On highways and backroads of AI, and Perspectives on Commons Connect
2 views
Skip to first unread message
Aaditeshwar Seth
Jul 6, 2026, 2:41:43 AM (10 days ago) Jul 6
to learning, ac...@googlegroups.com, CoRE stack: NRM, CoRE Stack
Hi all,
I'm very excited to share this update from Anuradha Ganapathy, Richard Heeks, and Gianluca Iazzolino from the University of Manchester where they used Commons Connect as a case-study in a working paper on how AI-based tools can be deployed in ways that enhance equity and participation.
Materialising Equity in Community-Centric AI Tools: The Case against Technocracy: https://core-stack.org/on-highways-and-backroads-of-ai-and-perspectives-on-commons-connect/
The paper and an accompanying blog highlight how the realities in which AI is deployed - the "backroads" - are starkly different from the jazz and world changing hype we hear otherwise of AI.
Artificial Intelligence - A view from the “backroads”: https://ict4dblog.wordpress.com/2026/07/03/artificial-intelligence-a-view-from-the-backroads/
It was heartening to see Anuradha's analysis from her meetings and observations with partners FES, Utthan, and SUPPORT use of Commons Connect on how they thoughtfully integrated data into community-based processes for planning of climate resilience interventions. Rather than positioning data and tech as authoritative, the stewards used it to instead facilitate discussions on equity, created spaces for participation by marginalized groups, supplemented the data with local insights and context that isn't externally visible, and created a culture of questioning and contesting the data to learn from it rather than take it as a given. The quotations in the paper are a delight to read!
This is indeed a testimony to the bottom-up co-creation of Commons Connect with so many partners (https://core-stack.org/core-stack-ecosystem-of-co-creators-and-users/) where none of us ever started with solutions in search of problems, rather we identified problems from the ground-up where specifically power differentials created inequities, and we spotted how data and tech can be built to flip the dynamics and put communities in charge of their destinies. And a testimony to the wisdom of all the implementation partners to not get carried away with the hype of data and AI we see around us, rather to ground it in reality and use it where it helps, either to inform or to engage and discuss.
There's lots more to be done but we are happy with the validation so far and very glad to have academic partners like Anuradha who bring a new perspective to our work.
Materialising Equity in Community-Centric AI Tools: The Case against Technocracy: https://core-stack.org/on-highways-and-backroads-of-ai-and-perspectives-on-commons-connect/
The paper and an accompanying blog highlight how the realities in which AI is deployed - the "backroads" - are starkly different from the jazz and world changing hype we hear otherwise of AI.
Artificial Intelligence - A view from the “backroads”: https://ict4dblog.wordpress.com/2026/07/03/artificial-intelligence-a-view-from-the-backroads/
It was heartening to see Anuradha's analysis from her meetings and observations with partners FES, Utthan, and SUPPORT use of Commons Connect on how they thoughtfully integrated data into community-based processes for planning of climate resilience interventions. Rather than positioning data and tech as authoritative, the stewards used it to instead facilitate discussions on equity, created spaces for participation by marginalized groups, supplemented the data with local insights and context that isn't externally visible, and created a culture of questioning and contesting the data to learn from it rather than take it as a given. The quotations in the paper are a delight to read!
This is indeed a testimony to the bottom-up co-creation of Commons Connect with so many partners (https://core-stack.org/core-stack-ecosystem-of-co-creators-and-users/) where none of us ever started with solutions in search of problems, rather we identified problems from the ground-up where specifically power differentials created inequities, and we spotted how data and tech can be built to flip the dynamics and put communities in charge of their destinies. And a testimony to the wisdom of all the implementation partners to not get carried away with the hype of data and AI we see around us, rather to ground it in reality and use it where it helps, either to inform or to engage and discuss.
There's lots more to be done but we are happy with the validation so far and very glad to have academic partners like Anuradha who bring a new perspective to our work.
regards
Aadi
Aadi
Co-founder, Gram Vaani; Co-founder, CoRE Stack
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages