“It’s about Business not Politics”: Software Development between Palestinians and Israelis

Nina Boulus-Rødje, Pernille Bjørn, Ahmad Ghazawneh

    Publikation: Konference artikel i Proceeding eller bog/rapport kapitelKonferencebidrag i proceedingsForskningpeer review

    Abstract

    This paper focuses on the collaboration in an Israeli-Palestinian tech start-up company. We investigate the strategies enacted by the IT developers for managing the political dynamics and making collaboration possible under the highly challenging political conditions. We found that one of the key strategies was explicitly separating the work domain of software development from the domain of politics. We argue that the IT developers manage to collaborate by displacing the political conflict through strategies of non-confrontation instead of engaging in translating conflicting agendas against each other. By insisting on keeping politics outside of the workspace, the IT developers adopt a strategy of keeping the collaboration together by keeping politics and work apart. However, we found that despite the attempts to manage the sub-group dynamics, politics constantly invade the workspace and challenge the collaboration. Significant resources are invested into managing the regimes of differentiated identity cards, permits, and checkpoints, all of which have consequences on the employees’ freedom or restriction of mobility. Thus, we argue that the IT development domain is inseparable from and deeply dependent upon the political domain.
    OriginalsprogEngelsk
    TitelECSCW 2015: Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 19-23 September 2015, Oslo, Norway : Part I
    Antal sider21
    ForlagSpringer
    Publikationsdato2015
    Sider43-61
    ISBN (Trykt)978-3-319-20498-7
    ISBN (Elektronisk)978-3-319-20499-4
    DOI
    StatusUdgivet - 2015
    BegivenhedEuropean Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work - Olso, Norge
    Varighed: 19 sep. 201523 sep. 2015
    http://www.ecscw2015.no/

    Konference

    KonferenceEuropean Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
    Land/OmrådeNorge
    ByOlso
    Periode19/09/201523/09/2015
    Internetadresse

    Emneord

    • Collaboration Strategies
    • Political Dynamics
    • Tech Start-Up
    • Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
    • IT Development and Politics

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