October 3, 2013
On October 2 Rebecca Sears and Samantha Becker presented an overview of TASCHA and the US IMPACT Study for UW students. Students who attended learned about the effects of technology on economic and social development, open data and open research, public access to technology, digital inclusion, impact and evaluation, and access to information, communication, and…
September 25, 2013
TASCHA Director Chris Coward has been invited to present at the 5th Annual European Congress on E-Inclusion (ECEI13) on October 3, 2013. This year’s event, “Building an Inclusive Digital Europe,” will bring together over 100 stakeholders and thought leaders from the public policy, private, not-for-profit, and community sectors in Brussels. Chris will draw on TASCHA’s research to participate on a panel presenting evidence on the role of intermediaries, particularly public libraries, in digital inclusion, skills development, and opportunities for socio-economic empowerment and employability. Chris will present findings from TASCHA’s Global Impact Study of Public Access ICTs and the U.S. IMPACT Study’s Opportunity for All report.
September 20, 2013
Are you interested in the effects of technology on economic and social development? Do you wonder if mobile phones will replace PCs? Curious about open data and open research? Passionate about access to technology, communication, and information resources? Well, we have a great event for you! Come learn about us and the U.S. IMPACT Study on October 2, 2013! At this event, we will introduce TASCHA and the U.S. IMPACT Study, two research groups focused on issues like digital inclusion, impact & evaluation, and access to information, communication, and technology resources.
August 13, 2013
Last month, we released the final report of the Global Impact Study of Public Access ICTs, Connecting people for development: Why public access ICTs matter. In addition to the overall analysis presented in the final report, TASCHA researchers also conducted analysis specifically related to ICT access in public libraries in Botswana, Chile, and the Philippines. The report based on this analysis, Public libraries connecting people for development: Findings from the Global Impact Study, is now available for download. Using data from Botswana, Chile, and the Philippines, the report summarizes the study’s key findings with a focus on libraries, situating these venues in the context of national development, discussing some disputed issues, and providing recommendations for policymakers, library practitioners, and researchers.
July 9, 2013
I recently presented a paper on the different roles of Facebook during the Egyptian Arab Spring at the International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries (IFIP) 2013. This conference is one of the most important spaces to critically discuss the social implications of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in developing countries. IFIP not only brings together scholars, practitioners, and policymakers from different parts of the world, but also provides a multidisciplinary and multicultural space to discuss, plan, and work on theoretical, methodological, and practical challenges that ICT for development faces. IFIP 2013 focused on outlining crucial future challenges for the area, gaps that have not been addressed sufficiently, new technological possibilities, better understanding of institutional dimensions, and critical reflection on methodological approaches and theoretical positions that may guide our future thinking.
July 2, 2013
While you’re likely reading this on your personal computer, enjoying reliable and fast internet, millions of people around the world still lack private access to this increasingly necessary resource to function and prosper in today’s world. How do those people connect to digital society? For many, digital inclusion is found at a library, a telecenter, or a cybercafé – their local public access ICT venue. For over a decade, significant investments have been made in these venues. However, their ability to contribute to development agendas has come into question in recent times, spurred by the spread of mobile phones and other new technologies and applications. The Global Impact Study was designed to address this debate by generating evidence about the scale, character, and impacts of public access ICTs.
Today, TASCHA is excited to announce the release of the study’s final report, Connecting people for development: Why public access ICTs matter.
May 23, 2013
The 4th Global Forum on Telecentres, Spark 2013, will take place in Granada, Spain May 28-29. 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. Chris Coward & Maria Garrido will be presenting on TASCHA research, and Melody Clark & Chris Rothschild will attend, participating in various sessions and live Tweeting from the event.
April 17, 2013
We have just revamped our email newsletter. We will send these quarterly with news and insights on TASCHA and our research. For this issue, we include a teaser for the final report from a major 5-year study on the impact of public access to ICTs that we’re excited to launch this month. We also highlight our work on a topic, public libraries, that is underappreciated in international development circles, and on a topic that has received great attention, the use of social media in advancing political freedoms in Egypt. Finally, at TASCHA, we’re committed to open research and have begun releasing not only formal project outputs, but also research instruments, data, and other resources so that others can reanalyze, replicate, remix, or otherwise add new value on top of the work we’ve already done.
April 16, 2013
A recent TASCHA project, in the research area of Social Movements, explored how Facebook and social media was used in Egypt before and during the Arab Spring. The Youth, ICTs, and Democracy in Egypt project drew on social movement theory and emphasizes various lines of analysis, asking the main research question, how did the use of ICTs impact the evolution of the youth movement and the trajectory of the Egyptian revolution? Findings from this research have recently been presented at multiple venues by members of the project team.
TASCHA is committed to research that contributes to advancing knowledge and practice, and that can be used to make better decisions. One element of this commitment is open research — making research processes, tools, findings, and data broadly accessible and encouraging others to build on and extend our work. TASCHA implemented project, the Global Impact Study, is an excellent example of how TASCHA is striving to make research open and accessible.
