June 16, 2011
Co-PI of the Mobile internet in-depth study, Jonathan Donner, participated in the “Social Media for Development” workshop in Hangzhou, China in March 2011. He presented a position paper based on some of the hypotheses of the Mobile internet study at a pre-conference event of the Annual CSCW (Computer Supported Collaborative Work) conference.
April 28, 2011
Over the past few months, the survey analysis working group of the Global Impact Study has been planning for and implementing the user and venue survey data analysis. This working group, comprised of Mike Crandall, Chris Rothschild, George Sciadas, and Araba Sey, is working with the University of Washington’s Center for Statistical Consulting in the data analysis phase of the study. The Center for Statistical Consulting is helping to run the data, as well as advising the working group on options for statistical analyses.
April 18-21, 2011 was very busy and productive for us here at the Global Impact Study. We held two workshops – one on survey data analysis and one on our project-wide data integration plan. During the survey data analysis workshop, we reviewed initial user survey data to identify three high-level reports that we will produce this spring: a user profile report, a report on services offered at public access ICT venues and how people are using them, and a report on perceived impacts of using public access ICT.
The 3rd Global Forum on Telecentres was held 5-7 April, 2011 in Santiago Chile. After having been to the first two events (WSIS Tunis in 2005 and GK3 Kuala Lumpur 2007) there was both a continuation of some topics (sustainability anyone?), and some new ones (employability, climate change, indigenous peoples). Unfortunately, from my perspective, the […]
April 18, 2011
Man under a tree, a photo by jschinker on Flickr.
Spent some time scanning Flickr today for images with Creative Commons licensing that relate to our work. Some of these images possess visual elements that I like, in others the “content” i…
In my last post I contrasted training (as technical proficiency) with education (as creative, critical thinking) in the context of a Krugman column which argued that middle class jobs are being hollowed out by technology progress which eliminates jobs that can be routinized, including legal and health analysis, which were thought to have required too […]
At TASCHA, we talk a lot about computer skills training: how to operate a mouse, surf the Internet, save a document to enhance digital literacy among community members for the purpose of promoting social and economic development and inclusive communities. Because our work has focused on economically poor people (a contested term of course–feel free to […]
April 2, 2011
Given the proliferation of public access venues, such as cybercafes, telecentres, and public libraries, in developing countries, it is important to understand what value and perceived costs users associate with using and having access to these venues. By employing benefit cost analysis (BCA) methodologies, this in-depth study will explore the costs and benefits of providing and using public access information and communication technologies (ICT).
March 29, 2011
TASCHA researchers, Maria Garrido and Beth Patin, visited Chile in February to participate in fieldwork for their study investigating the role of telecentres and public libraries in disaster management. The visit included focus groups with public access venue users and staff, interviews with government officials, and visits to telecentres and public libraries affected by the 2010 earthquake and tsunami. Maria, Beth, and their partners from ATACH made many interesting preliminary observations about how these public access venues adapted and responded to local community needs following the disaster.
March 28, 2011
If 10% of the people who come into a telecenter receive help with computers from the staff person, is that considered sufficient impact? I just returned from Chile with our infomediary research team and after visiting several telecenters, libraries and cybercafés I feel that the development field under-appreciates the benefits that come from the 10% […]
