ABSTRACT
Original conceptions of ICT4D relied on the assumption that the state, with its localised governmental entities, acted as a primary service provider to be fostered with ICTs. Over time, however, this assumption has started to crumble: supranational organisations, whose mandate concerns the protection of vulnerable populations across borders, are largely delinked from state entities in providing assistance to beneficiaries. Against this backdrop, an overarching data-for-development orthodoxy has been appropriated by humanitarian organisations, which serve populations on a cross-border basis, driven by primary assistance needs.
This chapter studies the concept of digital humanitarianism, defined as the assemblage of processes, means and technologies through which the practice of humanitarian work is digitised. It starts by detailing the theoretical foundations of digital humanitarianism, which are to be found in the notions of mapping, providing and empowering applied to humanitarian systems. The chapter proceeds by problematising such a philosophy, identifying hurdles that empirical work reveals in terms of all three building blocks of the data-for-humanitarianism vision. The discussion conciliates the philosophy with its hurdles, elaborating a vision of digital humanitarianism that views awareness of design injustice as a route to building stronger and more responsive humanitarian systems in the context of datafication.
