Four TASCHA researchers are looking forward to attending the forum to participate in conversations on technology and development and present on various TASCHA research projects.

TASCHA Director, Chris Coward, will participate in two sessions during the forum: one on Youth, Skills, and Employment, drawing on TASCHA’s work on youth and employment, and one on measuring impact, where he will present findings from the forthcoming final report of the Global Impact Study of Public Access to ICTs (you can sign up here to receive a copy of the report).

Research Assistant Professor, Dr. Maria Garrido, will be participating in two sessions during Spark: one discussing technology, telecenters, and immigration, drawing from TASCHA’s work on immigrants and e-Skills and one presenting findings from the recent survey on eInclusion actors in the EU, Measuring the Impact of eInclusion actors on Digital Literacy, Skills and Inclusion goals of the Digital Agenda for Europe (MIREA).

TASCHA researchers, Melody Clark and Chris Rothschild, will also be participating in Spark, attending various sessions and live Tweeting during the forum. To follow along, follow @TASCHAGroup on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to our RSS feed.

You can also follow along with Spark 2013 via their Twitter (#spark13) , Facebook, and blog.

View the whole Spark 2013 program.

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Team members of this project, led by TASCHA’s Maria Garrido, have collected and coded a series of Facebook posts, blogs,  newspapers, and interviews with key actors to tease out the different roles social media played in the trajectory of the April 6 Youth Movement in Egypt. Findings from this research have recently been presented at multiple venues by members of the project team. Details on and links to these presentations can be found below, in chronological order.

October 19, 2012: Association for Internet Researchers Conference, Manchester, UK

• Title: Appropriating Facebook: Egypt’s April 6th Youth Movement through the lens of a social networking site (DOWNLOAD presentation)
• Citation: Garrido, M., Baron, L.F., Abokhodair, N., Lysenko, V., & Maziad, M. (2012). Appropriating Facebook: Egypt’s April 6th Youth Movement through the lens of a social networking site. Presented at the Association of Internet Researchers 13 (AoIR13), Manchester, UK.
• Presenters: Luis Fernando Baron and Norah Abokhodair
• Abstract:  On January 25th, 2011, Egyptian youth spearheaded a popular revolution, as they became an important part of a societal force that lead to the demise of Hosni Mubarak’s regime. For 18 days, Tahrir Square has captivated the world’s attention, becoming a global household name for social mobilization, as it stood as an icon for peoples’ demands for their rights to “freedom and dignity.” In making this historical event happen, Egyptian youth utilized old and new media, online spaces, and offline street presence. These different tools became conduits for effective organizing, documenting, and communicating their revolution, either nationally to fellow citizens or worldwide to a global audience. This paper aims to delineate how and why one element of that collective massive social mobilization, represented in the April 6th Youth Movement has evolved from the purely online group gathered on a social networking site to the important protest force that succeeded in its task to mobilize offline greater masses of people during the revolution.

October 30, 2012: Institute for Prospective Technology Studies (IPTS), Seville, Spain

• Title: Appropriating Facebook: Egypt’s April 6th Youth Movement through the lens of a social networking site (DOWNLOAD presentation)
• Citation: Garrido, M., Baron, L.F., Abokhodair, N., Lysenko, V., & Maziad, M. (2012). Appropriating Facebook: Egypt’s April 6th Youth Movement through the lens of a social networking site. Presented at the Institute for Prospective Studies (IPTS) Research Seminar, Seville, Spain.
• Presenter: Maria Garrido
• Abstract:  On January 25th, 2011, Egyptian youth spearheaded a popular revolution, as they became an important part of a societal force that lead to the demise of Hosni Mubarak’s regime. For 18 days, Tahrir Square has captivated the world’s attention, becoming a global household name for social mobilization, as it stood as an icon for peoples’ demands for their rights to “freedom and dignity.” In making this historical event happen, Egyptian youth utilized old and new media, online spaces, and offline street presence. These different tools became conduits for effective organizing, documenting, and communicating their revolution, either nationally to fellow citizens or worldwide to a global audience. This paper aims to delineate how and why one element of that collective massive social mobilization, represented in the April 6th Youth Movement has evolved from the purely online group gathered on a social networking site to the important protest force that succeeded in its task to mobilize offline greater masses of people during the revolution.

December 4, 2012: University of Washington Change Seminar, Seattle, USA

• Title: Human and political grievances for mobilization: Differential roles of Facebook during the Egyptian Arab Spring (DOWNLOAD presentation)
• Citation: Baron, L.F., Abokhodair, N., & Garrido, M. (2012). Human and political grievances for mobilization: Differential roles of Facebook during the Egyptian Arab Spring. Presented at the University of Washington Change Seminar, Seattle, USA.
• Presenters: Luis Fernando Baron and Norah Abokhodair
• Abstract: In the field of development, social movements have long been recognized as key actors in the process of social change. Engaging in range of struggles, social movements are contesting traditional centers or power while transforming the nature of political participation and collective action. Despite this recognition, the intersection between social movements, ICTs, and social change still remains an understudied area of inquiry. This paper analyzes the different roles of Facebook during the protests that lead to the resignation of President Mubarak in Egypt and opened a new sociopolitical period in the country. The analysis is based on qualitative coding of two Facebook pages in Arabic developed by some of the most important groups involved in these mobilizations: We Are All Khaled Said and the April 6th Youth Movement. The study found that these two pages were crucial in 1) building political awareness and mobilizing youth to take the streets; 2) creating bridges between online spaces and the streets; and 3) raising political awareness on the meaning of the revolution and democracy in the country. This study is based on a larger project that mapped the trajectory of the April 6th Youth Movement in Egypt.

Members of the team will also be presenting a paper at the International Federation for Information Processing’s (IFIP) 12th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries in May 2013.

TASCHA implemented project, the Global Impact Study, is an excellent example of how TASCHA is striving to make research open and accessible. One of the first research activities carried out by the Global Impact Study, the national inventory of public access venues in six countries, resulted in an interactive web database based on the inventory data collected. The study recently released the source code for this web database, so other developers can use and build upon it as well.

Another critical research activity of the Global Impact Study were the surveys of public access venue users and operators, as well as non-users, in five countries. The data from the user surveys is now publicly available, for anyone to download, use, and analyze. In addition to this dataset, the survey instrument and methodology report are also available. The venue and non-user datasets will be available soon, after the final report is released.

Download

Global Impact Study inventory:

• Access the Global Impact Study inventory web database
• Download Global Impact Study Inventory Database Source Code
  

Global Impact Study user survey data & related documents:

• Create a free user account to login to our web library
• Download user survey data & readme file in SPSS/SAV format
• Download user survey data & readme file in CSV format
• Survey methodology report
• User survey instrument
• User survey codebook

The chat will include all types of people who work with libraries in development: from the librarians themselves, to the community organizers who work with the libraries, to the government officials who support them. The chat will be informal, and will take place in the comments thread of an introductory blog (to be launched today).

TASCHA thanks the Beyond Access initiative for their instrumental work in spreading the word about libraries and the role they have in development.

For more information on the live chat, visit the Global Development Professionals Network website.

The post is originally from the Beyond Access blog.

TASCHA Research

Immigrant Women and e-Skills in Europe

The Immigrant Women & e-Skills in Europe Study investigates how ICT training programs effect the employability and social inclusion of immigrant women in Europe. Strengthening e-skills among immigrant women advances their employability through: education and lifelong learning, social inclusion, and cultural inclusion. More »

Public Access to ICTs: Sculpting the Profile of Users

While many public access (library, telecenter, cybercafe) users are boys and men, that is an incomplete picture. Many women and girls enjoy public access to technology as well, particularly in libraries. More »

Gender and Public Access Computing: An International Perspective

ICT and public access to computers with Internet connectivity in particular, can assist community development efforts and help bridge the so-called digital divide. However, use of ICT may not be the same for women as it is for men. More »

University of Washington iSchool Work

Supporting Information Needs of Women with Breast Cancer

Patients work hard during cancer care to communicate with multiple clinicians, manage insurance, coordinate cancer care services, and monitor their evolving health status. This project, which includes technology tools, aims to help breast cancer patients manage information about their care, get their questions answered, and interact with others who can aid them in their treatment. More »

TASCHA Partner & Associated Work

Beyond Access: Empowering Women and Girls Through ICT at Libraries

Despite the proliferation of access to ICT in developing and transitioning countries, one distinct gap remains: Women and girls are often restricted to traditional roles and do not have equal access to technology nor the capacity to build social capital through the use of ICT. Beyond Access examines the role that libraries play in promoting gender equity, with specific regard for access to ICT. More »

EIFL: Award for empowering women and girls through ICT

EIFL’s Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) is launching a fifth innovation award call – for public and community libraries that empower women and girls through ICT. More »

Telecentre.org: Telecentre Women Digital Literacy Campaign

For women, ICT has proven to be life-changing. It has broken traditions and social prejudices, expanded their roles in society and home, given many a new economic and social freedom that has redefined them as persons of stature and value in their communities. More »

The term “digital inclusion” encompasses three areas: access, technology literacy, and relevant content and services. Inclusion seeks equity for all people, as well as small businesses and community-based (non-profit) organizations.

The Summit will feature Laura Breeden as the keynote speaker. Ms Breeden is the Program Director for Public Computing and Broadband Adoption in the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Under her leadership, the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) has awarded more than $452 million for projects to make essential computer and Internet services more available, affordable, and useful. Since 1983, Ms. Breeden has worked to advance the use of modern digital communications for the public good, and she will provide a national perspective on technology adoption trends and disparities.

For more information and to register, visit http://digitalinclusionsummit.org and follow @waconnects on Twitter (event hashtag: #DIsummit13).

By participating in this panel, the Global Impact Study will support the discussions with rich data and evidence about public access in developing countries. The findings of the study will contribute to the panel and inform WSIS participants by describing the socio-economic impacts of public access, the benefits of public access, the role of public libraries in providing access, and providing recommendations for future policy and funding decisions, public access program design, and the future of public access. This panel, along with all of the other sessions of WSIS, features remote participation.

Participation in this event precedes the release of the Global Impact Study final report, which will be in March 2013. Make sure you receive a copy of the report by signing up here.

The final report will highlight the findings about the impact of public access to ICTs, situate the findings in the context of development, and make recommendations for policy makers, funders, public access practitioners, and researchers.

The final report will be posted on the Global Impact Study website. If you’d like to receive the final report via email, please sign up here.

Stay tuned by following the Global Impact Study!

• Email sign-up
• Twitter
• RSS feed

TASCHA is pleased to announce the release of the Mobile Internet in-depth study research report, Public access, private mobile: The interplay of shared access and the mobile Internet for Teenagers in Cape Town. Led by Marion Walton of the University of Cape Town and Jonathan Donner of Microsoft Research India, this study assesses and describes the interplay between public PC-based Internet access and private mobile-based access for urban teenaged public access venue users in Cape Town. South Africa is a particularly fruitful “leading edge” environment to do this work since not only mobile use, but specifically mobile Internet use, is increasingly common even among resource-constrained young people. Walton and Donner combined quantitative surveys with open-ended interviews of users and public access venue operators. Discussion is structured around five claims.

Findings

1. Public access and private mobiles offer different affordances, and teenage users have developed complex, fine-grained practices which help them to negotiate the respective strengths and weaknesses of the affordances.
2. The public access venue provides non-substitutable impact to resource-constrained users, even those with “the Internet in their pocket.”
3. Public access supports the development of digital literacies associated with hyperlinked media and large-format documents, while mobile access supports everyday social literacies and messaging.
4. Teens can use a combination of mobile and public access Internet resources to participate in networked media production and grassroots economic mobilization.
5. Public access venue operators can improve venue rules and skills to encourage the complementary use of the mobile Internet.

Download

Full research report

Two-page research brief

Citation

Walton, M. & J. Donner. (2012). Public access, private mobile: The interplay of shared access and the mobile Internet for teenagers in Cape Town. Global Impact Study Research Report Series. Cape Town, South Africa: University of Cape Town.

Acknowledgement

This research was conducted as part of the Global Impact Study of Public Access to Information & Communication Technologies, a five-year (2007-2012) project to generate evidence about the scale, character, and impacts of public access to information and communication technologies. Looking at libraries, telecenters, and cybercafes, the study investigates impact in a number of areas, including communication and leisure, culture and language, education, employment and income, governance, and health. The Global Impact Study is implemented by the University of Washington’s Technology & Social Change Group with support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and a grant to IDRC from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Learn more at globalimpactstudy.org.