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Cited by 72ICT in Developing CommunitiesE-Government and Public ServicesInnovation and Socioeconomic Development

From Margins to Seams: Imbrication, Inclusion, and Torque in the Aadhaar Identification Project

Singh, Ranjit, Jackson, Steven J.·2017·Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
DOI 10.1145/3025453.3025910
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Abstract

Problems of marginalization and inclusion are central to HCI scholarship and impact in the world, but are badly named in the binary models of access that currently dominate the field. Building on prior work in ICTD and infrastructure studies, this paper explores the problem of inclusion through historical and ethnographic study of Aadhaar, India's biometrics-based national identification project. We illustrate tensions between Aadhaar users' ability to register, authenticate and successfully deploy their registered identity to participate in the Public Distribution System (PDS), a government scheme that provides subsidized food grains to the Indian poor. We argue that rather than an all-or-nothing state, inclusion in ICTD infrastructures is an ongoing and fragile process, achieved (unevenly) at the seams of multiple interconnected systems. Finally, we show that questions of (effective) inclusion are determined not just at margins of a system (who is in and who is out) but also through the artful and often challenging negotiation of the seams that run through and connect complex distributed infrastructures.

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  • Challenges of achieving visibility through older identification practices have been carried forward into Aadhaar, despite its claim to overcome such exclusions.

    “Although this critique overlooks Aadhaar's crucial role in standardizing identification procedures in India, it points to the long history of issues faced by people with no identity documents, and how challenges of achieving visibility through older identification practices have in fact been carried forward into the new system, despite its very claim to overcome such exclusions [89].”

    From Seeing Like an Infrastructure: Low-resolution Citizens and the Aadhaar Identification Project (2021) · cites this paper as [89]

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Authors
Singh, R., & Jackson, S. J.
Affiliations
Cornell University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publisher
ACM
Published
2017-05-02
Pages
4776-4824
DOI
10.1145/3025453.3025910
OpenAlex
W2611173295
Cited by
72
References
40
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 5
FWCI
2.94
Type
conference paper
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.acm.org/publications/policies/copyright_policy#Background (vor)
Locations
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › ICT in Developing Communities
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › E-Government and Public Services
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Business and International Management › Innovation and Socioeconomic Development
Keywords
Aadhaar, public distribution system, inclusive infrastructure, marginalization, inclusion, information and communication technologies for development, distributed infrastructure, identity verification, food subsidies, India

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