IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2017 - 65

group project to demonstrate and consolidate their IT
skills, knowledge, and professional behaviors, and
where projects are "focused on the use of IT for positive
social impact, providing students with an understanding
of the nature and principles of social and community
enterprise" [42]. After completing the unit, students are
expected to:
■ Demonstrate an ability to work in a project team
environment on a project focused on the use of IT
for positive social impact;
■ Apply a range of analytical, technical, project management, and problem solving skills to a real life
organizational setting;
■ Demonstrate an understanding of how IT can contribute to social and community enterprise;
■ Show evidence of self-reliance and time management skills, and an ability to organize a project in
order to gain greater independence as a learner and
project team member; and
■ Demonstrate increased awareness and understanding of ethical and professional behaviors in an organizational context.
The authors would go further and agree with Isaak
[20], where "the reality is we need technologists who
invent and produce products that are right socially,
done right technically - technologists who embrace
"care" at all levels," and this becomes possible through
the IT for social impact project units.
Since its inception, the IT for social impact unit
has been offered twice a year (during Summer and
Winter terms) to students completing their undergraduate degree in Information Technology or Information Systems. In the first 2 years (between 2013 and
2014), the unit ran on-campus where the students
were grouped into project teams of 3-4 and were
assigned a not-for-profit (NFP) or community-based
organisation (CBO) project client. In subsequent
years the unit introduced a short-term mobility version, in collaboration with Melbourne, Australiabased CERES Global (see http://ceres.org.au/global/),
a project of the NFP CERES Community Environment
Park and the project's host Indian non-government
organization (NGO), Satpuda Vikas Mandal (SVM) (see
https://svmpal.wordpress.com/). The mobility projects are specifically funded by the Australian Federal
Government's New Colombo Plan (NCP) (see http://
dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/new-colombo-plan/mobility-program/Pages/mobility-program.aspx), which has
enabled, in the case of the SUT's IT for Social Impact
India Project, student project teams to be embedded
into village schools and communities in the remote
tribal region of the Satpuda Ranges of Maharashtra
State, India. In 2016, the unit took on a multi-disciplinary, multi-faculty approach to enrollments by
DECEMBER 2017

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reducing pre-requisite credit points in an attempt to
broaden the skills base of students working on future
India-based projects.

HESE challenges students and
faculty from across campus to
break down the barriers between
their disciplines.

What has emerged over the course of delivering the
unit of study is a limited comprehension by SUT students of what IT for social impact actually means and
how it can be contextualized. To give clarity to this comprehension, the purpose of this definitional paper is
threefold. This paper intends to:
1) Deconstruct the loaded term "IT for social impact"
into IT and social impact;
2) Introduce the reader to literature on the deconstructed concepts of IT and social impact, and associated concepts such as social impact analysis, social
innovation and social enterprise;
3) Place social impact projects into a technological
context by presenting examples of such projects
undertaken by technology/telecommunications organizations, not-for-profit organizations and universities; and
4) Ultimately, suggest what IT for social impact means
to us based on the synthesis of literature and examples from the projects mentioned above.
By achieving these purposes, the paper makes a
contribution to the body of knowledge relevant to the
positive social impact of IT by providing a clearer understanding, and subsequent value to students, communities and organizations of what IT for social
impact is.

Reconceptualizing IT for Social Impact
Before we attempt to answer the basic question of
"What is IT for social impact?" it seems logical to deconstruct the term "IT" from the "social impact," address
them separately before reconstructing them as a single
concept "IT for social impact." The following section
intentionally provides brief, definitional-type conversations of information technology, social impact, social
impact analysis, social innovation, social enterprise,
and IT for social impact. Focus then turns to IT for
social impact project vignettes, leading to a final

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

65
http://ceres.org.au/global/ https://svmpal.wordpress.com/ http://http:// http://dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/new-colombo-plan/mobil
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2017
