Designing Pragmatic ICT
摘要
Building on the call for distributed agency and relational autonomy in intrapreneurial teams, this chapter extends the inquiry by exploring how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures can be ethically reimagined to sustain such agency. In much of higher education, ICT has been reduced to a compliance mechanism, an appendage to audit cultures, performance metrics, and rigid reporting structures. But what if, instead, ICT were reimagined as a site of flexibility, relational support, and pragmatic wisdom? This chapter unfolds in three interrelated movements that anchor the redesign of academic ICT in ethical, epistemic, and operational coherence. First, it explores the development of flexible ICT support aligned with core academic processes, minimizing administrative burden while enhancing academic autonomy. Second, it rethinks systematic assessment as a dialogic and reflective practice rather than a control mechanism. Third, it proposes a stepwise innovation approach grounded in effectual reasoning, simplification, frugality, and design principles for sustainable creativity under real-world constraints. In this reframing, ICT is not an impersonal infrastructure but a living component of academic ecology capable of enhancing attentional focus, enabling human judgment, and fostering relational coherence. Pragmatic ICT is grounded in Epistemic DharmaEpistemic DharmaDharma (Epistemic, Institutional, Relational), contributing to institutional life not by standardizing scholarly rhythms, but by enabling them. Principles of AI governance, digital sovereignty, and data ethics are integrated as normative enablers ensuring that systems serve, not undermine human and academic flourishing. This chapter supports the book’s broader argument: If universities are to remain relevant in the twenty-first century, they must redesign not only their aspirations but their infrastructures. Pragmatic ICT becomes an ethical actor, a steward of institutional purpose, and a co-shaper of epistemic freedomEpistemic Freedom, care, and community.