ACM Interactions

Authors:
Bonnie Nardi, Ravi Vatrapu, Torkil Clemmensen

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Comparative informatics (CI) is the application of the comparative method to the study of information and communication technologies (ICTs) across diverse contexts [1]. CI systematically examines similarities and differences in the ICT life cycle—design, development, deployment, adoption, use, impact, and evaluation—in contexts including cultures, regions, nations, generations, socioeconomic classes, gender, organizations, and technologies. The objective is to generate nuanced, critical understandings of technology in human life in the world we inhabit together. The analytical aim is not laws or generalization, but heightened awareness of the uneven surface of ICT practices locally and globally. This surface is often taken unproblematically…

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