News

March 11, 2013

This Thursday, March 14, UK newspaper, The Guardian, will be hosting a live chat as part of their Global Development Professionals Network. From 1pm-3pm GMT, participants are invited to ask questions about libraries as drivers of development, among other topics. 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.

March 8, 2013

Today, March 8, 2013, is International Women’s Day. Access to technology can empower women and girls of all ages, giving them the access and skills to participate in today’s digital and information society. We’re celebrating this day by showcasing some of the research we’ve done about women and technology, as well as highlighting some of the work our partners and associated organizations have done regarding women and technology.

March 7, 2013

The Communities Connect Network (CCN) will host the Washington State Digital Inclusion Summit, a one-day unconference connecting people from the public, non-profit, and private sectors to share policy, research, curriculum, and other technology resources. The Summit will be held on Thursday, March 14, 2013, from 8:30am-4:30pm, followed by an optional reception until 6:30, at the South Seattle Community College.

February 22, 2013

TASCHA Director, Chris Coward, will be participating on a panel organized by IFLA during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) +10 review Meeting in Paris, France, February 25-27, 2013. The panel, Supporting Knowledge Societies through Public Access to the Internet, will cover various issues related to public access to technology. This is a great opportunity for Chris to present the findings of the Global Impact Study, the largest, most comprehensive study on public access centers to date.

February 18, 2013

The Global Impact Study, a research project led by TASCHA, is excited to announce the upcoming release of the study’s final research report soon! After five years of research design, research implementation, and data interpretation and analysis, we are looking forward to finalizing and sharing the final report. The final report will be posted on the Global Impact Study website, but if you’d like to receive the final report via email, please sign up here.

February 7, 2013

Mobile phone use is soaring, especially in developing and transitioning countries. What does the dramatic increase in mobile use — and particularly mobile Internet use — mean for public access venues? Do mobile phones replace public access to computers and the Internet in venues such as libraries, cybercafes, and telecenters? If you have the Internet in your pocket, why do you still use public access ICTs? As part of the Global Impact Study of Public Access to Information and Communication Technologies, researchers in South Africa set out to answer these questions and more. The full research report and research brief are now available.

January 28, 2013

This iSchool Research Conversation and TASCHA Talk, presented by Araba Sey, discusses insights from the Global Impact Study. It outlines some dimensions of public access as a strategy for socio-economic development, addressing questions such as: who uses public access ICTs and why, what value do users perceive, what types of outcomes have users experienced and in what areas? Based on these findings we suggest how vested interests might realistically characterize the nature of public access impacts and make decisions about the role public access could play in their development agendas.

January 17, 2013

What makes a Tweet influential, particularly during a social movement? Do influential Tweets share common messaging with other Twitter users and social media outlets? TASCHA Research Faculty member Maria Garrido, along with Alexander Halavais of Arizona State University, will present on the role of Twitter and the characteristics of influential Tweets and Twitter users during the G-20 meeting protests in 2009 at next week’s meeting of University of Washington’s Change group. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 22, 2013 from 12-1pm in the University of Washington’s Allen Center, room CSE 203.

January 11, 2013

Interested in developing countries, technology, and culture? Are you a student at the University of Washington? If so, TASCHA Research Faculty Araba Sey and Researcher Chris Rothschild are leading a program this summer in Ghana that could be perfect for you and your education. This Exploration Seminar focuses on research, development, communication, and technology. The seminar is four-weeks long and students can receive graduate or undergraduate credits.

December 21, 2012

Thanks goes to ICTworks for featuring the Global Impact Study’s Mobile Internet study, Public Access, Private Mobile, led by Marion Walton and Jonathan Donner. The post on ICTworks highlights the five central claims of the study.