Eliciting the Double-edged Impact of Digitalisation: a Case Study in Rural Areas

TL;DR

This case study explores the socio-economic impacts of digitalisation in rural mountain areas, highlighting both positive and negative effects, and proposes an effective impact elicitation approach to inform sustainable system design.

Contribution

It introduces a novel impact elicitation method for rural digitalisation projects, emphasizing the importance of identifying negative impacts early to mitigate risks.

Findings

Negative impacts include increased stress from connectivity and stakeholder marginalisation.

The impact elicitation approach effectively identified long-term and negative effects.

Socio-economic impact identification should precede system goal elicitation.

Abstract

Designing systems that account for sustainability concerns demands for a better understanding of the \textit{impact} that digital technology interventions can have on a certain socio-technical context. However, limited studies are available about the elicitation of impact-related information from stakeholders, and strategies are particularly needed to elicit possible long-term effects, including \textit{negative} ones, that go beyond the planned system goals. This paper reports a case study about the impact of digitalisation in remote mountain areas, in the context of a system for ordinary land management and hydro-geological risk control. The elicitation process was based on interviews and workshops. In the initial phase, past and present impacts were identified. In a second phase, future impacts were forecasted through the discussion of two alternative scenarios: a dystopic, technology-intensive one, and a technology-balanced one. The approach was particularly effective in identifying negative impacts. Among them, we highlight the higher stress due to the excess of connectivity, the partial reduction of decision-making abilities, and the risk of marginalisation for certain types of stakeholders. The study posits that before the elicitation of system goals, requirements engineers need to identify the socio-economic impacts of ICT technologies included in the system, as negative effects need to be properly mitigated. Our study contributes to the literature with: a set of impacts specific to the case, which can apply to similar contexts; an effective approach for impact elicitation; and a list of lessons learned from the experience.