WilliamsMemo26

Williams Memo 26 Extrapolating and Abstracting __**Genealogy in sight: self-assembly of NGOs in the arena of preventable blindness **__  Analytical question: how do social networks of NGOs working in the global health arena self-assemble?  //Outline //  //--not done yet--- // __**Vision in four dimensions: Social Construction of the Intraocular Lens**__ In some ways, attending to the technological needs of the developing world can be described as attending to reverse salients (Hughes 1987). One example of a reverse salient innovation might be the intraocular lens which has been used to replace an occluded natural lens since before World War II. Since then the design (based on nature) has not changed much, and neither has the material which went from glass to plastic and stuck. It would seem that there is very little to celebrate in the incremental innovation of new versions. However, as a concrete boundary object, the definition of the intraocular lens changes with respect to its surrounding environment (e.g. patent office, manufacturing facility, shipping box, operating room, operating tent, human eye). Social construction theories remind us that each location where it temporarily resides is socially constructed depending upon spatial, political and cultural factors (before it reaches its final resting place and the subsequent transformation of a human into a cyborg). Each of these political and cultural factors incorporates some sort of historical or contemporary temporal dimension; some with a more stable frame of reference than others. Thus the definition of IOL navigates space and time in a very particular way being very much aware of all four dimensions. Investigating the binaries that are inherent to this navigation process illuminates inequitable distribution of power in a way that is potentially useful to policy-makers. __**Theoretical framework for international medical technology transfer (180 words)**__ This paper proposes a theoretical framework for international medical technology transfer (IMTT) that recognizes that IMTT involves the diffusion of culture and values as well as the movement of biomedical products, health practices, and surgical techniques. This theoretical framework has been developed around a body of empirical data (ethnographic interviews and participant observation) collected during fieldwork at the Himalayan Cataract Project (Nepal), and the Aravind Eye Care System (India). It describes the technological content of transfer, and incorporates the decision-making process at different scales with participation by multiple actors (including politicians, ophthalmologists, manufacturing technicians, administrative staff, etc). The cornerstone of the theoretical framework is the idea of bi-directional transfer, where the cycle of innovative technology transfer is not one-way from industrialized nations to developing nations, but instead, circulatory with diffusion of ideas, processes, and, artifacts in both directions. The NGOs and their affiliates working in Nepal and India on fighting preventable blindness through surgery for bi-lateral cataracts provide fascinating examples of how this bi-directional transfer works, and, what institutional and cultural processes constrain and enable it in this specific context.
 * 1) Section 1 - Mechanics of self-assembly of NGOs for preventable blindness
 * 2) Describe what are Social networks of NGOs for preventable blindness?
 * 3) Discuss Pokhrel's confidence model based on transparency and communications as key
 * 4) Rephrase Pokhrel's confidence model based on Buddhist principles of Chakra
 * 5) Section 2 - Analysis of self-assembly of NGOS for preventable blindness
 * 6) Analyzed quantitatively by 80/20 power law (pareto distribution) & scale-free networks theory (Barabasi)
 * 7) Analyzed by Latour's ANT/ self-assembly through recruitment and inscription
 * 8) Conclusion