IJEG, 1(1), January-March 2005: OPR:Review of Madon et al. (2004): Implementing Property Tax Reforms in Bangalore

INDIAN JOURNAL OF E-GOVERNANCE, Volume I Number 1, January-March 2005: OPR: Review of Madon et al. (2004) : Implementing Property Tax Reforms in Bangalore.....

INDIAN JOURNAL OF E-GOVERNANCE, Volume 1 Number 1 Occasional Paper Review: Madon, Shirin, Sundeep Sahay and Jyotsna Sahay (2004): Implementing Property Tax Reforms in Bangalore: An Actor Network Perspective......

In this paper* Madon et al. report the result of their study of the property tax reforms process in Bangalore, and drawing upon the Actor Network Perspective on translations, argue that such a perspective helps to go beyond studying innovation processes through the lens of ‘technology diffusion’ and provides far more interesting and insightful perspective of ‘technology translation.’ (p-1). Callon described four moments – translation, interessernment, enrolment and mobilization - to represent the sociology of translation. The authors have conceptualized information flows as “an abstraction of a complex heterogeneous network comprising of work practices, artifacts like paper files and legers, the buildings through which files are carried around, people involved, and organizational procedures and informal practices that shape the flow of information.’ (p-12). Interestingly, the authors cite the late Everett M. Rogers’s 1962 work on diffusion of innovations though the work went through several revisions as reflected in several later and revised editions.

Dr D.C.Misra
March 25, 2005
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* Madon, Shirin, Sundeep Sahay and Jyotsna Sahay (2004): Implementing Property Tax Reforms in Bangalore: An Actor Network Perspective, London, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Information Systems, Working Paper Series Number 129, December 2003, 37 pp, available http://is.lse.ac.uk/wp/pdf/WP129.PDF (accessed: March 25, 2005).