February 18, 2011
TASCHA researchers Maria Garrido and Beth Patin are in Chile conducting crisis informatics research. Essentially they want to understand the role that community technology centers and libraries played in the aftermath of the Chilean earthquake/Tsunami. I haven’t been to the field with Maria in a while, but one of her great strengths as a researcher […]
February 15, 2011
TASCHA Talk: Drawing on his experiences in the academy, industry, and the philanthropic sector, Mohammed traces the trajectory of AnthroDesign from the intellectual adventure of a fledgling community of industry practitioners towards a key product-cycle domain as well as its re-absorption back into the academy as an area of study.
Global Impact Study research lead, Araba Sey, just spent one week in Ghana for a training exercise with STEPRI, the implementation team for our inventory and survey activities in Ghana. In addition to learning about the overall project structure and research design, participants discussed the inventory data collection process, and practiced administering the survey instruments.
February 2, 2011
There is something very powerful about the visuals and the voices from the field. The video drew heavily on Maria Garrido, her European research partners, and the TASCHA study itself. The Microsoft Europe Community Affairs team invested in high quality video production. It shows. The video looks great. Some may consider it a bit “promotional,” but it seems successful to me.
February 1, 2011
Immigrant women are critical development actors. They know best. They apply their own individual and community assets to improve their lives. NGOs that provide computer training and other services further enable them to bring these capacities to bear. Donors and policymakers assist by supporting projects that leverage the local initiative, creativity, and improvisation of immigrants and NGOs.
January 24, 2011
TASCHA Talk: Skill acquisition through gaming and social networking — findings from a field visit to Brazil. Judith Yaaqoubi, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, will discuss initial and revised instrument development for an investigation on if and how people acquire skills through non-instrumental uses of public access computers.
January 18, 2011
Maybe the speed of the blogosphere makes people tell stories with underdeveloped angles. Or maybe, the “underdeveloped angle” provides a glimpse into the assumptions (correct or incorrect) that structure our thinking. It’s not misdirection, it’s revelatory. An example is this Atlantic piece, which asks “Why Isn’t the Internet Helping the Unemployed?” The premise is that the Internet…
January 15, 2011
TASCHA Talk: Maria Garrido and Beth Patin will discuss the role of telecenters and libraries in the context of crisis informatics, an emerging field of inquiry. Crisis informatics reframes the role of public access to ICT in emergency response as a socially distributed information system that leverages citizen-to-citizen communication in the lifecycle of a disaster. Public access to computers and internet, particularly telecenters and libraries, can play an important role in preventing and responding to disasters or emergency situations.
January 12, 2011
TASCHA was awarded a cooperative agreement by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to develop a framework for digitally inclusive communities. In partnership with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), the project will deliver a proposed framework that will identify the principles, elements, and characteristics of organizations and communities that foster digital inclusion.
December 23, 2010
It is becoming clear through recent research that public access ICT venues can play an important role in various crisis situations. As a contribution to the growing field of crisis informatics, we are pleased to announce our partnership with a related research study, The Role of Public Internet Access Venues in Disaster Management and Prevention: The Case of the 2010 Earthquake in Chile. Exploring the experiences of public access ICT venues in Chile after the 2010 earthquake, this study aims to identify findings that could help in other settings. Exploring the experiences of public access ICT venues in Chile after the 2010 earthquake, this study aims to identify findings that could help in other settings.
