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The work that many governments (among them, the Argentine) have been bringing to fruition
to shrink the digital gap has made it possible to think of the disappearance of “technological
ignorance” 14 in the medium term, and as a consequence, the fear of the unknown will cease to
be a relevant factor.
But when we speak of people and their influence on the success of projects with a technological
base, we should not simply pause at familiarity they have with the projects. There are other
associated factors that can influence positively or negatively in accordance with how the
projects are planned out. For example, we ought distinguish between those who will actually
manage the solution from those who will merely be the users of it (in this case, the citizens).
Let’s begin with the best known: “resistance to change.” In the case of the users, this condition
won’t be put into play, since the most commonly used techniques of biometric identification
are not invasive. Furthermore, Argentine citizens will already see the benefit of not having to
ink fingers any longer for the fingerprint identification required for new government ID’s (DNI 15 )
and passports 16 . A successful project that involves the use of Biometrics and where many of the
advantages of its used are visibly reflected.
Now, if we speak of the system users, this hesitance could possibly arise, without referring to
any project in particular, simply the experiences lived out in many of the processing redesign
projects, as well as innovation and studies brought forth by many researchers.
Kurt Lewin 17 , one of the top researchers on the processes of resistance to change, recognised as
the founder of modern Social Psychology, found three common causes:
• Self interest. Defined as the personal motives that affect or feed the desire for change. Here
we may place motivation, the habit of developing a defined work and training process.
• Organizational culture. Understood as the fundamental force that guides the workers’
conduct: occasionally, they feel threatened when radical changes in the way things are done
in certain activities come about.
• Perception of goals and organizational strategies. The members of a team do not understand
that a new goal is needed (a change), because they haven’t received the same information as
their higher ups.
Unfortunately, these causes come about even more frequently when we’re speaking of
governmental structures, where in many countries these structures are little flexible, very
hierarchical, where concepts like “the more workers I have under me, the more important I am”
18 dominate.
And these motives, where the challenge lies in the paradigm change of the people and/or users,
will certainly be one of the biggest problems to face when implementation of a technological
project comes about, and even more so when that project involves leveling out the process for
14 When it is applied to a concrete context it means “not knowing something determined” in light of many other things or “having an
imperfect knowledge of…” http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignorancia,
15 http://www.nuevodni.gov.ar/
16 http://www.mininterior.gov.ar/pasaporte/
17 http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Lewin
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