Mobile Internet study featured on ICTworks

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.

Mobile Internet in-depth study research report released

November 19, 2012

The Global Impact Study is pleased to announce the release of the Mobile Internet in-depth studyresearch 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.

Assessing the impact of innovation spaces: iHub Kenya

October 30, 2012

In May 2012 Nairobi’s *iHub released a report detailing the impact of the Hub on Kenyan entrepreneurs. You can read the launch post and  download the report from the iHub website. Here’s the abstract. This research aimed to understand the impact of the ICT Hubs to entrepreneurs. An ICT hub is a space where technologists […]

Public access and development: New brief released

October 2, 2012

A brief based on some of the emerging findings of the Global Impact Study, Public access and development: The impact of public access venues and the benefits of libraries, has just been released. This two-page brief describes findings about the impact of public access venues on development, including the unique benefits successful public libraries offer. This brief is based on data from the surveys of over 5,000 public access venue users in five developing countries.

Global Impact Study presents at IFLA 2012

September 13, 2012

Global Impact Study’s Melody Clark had the opportunity to present some of the study’s findings at the International Federation of Library Association’s (IFLA) annual conference in Helsinki, Finland on August 16, 2012. The presentation, part of the Policy, Strategy, and Advocacy track, focused on results from the Global Impact Study, particularly findings about libraries, based on the study’s user survey data.

Updated user survey dataset available

September 10, 2012

The Global Impact Study has updated the user survey dataset on the Global Impact Study web library. Most of the data remains the same – the only change to the dataset was to fix the above and below poverty line variables due to a syntax error in the previous dataset.

Updated version of inventory web database available

August 30, 2012

The Global Impact Study has recently updated the public access venue inventory web database. Access to the inventory database is easy and free – just sign up and sign in below to explore the different types of venues, number of venues, location of venues, and much more in six countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Lithuania, and the Philippines.

Innovation spaces, youth, social inclusion, public libraries: The podcast

August 27, 2012

I have all these great conversations with Silvia Caicedo. We debate, help each other, work out ideas. She’s amazing. Finally I decided to record one of our talks and make it into the first Facilitating Change Podcast (yipeee!!!!!!!). There’s a too-long intro about innovation spaces. Sorry. Trying to set the context. The good stuff (i.e., […]

Innovation Spaces, Take Two

August 14, 2012

OK so here’s my latest attempt to come up with a practical definition of innovation spaces and why they matter for development. Innovation spaces are environments that foster community, creativity, and production. They provide a physical place to explore, experiment, and engage with new people, ideas, and technologies — promoting economic growth, social cohesion, and democratic […]

Re-defining “telecentre”

August 9, 2012

I’m writing a brief for Beyond Access: Libraries Powering Development — on innovation spaces. In it, I start by defining a range of innovation spaces: telecentre, hackerspace, coworking, fablab. (I’m working open: see and comment on messy work process.) The definition of a telecentre wasn’t working for me. It missed some crucial aspects: Access to support: people (formal […]