladesh case description

Bangladesh has come a long way from its struggling past, the country's economy is growing fast, predicted to be among the 25 largest economies by 2050. In addition, Bangladesh has performed well in education, women empowerment, and other social development benchmarks [START_REF] Arifeen | Community-based approaches and partnerships: innovations in health-service delivery in Bangladesh[END_REF]. Within Bangladesh, community-based health programs play a major role in the national health sector [START_REF] Raihan | Moni, the Mobile Lady: an Initiative of D.Net Bangladesh[END_REF]. We have chosen the "Info Lady" program of D.Net for our analysis. The primary reason behind this selection is its significant positive impact in rural Bangladesh. Info Lady program is a synergy between mobile telephony and local women for providing information services. Info Ladies primarily provide services in Health and Agriculture [START_REF]Bangladeshi traveling Infoladies: a rural revolution[END_REF]. Currently, there are 50 Info Ladies, providing their services in 300 villages of Bangladesh. On average, an Info Lady earns around $100, a significant amount for working women in Bangladesh. The initial setup cost of an Info Lady is around $600, which includes a laptop and a bicycle. Women interested in becoming Info Ladies can buy the necessary equipment from the D.Net supply stores [START_REF]Bangladeshi traveling Infoladies: a rural revolution[END_REF].

Information ecology analysis System. The government initiative "Digital Bangladesh" was critical for the system creation in Bangladesh. It allowed D.Net to roll out the Info Lady program to reach the underserved communities with health and other information services. The other major element of Bangladesh's ecosystem in community-based health service are the infomediaries or Info Ladies, who have multiple roles, as a source of critical health information and an interface between the government/NGOs and the general population in participatory design. Diversity. As a community-based organization, D.Net offers support service on agriculture and women health care. Info Ladies focus on support for pregnant women, livelihood information for farmers, information services for youth, health checkups for rural people, and ICT-enabled life skills. Coevolution. Infomediaries introduced ICT-enabled services in communities where there was a scarcity of useful information. Such introductions resulted in more access to ICTs and more communication with the rest of world. Cheaper and more convenient information access meant new needs, thus pushing the Info Lady initiative to new terrains professional development. Keystone species. Info Ladies, as infomediaries, are the most critical group of keystone species. Their customers have been satisfied with the effective use communication technologies to address their problems. Another important species is the supporting organization, D.Net. This organization's focus on the underserved communities in Bangladesh helped immensely in designing and managing the Info Lady initiative [START_REF]Bangladeshi traveling Infoladies: a rural revolution[END_REF]. Locality. The Info Lady project by design is a hybrid solution, where the socially acceptable human factor is providing the information to women using ICTs. The physical access challenge is being addressed with the use of bicycles (by infomediaries) and digital proximity of expert consultants from D.Net. Such localization of service meant better acceptability of Info Lady project within the communities it's serving, ensuring further collaboration.

Rwanda case description

Since its genocide in 1994 Rwandan economic growth has been impressive 8% per year [START_REF]Rwanda Economic Outlook[END_REF]. Strong economic growth was accompanied by substantial drop in child mortality [START_REF]Rwanda Economic Outlook[END_REF]. In the health sector, Rwanda has been leveraging ICT technology to improve access to healthcare. However, the country still faces the most severe shortages of human resources for health on the continent. In response to these health burdens, Rwanda introduced CHWs as major participants in the Rwandan health system. Rwanda implemented one e-health initiative based on open source software, RapidSMS, which allows CHWs to follow mother-infant pair [START_REF] Ngabo | Designing and Implementing an Innovative SMS-based alert system (RapidSMS-MCH) to monitor pregnancy and reduce maternal and child deaths in Rwanda[END_REF]. However, it is used only for emergency cases. We have chosen a different case study which requires a system in which CHWs are infomediaries. The study tested a hypothesis that Rwandan CHWs could use smartphones for health data collection to monitor children's growth. This study demonstrated that using electronic tools for health data collection allows better tracking of health indicators [START_REF] Brown | Improving accuracy and usability of growth charts: Case study of Rwanda[END_REF].

Information ecology analysis

System. Rwandan MoH is the leader of community health system with little involvement of NGOs. CHWs only visit population and collect information. The following groups are part of the ecosystem: mobile service operators provide connectivity; software engineers design and maintain EHR system. Diversity. Rwanda is missing many actors of community health system. CHWs do not give feedbacks about the issues regarding implementation, and NGOs are on the fringes of the system collecting their own health data. Coevolution. Coevolution involves generating new ideas, tools, or activities. In Rwanda, it requires a transformation on two levels: 1) from aggregate paper tracking to individual tracking of health indicators; and 2) from emergency case responses to a long term electronic health data collection. Keystone species. CHWs are mediators, common for a keystone species. MoH is not compensating CHWs for their service. Instead, it contributes to their cooperatives, and it encourages them to start a small business. However, there is no synergy in such approach. MoH should find a better motivation tool to ensure the survival of CHWs as a keystone species. Locality. One Rwandan challenge is inadequate ICT literacy. Ministry of Youth and ICT reports only 3.3% of the population has adequate ICT literacy. Opportunities in Rwanda are: high penetration of cellular network and the extensive network of CHWs already trained to collect basic health indicators.

Discussion

Information Ecology framework allows us to analyze the two cases using same parameters. Based on this comparative analysis, we found out that major changes are needed in the domains of Diversify, Coevolution, and Keystone Species. Comparing systems between Rwandan and Bangladesh we observe several key differences. Bangladesh has a better diversity of services in comparison to Rwanda where CHWs are limiting their role to data collection. In addition, Rwandan system does not include CHWs in the system design, which hampers coevolution of the ecosystem. Bangladesh has a better community participation, with the role of different systems well defined. Keystone species are clear in both cases. However, one main difference is that Info Ladies are entrepreneurs who provide information services. As volunteers Rwandan CHWs are less motived to ensure system survival, finding a proper motivation for their survival should be a priority for Rwanda. Local obstacles also differ, the main local problem in Rwanda is ICT literacy. In Bangladesh, the proliferation of mobile devices and cheap network connections has enabled population to have access to basic information, so Info Ladies must evolve and be innovative about their services.

Conclusions

Comparative research using Information Ecology framework allow us to propose the following recommendations for improving ICT-based health services in Rwanda and Bangladesh: improve support for keystone species to improve their engagement and motivation, and ensure the survival of the system; increase diversity in the ecosystem by offering a variety of services and involving diverse providers; invite community participation in the system design to improve coevolution. Enabling experience transfer and guiding South-South cooperation the research community requires a common framework. We believe this framework can facilitate strong theoretical basis for guiding South-South cooperation and transferring knowledge.

Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the MSIP (Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning), Korea, under the "ICT Consilience Creative Program" (IITP-2015-R0346-15-1007) supervised by the IITP (Institute for Information & communications Technology Promotion).


Ram Naresh

Kumar Vangala

B N Hiremath Asim Banerjee
email: asimbanerjee@daiict.ac.in

Linkage between ICT and Agriculture Knowledge Management process: A case study from Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), India

Keywords: Agriculture, Agriculture Knowledge Management (AKM), Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), Structural Equation Modeling

This paper addresses the linkage between information and communication technology (ICT) and agriculture knowledge management (AKM) process in non-government organizations (NGOs) in India. Sample of 145 respondents were collected using questionnaires in two NGOs. The analysis and hypothesis testing were implemented using structural equation modeling (SEM). The analysis shows that there is a significant (β = 0.61 at p = 0.001) and positive relationship between ICT and AKM process. The results obtained would help managers to better understand the linkage between ICT and AKM process in their organizations. They could use the results to improve their ICT infrastructure and tools for effectiveness of AKM process.

Introduction

Agriculture is an important sector of Indian economy. Nearly 60 -70% of the Indian population depend upon agriculture and allied fields. As much as 67% of India's farmland is held by the small and marginal farmers 1 . Many of these small and marginal farmers are illiterate and have meager resources to access modern technology in agriculture [START_REF] Yadav | ICTs in knowledge management: the case of the Agropedia platform for Indian agriculture[END_REF]. It has been widely recognized that transfer of relevant knowledge plays an important role in agricultural growth and productivity. Transfer of relevant knowledge to small and marginal farmers can help them to improve their yields and get better market prices [START_REF] Hugar | Information and Communication Technologies for Agriculture Knowledge Management in India[END_REF].

Management of agricultural knowledge takes place at different levels: individual, within communities, within organizations or institutions and networks of them [START_REF] Paul | Knowledge management in agriculture: building upon diversity[END_REF].The knowledge for agriculture development is often not created, documented or disseminated by one single source or organization [START_REF] Rafea | Managing agriculture knowledge: role of information and communication technology[END_REF]. Different organizations produce different kinds of knowledge and the lack of coordination or linkage between these organizations (public, private, agricultural research and extension institutions) [START_REF] Saravanan | ICTs for Agricultural Extension in India: Policy Implications for Developing Countries[END_REF] are often cited as a reason for ineffective transfer of knowledge to farmers. The interrelated activities of these organizations may or may not converge at the field level. In this context, the notion of an agriculture knowledge management (AKM) is often put forth. AKM refers to the process of creating knowledge repositories, improving knowledge access, sharing and transfer and enhancing the knowledge environment in the rural communities [START_REF] Hugar | Information and Communication Technologies for Agriculture Knowledge Management in India[END_REF]. Exchange of knowledge and its bidirectional flow (i.e. from farmers to experts and vice versa) is beginning to be recognized in this domain [START_REF] Naresh | A Theoretical Framework for Knowledge Management in Indian Agricultural Organizations[END_REF].

In the Indian context, the main agencies engaged in creating agriculture knowledge resources can be broadly classified into three categories: Public, Private, and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). NGOs is any non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which is organized at local, national or international level. NGOs, as a third sector institutional framework have been playing an important role in Indian agriculture. Their main activities are: to promote and develop weaker sections of the people, to create and establish the means of food security among the poor people, to promote sustainable agriculture, to mobilize, inspire and enable tribal through a participatory approach working towards their own rehabilitation using their own resources. The term, information and communication technology (ICT) has been defined differently by many authors. UNDP2 defined ICT as the combination of microelectronics, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, and storage of huge amounts of information, and its rapid dissemination through computer networks. ICT has a prominent role to play in knowledge management (KM) in an organization. It helps in achieving organizational effectiveness and is considered as an essential tool to manage organizations' knowledge assets. ICT can make Indian AKM more competitive by providing affordable, relevant, searchable and up-to-date agriculture information services to the farm communities [START_REF] Hugar | Information and Communication Technologies for Agriculture Knowledge Management in India[END_REF]. Table 1 summarizes some of the ICT project initiatives in Indian agriculture which have been broadly categorized into three categories viz. web-based technology, human intermediaries (between ICT and users), and mobile technology or telecommunication.

ICT tools deployed for agriculture knowledge management in India includes organizational web pages and special portals created for specific commodities, sectors, and enterprises and for e-commerce activities [START_REF] Rasheed | Necessary, but not sufficient: Critiquing the role of information and communication technology in putting knowledge into use[END_REF]. These ICT projects in Indian AKM revealed that they primarily focused on the transfer of knowledge to the farm communities, following a one-way flow of knowledge i.e. from experts to farmers without many opportunities for interaction. Many ICT projects are pushing external content towards local people based on what experts think the community needs [START_REF] Glendenning | The relevance of content in ICT initiatives in Indian agriculture[END_REF]. Hence there is a need to focus on knowledge acquiring, creating, storing, organizing, and sharing or disseminating at the organization level for effective AKM in the agricultural organizations taking into account the need for bidirectional flow of knowledge.

Studies so far focused on the importance or impact of ICT in Indian agriculture. For example, Gummagolmath et al, discussed ICT initiatives in Indian agriculture [START_REF] Gummagolmath | ICT Initiatives in Indian Agriculture-An Overview[END_REF]. Xiaolan Fu and Shaheen Akter, examined the impact of a mobile phone technology-enhanced service delivery systems on agricultural extension service delivery in India [START_REF] Fu | The Impact of ICT on Agricultural Extension Services Delivery:Evidence from the Rural e-services Project in India[END_REF].There have been very limited studies on knowledge management process at the organizational level and still fewer on the relationship between ICT and knowledge management process at agricultural organization level in the Indian context. It is not clear how the ICT competency and agriculture knowledge management process works are influence each other. Empirical work in this area is required. Our studies focuses on establishing a relationship between ICT and agriculture knowledge management process in NGOs working in Indian agricultural organizations.

Research framework and Hypotheses

The main objective of this study is to understand the relationship between knowledge enablers like ICT and the knowledge management process in Indian agricultural organization specifically in NGOs. Figure 1 is proposed research model depicting a relationship between ICT and KM process. KM process includes activities of acquiring, creating, storing, sharing, diffusing, developing and deploying knowledge by individuals and groups [START_REF] Demarest | Understanding knowledge management[END_REF]. According to Davenport and Prusak, KM has three processes that have received most consensus viz. knowledge generation, sharing and utilization [START_REF] Thomas | Working Knowledge: How organization manage what the know[END_REF]. On other hand, Alavi and Leidner proposed four processes of knowledge management viz. creation, storage, transfer and application [START_REF] Alavi | Knowledge management systems: issues, challenges, and benefits[END_REF].The present study examines the following four processes: acquiring and creating, organizing and storing, sharing or disseminating and applying as proposed by in early studies for agricultural organization [START_REF] Naresh | ICTs for agriculture knowledge management: insights from DHRUVA, India[END_REF].

Knowledge Acquiring and Creating (KAC) : Knowledge acquiring and creating is a process where members in the organization gain, collect, create and obtain required and useful knowledge to perform their job functions. It involves updating existing content or developing new content by using organization's tacit and explicit knowledge [START_REF] Pentland | Information systems and organizational learning: the social epistemology of organizational knowledge systems[END_REF]. KAC is about obtaining knowledge from external and/or internal sources or capturing of the knowledge (explicit or tacit) that resides inside the people working in the organization [START_REF] Jackson | Process to product: Creating tools for knowledge management[END_REF].

Knowledge Organizing and Storing (KOS) : This process involves structuring, indexing, evaluating and storing the knowledge in organization's repository. Knowledge is validated, codified (to represent a useful format) before it can be used [START_REF] Pin | Linkage between knowledge management and manufacturing performance: a structural equation modeling approach[END_REF]. Once knowledge is evaluated, it is categorized and represented in a structured manner with indexing or mapping to enable efficient storage in the organizations repository and for effective usage at a later point [START_REF] Rollett | Knowledge management: Processes and technologies[END_REF].

Knowledge Sharing and Disseminating (KSD) : It is the process in which sharing of knowledge take place among individuals and/or groups within and outside the organization. Knowledge sharing is considered as a core process of knowledge management because one of the main goals and objectives of knowledge management is to promote sharing of knowledge among individuals, groups and organizations [START_REF] Chua | Knowledge management systems architecture: A bridge between KM consultants and technologies[END_REF] [START_REF] Karadsheh | A theoretical framework for knowledge management process: towards improving knowledge performance[END_REF]. Knowledge in organization is transferred through social networks, collaboration, and daily interaction like chatting, face-to-face, formal (meetings) and informal (over a cup of tea) conversations [START_REF] Thomas | Working Knowledge: How organization manage what the know[END_REF].

Knowledge Applying (KAP) : Knowledge applying is to put the knowledge to good use. The members or employees of the organizations can apply and adopt the best practices in their daily work [START_REF] Carla | If only we knew what we know: The transfer of internal knowledge and best practice[END_REF]. According to Davenport and Klahr, the effective application of knowledge can assist the organization to improve efficiency and reduce cost [START_REF] Thomas | Managing customer support knowledge[END_REF]. This process also implies putting knowledge into practice, where the employee should use lessons learnt from previous experience or mistakes made in the past [START_REF] Datta | An agent-mediated knowledge-in-motion model[END_REF].

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

ICT plays an important role in facilitating communication between different parts of the organization that often inhibits through normal channels of communication [START_REF] Mohsen | Examining the impact of KM enablers on knowledge management processes[END_REF]. Many researchers have found that ICT plays a crucial element for knowledge management process [START_REF] Alavi | Knowledge management systems: issues, challenges, and benefits[END_REF] [START_REF] Thomas | Working Knowledge: How organization manage what the know[END_REF]. ICT tools help in capturing the knowledge created by knowledge worker and making it available to the large community [START_REF] Chadha | Information Technology Support to Knowledge Management Practices: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach[END_REF]. Information technology has been widely used in organizations, and thus qualifies as a natural medium for the flow of KM process in the organization [START_REF] Mohsen | Examining the impact of KM enablers on knowledge management processes[END_REF]. Thus, we hypothesize: H1: ICT has significant and direct effect on Knowledge Management process.

Research methodology and Data collection

The quantitative research approach was used to empirically test the research hypothesis. A survey questionnaire was designed to determine and understand the linkage between ICT and KM process. The critical metrics for measuring ICT and KM process (acquiring and creating, organizing and storing, sharing/disseminating and applying) that were derived from the literature were used [START_REF] Siong Choy | Criteria for measuring KM performance outcomes in organisations[END_REF][27] [START_REF] Andrew | Knowledge management: An organizational capabilities perspective[END_REF]. Respondents were asked to rate the extent to which these metric were practiced in their organization using a Likert scale (five-point scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). For the details of items used to measure research constructs refer [START_REF] Naresh | An association between information and communication technology and agriculture knowledge management process in indian milk co-operatives and non-profit organizations: an empirical analysis[END_REF].

Two non-government organizations (NGOs) were selected for this study. Unit of analysis in this study were middle-level managers, veterinary doctors, agriculture extension officers, project coordinators, cluster in-charge or supervisor and field workers/operators. These people were surveyed as they played a key role in managing knowledge. These people were positioned at the intersection of both vertical and horizontal flow of knowledge. Therefore they could synthesize the tacit knowledge of both top (scientist group) and bottom (farmer group) level, convert them into explicit knowledge, and incorporate the same into the organizational knowledge repository.

There is no prior personal or formal relationship between researchers and interviewees or the organization as a whole. This allowed for triangulation and also helped to validate data interpretation and findings [START_REF] Venkitachalam | Roles enabling the mobilization of organizational knowledge[END_REF]. The questions were well-structured, understandable and were developed in four languages namely English, Hindi, Gujarati and Telugu keeping in the mind there geographical location and the composition of people working in NGOs that were the part of the study.

Responses from 148 respondents were collected from these two organizations. Data was collected during their weekly and monthly meetings in the organization. During these meetings, questionnaires were distributed to participants and they were asked to fill the form. Before filling the form, the objectives of the research and questionnaire were well explained to them.

Data analysis and Results

Data analysis was most crucial as it helped us to establish the relationship between ICT and KM process in Indian agricultural organizations Data analysis data was performed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 20.0). Further analysis was conducted by using structural equation modeling (SEM) via the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS version 20.0) software. SEM is a multivariate statistical analysis technique that is used to analyze structural relationships.

Demography of the respondents

Out of 148 responses, 0 were discarded from our study due to insufficient information. Thus our study consider of 139 respondents. Table 3 summarizes the profile of the respondents.

Analysis and results

After analyzing the descriptive statistics, further analysis was conducted by using SEM via the AMOS. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provides an appropriate means of assessing the efficacy of measurement among the items [START_REF] Andrew | Knowledge management: An organizational capabilities perspective[END_REF]. In this study, the analysis was divided into three parts, viz. the first-order CFA and second-order CFA for the measurement models, and third, the structural model analysis and overall model fit. First, the measurement models have been assessed for reliability, validity, and unidimensionality. The term reliability refers to the consistency of a research study or the degree to which an assessment tool produces stable and consistent results. Cronbach's alpha, has been one of the most commonly used methods to assess the reliability [START_REF] Sekaran | Research methods for business: A skill building approach[END_REF].To satisfy the reliability criterion, a Cronbachs alpha value of more than or equal to 0.7 is required [START_REF] Joseph | Multivariate data analysis[END_REF] [START_REF] Jum | Psychometric theory[END_REF]. Referring to Table 4, this condition has been satisfied by all the constructs.

Validity is defined as the degree to which a measurement assesses what it is supposed to measure. Convergent validity and discriminant validity have been checked for each construct. Convergent validity refers to the degree to which the items that should be related are in actual reality related [START_REF] Pin | Linkage between knowledge management and manufacturing performance: a structural equation modeling approach[END_REF]. For convergent validity, the composite reliability (CR) value must be more than or equal to 0.7 and the average variance extracted (AVE) value must be greater than or equal to 0.5 [START_REF] Joseph | Multivariate data analysis[END_REF]. As shown in Table 4, all the constructs have satisfied these two requirements.

Unidimensionality is achieved when the items have acceptable factor loadings that are greater than or equal to 0.5 [START_REF] Joseph | Multivariate data analysis[END_REF] [START_REF] Pin | Linkage between knowledge management and manufacturing performance: a structural equation modeling approach[END_REF]. During the process, ICT2, KAC5, KAC6, KOS1, KOS2, KSD2, KSD8, KSD9 were dropped due to poor factor loading of less than 0.5. The results of unidimensionality for all the constructs have been showed in Next, the second-order CFA was conducted for the first-order constructs of the study. It was used to confirm that the underlying measurement constructs loaded into their respective theorized construct (KM process) [START_REF] Pin | Linkage between knowledge management and manufacturing performance: a structural equation modeling approach[END_REF]. In this respect, the factor loadings between first-order constructs and second-order constructs must be greater than or equal to 0.5 [START_REF] Joseph | Multivariate data analysis[END_REF]. The result of second-order CFA are displayed in Table 4 and the finalized model of second-order CFA of KM process construct are illustrated in Figure 2.

The final stage was structural model analysis. In this, the structural equation modeling (SEM) was tested using the maximum likelihood method. It has been designed to judge how good a proposed conceptual model can fit the data collected and also to find the structural relationships between the sets of latent variable [START_REF] Barbara | Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming[END_REF]. The final model of the study is illustrated in Figure 3.

To ensure the fitness of the structural model, i.e. how well the data set fits the research model, there are several indicators which are computed by using AMOS. The most fundamental measure of overall fit in a structural equation model is the likelihood-ratio chi-square statistics. As suggested by Bagozzi and Yi, a p-value exceeding 0.05 and a normed chi-square value (χ 2 /df ) that is below 3, are normally considered as acceptable [START_REF] Richard | On the evaluation of structural equation models[END_REF]. Along with this, the fitness of the structural model can be studied by using the Comparative Fit Index (CFI). This must be greater than or equal to 0.9 [START_REF] Peter | Comparative fit indexes in structural models[END_REF], Root Mean Squared Error of Approximation (RMSEA) must be less than or equal to 0.08 [START_REF] Michael | Alternative ways of assessing model fit[END_REF], Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI) must be greater than or equal to 0.9 [START_REF] Joseph | Multivariate data analysis[END_REF], and Adjust Goodnessof-Fit Index (AGFI) must be greater than or equal to 0.9 [START_REF] Joseph | Multivariate data analysis[END_REF]. The developed model has been proven to meet all the and the results are shown in Table 6. Therefore, the model was utilized to test the hypothesis relationships among the constructs. 6 presents the hypothesis testing result for the causal effect of ICT on KM process. The results revealed that ICT has a significant (β = 0.61 at p = 0.001) and positive effect on KM process. Therefore H1 was supported and accepted.

Discussions

This study has applied SEM approach to examine and prove the existence of significant impact of ICT on KM process. Our analysis showed that ICT had a significant effect on KM process in the organizations that were part of our study. The result is also consistent with the findings from past studies. For instance, Chadha et al. found that ICT enhances the visibility of knowledge and facilitate the process of acquiring, creating, storing and disseminating [START_REF] Chadha | Information Technology Support to Knowledge Management Practices: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach[END_REF]. Allahawiah et al. also verified that there is the positive impact of information technology on knowledge management processes [START_REF] Allahawiah | The Impact of Information Technology on Knowledge Management Processes: An Empirical Study in the Arab Potash Company[END_REF].

In case of the two organizations, there were clear indications that the staff at various levels and experts has been using Internet, emails, mobile technology for acquiring, storing and sharing knowledge among individuals, groups and organizations. The majority of the respondents were field in-charges and supervisors, who are actively involved in agriculture knowledge management process. Most of the respondents in the sample of the study owned a cell phone and used it to access agriculture knowledge from neighbors, friends, families and subject experts in the organizations. In Digital Green, digital videos were created on local relevant agriculture and livelihood practices by using ICT tools like video cameras. Then these videos were screened for farm communities using battery-operated Pico projectors. All these videos were organized and stored in organization repository, for accesses in both off-line and on-line mode.

From the observations and discussions with members and employees, we that understand that there is a limit of using ICT in organizations. For an instant, we observed that only top and senior management in DHRUVA had access to laptops and Internet facilities. The field supervisors used a mobile phone to communicate with peer and farm communities. Most of the time in DHRUVA, face-to-face, group meetings and personal visits were used for disseminating agriculture knowledge to farm communities because of low bandwidth of the Internet, ICT infrastructure.

Fig. 1 :

 1 Fig. 1: Research framework

Fig. 2 :

 2 Fig. 2: Second-order CFA

Table 1 :

 1 List of ICT initiatives projects in Indian agriculture

	Categorize	Name of the projects
	Web-based	Agropedia, Rice Knowledge Management Portal (RKMP),
	Technology	AgriTech, KISSAN Kerala, AGRISNET, AGMARKNET,
		eKirshi, iKisan, Almost all questions answered(aAQUA),
		Electronic solution against agriculturepest (e-SAP)
		SasyaSree
	Human intermediaries	e-Sagu, Arik, e-Choupal, Digital Green
	(between ICT and user) Tata Kisan Sansar, MSSRF-VKC
	Mobile technology	Kissan Call Center, IFFCO-IKSL, RML, mKrishi
	or telecommunication	Nokia Life Tool, Spoken Web, Fisher Friend Project,
		Lifelines

Table 2 :

 2 Demography of the respondents

	Sample characteristics	Frequency Percent
		(n=139)	(%)
	Gender
	Male	102	73.4
	Female	37	26.6
	Education
	High school	47	33.8
	Bachelor Degree	62	44.6
	Master Degree	30	21.6
	Working position
	Regional Managers	3	2.2
	Project managers/Program managers	20	14.4
	Project officer/Supervisor	24	23.0
	Field in-charge/Cluster Assistant	92	60.4
	Work Experience
	0 5 years	56	40.3
	6 10 years	49	35.3
	11 15 years	18	12.9
	Above 15 years	16	11.5

Table 3 Table 3 :

 33 Results of unidimensionality, reliability and convergent validity

	First order	No. of Indicators Factor	CR	AVE Cronbach's
	consturcts	items		loadings (≥0.7) (≥0.5)	alpha
	Information Communication	5	ICT6	0.849	0.836 0.561	0.791
	Technology (ICT)		ICT3	0.749
			ICT1	0.755
			ICT5	0.691
			ICT4	0.640
	Knowledge acquiring	4	KAC1	0.789	0.854 0.532	0.723
	and creating (KAC)		KAC2	0.759
			KAC3	0.723
			KAC4	0.637
	Knowledge organizing	4	KOS3	0.823	0.845 0.610	0.771
	and storing (KOS)		KOS4	0.790
			KOS5	0.772
			KOS6	0.694
	Knowledge sharing /	6	KSD7	0.779	0.914 0.628	0.78
	disseminating (KSD)		KSD1	0.728
			KSD4	0.721
			KSD3	0.720
			KSD5	0.696
			KSD6	0.694
	Knowledge Applying (KAP)	3	KAP2	0.779	0.888 0.594	0.703
			KAP3	0.777
			KAP1	0.756
	Note:Items with low factor loading
	(<0.5) have been dropped

Table 4 :

 4 Results of Second-order CFA Fig. 3: Final model fo the study

	Name of	Value Accepted Results
	the index obtained	Fit
	chi-square 1.849	Below 3 satisfied
	(χ 2 /df )
	CFI	0.902	>=0.90 satisfied
	RMSEA	0.08	=<0.08 satisfied
	GFI	0.931	>=0.90 satisfied
	AGFI	0.911	>=0.90 satisfied

Table 5 :

 5 The Fitness of the model Table

Table 6 :

 6 Results of hypothesis

	Hypothesis	β p-value Comment
		value
	H1:ICT KM process	0.61 *** Significant
	Note*** significant at 0.001

http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-report-2001

Conclusion

The availability of ICT has had a significant (β= 0.61 at p = 0.001) effect on AKM process in the two organizations that were part of our study. ICT was found to assist in the process of getting required knowledge and enabling easy communication among and between the farm communities and organizations. The availability of ICT is seen to enhance dissemination of explicit and tacit knowledge and sharing of best practices effectively among the farm communities and expert groups in the organizations. For example, we found that Digital Green is using ICT tools like Picos to disseminate agriculture knowledge (videos) to farmers. These videos are downloaded or streamed online which are stored in organization repository. DHRUVA provides access to their materials (like best practices, success stories, annual reports) on their websites. They show audio and video clips on water resources development, sericulture, agroforestry, postharvesting product development to farm communities using DVD and television.

The rapid development in the field of ICT, for example, mobile technology, availability of the internet, web technologies and mode of communications like emails, video conference etc. helps in faster creation, storing, sharing of knowledge within and outside the organization. In organizations where face-toface meetings are used very frequently, ICT tools can play a supportive role in recording such meetings for future use.

We believe that our results will contribute in several ways to the knowledge management theory and practice specific to Indian agriculture. An attempt has been made to conduct this kind of research study in Indian agriculture organizations to establish the relationships between ICT and AKM process. The study will help managers at different levels in selecting tools and technologies that can be used to support AKM process in their organizations. The proposed set of metrics used in this study may also be used in future as basic tools to measuring the effectiveness of ICT on AKM process in agricultural organizations.

Acknowledgment

We would like to acknowledge the two organizations DIGITAL GREEN and DHRUVA for their cooperation and participation and in allowing us to conduct the study.